Jason Howard talks to Saint James

Jason Howard has been making a splash in the comic book world with his work on The Astounding Wolf-Man, which follows the exploits of an average Joe bitten by a werewolf who attempts to use his powers for good, created and written by legendary wordsmith Robert Kirkman (of Walking Dead fame).

Jesse had a chance to talk to the Michigan native about The Astounding Wolf-Man, how living in the Midwest has affected his art, and what other projects he has in the pipeline.

SJ: How long have you been drawing comics and how did you get started in the business?

JH: My first published work was back in 95 or so. I was young and it was bad. It was for a small press publisher in Detroit. The same time I got the offer to draw for them I also got an entry level design job in the art department of a large corporation. The day job limited the amount of comics work I could do, but I continued to develop my comic making skills until I began getting more serious work offers to draw comics. The problem was that I was promoted several times at the design job, so the lower level comic work I was being offered couldn’t compete with what I was making there. So I focused mainly on small comic with loose deadlines. Eventually I met Robert, which led to some work with him and eventually Wolf-Man.

SJ: What’s it like working with Robert Kirkman?

JH: It’s good. I think most artists want to draw books that they would want to read. Robert was one of my favorite comic writers before I ever met him, so I feel fortunate that I get to work on his scripts.

SJ: As an artist is there a certain script format you prefer? Do you like scripts that lay out everything, or do you like having freedom?

JH: It depends. Robert writes full script, and I like having the information for the story, and it gives me a very clear direction to go when I draw a page. But sometimes when things are a little more open in the script it can be fun to play and let more of my ideas come out on a page.

SJ: You pencil, ink and color .The Astounding Wolfman How long does it take for each process and how long does it take to finish an issue?

JH: Wolf-Man is on a monthly schedule, so I have to finish an issue each month. After issue #7 I stopped doing most of the coloring in order to maintain the schedule. I still color the covers, but the interiors are colored by Fco and Ivan Plascencia. Doing pencils and inks takes me about a page a day, some pages faster some slower but over an issue it averages out.

SJ: You mentioned you were working on Wolf-Man for a year before it was released and while working a day job. How far ahead were you when Issue #1 was released?

JH: Not very. I had wanted to be several issues ahead but that didn’t happen. I think I was working on issue 3 when the first issue came out.

SJ: Who are some of your biggest influences as an artist?

JH: Todd McFarlane, Joe Quesada, Dave Johnson, Masamune Shirow, Brian Stelfreeze, and many many others.

SJ: What writers would you like to work with?

JH: I am happy working with Robert. There was a time where I really wanted to draw something written by Warren Ellis, and I still think that would be cool but really for any writer it would depend on the project.

SJ: When deciding to work on a project, what are the factors you look for in taking on a job?

JH: I usually ask myself if it is something that I want to draw and think that I will be able to learn from. But honestly its not something I have had to deal with much as I haven’t been taking on projects since Wolf-Man. When I was doing comics around my day job, I wasn’t concerned with making a ton of money from them, so I mainly looked for things that fit my schedule and that I thought would be cool to draw.

SJ: What’s a typical day in the life of Jason Howard?

JH: I have young kids so their schedules affect me some, but typically I start work between 8-9 am. I take a break for lunch and then work until 5 pm. Then I play with the kids hang out with the wife and do whatever else happens in life. About 3-4 nights a week I will work another 3-4 hours after the kids go to bed. I try to take most weekends off but occasionally deadlines will require me to work on a Saturday.

SJ: What are you reading now?

JH: I just finished the last 100 Bullets trade. I loved that book. The art is amazing. Also I recently read King City by Brandon Graham, that was a super awesome book. The art is great and the story is fun and cool.

SJ: What advice do you have for people trying to break into the industry?

JH: Be prepared for a lot of hard work. I could go on and on with a lot of different advice, but the main thing is to objectively compare your work to the BEST in the industry. You need to become a good judge of your own work and constantly be improving. Many beginners that I see who want to work in comics simply are not good enough yet. And they often make excuses that puts the blame for their lack of success on other people. Here is the reality, if you are really good people will WANT to work with you, if you are putting your work out there and it is not getting the response you want there is a good chance that it is not yet at the level it needs to be.

Once you get good enough, then there is still a lot of work to do proving yourself and showing people that you are timely and dependable, often this is done for smaller publishers for little money. The other thing is that the word “break in” is not really an accurate term to use. Meaning people often think that there is this door into the industry and once you go through the door you are “in”. But the reality is that to work in comics you will most likely be working freelance. Which means that you may not have consistent work, it also means that you will be running your own business. Therefore communication and other business skills become very important. As well as the reality that you can easily be without work, and may need to hustle to find other non-comics work to survive.

SJ: What’s the best thing about drawing comics?

JH: Drawing comics

SJ: How has going to school and living in Michigan affected your style and the type of work you do?

JH: I don’t know. On one hand I am sure it had a big impact as my work ethic and attitude towards things was certainly shaped by growing up in the rural areas of Michigan. On the other hand comics and many of the artists that inspired me to pursue art are not unique to Michigan, so I could have found and been inspired by them no matter where I lived.

SJ: How do you feel about Indy Presses, and do you see a trend with them one way or another?

JH: I like all kinds of books. I don’t really give consideration to who publishes a book if something looks cool to me I’ll pick it up and give it a chance. So I tend to read a bunch of indy books but I dont really know of any specific trends.

SJ: What do you have lined up in the future, as far as projects go. Will you be writing and illustrating anything, as opposed to just illustrating?

JH: Right now it is just Wolf-Man. I hope to both write and draw something in the future but no firm plans right now. Also with the recent announcement that Wolf-Man will be wrapping up with issue 25, I have another project with Robert that I will be doing. But it is still a good 6 months before I start working on that and I can’t discuss specifics yet.

Saint James Rapid Fire Bonus Round

Star Wars or Star Trek? Historically I would have said Star Wars hands down. But the recent Star Trek movie compared the the Star Wars prequels makes it more of a competition, Wars still wins but a couple more good Trek movies might tip the balance.

Favorite Movie? Currently I have to say District 9. I haven’t seen a movie that captured me like that in quite a while.

Bill Laimbeer or Dennis Rodman? That’s a tough one. I guess Laimbeer. I preferred pre-Detroit-championship Rodman, but I really respect the work ethic of a guy like Laimbeer who may not have been the most talented but was smart and could make an impact on a game.

Band to listen to when drawing? Lately I have been listening to Spoon. But it really varies a lot, lately I have just been plugging a song into Pandora and letting it play whatever it finds for me.