Zeb Larson chats with comic book artist Benjamin Dewey about Autumnlands: Tooth & Claw…

Zeb Larson: How did you first become involved with this project?

Benjamin Dewey: I became involved with Autumnlands: Tooth & Claw after receiving a phone call from Kurt asking if I’d like to do a series with him for Image comics that came from our shared love of Kamandi and big fantasy stories. It was a great call to get!

ZL: Describe your working process with Kurt on this comic.

BD: Typically, Kurt sends me scripts and I do a first pass of thumbnail break-downs. Once those are done we either get together to talk them over or do a conference call to make sure we’re on the same page with the storytelling part. He may give me plot-related reasons why a vertical panel doesn’t work or have ideas about why a particular layout will better suit the emotional context. I almost always listen to what he has to say because he’s read and written more comics than almost anyone. If I have good reasons of my own for a choice, he will consider them and we discuss a compromise/I stick to my guns. It’s a very helpful exchange because I can approach final pencils with the foreknowledge of what the point of each panel, expression and gesture are building towards.

Once that part is done, I sit down and grind my way through pages trying not to excessively second guess my abilities until the issue is complete. I pose for my computer camera as various characters using improvised costumes, props and lighting; I know what combo of old silk bathrobe and bed sheet to grab if I’m going to be Sandhorst and having that part figured out saves a bunch of time looking up imperfect reference shots. I can get closer to my thumbnails if I create reference based on my own ideas rather than letting the reference decide for me after the fact.

Once the pages are complete my wife Lindsey, helps level and de-gunk them of smudges and errant pencil marks that I missed on the originals. We use the dodge and burn tools in Photoshop to tidy up the art before it goes to Jordie Bellaire for her Chromagic sorcery.

At this point, Kurt and I review the colors to make sure nothing has been missed or found to be inconsistent with our previous plan for the issue.

ZL: Are there any challenges in working on a series with mature content, or is it liberating?

BD: I don’t think of it as being any different, in terms of sensing openness or restriction, than any other project because of our ability to show bits that would otherwise be pixelated but it is liberating to work with a team of gifted people who all mutually reinforce each other by contributing our absolute best coupled with a willingness to listen to critical assessment ungrudgingly.That part of it is awesome and confidence-boosting.

A funny side-effect of doing a ‘mature readers project is that I find myself thinking about, and wanting to create, all-ages books of my own original ideas so that I can share my love of comics with youngsters (ages 5-10) who come by my table at shows. I don’t have much to offer young readers at the moment and neither does the industry, really. I think it’s super important for more creators to consider that demographic. If comics is going to be the sort of populist cultural force that I think it deserves to be recognized as, we need to make more material for a that largely untapped audience. Many pros seem to avoid that comics context in the interest of avoiding that old canard that ‘comics are just kid’s stuff’ and they go way to far to the gloomy shoe-gazing end of the spectrum. you can do all of it and all-ages material can be just as exciting as mature stuff but it requires a different mind-set to keep some of the edge without the usual, more adult-specific moves of overt sex or graphic violence.

ZL: This series has a different visual feel than Tragedy Series. How did you develop the art style for this comic? Were there any major influences that got you started?

BD: Tragedy Series had deliberate confines placed on the approach to drawing. A single line weight, brush pen and tone. No hatching.

Autumnlands is more baroque in feel so I don’t mind going a bit bonkers with the rendering. It may change as things go on. I find I think about the approach taken by Goran Parlov, Chris Samnee and Evan Shaner a lot as a way to try and curtail my more excessive tendencies. That trio of dudes really knows how to be efficient and lively. It’s masterful stuff. I want to try and inject a bit of that into my own work as I progress.

I love a bunch of artists and I won’t make a huge list but Stuart Immonen is my favorite so I actively have to avoid looking at his work while I’m working to avoid feeling inadequate/weeping into my hands or being tempted to borrow shorthands that he has developed. Style should be a product of the story you’re trying to tell, not something you impose on a narrative. He is a perfect example of how an artist can be flexible and adjust their approach to suit the script. Looking at ‘Moving pictures’, ‘X-Men’ and ‘Agents of H.A.T.E.’ demonstrates his amazing range.

Mike Mignola had and continues to have a huge influence on my thinking. Those Hellboy books are part of my DNA at this point. I don’t know if it shows but I think of his stuff a ton.

ZL: The floating city jumps out as my favorite illustration in this series. With so many diverse illustrations for this series that lack an easy frame of reference, you must spend an inordinate amount of time developing them. Are there any specific inspirations you have?

BD: Thanks! I am pretty good at making things up out of my head. Every working comics pro needs to be able to bring some of that to the table and, fortunately, I could always do it, even as a kid. That said, it is also really important to use reference thoughtfully to help bring verisimilitude to otherwise fantastical settings and characters. I tend to see people go to one or the other of these extremes: No Reference or reference-heavy. Adventure/action comics work best, in my estimation when you can offer the gravitas of realism with the abstract-expressive range of inventive cartooning. Combining your imagination with well-chosen reference is it’s own skill to be practiced alongside a whole host of other tools that making comics requires. With the coaching of my friends Hunter Wook-Jin Clark and Natalie Nourigat, I’m working towards bringing a bit more of that cartoon spark into my pages. It is not easy for me to do but I really want to learn so I have that option available.

For the specifics of the floating city, I looked up Venice and Rome. I also tried to add a bit of Prague to help spice up the textures some and some old-school Star Wars star-destroyer vibe for the undersides of the structures.

ZL: This series has all the makings of an epic. How long can we expect to be reading Autumnlands?

BD: Kurt and I are open to working on it for as long as folks want to read it. I’d like it to have a run like ‘The Sixth Gun.’ I think Brian Hurtt, Cullen Bunn and Bill Crabtree have made something amazing and fully formed with that series. I want Autumnlands to get to that place but that is up to Kurt and the comics-buying public. I will keep doing my utmost to make the best book I possibly can.

ZL: At a personal level, are you a fan of fantasy? Any particular series come to mind as favorites?

BD: Sure! I do dig fantasy if it’s done well.

At the prompting of my late friend Wendy Lindig, I started reading the Game of Thrones books prior to the HBO series coming out and she was right: it is amazing and it’s hard not to get invested in the mechanics of such an intricate, bloody and gilded story-machine. Once the series came out I started listening to them as audiobooks read by Roy Dotrice, so I could stay ahead of the episodes coming out and enjoy them while drawing!

I love the Tolkien books, but who doesn’t, right?!

I played a lot of the Palladium RPGs between ages 11 to 24 and that world appealed to me in a big way.

As a child my first exposure to Fantasy was a D&D listen and read-along picture book my dad got me. I have it down at my studio and it is absolutely the foundation of my fascination with sword and sorcery stuff.

ZL: Are you working on anything else at the moment, or is Autumnlands getting most of your attention?

BD: I’m still making the occasional tragedy series comic (though no longer part of a numbered sequence or the same format.) I also started talking with Jeremy Barlow about doing a project that will include our obsession with guitars and other rock n’ roll artifacts. The all-ages project is taking shape and I’d like to have some of it ready for next Rose city. I illustrated a deck for a group of friends to put out their own version of the Werewolf party game too!

Lots of stuff percolating on the back burner.

Autmnlands takes up a ton of my time but I also make a point to schedule an outlet for ideas that originate in my brain in order to be the best collaborator for a book where I’m primarily an illustrator. I think it helps me focus on doing that particular job better if I’m not trying to assert a voice as an architect of the plot. I trust Kurt to do that expertly and I want to execute his vision with steadily increasing proficiency.

ZL: When you’re not working, what do you do for fun?

BD: If I get some time away from my desk, I’ll let you know!

While I’m crazy busy, I do try to make time to maintain and improve my guitar playing. I used to be in bands but Comics is kind of an all-or nothing gig. Getting to the point where one can take time off and not suffer for it economically, is rare in my experience.

I waited 5 years to get an X-Box 360 and, now that I have one, occasionally I get to play an hour of Mass Effect here and there to give my drawing muscles and brain a break.

Before bed I read non-fiction science books.

As you can see, I know how to party.

Many thanks to Benjamin Dewey for taking the time for this interview.

Zeb Larson