By David Doub
Out of all the artistic mediums, why comics? And specifically, for you, why crazy humor comics? Drawing is simply the most fun way for me to pursue storytelling, and the most natural. Comics offer so many versatile ways to tell stories and you can do it all with just ink and paper. I lean towards crazy humor comics as those were what got my attention as a kid. I’m not a very serious guy and just naturally want to be silly and make fun of stuff, so humor comics fit me like a glove. What are some of your influences? Why informs your wacky art style? My biggest influences are MAD Magazine (especially artists Tom Bunk, Basil Wolverton, Al Jaffee and Sergio Aragones), The Ren and Stimpy Show and Gary Panter. I also derive a ton of inspiration from old Fleischer Bros. cartoons, Looney Tunes (especially Tex Avery and Chuck Jones), MTV’s Liquid Television, and tons of New Yorker and National Lampoon cartoonists (my absolute favorites being Charles Addams, Sam Gross, B. Kliban and Virgil Partch). What are some local creators that that influence you? Kit Lively, Miguel Aquilar, Hector Cantu, Richard Ross, Halo and Terry Parr, and Tyson Summers are all amazing artists and just plain awesome human beings. What are some of your favorite books you’ve worked on? I’ve been lucky that I’ve gotten to work on a lot of very fun properties such as SpongeBob, The Simpsons, Adventure Time and Garfield, so it’s hard to pick a favorite. But SpongeBob Comics was such a unique comic book to work on as the artists and writers were given a pretty fair amount of creative license, which is pretty rare. If you could work with anyone living or dead, who would it be? I would have absolutely loved to have gotten to collaborate with Jim Henson, a true creative genius. Since that obviously can’t happen, I would kill to get to do something for another one of my heroes, “Weird Al” Yankovic. If you could work on any character or property what would it be and what would you do to it? My biggest pop culture obsession is monster movies, and Godzilla in particular. So if Toho would let me (they of course won’t), but I would write and draw an insane Godzilla story in my style that would just have crazy monster fights and super weird monster opponents. I’m doing an original story now that’s basically this but with my own original characters, but to get to have my way with Godzilla would be insane. Are there any local creators you’d like to work with? Man this is tough as there are so many amazing local creators that would be amazing to collaborate with, but my friend Miguel Aquilar and I have talked forever about working on a project together and I would love to make that happen someday. What are some up coming projects you’d like to talk about? I can’t reveal much about what I have coming up, but I have several book projects in the works that are just a blast and should be appreciated for fans of weird and gross humor (mwahaha!). I’ve also been working on an animated series for Augenblick Studios that has allowed me to totally indulge in my love for horror movies and comics, so that will definitely be something to look out for! For aspiring North Texas creators, what advice would you give them that you wish someone had given you? I like to confirm to aspiring artists not to ever get discouraged in your creative endeavors by people that will tell you that it’s not worth pursuing. It’s a tough business to break into (it took me about 10 years to get my first big break), but I would still be drawing for fun if I wasn’t able to make it my full time job. I got tons of rejections and people telling me that I wasn’t any good, but I’m glad I used that to fuel my drive to get better instead of just giving up. https://twitter.com/daviddegrand https://degrandland.com/ https://www.instagram.com/daviddegrand/ |
AuthorNorth Texas Nerd is a site for news, reviews, interviews, and opinions about all pop culture and geeky things happening and being made in North Texas. Archives
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