How to Draw Month: Ray Fawkes
Dec 30, 2016
 |
For How to Draw month, PREVIEWSworld talks with artist Ray Fawkes! Ray is a writer and artist who has most notably worked for DC Comics and published his creator owned work through Image Comics, including Intersect (MAR150538) and his latest series Underwinter (JAN170663) in stores March 2017.
**********
PREVIEWSworld: Who were your favorite artists growing up?
Ray Fawkes: My favourite artist in comics was (and is) Bill Sienkiewicz. The first time I saw his work in Marvel’s New Mutants, it utterly blew my mind - I just love the expressiveness and the energy of his pieces in any media.
It was Bill, too, who led me to many of my other favourite artists. I read an interview that he gave once, and he mentioned a few mid-century illustrators - guys like Bob Peak and Bernie Fuchs - who I went and looked up, and I fell in love with all of their work. I still spend hours staring at their movie posters and magazine work, and I’m consistently inspired by their incredible sense of style and craft.
PREVIEWSworld: Were you self-taught, formally educated, or a combination of both?
Ray Fawkes: I’m self-taught. My first efforts were a result of trouble finding someone to illustrate my comic book stories - or trouble paying artists what they’re worth. I just ended up picking up an ink brush and telling myself that I’d learn to draw so that I could put the stories out there.
PREVIEWSworld: Talk about your studio environment. Do you watch or listen to anything while you draw?
Ray Fawkes: My studio is all about controlled chaos. I work between a drawing table (piled with paper and art supplies) and a desk (piled with scripts and reference materials) and I roll my chair back and forth between the two as necessary. More often than not I listen to music while I draw - just put on a mix of tunes appropriate to the mood, or one of my favourite internet radio stations - and go all day long.
PREVIEWSworld: What tools do you prefer while drawing? Pencils, pens, art boards, etc.?
Ray Fawkes: Heh. I usually answer this question with “whatever’s within reach”. I work mixed-media, making heavy use of water-colours, coloured pencils, ink, and acrylic paint, but my work also incorporates masking tape, staples, bits of paper or canvas, saran wrap - literally anything that will help me achieve an effect I’m going for. I’m not shy about grabbing something and seeing what it looks like when it hits the paper.
PREVIEWSworld: Are there any books you would recommend to help with art?
Ray Fawkes: I’m very much from the “study what you love” school - I’ve got lots of books about technique and tools, but the most useful books in my collection are all just printed reproductions of my favourite paintings and illustrations, which I will literally go over with a magnifying glass, trying to figure out how to achieve similar effects.
PREVIEWSworld: Do you prefer drawing by hand, digitally, or both?
Ray Fawkes: I prefer drawing by hand. I have nothing against digital tools but I’m a very tactile artist and need to feel what I’m doing in a way that digital just doesn’t satisfy.
However, often I’ll use digital tools to finish a work, or to assemble it for print. I’m not a purist by any means. Whatever works, works.
PREVIEWSworld: How long does it normally take to draw a page?
Ray Fawkes: I’m quite speedy, and usually turn out two or three pages a day.
PREVIEWSworld: What’s your favorite thing to draw?
Ray Fawkes: I love drawing faces, trying to capture living expressions. I’m endlessly fascinated by people and their varied shapes and emotions.
PREVIEWSworld: What's the most unique thing you've been asked to draw at a convention?
Ray Fawkes: I just did a commission for a fan who asked me to paint a portrait of his cat - that’s about the most unique request I’ve ever received. I’m usually asked to draw characters and monsters with a darker bent, so it’s rare for me to get such a warm, fluffy subject.
PREVIEWSworld: Finally, what’s the best advice you have for beginning artists?
Ray Fawkes: This is probably the same advice most everybody gives: draw, draw, draw all the time and never stop. Draw whenever your hands are free. Draw every day. Fill up sketchbooks, pads of paper, whatever. Every piece you do improves your understanding and your instincts, and the skill and confidence it results in will show itself in your work.
