BY JENNIFER M. CONTINO Artist Steve Uy tells us what it's like to "cover" and do some of the interiors for the new Legion of Super-Heroes comic book series based on the popular WB cartoon.
THE PULSE: So many people were excited when they heard about the new Legion of Super-Heroes cartoon that would be appearing on the WB. Were you a Legion fan? If so, what did you think of the characters and the style of the cartoon when you first saw it?
STEVE UY: Well, I wouldn't exactly say I was a Legion fan. I didn't even know what the Legion was, exactly! I'm not all that familiar with DC continuity. Of course, the name is familiar, but I automatically pictured the team as more like the JSA or something, not a bunch of teens, or set in the future.
I think the cartoon was up to the second episode when I was given cover duties for the first issue. So the style definitely threw me for a loop. I didn't even know there WAS a cartoon! I had to Google it first.
Anyone who knows my work knows that I dabble in the animated, but not necessarily "cartoony" style. I still stick with predominantly correct anatomy and all. The new Legion style is definitely as cartoony as they come, so I think I did a double take the moment I first saw it! The primary colors! Magenta on green characters! The Popeye arms and anatomy! I didn't know if I could pull it off to be honest!
THE PULSE: How did you become a part of the new comic series?
UY: Back in September, I did one Supergirl cover for Eddie Berganza. I don't know if that cover will ever see the light of day, but it was really popular in the offices. I did a couple JSA covers for Mike Marts, who was my one and only editor back in my Marvel days, and then Jeanine Schaefer just called me up out of the blue back in October saying that she loved my Supergirl cover and wanted me on Legion. So I did the first cover, it went well, and after doing two more, I got interiors for, I guess, the 4th issue?
THE PULSE: At this point in your career, what made you want to work on a series like this incarnation of the Legion of Super-Heroes?
UY: I did Feather back in 2003, Jova's Harvest in 2005, I never worked with any writer before. I needed a change, I think I was getting too complacent with my own style. To work in DC, you need a more realistic, non-cartoony style, so the chance that I would get a regular gig there was pretty slim. But then along came this, and even though it was more cartoony than I was used to, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to get my feet wet with someone else's script. To do a Kiddy book like this might not be as high-profile as the more mainstream stuff, but it's definitely more fun to draw and a great way to get back into the groove of things after having drawn only for myself for so long.
THE PULSE: How is drawing characters based on a television cartoon series different than just being the artist on a series where there isn't another media involved? Are there other "chefs" in the kitchen approving your artwork other than the editor?
UY: There's no one approving my work other than Jeanine, I think. She encouraged me to take a few liberties with the designs so I'd be more comfortable with them, but I'm one of those few people that remembers my childhood perfectly. If a kid buys a book based on a cartoon, they want it to look exactly like the cartoon. So in my mind, I had to stay as close to the original designs as possible, even though they might not look as good on the finished page. So there definitely was a "cut-off" point in so far as how "cool" I could get with the characters, which took me a very long time to get the hang of.
Designs for a cartoon are also much more difficult to draw because they have to look a SPECIFIC way. You really have to absorb another person's art style, and limit your own, which is something not everyone can, or wants, to do.
THE PULSE: How did you get to know this version of these characters? Did you have the WB Bible for the series to go over? If so, how did that help?
UY: Well, I had the internet. And Google. And I downloaded the first two episodes going into it. Reference was pretty limited, I only had one set of turnarounds to go with. I still use that one set for almost everything to this day. So basically, I had about as much info going into this thing as everyone else did at the time. Maybe even less, because I didn't even know about the cartoon, and only had a day or two to absorb the designs before jumping into the actual art!
I've had to redraw things a lot of times after the page was already finished because the ref I had at the time wasn't sufficient.
THE PULSE: Which member of the new Legion is your favorite to draw so far? Why?
UY: I think probably Lightning Lad. His facial structure is tricky, but his anatomy looks the most "normal" of all the characters, so I don't have to worry about his proportions too much. Plus, his color guide is limited, so it's a lot faster to color him than the others-- always a big plus.
THE PULSE: Who or what - outside their cartoon incarnations - is influencing your artwork the most in these pages?
UY: Since this is a DC cartoon, I wanted to keep it looking like a DC cartoon. Page for page and hour for hour, I'd probably be more comfortable with the Teen Titans or JLA cartoon designs, so I try to shoot for that style. Unfortunately for this first issue of interiors, I made the backgrounds way too detailed--wanted to give a good first impression, you know? But if I do more issues down the line, I have to seriously think about simplifying, even if it doesn't look as good in the end. I think the forced discipline would help me in the future.
THE PULSE: What's coming up in your first issue of Legion of Super-Heroes? Why did you want to draw the interiors for an issue?
UY: Cover work is nice... but when you're done, you're just sitting around waiting for the next assignment. I needed to keep working, so why not do an issue? Especially since the art team is revolving, perfect opportunity.
This issue I'm doing (Well, done is more like it.. just finished last week) involved Brainiac 5 going back to his home planet to retake his SAT's after bumbling a mission with the Fatal 5. So we've got a lot of action pages with a lot of characters, and a lot of scenic changes where the characters explore Brainy's home planet. So it was a good chance for me to take what people probably expect to see on Brainy's home planet and make a few "Uy" changes to it. So you're gonna see a lot more organics and atmosphere on Colua than has ever been depicted before. (Not that I really know how it's been depicted before...)
THE PULSE: When you're drawing the covers for a series, how tough is it to come up with that one image to capture all of the adventure going on within a story?
UY: Jeanine usually has a very specific image of what she wants, so I just have to put that on the page. For example, for the third issue, she just sent me reference for some old covers where the team was cowering from an outside threat and just had me do my take on that. Usually, I have a lot more freedom than that (with Mike Marts, he tells me what he wants to see and the rest is usually mine to take on). Since I don't know what's happening in the issue story-wise for, maybe 90% of the covers I do, I never have to second guess whether or not my work "captures" the adventure. Just that it has to look good.
THE PULSE: What's the process like for you to create a cover?
UY: Once I hear what the editor wants, I just do a rough sketch, usually that night and send it to them in the morning. Once I hear back and make the necessary changes, I just draw up the characters individually, color them on Photoshop, and just cut and paste them into the final page. Like a cel animation. This is also how I do everything else, interiors and all. So it was tricky at first, but now after five years, I can't do it any other way. Usually I can do a cover in 5-10 work hours. Depending on how long it takes the editor to get back to me with feedback, I can usually get a cover done in 2-3 days. That first JSA cover I did for Mike, I think for JSA classified #23, I did in one night after an emergency call from him one Wednesday (they needed it for Friday morning). It was credited to Alex Sanchez though... that dirty Sanchez!
And yes, it's all just Photoshop for the colors. That's the only program I use. No CGI or anything. People always ask.
THE PULSE: What are you finding the most creatively stimulating about working on Legion of Super-Heroes?
UY: The freshness of the designs. I was worried at first how I would pull it off because they were... well... not very cool to look at, but now that I'm getting a bit looser, it just felt like the right project at the right time to reinvigorate my art. I would have never used green on magenta, or neon green hair in any other medium, so the forced discipline was refreshing to me. Plus, it's nice to do a kiddy book... it's just good clean fun.
Anyone interested in seeing more of my work can check out my website at http://www.steveuy.com/ That's where you can see my old Marvel stuff, my creator owned stuff -- Feather and Jova's Harvest specifically.
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