FERGUSON’S 7 QUESTIONS WITH… JOHN MCCREA

For the 25th edition of 7 Questions we have an artist known for working with writer Garth Ennis on books such as Hitman and more books than I can count. Currently his work can be seen in the pages of Mars Attacks! Judge Dredd. He has more Dredd coming out with… well read on as John McCrea answers 7 Questions.

What was the first comic work you did that was published?

Centurions, a terrible toy tie in for London Editions

What is the biggest thing you have learned since that book?

Everything I think I’ve learned as I go along ends up being contradicted and debunked- except for the core 2, ‘every picture should be better than the last one’ and ‘hit your deadlines’…and even that one isn’t always correct, either…

What’s your process for drawing a comic book?

Read the script a couple of times, get an idea of the flow, amount of panels per page etc… then thumbnail it all out in a A5 sketchbook- I usually do this bit when I’m travelling, plane or train, as I enjoy it when I’m on the go. I find it frustrating to thumbnail at home as I want to be getting on with the inks. I then blow the thumbnails up on a photocopier and using a lightbox go straight to inks- a lot of the drawing is in the inks and I find that keeps the spontaneity of the work.

What is the biggest influence on your work?

Artists are my biggest influence- Sean Gordon Murphy, Matteo Scalleri and the American illustrator James Montgomery Flagg are who I am looking at most at the moment.

What are you working on right now?

Judge Dredd for 2000AD, a 4 parter written by John Wagner which is a dream come true.

What do you have out now or coming out next?

Mars Attacks! Judge Dredd, Dicks (a new 6 issue series with Garth [Ennis]) and the Dredd 4 parter.

What is your favourite Irish comic?

Half Past Danger at the moment.

EXTERNAL LINKS
John McCrea on Twitter https://twitter.com/mccreaman
John McCrea’s website http://www.johnmccrea.com/