The following is an interview with critically acclaimed artist Lewis LaRosa on launching a Kickstarter campaign for the hardcover collection, Carbon Based: The Art of Lewis LaRosa, in collaboration with Oni Press. In this interview, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief Barbra Dillon chats with LaRosa about his experience in revisiting his body of work, the incredible backer rewards available through the campaign, and more!
Barbra Dillon, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief: You recently launched a Kickstarter campaign in conjunction with Oni Press for Carbon Based: The Art of Lewis LaRosa, an oversized hardcover collecting nearly 25 years of your incredible artwork. As you look ahead to the combined collection, what has been your experience in revisiting your body of work?
Lewis LaRosa: Thanks for having me! It’s been a wild ride going through over 20 years of work for my Carbon Based art book. I’m not the fastest, most productive artist, but after a couple of decades, it does pile up! What has been nice is seeing that there has been a lot of growth. At the risk of sounding immodest, there were things I was trying to just scratch the surface of when I launched The Punisher MAX in 2003 as a 24-year-old that I’m now able to do as a cranky old man, and then some. That said, I’m painfully aware that there is still so much room for growth, because I’ve always had the tendency to focus on my mistakes, flaws, weaknesses, and outright failures. That can be dangerous if you dwell on them but useful if you learn from them and try to do better. At a certain point you realize that that is all ok, you’re just a flawed (carbon-based heheheh) human being trying to make art, and there is no one right way to make it. Mistakes are part of the process. There’s no such thing as perfection. There are no bests. This isn’t sports, it’s not a contest. You try to get a handle on the fundamentals, sure, but at a certain point it becomes about developing your own unique approach, your own techniques, your own voice, personality, and vision. You learn to stop worrying about the destination and just try to enjoy the journey, mannnnn.
BD: Was there anything in particular about the sequential art medium that attracted you more than other artistic media?
LL: Comics art really grabbed me because it tells a narrative. There is animation, which I love, but comics art is a more personal form of storytelling expression, since it is usually drawn by one artist (often with an inker and colorist, of course). I was always attracted to more stylized idiosyncratic artists. The less generic the better. I’ve always loved when artists go off model and give us a new take on an old character and really make it their own. McFarlane’s Spider-Man being just one great example. With comics I’ve also just loved being able to hold a book of great art in my hands. It’s a rush!
BD: In revisiting your work, was there anything new or intriguing that you took away from the imagery that you hadn’t anticipated when originally creating it?
LL: Revisiting my work has been such a trip because I’ve found that art triggers memory just like music. I really don’t have a great memory, I have a really hard time retaining and recalling info, I have to re-read every page when I read a book, but when I look at an old Punisher page, it’s a total time warp. I’m right back to being a 24-year-old hunched over my table in the middle of the night in an apartment with my fiance in Tuscaloosa, AL. Or when I look at a Bloodshot page, I’m 35 again trying to draw while I can hear my toddler daughter and infant son laughing in the living room. You can remember the temperature in the room, the time of day, the smell of food while you were drawing… It’s pretty amazing.
BD: What can you tell us about your shared creative process in working with Oni Press for the collection?
LL: Working with Oni on this collection could not have been easier for me. They did all the hard work! I’d been thinking about putting together an art book for a few years, but I’m easily overwhelmed and probably lack the executive functioning skills for putting something like this together. The Carbon Based project came about because I’d mentioned in passing my intention to make an art book to my ol’ editor buddy, the great Karl Bollers. Thankfully, he proposed letting Oni birth this baby. I’d worked with Karl previously and he is just the nicest, coolest guy. Karl and then the wonderful Chris Cerasi did a beautiful job putting this together, making for a far better organized and professional book than I ever could. Plus, they really made my life simple so I could just focus on drawing. Production, licensing, shipping, and fulfillment is all handled by Oni. It’s heading to the printer this fall and should ship next March. Really looking forward to having it in my hands!
BD: Are there any other projects – past or current – that you would like to highlight for our readers?
LL: I’m currently crossing the finish line on Megalith for Bad Idea. Just a couple pages left. Matt Kindt wrote a brilliant sci-fi action story that is a bit like Rendezvous with Rama with a giant space knight and a giant space demon. It’s being colored by Laura Martin who is one of the greatest colorists of our time. After this I plan on catching up on commissions and hopefully take a nap. I haven’t committed to any big follow-up projects yet. I’ll tell you I am dying to draw more dinosaurs, though. A lot more.
BD: Lastly, in light of the Kickstarter campaign, are there any particular backer rewards that you are most looking forward to?
LL: The Kickstarter rewards I’m most looking forward to personally are the prints. I’ve never gotten around to making them, so other than a couple at Bad Idea, that is new territory for me. A more affordable alternative to purchasing original art.
