INTERVIEW: Dan Davis speaks to James about Captain Luck! Part Two

[Interview originally conducted for Cartoons Dammit! Superblog 22.5.08]

JAMES MCLEAN: What research did you do to generate such a classic comic strip template for Captain Luck?

DAN DAVIS: Well a lot of it is just ingrained up in my head from years of reading strips and comic strip reprints. I've kind of absorbed the story pacing of a daily comic strip and it seemed natural to write Captain Luck that way.

I did analyze a few styles in particular including Tintin, Terry, Annie, Dick Tracy, Captain Easy and Alley Oop. I wanted Captain Luck to kind of slot in there on the funny pages with a familiar yet new look. In particular I wanted to use "cartoon eyes" for Cap and Wink to ground them firmly in that comic strip tradition and it seems to be one of the first things people notice.

MCLEAN: How did you approach the design of the characters?

DAVIS: I wanted Cap to be the hero type, but with a little bit of a tussled hair look. He's a good guy who might get knocked down on his seat at times, but will figure out a way to win in the end. Wink's the nervous tech guy, a little smarter with that stuff than Cap is but Cap's got him beat on practical horse sense. They work well together.

MCLEAN: Your website features a video that shows Dan Davis hard at work on an entirely digital set-up! Can you give us a little technical detail to your new digital entourage of tools?

DAVIS: I had been sliding towards digital for the last 5 or 6 years and went all digital with a Wacom tablet about two years ago. But recently I was able to get a Cintiq drawing monitor and can draw right on the screen. It really feels like drawing on paper now, more than when I used a tablet, and I'm completely happy with it, except I don't have any more original art (sigh).

MCLEAN: I notice on the video you are left handed - did that ever cause any problems with smudging before going digital?

DAVIS: I would adjust on paper by inking the right side of the page first and as most inkers do working on two or three pages at a time to let ink dry. Because you're constantly rotating the page around I think it's about the same as working right handed and both ways can result in smudges and accidents.

But early on I learned Milt Caniff drew left handed, so I never worried about it after that!

MCLEAN: How long does it take you to finish a single news strip page for Captain Luck, and has switching to digital decreased the time it takes to finish a piece of art?

DAVIS: Digital is definitely faster. No erasing and filling in blacks and corrections are a breeze! A Captain Luck page takes me about 2 days which is really a good chunk of my work week, but I'm expecting it to go faster as I do more of them (Subtle hint to vote for Captain Luck to see more!).

MCLEAN: What problems have you suffered with digital? Are there any cons?

DAVIS: As I mentioned, no more original art. In every other way it has been perfect for me.

MCLEAN: Do you think more comic artists will be following your footsteps to an entirely digital set-up?

DAVIS: I hear from guys everyday who want to get a Cintiq and are close to taking the plunge so I expect they'll become much more common. And I expect like all tech stuff the prices will drop. I should be a salesman for them!

MCLEAN: Who's sexier, Rita Castro from the Captain Luck or Supergirl?


DAVIS: Rita of course, she has a bit of the bad girl in her!

Thanks Dan!

INTERVIEW: Dan Davis speaks to James about Captain Luck! Part One

[Article originally published for Toon Zone News 24.5.08]

Dan Davis is a professional artist working as a penciller and inker for many mainstream titles. He has worked on Justice League, The Batman Strikes!, and Green Arrow. He's currently working on The Simpsons comic, Samurai Jack, a new DC mini-series called Family Dynamic with J. Torres and Tim Levins, and the Harry Potter 6 coloring books.

Dan is also writing and illustrating a brand new comic strip of his own design called Captain Luck starring Captain Luck and his sidekick Wink Goodwin. You can view this comic for free at Zuda.com and vote for it in the current competition that closes on May 31, 2008.

MCLEAN: You have a new comic strip at Zuda.com called Captain Luck - what can you tell us about this story?

DAN DAVIS: Captain Luck is about two treasure hunters who live in the Bermuda Triangle. With the Triangle as a setting you can be sure they'll get mixed up with all the mysteries that the region is known for, like disappearing ships, UFOs, weird lights and sightings under the water, and strange electromagnetic forces. Maybe even time travel and ghost pirates and of course sunken ships, treasure, and ancient mystical relics!

MCLEAN:With the Bermuda Triangle featuring so prominently in Captain Luck, would you have a personal interest in mysterious phenomena?

DAVIS: Yes, I've followed that for years and kind of enjoy the unsolvable mysteries of paranormal phenomena. Is there anything to them? Will we ever be able to prove any of it? I was always reading books about UFOs and strange mysterious places and powers and still catch a lot of those types of shows on cable. And the thing is, I'm somewhat of a skeptic, but I'm always kind of hoping we'll get proof someday and solve some of these mysteries. My personal theory is that there is science out there that we just don't understand yet. And I know that it all makes for great jumping off points for good exciting stories.

MCLEAN: How did Captain Luck come about? What were your inspirations beyond the tale—there seems to be a rather retro vibe in both the framing of the story and the artwork.

DAVIS: I tried to give it a classic comic strip adventure feel, mixed with a cartoony style like the old Sunday comics used to have more of, yet set in modern times. I always wanted to have my own strip, so I set it up kind of like a weekly Sunday comic page so that each page has a beginning, middle, and gag or cliffhanger at the end of the page, yet still advances the story. I think of it as kind of a Terry and the Pirates meet the X-Files by way of Tintin!

MCLEAN: Did you ever have a personal favorite news strip feature?

DAVIS: Loved Alley Oop as a kid. A time traveling caveman with a dinosaur! What's not to love? V.T. Hamlin sent me an original strip in answer to my fan letter and I was hooked on comics! I just devoured all comic strips and later comic books. Too many favorites to name them all.

MCLEAN: Captain Luck is running as part of a webcomic competition hosted by DC's Zuda.com website. Do you enjoy the competitive edge that audience polling brings?

DAVIS: That's a new experience for me. I like the feedback and comments, since I'm usually kind of isolated working alone in my studio, but I wish all the strips could just have a place to present their full stories without the added stress of will they or won't they win the race they're in and get to continue. It may be a way to build interest and involve the readers in the strips though, so that part's good! I've had a lot of great comments, but of course it all comes down to votes and we're going to need every one of them to win, so I hope everyone will stop by check out the strip and hopefully take the time to vote for Captain Luck so I can continue on!

MCLEAN: What made you choose to run Captain Luck as a webcomic?

DAVIS: Adventure strips don't seem to be viable anymore in the Sunday comics, but on the web you can take advantage of all the space and color you want and build an audience that can easily return to follow a story. Webcomics are growing and I wanted to jump in.

MCLEAN: There has always been a question about commercial viability in webcomics. How do you see webcomics finding a place within the comic industry? Is its role more of a showcase for new material or does it have monetary value for creators and the industry?

DAVIS: Zuda sounded like a good step in the right direction, and when I heard about it I thought it might be right for me. It sounded akin to the comic strip syndicates, and since Zuda.com was backed by DC I thought I'd try it. As to the future, I'm sure comics will eventually find themselves making money on the web. It's all going digital and I'm hopeful more publishers will set up sites and use comics to attract readers to those sites just as newspapers did.

MCLEAN: How different is it to be in total control of a comic rather than part of a team effort?

DAVIS: I've enjoyed collaborating, but who doesn't like total control? It's just more satisfying to see something through from idea to the final coloring. And I can rewrite even as I'm lettering and move things around for last minute ideas or to make things more pleasing to the eye, so I think you end up with a better product.

MCLEAN: And somehow you're finding time to work on Captain Luck along side your other commitments? You are doing a lot of work for DC at the moment. How hard is it juggling these various titles and the stylistic requirements from each?

DAVIS: I'm used to the juggling by now. At times I've been the inker on series, and that's about all you have time for, but I truly enjoy the variety of work I'm getting, and bouncing back and forth between styles keeps me from getting bored! I stay busy, but I'll be more than happy to squeeze in some more time for Captain Luck! I've only got to draw the first part of the adventure and I want to see how it all comes out!

MCLEAN: Your website www.dandavisart.com showcases a video of yourself at work as an entirely digital artist. When did this change in approach to your art come about and how difficult was the transition?

DAVIS: I taught myself first by doing some digital coloring with a mouse of my own scanned-in art and then later getting a Wacom tablet for that. Once I was holding a pen it was natural to try to ink and draw. Some things though were still coming out better on paper so I inked half the page on paper and then scanned in the pages and finished them on my computer. Then as software improved I was able to go all digital about two years ago. The Cintiq was the last piece in the puzzle for me. With a tablet there's a bit of a disconnect between drawing on the desk and looking up at a monitor where your art "appears", but with the Cintiq I can draw right on the monitor, and it has a feel of pen and paper that is quite remarkable as to how sensitive and accurate it can be.

MCLEAN: You're penciling and inking some more Samurai Jack. Are you a cartoon fan? Did you watch Jack before getting the gig drawing him?

DAVIS: Yeah, I'm a cartoon fan and of Samurai Jack in particular. It was one of my favorites and I was always impressed with the designs and tone of the series. So when they asked if I'd want to draw some, I jumped through the phone and grabbed it! It delivers what I've always believed is possible, fast action stories with a cartoon style! That's what I hope to do with Captain Luck.

MCLEAN: Wink Goodwin is a classic name! What's Wink short for—and should I name any future children after him?

DAVIS: You could if you want him to be able to bask in the glow of being named after a popular movie character when they make the Captain Luck movie in about 10 years! I have a back story as to how he got the name, but I think I'll save it for the strip. Glad you like it!

(Competition is now closed).

PART TWO TO COME!

M.A.S.K Volume 2 confirmed!

After a long wait, the UK region 2 DVD of M.A.S.K is almost confirmed as a go! This DVD will carry the remainder of season one and the short lived season 2.

I'll be doing the cover, interior artwork and there is some talk (but nothing definite) of a special feature that might involve yours truly. All is subject to the usual gremlins that can change, bugger or halt the release of a product. Should be looking at starting work soon on the title!

When the final definitive 'yes' comes through, I'll let you know!

Doctor Who Trailer Maker and the art of Fan Video Montages!

Just for the sake of irrelevancy, I've been enjoying the Doctor Who Trailer Maker (UK only). A sort of Flash Imovie variant that allows you to compile preselected clips, sound FX and music together into one 30 second piece.

It's a great little way to pass.. well, a few hours. I've always been big into editing. I did music editing/production at college, produced a single and even heck, I still still cut and remix music tracks on the old laptop. Even in less technical mediums, I enjoy the editing process. I've been working on a script for a Quarry Grove animated proposal as well working with the author supplying additional material to his second book. I love editing - its a fascinating process. In the book I'm writing part of the satisfaction comes from the swap, cuts and changes that comes in the post edit of a chapter.

So this little Doctor Who Trailer Maker has got me spellbound. Sure, I could make my own with far less bugs on Imovie, but that requires the tedious research of clip compiling. No, what I love is editing - choosing from required clips, searching for the most appropriate cuts and splicing in synchronization to a score. The Trailer Maker allows you to do that, albeit with a few glitches.

First off - as you'll see on the following links (UKers only unfortunately), a couple of plays will give you slightly different transition points - this makes it very hard to make a tight edit. When I had finished and saved the trailers, I found that the more smoother playback option (only available once saved and dusted) revealed hiccups that were not present in the suite. One of the trailer maker's good points is it does allow you to - with a little difficulty - manipulate what elements of a given clip you use. Problem is, the suite doesn't make the cuts very clear so on final playback you see a hint of a pre-directed cut within in a clip that was never in your suite playback. The second clip has a couple of instances of this - watch out for the slight glitch in the "Blink" segment.

Another problem that presented itself in the second clip is memory capacity. The trailer maker only has a limited memory size, and with the second clip running fast cuts to the pushes in Gold's score, it counts those mere seconds as full clips. Therefore you find your trailer is so crammed, gremlins start taking control - in particlar, loss of sound! And after a few hours your final clean up gets somewhat marred in your efforts to hear the music that accompanies your clip! Makes it very hard to touch up those transitions!

My other grumble is the lack of non-talking clips, and the different sound quality in clips with sound. The latter problem informs the former; when the sound levels vary, you need to look at nulling the audio on the clips (which Trailer Maker allows you to do), of course this creates a problem in what clips you can have. How so? Well, it's an issue that so many fan video montages fail to understand - if you are running a silent montage to music, DO NOT use clips with people talking. It's sloppy, distracting and immediately looks amateurish. But when a great deal of the available clips have a great a deal of chat - especially the primary Doctor sourced material, it makes it hard to create a decent cut.

But overall, it's a fun piece of Flash software that shouldn't be taken seriously. It would be great to be able to easily adjust and tighten your selective choices, but it really is a resilient program to anal perfection.

So anyway, here's my two attempts. They aren't brilliant - more thanks to the choices at hand and the buggy nature of Trailer Maker - oh, and the fact I'm not a professional, just an over-enthusiastic home video editor with a sheer love of splicing!

Before I finish, here are my 5 pieces of advice to those who enjoy the thrill of making homage montage for their favourite show!

1. Keep your clips short: I see this so much on Youtube, fan videos which just let clips roll on and on and on, letting the production crew behind the clips do the editing work rather than the fan! Don't be lazy and don't let the clips you are montaging do all the cut work.

2. Don't use clips of characters conversing, unless the audio is present. It looks unprofessional, distracting and plain weird.

3. Don't do chronological. Nothing is worse than watching a montage which is an episode from beginning to end - to music. Be creative, look at how the music can work with the clip to invoke its own special relevance!

4. While it's great to link clips to particular lines in songs, don't over-rely on this technique. Music is an evocative medium, sometimes far more than the lyrics themselves, don't allow yourself be dragged down in making a video too focused on complimenting the lyrics - go a step further and see if it can match the mood as well!

5. Try using music other people do not. Popular scores/pop songs that have had serious over-use include Requiem For a Dream, virtually everything by Linkin Park and Green Day, or that famous song by Evanescence. Especially avoid Linkin Park with Final Fantasy - it's been done to death.

Anyway, here are my sloppy, buggy Doctor Who Trailer edits. Try and enjoy!

Trailer One (done a few months back)

Trailer Two (done yesterday!)

Hilarious.

All voice work sampled from James Earl Jones. Too much time on some people's hands - but I'm glad they have, as this is brilliant.