Terry Dodson will be making his annual appearance at Comic-Con International running July 20-25. He is sharing his booth again with Aaron Lopresti (#4706).
Terry will have two new exclusive sketchbooks premiering at the show titled Bombshells 5 ($15.00) and Reveries ($25.00, signed and numbered to only 500 copies). Both are 5.5 x 8.5 inches at 16 pages, plus covers. I had the good fortune to help Terry out a little bit with the production of them. Terry will also have original comic art from his recent stint on Uncanny X-Men and will be doing a small number of sketches at the show.
I asked Terry if he was willing to share some insight into these new sketchbooks, his work on Uncanny X-Men and for an update on his second Songes book that will appear this fall. He was kind enough to agree. Our question and answer session follows.
Flesk: Can you tell us about your new sketchbook Reveries and what type of material is included?
Terry Dodson: Reveries is sketchbook material related to the graphic novel series Songes featuring the character Coraline. Mostly the sketches are of Coraline, me trying to get back into the rhythm of the characters. There are studies that are preparatory for Songes 2. There are commission drawings of Coraline.
Also there are some prelims for Coraline related illustrations, pin ups, prints, covers. Finally, there are some actual panels from the second book that we are not using as there have been some tweaks made to the story.
Flesk: Are you working on Songes now and when can we expect to see the second volume featuring Coraline?
Dodson: Yes, feverishly!
I’m drawing the line art in pencil, then scanning that in and coloring in Photoshop so I’m doing all the art so it’s a lot of work but it’s nice to be able to do the whole thing myself.
Expect to see it both in Europe and here in the U.S. this fall! The US version will include both volumes 1 and 2.
Flesk: What does Bombshells 5 comprise of?
Dodson: A variety of stuff directly from my sketchbooks. First there are number of designs and studies for creator owned projects that will hopefully all see the light of day sooner than later. There are sketches and designs of preparatory work for ongoing works such as Uncanny X-Men and Songes.
Plus, there are sketches from life when I’m traveling– I find it’s the best way to capture what I see when out–way better than a camera! Finally, I look behind all the design and process of creating the cover for the sketchbook.
Flesk: Do you spend much time sketching for yourself or find that you drawing mostly for assignments due to time constraints?
Dodson: It’s off and on but I have kept a sketchbook regularly since I was 13. When I can I prefer to draw for myself. But I use the sketchbook constantly for work, especially all the preliminary designs and cover/pinup compositions. Also, for figuring out and reminding myself of future illustrations. Plus, I love taking one with me when I travel!
It definitely can be a struggle to find the time when working to simply sketch for fun. I generally try to find something to do a study of to at least force myself to work in the sketchbook and better myself as an artist. Pretty soon, I’m sketching away for fun and I have to put the book away in order to get some paying work done!
Flesk: You’ve just finished up a run on Uncanny X-Men. How does it feel to be a part of this legendary title?
Dodson: Real cool! I read the book growing up and always wanted to work on the characters.
I was offered the book a couple of times previously but this time it felt right and the timing was good. Matt Fraction gave me some really good stuff to work on!
Flesk: Are there any particular Uncanny X-Men runs by other artists you are inspired by or enjoy?
Dodson: Arthur Adams annual work on Annuals in the ’80s was what really made me an X-Men fan. My favorite run on the book was Jim Lee’s run. It really got me excited about comics again and pushed me to become a professional comic book artist. Carlos Pacheco and Chris Bachalo also have done some great stuff on the book. And I think my last favorite run was the Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely stuff!
Flesk: Did you find yourself making an artistic connection with a certain X-Men character?
Dodson: You know, I actually have worked on a number of X-characters over my career, so it was nice to reconnect with Emma Frost, Kitty Pryde, Storm, Beast, Nightcrawler and then try to put my stamp on characters like Cyclops, Colossus and Wolverine. Plus, I was able to do some redesigns and costume tweaks on characters like Dazzler, Dagger, Emma and Namor plus a host of others.
One thing about the X-Men, you draw a LOT of characters which I really enjoy doing on superhero books!
Flesk: Thank you for your time, Terry!
Enjoy,
John
John Fleskes
Flesk Publications
Dodson art and text © 2011 Terry Dodson
John Fleskes text © 2011 John Fleskes
Links:
Terry Dodson website
Bombshells 5 at the Flesk online store