July, 2008 | Dog Eaters

Interview with Guillermo A. Angel

Posted on 07.31.08 under Interviews

Dogs Eaters artist Guillermo A. Angel has been pretty busy as of late working on the book and trying to stay ahead of deadline. But we managed to catch him for a few minutes of downtime to ask him some questions about the series!

BlackDogClan: How did you get into the comic book industry?

Guillermo A. Angel : Since I was a child, my hobby was always DRAWING, and I’ve always liked different kinds of comics. However, is not easy to develop as a Graphic Artist, and just impossible to do in the comic industry, since local comic book industry was FROZEN. It almost vanished for many years in Chile, due to a strong cultural change that came from political issues that led to a very low artistic development in every aspect (music, theatre, etc). My generation didn’t take part directly in it, at all, but we all grew up in that atmosphere, and against all that, I was able to keep myself surrounded by things that kept my interest in art, like comics, animation and videogames, but in an absolutely SMALLER scale compared to USA, in cultural terms.

When I finished School, I studied Graphic Design at the University of La Serena (my birth place). However, I never felt happy with it, and continued cultivating my dream of becoming a comic book artist. I quit University, and after many years of trying local projects, and even a quick second try studying Architechture, I received an invitation from a friend to join a National Project, which allowed me to move to Santiago and develop as a comic book artist and Illustrator. The rest has been all by self-promotion, mostly by the DEVIANTART comunity, where I have my gallery, and could meet many other artists outside CHILE, and the chance to work for other countries, just like with Dog Eaters.

BlackDogClan: What are some of the projects you’ve worked on?

Gullermo : Back in La Serena, between 2004-2005, I participated in different Regional projects, like art workshops for school kids and young people, and different exhibitions at different times. By that time, I was creator with some friend, of a Graphic Novel project , to present it at some National Art Financing contest here in order to be able to publish it, and become some sort of small editorial magazine. Sadly, it wasn’t approved.

Then, since 2004, I became an Illustrator for SALO S.A., based in Chile, and I’ve worked for their TCG’s "Mitos y Leyendas" and "Humankind", which has been the best "self-learned" school I’ve had. In the Comic book Industry, the main project I was part of is "Berserker Comics", an editorial born in 2004, directly from a group of Artist friends that decided to give a twist to the poor situation of Local Comic Book production by that time. I was finally making short stories all by myself, drawing and painting, for "Berserker magazine," a short stories magazine. But again, tragedy struck, and we never had a second issue for the main publication. I kept then working as illustrator, designer and letterer for different projects in order to stay alive — always as a team, ready to do any requested job , pencils, inks, colors, etc, until most of us took our own paths.

BlackDogClan What have you enjoyed about working on Dog Eaters?

Guillermo : OH there’s a whole EVERYTHING I’ve enjoyed in this project, but If I have to choose only one thing, it’s FREEDOM!… the exquisite chance to create and design a whole world described in the story, and not being limited to already done designs, is unique. Everything you see in Dog Eaters has been created from words on a page and nothing else, always with the help and advice of Malcolm and Sean, which has been a very inspiring labor, sometimes difficult, but always fun. It takes a piece of myself on every detail, and I’m very happy with it.

BlackDogClan: Who’s your favorite character so far, and what do you like about them?

Guillermo : I have two favorite characters, without a doubt.

First comes Tommy "Tomahawk" BlackDog… from the very beginning I knew Tommy was my favorite. He’s just the coolest guy on "that" earth, He’s tough, troublemaker, an incomparable Casanova, and can shoot better than anyone. In the early designs, he looked just like Stevie is now, but then I found just the right idea for him, and Stevie ended being the old Tommy. If you search a bit, you can figure out some more about him.

My second favorite Character is Tracy Black Dog, because she’s like a small precious stone in that tough lifeless world. She’s cute, she’s brave, and very smart. The thing I like the most about her is her courage. She confronts anybody and says what she wants and spits it in your face. She fears no one. She is also a great shooter, and can shoot those big machine guns. Nothing stops Tracy, at all.

BlackDogClan: What’s been the most difficult part about working on this story?

Guillermo : It’s funny, but the same reason I’ve enjoyed so much, it’s the same reason that makes it difficult…. freedom.

Creating and designing a world for the Black Dog Clan is a very long difficult and complex proccess, where you never get the absolute perfect point in the creator’s vision and the artist’s vision. However, there’s balance after many ideas, but getting to that point is the difficult part. The world in Dog Eaters , that "earth", is the result of many events in time, evolution in a fast small scale, etc, so visually and functionally, it must speak by itself, and tell that story in some way. Nothing can be done without thinking on the background for it.

Guillermo A. Angel is the pencil artist for DOG EATERS. You can see more of his artwork at http://giye.deviantart.com.

[Interview] The Characters of Dog Eaters, with Creator/Writer Malcolm Wong

Posted on 07.16.08 under Interviews

Yesterday, we explored the world of Dog Eaters . But today, we’re talking to creator Malcolm Wong about some of the burning questions we’ve had about the characters.

BlackDogClan : What can you tell us about Bevan White Eagle, and the place he comes from?

Malcolm Wong : Bevan is from the Pacific Northwest. His tribe is more technologically advanced than the desert people. He is passing through the desert on a mission to South America for his tribe when he is ambushed by Roaches. The Black Dog Clan saves his life.

BlackDogClan : What’s up with Bevan’s quest?

Malcolm Wong : Like the Black Dog Clan, one of the coming of age milestones is the “vision quest.” Psychotropic plants are ingested and the vision that each boy has informs the goal and purpose of his life. But this is something that is not expressed to any and everyone. In contrast, Tommy has learned to “see” vectors, trajectories, and deflection angles – which makes him a marvelous marksman.

BlackDogClan : Who’s better in a fight — Tommy or Stevie?

Malcolm Wong : That’s a tough question. Tommy is a better shot, but Stevie has a more level head. If you were to compare them one-on-one, in a quick fight, probably Tommy. But Stevie thinks ahead, strategically.

BlackDogClan : What’s Chunga’s story? How long has she been with the clan?

Malcolm Wong : She was born into the clan.

BlackDogClan : Who’s really running the clan … Lamont or Rebecca?

Malcolm Wong : Lamont is the chief, but Rebecca is also very necessary for the survival of the clan. Rebecca has the long-term vision and is the spiritual leader and healer. Lamont is the muscle. He has kept the clan alive against larger and stronger forces when other clans have been defeated and scattered. Some of these defeated clansmen have been absorbed into the Black Dog Clan.

BlackDogClan : Is Bronco a Roach, or just really friendly with them?

Malcolm Wong : Bronco’s father established Three Palms and while Bronco was born there, he is of Roach stock. While there are some genetic differences between Black Dog and Roaches, they are still able to interbreed.

BlackDogClan : There’s a picture of a girl named Rose up in the gallery… who is she?

Malcolm Wong : I’d love to tell you, but, you know… you’ll just have to wait until the Black Dog Clan reaches Three Palms in issue #2 to find out!

Thanks to Malcolm for answering these questions!

[Interview] The World of Dog Eaters, with Creator/Writer Malcolm Wong

Posted on 07.15.08 under Interviews

Dog Eaters is set in a setting unlike most of the comic books you’ll read — rather than starting out in the streets of a city, it opens in the desert amidst a ruined civilization. And while a lot of comic books focus on the present, Dog Eaters is set in a future that was ravaged by the petroleum age, where technology has taken a backseat to survival.

Today’s interview is with Dog Eaters creator Malcolm Wong, and focuses on how he came to create the world of the Black Dog Clan.

BlackDogClan: What inspired Dog Eaters ?

Malcolm Wong: DOG EATERS was first written as a spec screenplay. Because a spec is not an assignment, I could write whatever interested me, whatever I wanted to imagine. This is a movie that I want to see! The next best thing is to have it be a graphic novel. I’m really excited about this.

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An Interview with Script Adapter Sean J. Jordan

Posted on 07.14.08 under Interviews

Excited about DOG EATERS? So are we! So every day this week, we’re going to bring you interviews with members of the creative team!

Up first: Sean J. Jordan , the writer/editor who adapted the story for comics.

Black Dog Clan : How did you get started in comics?

Sean J. Jordan : In 2001, I took a class in college on comic books as literature at the University of Illinois, under an instructor named Dan Yezbick. Dan worked really hard to make the class comprehensive, and he covered everything you could ever want to know about the medium — the roots, the history, the underground comix movement, the indy books, and so forth. We actually only read two superhero books — The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen . We used Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud as our textbook, and we read tons of articles from The Comics Journal . We also read through the works of creators like Carl Barks and Will Eisner, both of whom were absolute geniuses.
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