Featuring...
Christian Zanier
Illustrator of Angel comics
continued from previous page...

Education Takes a Back Seat

After attending Arts College for a couple of years, Christian decided his talent lay in his work and not the books he was studying. "Yes, school never worked for me anyway and obviously it's too bad it's not needed as well. I think what's more important is your talent and your work more than the diploma. I only took Arts College for two years, but I didn't feel comfortable in it and I didn't feel it was doing anything. I just went out to try and get some work and I met a few people and it happened by itself. Now I'm doing the books." But that's not all he does as he explains more about the studio. "In the studio we're basically all illustrators because we do more stuff in the studio other than comic books. We do other work here for other companies. Actually right now we're doing Transformers, the cartoon, the TV show. We're just doing designs for it right now for the next season. Comic books won't be the only thing I will be doing forever. Comics will be a part of it but I'll expand into a whole bunch of different things as well."

He also surrounds himself with an array of talent and isn't slack on giving credit where it's due. "I have my assistant, who's a budding artist as well. He helps me with the backgrounds and some penciling when the schedule gets tight. His name is Marvin Mariano. His name's credited (Background assists) in the book as well. We also help each other around here too, so if we get into a jam the studio helps out."

"... commun-ication between the writers and the artists... is pretty rare right now."
And what is a typical schedule like? You'll be amazed at how many hands it actually goes through as Christian explains, though it's clear that he is undaunted by the process, "It's pretty basic. There's a certain time that the script is due on a certain day. They have to send in that script and it gets edited. Then the day it's done, they send it to me. They give me a deadline, which is usually 4 to 5 weeks, which is like 25 to 30 days. (24 pages a comic book) So basically I have pretty much a day, day and a half per page on average. But sometimes the schedules get tight and then I have a page or two even... Every time I finish a page I have to e-mail the page to the editor, then the editor has to send it to the guys at Mutant Enemy." Christian continues, "One of the producers over there, she's the one that looks at them. They go by her desk and then she sends a response back if there's any changes. If there's no changes, then there's an approval process. So I have to hold on to the pages until they get approved, then I send them to an Inker. The Inker does them, same thing, he's got a schedule, he's got to do them by a certain date... Finally, they send them to the colorist, then to the printer and so forth like that."


From Words to Art

And even before Christian gets to begin on the comic it first has to be written by, in this case, Chris Golden. I wondered if the two ever got a chance to talk prior to the art work being started to see if any ideas are conveyed as to the intent behind the words and if Chris likes what he sees. "Golden seems to be happy with what comes out onto pencil from his scripts," Christian begins eagerly, "so he doesn't really call me up. The editor, Scott, tells me that he likes the work all the time so he doesn't have a problem with it at all. Actually, communication between the writers and the artists, which is sad, but it's pretty rare in comic books now days. I've always felt it's a good idea to do that but it's up to [the writers] to initiate the relationship."

So who gets the script first? "[Chris] gives it to the editor. The editor checks and edits it basically then he sends it out to me." And then Christian has to interpret it just from the script what each of the panels will look like. "Ah pretty much," he explains, "he gives a basic description and then I feed off of that and then sometimes I'll try something extra. He seems to like it all the time so there hasn't been a problem with that so far. As an artist you've got to indulge sometimes because the writers are not artists, they can't really, 100%, picture what's on the page. Sometimes they miss something or something can be extended and as long as it's in the right vein they pretty much accept it as well. It's a collaboration almost in the end." The right vein! He didn't really just say that, did he?

"... I want to satisy the fan basically, I prefer to have [the comic] look like the characters."
A lot of creativity comes from Christian's interpretations, he has quite a responsibility in what the comic actually looks like as the final product. And the worst critics out there are not necessarily the ones behind the desks! Christian agrees, "Exactly! And a lot of times people dictate the quality of the comic book by the art work. I've got a lot on my shoulders basically. So if it's bad writing, I get blamed for it." (laughter) And in no means was he referring to Chris, which you'll see later as he continues, "You can't do much about that so you try your best to make [the artwork] as good as possible, you know." But how important are the little things? "The stuff like locations and inside the car he drives or things like that. Fans pick up on that kind of thing and they really appreciate it. Being a fan [myself] really does make a difference." He goes on to explain, when he first landed the job what Joss was looking for in the comic. "It was first to see likeness'. If I could do likeness' and stuff like that. And then they had to approve every page, but they're not as strict as they first were... Because on a monthly basis you only have as many days as pages so they have to be lenient on a few things. If it's not totally off they can't really complain, otherwise it will take forever to do the comic book. As long as it has a feel of the show, then they're pretty much happy."