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This week, I talk with my friend Brent Schoonover, the artist for Horrorwood.

DAVID HOPKINS: To make this official, for the record, you acknowledge our friendship and all that it implies? I’m interviewing you as my friend and thus I probably know more about you than the average idiot with a comic website.... and you think I’m awesome. :)

BRENT SCHOONOVER: You are awesome, your wife is on a roller derby team for crap’s sake, that alone makes you awesome by association, oh and your stories are quite good as well.

DAVID: And you created the logo for my wife’s roller derby team, the Deathrow Rumblers. Thank you for that. I’ve seen it on a banner. Looks great.

BRENT: It’s one of the few images I’ve made that I would happily have plastered on anything, shirts, coffee mugs, panties, etc....we need to Cafepress the hell out of that thing!

DAVID: Our friendship started as we began e-mailing each other a few years ago. I respected you as a comic book artist who was also just getting started within small press. We had no professional obligations to each other, and so we could give advice get feedback, or bitch about stuff, without any agenda. Later, we met and hung out in San Diego. Now I even bother you on the phone ever so often. Since that time, how has your perspective changed on the small press comic book industry?

BRENT: I don’t think there is this huge block in my way anymore. When you want to get into comics, you feel like there is this killer party going on that you can’t get into. Eventually you meet a guy who knows a guy, and all the sudden you’re inside this party you’ve been dreaming about for so long and you realize that it can never be as big as what you thought it was in your head.

DAVID: That’s a good way to describe it. Some people are so obsessed with “getting in the party” they’ve forgotten why they wanted to do comics in the first place.

BRENT: Yeah, plus the business side of comics is something that takes a lot of trial and error, but you really need to get a strategy quick cause the minute you know you’re getting published, there’s this whole other side of comics a lot of aspiring creators don’t even think about. Most indie publishers don’t just take care of all that themselves, which they shouldn’t. You gotta get involved and learn the process. It’s definitely something that “kills the party” pretty quick if you’re not prepared.

I remember talking to you when my first comic work came out, an 8 page story in an anthology, and how anything after this, whether it be a major character or self published thing, will never be as big of a thrill to see on the stands cause you can only have that “Oh shit, my comic is on the shelf!” moment once. I’m glad I got it out of the way before I did Horrorwood though, otherwise I would have freaked and dreaded putting anything on paper cause I knew it was going to be horrible and it was going to published. So I’d say the biggest change in perspective about the small press industry is that it isn’t as unreachable as you might think, and when you do get there, don’t expect a red carpet. Just a bunch of broke dudes hanging out next to Lou Ferigno and Virgil.

DAVID: Your series Horrorwood has been a critical success for Ape Entertainment, as well as for you and writer Brandon Terrell. It’s an interesting mix of genres. Very noir retro, just like The Phantom Shadow you illustrate for Cold Case Comics. Did you jump or were you pushed into noir?

BRENT: I was held at gunpoint actually.

DAVID: Ha. I figured as much.

BRENT: When I was a kid, we had this TV show host on this channel called Super 18 based out of Madison (WI). He was called Uncle Don and he looked like a Zombie/ car salesman/crack head. He carried around this fake fish and hosted movies, usually old gangster flicks and horror films. I remember one night the Steve Martin movie Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid came on TV followed by Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman. As a young kid in the 80’s I think it was pretty weird for this 10 year old kid to be watching these black and white movies when he could have been watching MotleyCrue videos on MTV, but I just got sucked into so much that it was really just going to be about gangsters and monsters from then on. In college there was actually a class on film noir I took and who doesn’t want to take a class where your homework is to watch a bunch of Edward G. Robinson movies?

DAVID: Small Press means the creators have to do a lot of work to promote their own series. We’ve talked about this a lot between just you and me. The responsibility is placed on our shoulders. What can be the most frustrating thing about self-promotion? What’s the most rewarding? Any suggestions you’d offer?

BRENT: Let’s see, there can be so many frustrating things, but I gotta go with, for me anyways, indifference. Whether it’s posting images on a forum that fails to generate any response or at a show when you get the stone-eyed kid who stops by your booth but has no intention of buying anything without a Micheal Turner cover. Anymore, when we go to a show I have such a need to be at the booth the whole time cause I really don’t want to miss a chance to get my book in the hands of someone who might enjoy it, so for me, knowing I can never do enough is always tough.

DAVID: Absolutely. You know your mass audience is out there somewhere, but you keep wondering: Where are they? They don’t seem to be coming to the conventions.

BRENT: Exactly, I think it’s also, for me anyway.... for all the years I came as a fan, it got to a point that it came to if I wasn’t going to get something going on the creative aspect soon, I can’t keep coming to these same old shows as a fan anymore. I’ve seen and been involved in comics that way for too long. So becoming a creator has sort of revitalized my love for the industry.

The best thing really, is calling retailers. It’s something I thought I’d hate but have grown to love.  If they’ve got your book in stores, most of the time they’ve read it themselves as a lot of store owners check out their indie titles to make sure they are worth continued orders. So we can talk about it like geeks and mostly, they are fanboys too and like to ask questions and instantly you know not only is this person a fan, but he’s going to order the whole series and promote it. When this happens you feel pretty awesome. So I’d suggest to anyone, the best thing you can do every month you have a book in Previews is call or go into a comic store, and send free copies, cause if they like it, they’ll order it.

DAVID: I need to send more free copies. Often with my deadlines, I’m getting the book when they are! The retailers are awesome.

BRENT: It’s a great thing, It really is key for indie guys to take the attitude that, your first audience is the retailers, yeah pre orders are great and hitting forums is important but I’d say calling stores is the best thing to do. Plus you can develope a relationship with these guys for future books, it’s a good long term aspect to promotion.

DAVID: You are both a comic book artist and a freelance commercial artist. Dude, you got to illustrate a Honey Nut Cheerios box! Any other interesting projects you’ve worked on?

BRENT: Let’s see, I just did the BOO BERRY cereal box that is out now. That was cool, the creator of Count Chocula actually spoke at my college graduation, he was an amazing illustrator but his name escapes me right now. I also just did an online video game for Continental Airlines. It was very art deco and came out very great. Sadly it just went down or I’d post the link. I’ve also done some kid’s apparel stuff for Target. It really changes every day.

DAVID: You are a very versatile artist. As a commercial artist, it’s an invaluable asset. Odd as it may sound, as a comic book artist, can it be a liability? How has each of these careers helped or hindered the other?

BRENT: Being versatile artist got me gigs with my art rep. They really didn’t need to add me on but when their main artist got too busy they’d give me work cause I could adapt to their style. This eventually lead to finding my own path and getting work on my own with my own work. It just took time. On the flip side this becomes a problem when you get work for a style you hate doing, but did it cause you needed the job.

As a comic artist it plays out in a way that it’s nice to get to work on something that is completely your own, and can put your name on it. From the art stand point though it’s hard to stay focused on keeping it consistent when one day you are doing a freelance job that is one style, and they next day it’s a totally different style. It’s hard to just shake those off and sometimes it shows up on the comic page.

DAVID: I’ve known a lot of artists who will get hooked on a particular idea for their art—a way of drawing something, or even a specific subject. They’ll fixate on it for a few months, and then move onto something else. It’d be difficult to change back and forth with your style throughout the day. Is there anything you do when you approach a new page to “shake it off” and return to your own style?

BRENT: I actually had the opposite problem, if you threw down some Essential Spidey right now I’d be on a John Romita SR. kick, then in a few hours I’ll dig through my stash and find some Mike Hawthorne stuff, and I’d be like I need to incorporate some more of that, it’s like artist A.D.D , but I’m going to meetings and working on and it’s cool.

Actually you bring out your sketch book and doodle for a while and get those urges out of the way. Alot of times it’s more of a character I gotta draw more than anything, you jsut get obsessed with them till you get them. I think I’ve sent you a few Superman sketches, recently it’s been Iron Man.....

DAVID: You graduated from the Minnesota College of Art and Design. They’ve have been quite a few talented comic book artist who came out of Minnesota. Was this college particularly comic book friendly or no?

BRENT: MCAD was great, I highly suggest the school to anyone who’s thinking about going. The teachers and courses are top notch. Having said that, the comic program was a baby when I went there, like three years old, maybe more. They hadn’t quite had it figured out yet but they had great teachers who would fight for it, mainly Peter Gross (Lucifer) and Barb Schultze (Micronauts). At MCAD things are broken up in divisions, media, design, and fine art. Comic fell into design along with illustration, it was tough as MCAD’S graphic design division was like the football team of the school, they couldn’t be smurfin with. So when you’d go to these meetings and try to get money for Scott McCloud or Daniel Clowes to come, it was a struggle. Thankfully it’s gotten better and as we’ve had some great people come out of there like Tania Del Rio and Ryan Kelly. Me and Ryan actually taught summer classes there this year and it was a pretty awesome experience.

DAVID: I remember. I called you during one of those classes.

BRENT: You did, and I answered, wasting my students money… but it was worth it, I think I was in moving and work overload.

DAVID: What’s your daily routine look like?

BRENT: I start my day at 5am, love getting up early, draw till about 9, which is the most creative time of the day cause then the phone starts ringing or emails start coming in and you can’t get anything done for the rest of the day. Keep working till about 5, my wife comes home and we go to the gym, or for a run or walk. Come home have dinner, I put another hour or so into work, she’d watch Law and Order, I’d stop for awhile and watch the news and hang out with her, and be in bed by 10:30 or so. I can’t do that staying up late stuff anymore. I hate it. If I get a storyboard job I instantly get pissed cause I know that I’m going to be up till 3:30 or 4.

DAVID: This is really different from a lot of artists I know. Where did it come from? Most stay up all night.

BRENT: I used to stay up all night in college, along with friends and roommates. I think after I moved in with a friend who had the nine to five job I sort of changed with that, plus I just like working and being able to see something outside. Night time my body really just shuts down and tells me to stop creatively. I’ve always been able to get up rather easily and without any coffee or cigarettes, so why not?

DAVID: And how many weddings did you attend this year?

BRENT: So far I’ve attended 5 of seven, and I’ve been in three so far. I’ve got a nice shelf in my studio of groomsmen’s gifts all bought from Thing’s Remembered.

DAVID: I bought my each of my groomsmen a copy of “High Fidelity”—the movie, not the book.

BRENT: I wish I was one of your groomsmen, need to get that movie still. I made cigar boxes and filled it with cigars (naturally) and made a logo on it with my names and aged it up to make it look old.

DAVID: How is it for you and Nicole living so close to the Minnesota State Fair?

BRENT: I love our new house, it’s coming along nicely. I finally have a studio room and don’t have to draw next to the kitty litter boxes. The fair just wrapped up and it was great. We could see fireworks from our backyard deck and you could hear all the bands playing from our house. They had The Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth, Steve Miller Band, Kenny Rogers and Poison, which sounds like a great super team putting all those bands together now that I think about it.

DAVID: I want to be Flaming Lips! Thanks for the chat, Brent.

BRENT: No problem thank you!

For more information about Brent Schoonover, CLICK HERE.

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