Today, we are chatting with comic book artist and illustrator Fiona Staples, who is currently working on the Lovecraftian comic series North 40:

IFP: Lets start by talking about the comic book series North 40. What’s the premise?

FS: North 40 takes place in a small town in the Midwest, where two bored teenagers come across a weird old book. They open it up and accidentally summon an ancient evil that takes over Conover County overnight- turning some residents into monsters, giving others superpowers. The story is about how various locals deal with the insanity that’s been unleashed upon them.

IFP:How did you come to work on North 40?

FS: I’d worked previously with editor Scott Peterson at WildStorm, and he asked me to take a look at writer Aaron Williams’ proposal and do some concept art and character designs for North 40. I was really hooked by the idea right away!

IFP: What do you see as the biggest challenge in illustrating this type of series?

FS: Probably the density of the story and amount of different characters, creatures and situations in it. There is a ton of crazy stuff happening in each issue, and Aaron can really cram a lot of story into 22 pages! Other comics have long “talking heads” scenes, or pages where nothing much is happening if it’s a less-compressed story. But in North 40, there’s contantly something weird going on, so that makes it more work to draw than other things I’ve worked on. It’s a fun and entertaining challenge, though.

IFP: Do you have a favourite character in North 40?

FS: My favourite character is no doubt the old Sheriff. He’s really cool and competent, and he’s been around for a long time and seems to know how to deal with even the most bizarre situations…he has some of the best lines, too.

IFP: Do you have a favourite scene in North 40?

FS: My favourite scene is coming up in the beginning of issue 4, which I guess will be out in October. Without spoiling anything, it features Wyatt in a pretty intense and gory action scene. It’s the moment where, out of necessity, he really figures out how to use his powers and becomes a bit more confident in himself.

IFP: What is your design process like? Thumbnails, sketches, inking, etc.

FS: I do little 3-inch thumbnails to figure out the layout of each page. Then I scan those in, and take it from there in Photoshop. I basically use the thumbnails as pencils, blowing them up and doing a tighter layer of “inks” over top. I then colour everything in greyscale, overlay a watercolour paper texture, and then finally, add the colours on a new layer.

IFP: What are some sources of inspiration for your work?

FS: For something like this, I was really inspired by old EC horror comics, Creepy and Eerie magazines, and the horror comics of Junji Ito like Tomie and Uzumaki. They all use scratchy black pen lines to full effect, and have the most amazing and disturbing faces in them. I think the scariest thing you can draw in a horror comic is a really distorted face – that’s something I’m still working at. For the general appearance and atmosphere of Conover County, I was also influenced by the photography of William Eggleston.

IFP: How did you start working on comic books?

FS: I got into doing indie comics while I was at art college. I met a writer from Edmonton named Andrew Foley and we did this satirical vampire miniseries called “Done to Death“, about a serial-killing book editor. That was my first comic and it came out from Markosia in 2006. Enough people saw it, I guess, for it to lead to other jobs for me.

IFP: What artistic accomplishment are you most proud of in your life?

FS: That’s hard to say, because I’m usually proud of my work immediately after I finish it, but then I quickly become really critical of it and never want to look at it again…I am really proud of North 40 though, and I’m hoping it will still stand up a few years from now when I look back on it!

IFP: Who is your favourite comic book artist?

FS: I have a lot, but a few particular favourites are Jose Gonzalez, Jeff Jones, Dave McKean, Hugo Pratt, Junji Ito and Taiyo Matsumoto – artists whose lines look alive, where you can look at the picture and see, not only the story the comic is telling, but the story of the drawing being created.

IFP: What else are you working on?

FS: I’m doing covers for WildStorm’s new DV8 series, by Brian Wood and Rebekah Isaacs, and some other freelance illustration gigs like the occasional book cover. Happy Carbor Comics, a store in Edmonton, has an upcoming comic-themed art show so I’m doing a piece for that, too.

IFP: What is your dream project?

FS: I’d love to do something like Conan or Red Sonja, or even better, an original fantasy series of some kind. I think I’d really enjoy doing a fantasy book if it was done in a unique and sophisticated way, and that’s something I haven’t had the chance to do yet.

IFP: Can you tell us a bit about the comic book scene in Alberta? What’s it like?

FS: It’s pretty great! Calgary and Edmonton both have quite active communities of both fans and creators, and we get to mingle a few times a year – at the Calgary Expo every April, or at the various events and parties hosted by Happy Harbor. The Calgary bunch has a weekly drink & draw meetup which has been going for about three years, and that’s an awesome place to hang out with other artists and sketch and talk about nerdy stuff. There are also quite a few people around here self-publishing, and it’s never hard to find collaborators.

IFP: What is your favourite Lovecraft/Mythos story?

FS: I enjoyed “The Cats of Ulthar”. I am kind of crazy about cats.

IFP: If you could be a Lovecraft character or creature, who would you be and why?

FS: I’m not sure, maybe some kind of gypsy hag? Someone savvy enough to keep my sanity in the face of horror.

Bio: Fiona Staples is a comic book artist and illustrator based out of Calgary. Staples’ first published work was 2006’s Done to Death with writer Andrew Foley for Markosia. She was one of the illustrators of WildStorm’s Trick’rTreat graphic novel and the penciller and inker of The Secret History of the Authority: Hawksmoor, written by Mike Costa. She is currently working on North 40 with writer Aaron Williams.

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