Monday, May 4, 2009

Nate Doyle

Nate Doyle is a dear friend of mine. We work together at Forbidden Planet, a comic store in Manhattan. Talking with Nate about art has helped me through more insecure moments with my own work then I can count. While the artwork I make couldn't be more different then Nate's, we both love comics in the same way. My own love for all types of drawing and cartooning seems more sane when I talk about it with him...he's one of the few people that is equally excited about Dragon ball Z AND the most avant mini comic currently making the rounds. Working where we do, we're constantly surrounded by drawings. Nate really helped me appreciate this and let it seep into my art.

Nate is also an incredible artist---I hesitate to even mention our friendship in fear of obscuring my admiration for his talent. Nate, I think, is a wonderful storyteller. When i look at his work, I can't help but read it. It reads itself...and this is in spite of its often heavy brushwork. usually, the only comics that read effortlessly to me look like Tintin---thin lines. Nate's work is thick, but still reads so easily. I also get out of Nate's work what I get out of Blutch: such enthusiasm for drawing that you cant help but want to make comics yourself right away.

You can find out more about Nate's work here:

His minis are available through Sparkplug Comics Distro. The Archer was called one of the best minis of the year by Fantagraphics' Eric Reynolds.


Usually I'll either plan on doing some work, or spontaneously decided that I'm going to draw, paint, etc. once home from work, or finished reading or something like that, I make an attempt to draw or do a comic everyday, but realistically that never happens, so I try to at least do something in my sketchbook. I usually start with something in mind, either from what happened during the day, a song or from something I just read and then go from there. Most of the time my drawing just consists of getting out of habits and actually looking and thinking about what it is I'm actually drawing. When I really get some momentum I can draw easily for hours, I kind of lose track of time, but probably an average of two or three hours when I do get some work in. I'll wake up get some food, put on a record and go, or when I get home from work later in the day I'll just plop down in front of the desk and escape from retail jail...


A lot of that I guess, I tend to ask for opinions or show my work while its in the process to get a better idea of how people are going to read the comic, if there are story telling issues, what doesn't work for the drawing and so on. With a longer story I usually revise the thumbnails two times, and cut or add panels where it seems like the story and panel composition will benefit. As for illustration or just sketchbook drawings, I can be pretty anal with how one line can look, or something like that, I always have a whiteout pen or some of that deleter white ink around, because most of the time I'm never satisfied or happy with how things turn out...


Lately with a long story I've yet to really start I've outlined the whole thing, which is new for me to have completed. Most of the time if I write it all out first, I get too overwhelmed by the fact that it's all just words with no images, so I prefer to work it all out at once, sometimes having an image on the paper makes the writing process much easier and go smoother. And a lot of story ideas come from notes I find in my pocket weeks later or from simple sketchbook drawings. So, most of the time its images and words at once, that seems to work best for me.

It's a little of both. I like to have some panels stand out individually, but I also really enjoy how the images can all work together on the page. I feel that's an integral part of comics, panel-page composition can emphasize elements in the story that make it more impactive to the reader, it also makes it more interesting to work on, manipulating not just an image in a frame, but several or more frames as one larger piece.


mechanical pencil (for fine line stuff)
blunt 6b pencil
G-pen (small-similar to hunt 102- and large nibs)
pentel brush pen
dr martins hi carb ink
deleter white ink
muji brand white out pen
sizes 2, 6, 8 brushes
colored pencil, markers, watercolor paints (any brand, whatever looks best)

I use 12" x 9" watercolor paper, it's rougher than most bristol, so I can get some decent brush effects out of it and is what I've been working on lately I also like 14" x 17" 500 series vellum, that too has some heavy fibers and I like how it takes the ink I use, it gets really rich blacks. So I guess the rougher the paper the better it is, I hate plate or smooth bristol, I feel like I have no control over my tools.

Yeah, I read way too many, it's sort of overwhelming when I look at the piles I have laying around of read or half read books. And I try to read a lot of different genres and whatnot. As far as foreign books go I dont hesitate to pick up untranslated books, I feel that by just studying the art and visual story can help one learn an intense amount and even encourage an almost natural sense of story telling. I definitely feed off the energy from reading a good comic, or looking at interesting/exciting drawings, sometimes I keep a pile of books handy that have been getting me thinking around my desk to light that spark and keep me motivated. It weirds me out when people who make comics don't read them...what's the point in having no interest in something you have a passion for?


No, I don't, unfortunately. I work 40+ hours a week in a comic shop, its kind of a bummer because even though I'm surrounded by books I love I come home wiped out with no interest in drawing due to late nights or bummed days...I wish I could spend less time at my job and more time at my desk or wrapped up in a sketchbook.

9/ do other artforms often seem more attractive to you?

Ehhh, I get torn between music and comics a lot. Being in three bands and stuff is pretty time consuming and makes finding time for drawing a bit difficult, its nothing I'd want to do professionally it's just for fun. But I'm always fascinated with illustration or fine art stuff, film too, but I don't think I'd really prefer it.


A lot of artists I grew up admiring, Bill Watterson, Akira Toriyama, Nate Powell, a lot of whom (Powell and Watterson especially) I read interviews with now and find it exciting that we share similar opinions on social, political and artistic topics. But my friends who make comics and who I talk to about making them are people I have obvious kinships with and those relationships and admirations are very dear to me.


Yes, having a group of friends, teachers or peers to discuss/critique work, or just to socialize with who are doing the same thing is insanely encouraging and rewarding.


They're very supportive, a couple of things I've done have been published and they are so psyched to see it, buy multiple copies and funny things like that. My whole family is actually very encouraging, although they think the stories I write are too sad. They've never read Crooked Teeth though, and sometimes I think it should probably stay that way...


This is a tough one. I think a story's style really depends on the idea behind it, y'know? But sometimes beautiful drawings are more than enough, especially since I don't speak French or Japanese, but the drawings are amazing.

14. is drawing a pleasure to you or a pain?

Goes both ways, sometimes its the most gratifying experience I've ever felt to draw, and other times I want to put a bullet in my head.


Never "artist". I dunno, its not something I say right away a lot, generally when asked "What do you do?" I'll say I play music or draw comics or something along those lines.


Not so much Kirby or Ditko, but cartoonists I know whom are older, who I look up to, seek advice from, I do sense some connection. When I had Mazzuchelli as a teacher in college I feel we bonded a lot as far as being excited about comics, old and new and talking about story ideas, techniques and not so exciting things such as paper, but still maintaining that enthusiasm for the topic. I can't say if I feel that way because of personal relationships with cartoonists or not...Its all sort of foreign in that way.


No, the idea of never drawing again makes me upset.

18. do you draw from life?

Yes, a lot actually. I like figure drawing a lot and drawing on location is something I'm quite fond of.


For more serious things I always pencil first, the tightness varies a lot on what's going on in the panel or how excited I am about it. But for diary or sketchbook comics I'll pencil very little, just things like angles or when I'm less confident in what I'm about to draw.

20. what does your drawing space look like?


andreas schuster said...

wow, thanks for this post.
i did not know nate and i´m happy to put his blog into my RSS.

Brittney Sabo said...

To the author of this blog: Thanks for this blog! You do such a good job of finding artists to introduce. I have found so many people I never knew existed through this thing.

Steve Lafler said...

I love the photo of the drawing area, it makes me want to go draw right now!

Anonymous said...


Anonymous said...

My father always cheated my mother because he told her that he would go to buy comics and he went to the pharmacy to buy Generic Viagra them my mother thought that he was great.

Annie Curtis said...

Great points you make here, agree with just about everything.

Free Movies Online

Anonymous said...

Relating to redesigning your home one of the big changes you can make is usually to change to hardwood flooring surfaces. While tearing out the earlier carpet is not exactly the most enjoyable way to spend an afternoon UGG Boots Sale, it can lead to perhaps one of the more significant financial investments you'll ever make in your home. The only problem should be to choose the right form of flooring. Many different hardwood flooring brands are you can buy. Hardwood flooring exudes elegance and adds much it to your residence when installed. Under the lights UGG Boots Outlet, the long shiny tory bruch sale, polished UGG Outlet, smooth boards of hardwood flooring discover a method to simply radiate. Truly hardwood flooring is normally stunning under any mild. Installing hardwood flooring into your personal property can also offer you will more sophisticated design options also. First Discount UGG Boots, you can select the sort of hardwood flooring you desire to install. The different types and sorts of hardwood flooring provide subtle variations in your grain and color. Each shade of wood flooring has it own various colors and hues. Hardwood flooring can be found in different different shades from cherry so that you can deep mahogany to straight forward oak. Each type of hardwood flooring has an entirely new color pallet. Not only does setting up hardwood flooring into your house add elegance but it could be much more durable than carpet. If you have pets or children you won't have to replace wood floor flooring like you would assuming you have carpet. Children spill food as well as beverages UGG Outlet, while cats and dogs have their own individual agenda. Hardwood floors Discount UGG, however swarovski jewellery, are highly durable and won't need to be replace. You can simply clean the spill up and you're ready to go. Should something affect the floor structurally, it can usually end up being buffed down or sanded. In the end there are a number of options why purchasing hardwood flooring are usually beneficial. The variety gives one many options and reassurance knowing that you will find exactly what you are searching for. And should you like to sell your home later in life, you'll have more gives because your hardwood flooring does not just increase the value of your abode UGG Boots Outlet, it will also afford the buyers more options once the time comes so that they can decorate. So, whether you are setting them in anticipation of going top dollar for your dwelling or just because you need a change of environment thomas sabo, you will find it again with new hardwood floor covering.

huong duong said...

I read the father confided that choking heart. A father willing to take the car to teach Coffee Museum to buy nice cars for children. A father these days dare to read what people write for fear of seeing the insults, floss erosion