Creative Spotlight – A Pre-Comic Con Chat w/ Illustrator Dave Crosland

It’s Comic Con week and you know what that means… it’s comics, cartoons, and video games galore! Among the many artist’s who will be in attendance this year we convinced illustrator Dave Crosland (aka King Gum) to cut loose for a few moments to discuss his love of music, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and what happens when Alphabets Attack! (hint: it’s sure to be colorful, spastic and all sorts of awesome).

Check out what Crosland has to say and for those of you who will be attending Comic-Con and/or Tr!ckster be sure to catch him at the Oni Press booth this Sunday.

Photo Credit: Joey Miller

Welcome to FUEL, Dave! Can you give us a brief rundown about yourself?

Sure. I’m an independent illustrator, based out of Los Angeles. I’ve worked professionally since the summer of 2000, creating art for everything from comic books and snowboards to album covers and video game cut-scenes.

My first exposure to your work was on the album cover of Gym Class Heroes’ “As Cruel As School Children,” but that wasn’t your first cover was it?

No, but it was the album cover that put my work in front of a much broader audience. Before that, I had done a handful of random covers for indie rock bands — work that I picked up since I was doing concert posters at the start of my career. That led to me doing cover and flier art for the hip-hop artist, Blueprint, when he released his album “1988″ on Rhymesayers Entertainment. That was awesome for me, because I was already a fan of Blueprint’s music, and a lot of the acts on the Rhymesayers label. But the Gym Class Heroes album cover was a whole other beast. That record was being sold in department stores all over the world. I had kids calling me from the other side of the country to say, “Yo! I saw your art at Target.” It was pretty surreal.

Have you stayed pretty involved in the art side of the music industry?

Not really, but I’m always open for it. It’s just a matter of finding the right fit for a project… a solid melding of the band and/or art director’s vision and my aesthetic. It also helps a lot if I actually dig the music I’m illustrating for.

You mentioned that you’ve also done work in comics, video games, and animation– what have been some highlights for you so far?

My most recent comics highlights were drawing a short story in the CBGB’s Anthology (BOOM! Studios), and another for Yo Gabba Gabba! Comic Book Time! (Oni Press). I did those at the end of 2010, after a 2 year break from the industry. It was great, because both editors were cool and gave me complete creative freedom with how I told the stories. The Gabba book was especially fun. I’m usually a goblin in my art-making… none of it is especially kid-friendly. So it’s a refreshing exercise when I draw things geared towards children. Plus, I remember all the art I consumed as a child, how much wonder and joy it filled me with. I could look at a single image for hours, soaking up every detail. Part of me is always hoping that something I create can have the same effect on kids today.

For video games, my biggest highlight was illustrating cut-scenes for the Kick-Ass video game. It was such a random, quick-turnaround job, I can’t even remember how I landed it, but I had a good time with the project. I hadn’t read the comic, so the client sent me the first miniseries as a PDF and I even got to see a batch of scenes from the movie, before they were completed.

My animation highlight was when I got my first cartoon concept optioned. My cartoon was never actually made and, sadly, that’s pretty common in the animation biz. Still, I can’t deny that wonderful jolt I got when the development executive called me to say, “Yeah, we want to option your idea.”

So is it true that you’ve worked on the new Thundercats show (character design)?

Yes and no. Mostly no. I did draw one round of Thundercats character designs, way back in 2005. But nothing ever came of them, so I doubt they had any effect on the look of the new show.

That’s a real shame, man. Were you a fan of the original show?

Oh, most definitely. I watched from the very first episode! Of course, watching it as an adult, I realize how horrible it is [but] I can appreciate it on a nostalgic level. I haven’t seen the new show, so I can’t judge, but it baffles me how the entertainment machine just keeps remaking everything old. This endless rehashing has been happening in comics and cartoons for a long while. Even the biggest movies out today are just repackaged, more explosion-y versions of shit from the last century. No disrespect to the people who make that stuff, but I’m kinda hungry for something new.

We discussed this a little behind the scenes earlier, but Bill Sienkiewicz seems to be a big influence- who/what else do you look to for inspiration?

Bill Sienkiewicz is definitely an influence. Some other guys I always look to for a creative boost are J.C. Leyendecker, Gustav Klimpt, Romare Bearden, Bob Ross, Bill Waterson and Jean-Michel Basquiat… to name a few. Then I have my comic gurus, like Katsuhiro Otomo, Sergio Toppi, Will Eisner, Jack Kirby… and the list goes on.

Moving to Los Angeles has been great for inspiration, because the talent pool out here is ridiculously deep. I’ll find myself doodling alongside guys like Jim Mahfood and Kent Williams. [Not to mention] getting critiques from Jason Shawn Alexander… people whom I consider to be heavy hitters. Having artists like that as my local contemporaries is priceless.

Beyond other visual artists, I’m always looking to film, television and music for influences. With shows and movies, I try to soak up various approaches to storytelling, themes and character building. Music is a constant ally, from sun-up to well past sundown. Be it fast and hard or slow and sweet, I find that music helps unlock the creative, emotive animal in me that likes to mess around with paints and ink.

What kind of tools do you typically use- is everything done by hand or are some effects added digitally?

The majority of my art is created using wet media — ink, paint, pencils, pigments, etc. The computer will come in, no matter what, as I typically scan my work and do touch-ups in Photoshop. I will do digital coloring, every now and then [as well], but I prefer to work by hand. I like the immediacy and the mess of working with traditional materials, as opposed to the detached step-by-step processes I employ when using the computer.

What is “Alphabet Attack!” and how did the concept come about?

Alphabet Attack! is my art blog where I create a daily illustration, each one titled after a letter of the alphabet from A to Z. Series 1 was all drawings based on my favorite science fiction tales and Series 2 was all about comic book characters.

The blog was very much inspired by my pals Skottie Young and Scott Morse with their website, SKOTTIESCOTT. Like them, I wanted to rock a daily art blog and make some affordable pieces for my collectors, but I didn’t want to blatantly rip off the Scotts. I’ve always been a fan of wordplay, dictionaries and thesauruses, so I applied the alphabet/alliteration aspect to my project and Alphabet Attack! was born.

It actually turned into a real labor of love for me. Beyond the challenge of having to create an additional bomb-ass piece of art every day, Alphabet Attack! became a fun, heartfelt trip down memory lane. Hell — the first series is practically a 26-piece salute to my parents, thanking them for all the weird sci-fi awesomeness they raised me on.

You did a wicked awesome TMNT piece awhile back- could you walk us through that piece from sketch to completion?

Thanks for the kind words on the TMNT piece, Teenage Turtles. Like all of the AA! pieces, it started off with a few drops of concentrated fandom, but since I’ve been crazy for Ninja Turtles since childhood I went into this drawing with an especially high dose of obsession.

At the drawing board, I started with a clean sheet of watercolor paper taped down to cardboard. I rocked an energetic, relatively detailed pencil drawing, complete with scribbled-in shadows. Then, I painted into that using watercolors (red bandanas first!). I applied 2 or 3 coats of paint throughout the watercolor stage, quickly building up tones and texture. Once those dried, I brought the whole drawing together with black ink. Finally, I pulled the tape off the piece, leaving a sexy, white border around the edges. And voila — heroes on the half shell!

Very cool! Any new projects or shows in the pipeline for 2011?

Oh, there’s lots going on this year…

This week marks the release of my limited edition sketchbook, WRECKING SKULL. It features all new work, from random drawings of monsters and pilots, to serene painted landscapes and this is my first sketchbook to include color works. It’s allowing me to share a whole different level of art, after years of only printing black & white sketchbooks.

As for comics, I’m illustrating a short comic story for a project to teach French to Canadian kids and I’m slated to illustrate a comic book that’s the rags-to-riches life story of a huge mainstream rapper. Both of those projects are still in-the-works, so I can’t say more than that but I’m stoked for when I’ll be able to announce them in full.

I just illustrated the promotional poster for the next IAM8BIT art exhibit, which opens later this summer in LA. The show features over 100 artists re-imagining their 80’s gaming fantasies. Along with the poster and my own painted submission for the show, I’m collaborating with a sculptor named Stone to create a giant, customized Bob-Bomb statue. It should be pretty wild!

Alphabet Attack! has been on hiatus for awhile, but I’ll finally be getting back to that in August. The format will be a little different, but the art will still be the stuff of true grit that folks have come to expect from me.

And, of course, I’ll be down in San Diego this week for Tr!ckster and Comic-Con. I’m not setting up at a table, but I will be doing a Yo Gabba Gabba! signing at the Oni Press booth, on Sunday the 24th. I’ll also be on hand at Tr!ckster– it’s the new creator-con/retail space that’s basically the spot for people who want to meet comic creators, minus the noise and spectacle of the giant movie, television and video game displays that now dominate Comic-Con. I’ll have WRECKING SKULL available in their store, a piece in the Tr!ckster art book, plus several pieces of art up in the Tr!ckster gallery space. I’ll also be doing some guerrilla-style art happenings with colleagues, throughout the week. If you’re going to be in San Diego for the Con, you can follow my exploits through regular updates on Facebook and Twitter.

That’s awesome, sound like you’ve got your hands full! So… if you had to sum it all up in one word, what “fuels” your illustration?

Imagination.