Believe it or not, The
Goonies is actually a film I have never seen all the way through in one
sitting. This, however, cracked me up so much that I plan on remedying that as
soon as possible!
Once again, I had the distinct honor of interviewing a
member of the IDW My Little Comic book team. This time it’s a new artist to
IDW’s stable: Artist Jay P. Fosgitt! The artist for the soon to be released 11th
issue of My Little Pony: Friends Forever! Featuring Rainbow Dash and Spitfire!
So, who was Jay’s favorite pony to draw? How did he end
up working on the comic? And why does a runt of a troll and an undead duck keep
popping up everywhere I look up this guy’s name?
You can find out all of that, and more, after the break!
I usually start these interviews by asking who your
favorite pony is, but I think I’ll change things up a little bit. So, to start:
how did you end up working on My Little Pony: Friends Forever
I've been friends with Katie Cook for the past
six years, as long as I've been working in the comic industry. Katie was kind
enough to recommend me to her editor, Bobby Curnow, who liked my artwork and
put me to work MLP almost immediately.
Having now penciled and inked issue eleven of Friends
Forever, were there any challenges that came with drawing a cast of equine
characters?
The biggest challenge was remembering to draw wings on all the Pegasus'! Fortunately, Bobby has a keen eye, and always let me know if I left one wingless before we went to print!
How did you first get started with art?
I started drawing when I was two, and I showed an aptitude for it, I'm told. By the time I was five, I decided--and proclaimed to anyone listening--that I was going to be a cartoonist when I grew up. I spent the rest of my life fulfilling the prophecy!
Who are some the major influences on your art?
My biggest influence is Jim Henson, creator of
The Muppets. We corresponded when I was twelve, and his art and personality
continue to influence me to this day. I'm also very influenced by animators,
particularly Chuck Jones (Loony Tunes), Eric Goldberg (The Genie from
"Aladdin"), Ralph Bakshi ("Wizards") and Chris Sanders
(creator/designer/co-director of "Lilo and Stitch" and "How To
Train Your Dragon").
What was the big take away from your time in college and
how does that apply to your art?
While I had some very influential art
courses and art professors, the best education I received was through working
on my school newspaper. I was the staff cartoonist, but I also learned the
basics of newspaper production, and got my first taste of using Photoshop. All
of this figured largely into my work in comics today.
Out of every artist I’ve interviewed thus far for the
series, you have one of the most interesting entries I have ever seen listed on
your resume. And it’s something that you’re still doing after twenty years. So,
how did you start doing party caricatures?
When I was a senior in high school, a local
talent agency called my art teacher to see if any of his students could draw
caricatures for a corporate Christmas party. As a burgeoning cartoonist, I was
the most qualified of my peers, even though I'd never drawn caricatures before.
I landed the gig, and it became a sideline that's served me well for over
twenty years now.
You must have some interesting stories to tell after 20
years of doing that. What is one of the more memorable parties you’ve done
either positive or negative?
Years ago, I drew caricatures for a middle
school event. This little girl came up to be drawn and told me her name was
Charlie. I drew her caricature very cute, with long hair and big curly
eyelashes. She looked at it confusedly, and walked away. Three more little
girls came up, and the little red haired girl in the middle says to me,
"Just so you know, I'm a boy. I just don't want you making the same mistake
with me that you did with Charlie." That was embarrassing!
In December 2009, Ape Entertainment published a one shot
trade paperback of what would become one of your most popular web comics two
years later. So, how did you create this version of the Grim Reaper known as
Dead Duck?
When I was fourteen, I came up with the idea
of a duck who worked as a minion for the grim reaper. I gradually developed
this concept over the course of several years, and in 2009, "Dead
Duck" became my first published graphic novel.
Any particular moment stand out as either the most
challenging of the series to work on, or as the most memorable?
While working on "Dead Duck", I
contacted cartoonists who I admired, asking if they'd contribute pin-ups in the
book. A pin-up is another artist's rendition of your characters, typically used
as a back-up feature in a comic. I heard back from Chris Sanders, creator of
"Lilo and Stitch". He was the nicest guy, telling me how much he
enjoyed my work, and he agreed to do a pin-up. When I received his art--a
drawing of my Dead Duck's sidekick, Zombie Chick--it was so beautiful that I
was in tears just looking at it. The neatest thing was that Chris didn't have
time to complete the background, and asked me if I'd mind drawing a tombstone for
Zombie Chick to be leaning against. So not only did Chris Sanders contribute
art to my book, but I got to draw his piece with him!
Any word on when the world will see his return?
I'm pretty preoccupied with "Bodie
Troll" and my other comic work, so it won't happen anytime soon. But I'm
sure Dead Duck will rise again one day.
After Dead Duck was released by Ape, you released a small
trilogy of creator owned titles for Little Green Men. What can you tell us about these literally
little green men?
Ape had an idea they wanted me to
develop--three aliens based on The Three Stooges who would try to invade Earth,
but discover that Earthlings are giants compared to them. They gave me the
character names and some sample artwork to use as a jumping off point for their
designs, but I had a free hand to create the book my way. We did three volumes,
and it was good training for the all-ages comics I'd produce in the years to
come.
How big of a jump was it going from working in a macabre
fantasy to something more science-fiction in nature?
At first, "Little Green Men" was
supposed to be an edgier comic, with humor akin to "The Simpsons",
which wasn't too dissimilar from how I wrote "Dead Duck". But after
the first volume, Ape decided they wanted it to be more kid friendly, so I had
to tone down some of my bawdier comedy instincts, which was tricky. Switching
from macabre to sci fi wasn't too difficult, though I'd never been much of a
fan of sci fi, and frequently found myself putting the aliens in non-sci fi
situations just to keep myself entertained.
2012 saw the release of two more creator owned titles
from you and Ape Entertainment, Dino Duck and Old McMonster's Haunted
Farm. What inspired these two characters?
Ape had ideas for two more all-ages comic--one that saw a tribe of
prehistoric ducks battling for evolution supremacy with apes, and another that
took the classic Universal Horror Monsters and re-imagined them as cartoon
animals. As with LGM, I was given the character names, but I was left to
conceive the books' plots, locations and character designs myself. In the case
of all three Ape titles, they owned the concepts outright. I was just a hired
hand, though I did most of the development on the books myself.
Speaking of new properties, a trade paperback came out back in
March for Bodie Troll. How did you originally come up with the idea for a troll
who is too cute for his own good?
I
had met "Hellboy" creator Mike Mignola back in 2010. We became
friendly enough that I felt comfortable submitting some work to him--I had
written and drawn a two-page story about Hellboy as a kid, where he traveled to
Norway and experienced his first crush, who was a girl troll. Mike and his
editor liked the story, but there hadn't been a Hellboy anthology in awhile, so
they had no place for it. I liked the troll character I'd created for it, and
decided to develop a comic around it. As I crafted this fairy tale world for
it, the character took on more of my personality, and eventually became a boy
troll named Bodie. Bodie's cast of characters were hand-picked from older or
uncompleted concepts of mine, and refined to fit the fairy tale mold.
Is Bodie a fully grown troll who just happened to get very
“unlucky” with his genes or is he still a young kid growing up in the world?
Bodie is as physically
grown as he'll ever get, though he is certainly a runt by troll standards.
Emotionally, Bodie is a ten year old in a troll's body.
So far, four issues have been released of Bodie Troll, and I
cracked up during all of them. The first two issues were one shots with the
last two being a two part story. Which issue did you have the most challenges
putting together?
Issue one was the biggest challenge. When I
pitched "Bodie Troll" to Red 5 comics in 2012, I'd had a full script
written for the first issue, but only had the first four pages completed, which
were drawn by me, and colored by Evan Shaner. Once Red 5 signed me on to
produce the comic for them, I had very little time to complete that issue.
Harder yet, I couldn't afford to hire anyone to color the rest of the book, so
I had to teach myself very quickly to color similarly to how Evan had done it
so the book had a consistent look. It was a trial by fire, but it taught me a
lot, and I'm still very proud of that first issue.
Was there any sequence in these issues that stood out as
particularly memorable? The various plays in issue two always get a good
chuckle out of me.
I love the action sequence in issue four, where
Bodie and Baby Fat Scott escape the villages by floating up into the sky. The
humor of Baby Fat Scott farting played simultaneously with the peril of Bodie
dodging falling objects, and I think it was a fun and unique result.
I know at New York Comic Con [NYCC] that you were having
a very interesting sort of advertising campaign going on for Bodie. Or rather,
he ran into you at NYCC promoting himself, right?
I have the best friends you could ever ask
for. My friend James Wojtal, who is an extremely talented puppet builder,
created a Bodie puppet for me, and delivered it to my hotel room in time for
opening day of the con. And my friend Kelly O'Hara, who is also a very talented
painter, dressed herself as Cholly, and carried the Bodie puppet around the
con, and greeted people coming to my table. It was a one-two punch of
promotional ingenuity, and James and Kelly were the main reasons for its
success.
In September you announced that Bodie will be getting a
second mini-series, published by Red 5 Comics, and that he will be the
headliner for Red 5’s Free Comic Book Day [FCBD] issue. Is there anything you
call tease to us about either of those two projects?
The Bodie FCBD issue will find my troll in
the most torturous event of his life--a five year old girl's tea party! And
issue #1 of the new "Bodie Troll" mini-series will put Bodie in even
greater peril, as he's pursued by a tribal monster hunter!
How does it feel knowing that your work is going to be
given out for free on FCBD 2015?
It feels wonderful! I'm thrilled to be
putting Bodie in the hands of fans for the third year in a row--and this year,
Bodie will be the headliner of Red 5's issue, and will finally be featured on
the front cover!
And that brings us back to working for IDW on My Little
Pony. Having drawn the issue by now, which character ended up proving to be the
most fun to draw?
Spitfire was my favorite! While most of the
ponies have long, flowing manes and are kind of regal looking, Spitfire is much
more of a tomboy, with her short, spiky mane and hip aviator goggles. That's
the kind of character I enjoy drawing the most!
On page one of the issue (as shown in the itunes preview)
you managed to throw in a cameo of Planet Express’s lovable janitor Scruffy.
Would it be safe to assume that other pop culture references might crop
throughout this issue?
I have to confess, the janitor pony wasn't
based on anybody, and I didn't slip in any other cameos within the issue.
However, on the variant cover I drew for the book, you'll notice the violet
Pegasus eating Spitfire's mane has a cutie mark resembling a familiar little
troll...!
You can find Jay
Fosgitt online on:
His website: www.jayfosgitt.com
Deviant Art: http://jayfosgitt.deviantart.com/
You can follow Jay
Fosgitt on:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JayPFosgitt
Blogger: http://jayfosgitt.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jay.fosgitt
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/jayfosgitt/
