The D.C. Conspiracy is starting a weekly feature called "Three Questions." We're kicking off with a brief interview with Evan Keeling, a co-founder of the D.C. Conspiracy.
1.) Aside from comics, what media (film, music, etc.) has inspired you in your work?
Film has been a big influence on my art. For a while a wanted to go into video editing so I studied a lot of video and film technique and I feel that has had a lot of effect on me as a visual storyteller. It has also had a big influence on my story pacing and visual flow.
Music is also a big influence on me and is a big part of my life. I am always trying to find ways to combine my love of music and comics.
I'm hoping one day I can figure out a way to combine all my passions into one big mega-project so I can work on it all at one as opposed to know where I have to many ideas and not enough time.
2.) What formal art training have you had and how has it helped you?
I have a degree in graphic design and have taken classes in all sorts of media from illustration to furniture design to digital video editing. My schooling in graphic design has had a big influence on my layout and visual presentation.
Early on I didn't think about putting too much design into my comic art and I would just put the text in any old way. Usually it was hand done and very rudimentary. But one day one of my design teachers saw a comic I was working on and complimented me on my drawings but he was bothered that I paid so little attention to the text and titles. This critique really clicked for me and led me to push harder to have good flow integrating my text and my pictures. I now strive more and more for good design in my work.
3.) How has your illustration style changed over the years?
My style is evolving constantly. A few ears ago my style was heavily influenced by gothic style illustrations like Edward Gory and Guy Davis. Then I really got into silver age comic book art like Neal Adams and Nick Cardy. Recently I have been trying to combine those elements together with more cartoony styles to create a dynamic and flowing action oriented style. Separately I have also been developing a big foot animal style for that I am really having a lot of fun with.