ECBT 2000AD - David Roach interview! Questions please!

[shaolin_monkey]

Hi all

Flint will be interviewing artist David Roach of Dredd, Anderson, and Nemesis (and much much more) fame shortly.

Many of you will be familiar with his incredible work on the hallowed pages of 2000AD.  If not, check out this (hopefully accurate) Wiki page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Roach_(comics)




This is your opportunity to ask David your questions. 

Ask away - the more contributions from you guys, the more we can learn about his fantastic contributions to the success of 2000AD!


I don't have a deadline date as yet, but I know this is coming very very soon, so get in there folks!!

[Frank]

Thank you for serving as the prophylactic between Flint and this forum, Mr Monkey!

QUESTION: David has a very restrained, naturalistic style; how did he approach translating the exaggerated aesthetic of Kev O'Neill's Nemesis - where the characters look as if they were drawn with a geometry set and the buildings look disgustingly anatomical - to suit his style when he was drawing the Purity-Brown-focused story of Nemesis Book Eight? How do you find photo reference or a life model for a Warlock?

[judgerufian]

Was he pleased when his depiction of Judge Anderson was chosen for the recent pint size LRD?

[shaolin_monkey]

Thanks for those questions, both!

There must be more people who would like to ask him stuff?

Some interesting facts about Mr Roach:
- he has a massive collection of original comic art from around the world
- his repertoire extends far beyond 2000AD (for examples, see Wiki above)
- he is a published author

Want to know more?!? Ask him some questions!

[Steve Green]

What strips he would like to have drawn or would like to?

How he feels about artists transferring to digital and what his experience of working digitally is (If at all)

[8-Ball]

What is his working day like? Does he do his stuff like a regular nine-to-five job or is it crazy hours? What strip or comic book title has he always wanted to do but has never been asked?

[Frank]

One of the oddest strips you did for 2000ad was a three part Anderson story called The Prophet (645-647), which featured a guy who thought he was a robot and made his wife sit on the floor with a goldfish bowl on her head pretending to be a telly.





TWO QUESTIONS: the art was presented in an odd greyscale format - can you remember if this was because the pages were painted and the story was originally intended to run in full colour (the comic went full colour shortly after the strip ran), or was that a stylistic choice on your part?

Secondly, were you using Kim Basinger as photo reference for Anderson on that story, and is photo reference more of a help or a hindrance? Isn't it difficult to marry images of the character you produce using photo reference with those created from your own imagination?

[Eamonn Clarke]

When will we next see his work in the Megazine?
Will it be a new character?

[shaolin_monkey]

Thanks guys! Good questions there.

I'm going to keep this bumped, 'cos I just know you lot have enquiring minds, and won't want to miss this opportunity to ask something!

[Frank]

When I was a kid, I divided 2000ad artist into two schools - LIKE BOLLAND and LIKE MCMAHON. I had you down as belonging to the Bolland school, alongside contemporaries such as Barry Kitson and Chris Weston. Was the decision to adopt a more or less representational aesthetic a conscious one on your part, a result of your influences, or do you reckon Mick McMahon and Ditko were drawing everyone with big feet and as silhouettes filled with stylised cosmic psychedelia at primary school?

[shaolin_monkey]

Nice one Sauchie! Keep them coming!

Another David Roach fact! Did you know he lives in South Wales, and has been sighted over the years in Cardiff comic stores with other 2000AD luminaries?

Here's proof - an autograph and sketch I got when I was 15, in a comic and record fair in St Mary's St Cardiff on June 25th 1988!




(I completely forgot I had that! Dug it out of an old diary just now, for the first time in 22 years !!! )

[james newell]

Hi David,  You are an expert at drawing beautiful women, I only know you work through 2000ad and it appears to me (maybe only to me) that most of your work in 2000ad involves lead or central female characters in the stories you work on, are you the go to guy in 2000ad for this type of story or might it just be a coincidence.

Also who are you influences in the art world?

thanks
james

[shaolin_monkey]

Keep the questions coming folks!

[Trout]

"Do you think that interviewers should think up their own questions?"

[shaolin_monkey]

Don't worry, we have a few up our sleeves. This is just a great opportunity for everyone else to ask theirs too.