Tom Arvis Interview

Who or what made you want to become an illustrator?

My Mom used to say I started drawing as soon as I could hold a pencil, but to be honest, my desire to earn a living as an illustrator begins with comic books. Once I learned there were people who did nothing but draw comic books for a living, that's all I've ever wanted to do. Illustrating children's books is a natural extension of that, as it involves all the same skills, and I love drawing childrens books every bit as much as I love drawing comics.

How and why did you decide to pursue illustration as your career?

As I said, I was inspired at an early age by comic books and I started drawing and writing my own comics books in about third grade. I wrote and drew my own comics, on notebook paper and in spiral notebooks, up until I entered college. Not publishing them, but just saving them in three ring binders. At that time, a college friend of mine, named Bud Grey, convinced me I was talented enough to earn money as an illustrator, and he was instrumental in me landing my first ever paying freelance illustration job.

Did you attend art school or undertake any other formal artistic training?

I took art class in high school and a couple of semesters of drawing and painting classes in college, but other than that I am primarily self taught. After college, when I decided to become a freelance illustrator, I found myself buying and reading dozens of art and illustration books and learning to draw "professionally" through those books and repetitive practice. As a professional illustrator you need to be able to draw anything and everything a client may request, and sometimes you need to be able to produce those illustrations rather you are inspired to do so or not, because you are being paid to do so and you have a deadline.

Where do you currently live and where did you grow up?

I currently live in Rockville, MD, about 20 minutes north of Washington, DC. I was born in Bluefield, WV, but my family moved around a lot, and between second and sixth grades I went to two different schools each year. We lived in Princeton, WV, Virginia Beach, VA, Ahoskie and then Durham, NC, back to Virginia Beach, back to Princeton and then to Waynesboro, VA, where I spent my formative years, until going to college at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA. After college I married my wife Kathy who grew up in Silver Spring, MD, and we moved to Alexandria, VA, then to our current loaction in Maryland, and boy am I tired! Since I was often the new kid in school, to make friends the first day, I would usually draw a picture of "Popeye The Sailor" on the black board for show and tell, which worked until about 5th grade, when it would only get me beat up.

Was creativity part of your childhood?

I suppose creativity is a part of everyone's childhood, right? But yes, as I said above, I started drawing as soon as I could hold a pencil and I've drawn pretty much every day since.

Have you always loved to draw?

Yes, I have always loved to draw. As a professional illustrator, and as I mentioned previously, I'm not always 100% inspired by the subjects I'm commisioned to draw, but I always enjoy the process itself, and I'm usually proud of the finished product. I don't let my level of inspiration dictate or diminish my devotion to my craft.

Who or what have been some of your major artistic influences?

Classically, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Vincent Van Gogh. In animation, Chuck Jones, Walt Disney and Hannah and Barbera. In comic books, Jack Kirby, Neal Adams, Gene Colan, John Buscema, Jim Steranko, Alex Toth, Dan DeCarlo, Barry Smith, Paul Gulacy, Jim Starlin and far too many others to list here. In comic strips and childrens books my inspirations are Charles Schulz, Johnny Hart, Gary Larson, Dr. Seuss (of course), E.B. White (I know he's not an artist but "Charlotte's Web" and the illustrations in that book have always been a great inspiration to me).

Which books from your own childhood really stand out?

Anything by Dr. Seuss, of course. I don't really remember many books from my childhood because I found and fell in love with comic books and comic strips so early on. My favorite as a kid was Batman, the comics and the TV show of the sixties, as well as Superman and the George Reeves TV show, and later all the Marvel comic book characters, starting with Daredevil and then Spiderman and the Avengers. For comic strips I loved action strips like Steve Canyon, and Steve Roper And Mike Nomad, and for humor strips it was Peanuts, B.C., and Wizard Of Id, among many others.

Who or what has been your greatest mentor?

I've never really had a mentor, or someone to help and guide the development of my artistic skills or my career. If I had, perhaps I'd be more successful than I am now. I do have artists and TV and movie stars who have inspired me through the years, such as many of the artists I've mentioned above, including those I've met in person, such as Jack Kirby, Neal Adams, Jim Steranko and Gene Colan, as well as celebrities such as Adam West (TV's Batman), William Shatner (Star Trek's Capt. Kirk), and all four of the Monkees, Micky Dolenz, Mike Nesmith, Davy Jones and Peter Tork. Adam West and William Shatner have always inspired me to try to be a heroic person and someone who always tries to do the right thing, and through the years Bill Shatner has taught me perseverance, and Mike Nesmith taught me early on to fight for my creative rights.

What was your first commission as a professional illustrator?

My first paying gig as a freelancer was in 1980 when I was paid $10 to do a t-shirt illustration for a tennis tournament at the local Racquet Club in Harrisonburg, VA. It was for a Halloween tournament and I drew a picture of a tennis player with a jack'o'lantern for a head, jumping over the tennis net. I did several more t-shirts for this client and remember being embarassed to ask him for $15 for the last design I did for him, but got it!

Describe your working technique and how you came to perfect it.

I don't know that I have a specific technique and I'm sure I wouldn't consider it perfected if I did. I think it's important for every artist to always strive for perfection, but I don't know many artists who'd say their work is perfect. And I'd be suspect of them if they did. I also usually let the story or subject matter dictate the style or technique I use or choose when illustrating a childrens book, comic book, or what have you. I do however have a process I follow pretty regularly, which is to produce a thumbnail or thumbnails first, then I pencil by hand, ink by hand, scan the inks into my computer, then color in PhotoShop and letter my book or comic books in Adobe Illustrator, and I use Illustrator or InDesign to format the books as well, if hired to do so.

What piece of software or hardware could you not live without and why?

I'm old school enough to be able to produce illustrations without the aid of a computer or computer software, so in that sense I suppose the hardware I couldn't do without would be pencils, pens and paper. But having said that, in addition to illustration skills, I have worked full-time and freelance as a Graphic Designer since 1980 and consider myself to be just as adept at graphic design as I am at illustration. And it sure comes in handy to know my way around PhotoShop, Illustrator, InDesign and all the other computer programs and services I use to produce, and self-publish my and my clients' books. I have tried and will continue to try to learn to work with a drawing tablet, but it has yet to take hold for me.

What is your favourite medium to work with and why?

I love working with pencils and pen and ink, and I used to also love coloring my illustrations by hand, back when I used to do so. At that time I mostly used Design markers and Dr. Martin's watercolor dyes, as well as color pencils (see the "POE" image #1 below). These days I pretty much color entirely on the computer, however I do still love to do acrylic paintings from time to time, and some day when I "retire" (whatever that means) I hope to do a lot more painting. I love being able to rub my hand across the dried canvas of an acrylic painting I've completed and feel the paint as it was applied to the surface. Also, the flexibility of that process, if you make a mistake you can just paint over it. Below is a sample of one of my acrylic paintings I call "The Boxer" (image #2 below).

Do you keep a sketch book?

Not so much these days. I filled hundreds of pages with sketches back when I was creating my comic books on notebook paper, and learning to draw proper anatomy (including page after page of arms, arms, arms, hands, hands, hands, legs, legs, legs, torsos, etc., etc., etc.), and I filled several large sketch pads with random sketches in college, both for my art classes and for myself. These days I tend to sketch out characters before I begin a comic book or a childrens book, but then I move directly onto thumbnails and then pencil roughs. I seldom sit and sketch random images for fun or pleasure anymore, and I pretty much have my male and female anatomy down pat. Or at least I think so.

Tell us about the creation of your favourite character from one of your books.

I love all of the characters I've created for my comic books and my (one so far) childrens book "I Live With A Pony", as well as the images of characters I've created for clients' projects. In addition to specializing in multiple image projects such as comic books, childrens books and storyboards, I also specialize in character and mascot design, creation and implementation. Right now I'd have to say my favorite original character, though, is "Mercenary Pig" (see below) whom I created to give overwieght kids (like I was) a heavy set character they can relate to and sympathize with.

How many times do you tend to draw a character until you are happy with it?

I usually have the character's look in my head before I set pencil to paper, so it doesn't take me more than 3-4 sketches to get the look of the character where I want, and based on how good a description the client can provide of what they are looking for. The better a client can describe what they want the less time it takes to nail down the character's look.

Which project has been most instrumental in developing your personal style?

Again, I don't have, and I don't particularly want to have, a rubber-stamped "style" so to speak. I prefer to let the description of the character and the story determine or inspire the look of any given character. I also don't like it when people try to define an artist's style, so that they can put him (or her) in a box as far as their technique or style is concerned. As soon as someone thinks they've narrowed down my style to a specific look or genre, I'll try to show them something totally different and unexpected from their definition or preconception of my "style".

Talk us through the process of creating one of your latest illustrations or books.

As I mentioned before, I usually start with a script, outline and/or a written description of a character, comic book or childrens book. From that I will create thumbnails (2-3" tall quick and dirty doodles of the general layout of the page or image, using barely more than stick figures for layout and positioning) of each image or page, then I proceed to full size (about 1.5 times larger than what the final page size will be) pencil roughs. In the case of a book or comic book, I prefer to produce all pencil roughs, as well as any rounds of revisions the client may have to those roughs, in a batch. Once I present the roughs to the client (usually in a lo-res PDF) and the roughs are approved, I proceed to ink all the pages or images in a batch, scan them all in and color them 2 pages at a time until they are completed, and then submit all the color drafts to the client in a lo-res PDF. Once all color art is approved I transmit the final approved art to the client in whatever electronic file formats the client requires.

Do you offer more than one style, if so – talk us through the different approaches and the audience you are targeting for each.

I did already cover this in detail previously, but I will add that in my pitches, proposals and cover letters I usually point out that I can draw in a variety of styles ranging from comic book realistic to funny animal cartoonish. I do not, however, strive to produce or sell myself as a photo-realistic illustrator or portrait artist. If you're looking for someone to create an illustration or illustrations that look like a photograph or exactly like a specific person, I am not your guy. I have always preferred to draw from imagination as opposed to looking at a photo for reference. Of course, I understand the significance of photo references to achieve a likeness of a real person or building or item, etc., and I am not putting down photo-realistic illustrators by any means, as I admire and envy many of those artists' ability to do so. I simply have always found cartooning to be more interesting and fun than trying to create something that you could much more easily capture with a photograph. I also feel that as soon as any illustrator strays one iota from photo-realstic drawing, they are cartooning. I prefer to call myself a cartoonist more than an illustrator, due to the formality the latter designation tends to imply.

How long does it take on average for you to finish a spread, from initial sketch to final colour?

This varies from project to project and image to image. Typically, however, I can complete all pencil roughs to a 24-page (or illustration) project in about 10 business days, then I can usually ink (first) and color (second) that many in about 15-20 business days. Breaking that down, as far as childrens books go, I can pencil 3-4 images in a day, I can ink 3-4 images a day and I can usually color at least 4 images in about a day. With comic books it's a little more involved, I can pencil 2-3 pages a day, ink at least 2 pages a day, but it can take up to two days to color a two-page spread, depending, of course, on the number of panels and complexity of each page. Generally, I can turn around a 24-page book or a 22-page comic book in about 30 days, give or take a week.

What do you hope children take away from your drawings?

I would hope that children take away a sense of fun and imagination that hopefully makes them want to draw or write their own stories. I like to think my cartoons look like they were simple and easy to draw (rather they were or not), so that kids look at it and say "I think I can do that!"

What do you do in your spare time?

What is spare time? Actually, when I'm not working on my paid freelance illustration jobs I have notebooks full of my own childrens book and comic book characters and ideas, all of which I'd eventually like to produce before I get too old to hold a pencil. However, when I have down time and I'm not motivated to write or draw my own stuff, you'll mostly find me on the sofa watching TV or reading. Sometimes when I've been busy and suddenly have time to work on my own stuff, I may not be motivated to do so, so I don't force that.

Where do you get the ideas for your characters?

Insiration for characters can come from anywhere, a book, a TV show, a movie or something someone may say, or you may hear at random. I was inspired to come up with my "Mercenary Pig" character back when "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" first became a hit, and another character of mine, "XRQ24- The Pandimensional Man" was inspired by an episode of the old sitcom "Wings", when one of the brothers on that show had seen a UFO and was describing it to his borther, as if he were an alien saying, "I am XRQ24. Take me to your leader". Most often for me, when a really good character idea comes to mind the story will practically write itself. Beyond that, I've always had the ability to come up with a character with very minimal descriptions or input from a client when being paid to create a character or mascot.

Who is your favourite children’s book character and why?

I'd have to go back to E.B. White and say "Stuart Little". I was so thrilled by the excitement and imagination of that character and that story, that, without a doubt he, and Wilbur the pig in "Charlotte's Web", were and still are major inspirations for "Percy" (Mercenary Pig), and "Gus The Pony", as well as many other characters I've created based on animals.

What advice would you offer someone just starting out as a children’s illustrator?

Find another occupation. The last thing I need is more competition! Just kidding. I would probably say to put up a website and if no one's coming to you to illustrate their book, try to come up with and illustrate one of your own. I created, wrote and illustrated "I Live With A Pony" just so I'd have a sample book to use for my website and proposals. It's also good exercise to make sure you can finish an entire book and have some idea of the amount of work involved and how long it will take you.

Are you an author/illustrator?

Yes! The first things I ever drew were sequential images and told a story with images, rather it was a scuba-diver swimming through tunnels or Superman flying through the air, seeing a bad guy on the ground and flying down to punch him, I think my real interest in drawing and learning to draw stemmed from my early desire to tell stories through my art. As Rod Stewart sings, "Every picture tells a story, don't it." I really don't know what writer's block is, as right now I have more character and story ideas on paper and in notebooks than I'll ever have time to actually produce. I consider myself to be every bit as much an author and writer as I am an illustrator.

What things affect your creativity?

Reading always inspires my creativity, rather it's a comic book, children's book, or novel, fiction or non-fiction, I am always inspired to create my own stories and characters when I'm reading someone else's. Reading always inspires me to create.

What makes a good children’s book?

Good characters. Sympathetic characters. Interesting characters. A good story and imaginative illustrations that engage and inspire the reader. But mostly it's good characters!

Which project are you most proud of?

I'm equally proud of every comic book and childrens book I've ever created and self-published on my own (as they are my children), but so far as my paid freelance work goes; I'm most proud of "The Buddy Bridge" which I produced with my long-time friend and collaborator, Bud Grey, and of my latest book "A Very Rainy Day" by Darla Prudhomme, as well as "Ring The Bell For Our M.L." produced with Guy Marini. All three of these books inspired me greatly, and dealt with a higher purpose than just entertaining children, such as a grandfather meeting his grand daughter for the first time during a pandemic, a single mom and her son dealing with their first flood, or grand children learning to cope with the loss of a grand parent or loved one.

What’s one thing that most people don’t know about you?

I actually have a degree in Journalism. Most people who look at my comic books or childrens books tend to focus and comment on the artwork, without really considering that those books did not write themselves. In college I started out as an Art Major, and then switched to Journalism at one point, because so many of my art teachers would tell us how hard it is to earn a living as an artist, and since James Madison University offered no creative writing majors at that time, just Journalism. I ended up not only working for the school newspaper as a writer, but also as an illustrator and cartoonist, producing a comic strip for that paper that ran for 4 years and 104 strips, called "Roommates". In 2013 I compiled those strips into a trade paperback book called "The Roommates Chronicles- Anatomy Of A College Newspaper Cartoon Strip", which is currently available on Amazon.com and can be found by typing my name into the search bar there (short of posting a link here, which I'll avoid for now).

If you weren’t an illustrator, what would you be doing?

My Dad used to own a restaurant and I started working there when I was 13 years old. I managed a Mexican restaurant in college and it's where I met my wife, so I suppose I'd either still be working as a Graphic Designer for someone else (which I never was happy about) or I'd be working in the food industry in some capacity. Either way I'd be miserable doing anything else other than illustrating childrens books or comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks. It's truly what I believe I was born to do.

How do you overcome a creative block?

Again, I don't know what a creative block is. I have a very vivid and fertile imagination and more story and character ideas than I'll every have time to fully develop.

What are some of your favourite subjects to draw?

Funny animal characters. Beyond that, while I love drawing beautiful women, with their curves and folds and delicate features, I do find men more interesting to draw, at least if you're drawing super heroes and muscle men. I find the male anatomy endlessly interesting to draw in all it's many positions, and the specific positions of the muscles in any given pose. I suppose you can draw women with muscles too, but I just personally find that less appealing than drawing girls with curves. Otherwise, it's funny animals that you can exaggerate wildly. However, even funny animals' anatomy has to have some similance of symetry and balance to look-- real (?), or at least convincing.

Are there any children’s classics you’d love to illustrate and/or re-tell?

Yes, I've recently thought I would love to draw a comic book version of "Watership Down", a book by Richard Adams. I don't know if this would be considered a children's classic, as it's a fairly thick novel, and there has already been an animated feature of the book, but I've wanted to draw it since I first read it back in high school. At that time I knew I didn't have the 'chops' to illustrate such an intricate story, but now I feel I could, as I'm fairly adept at drawing animals, real or cartoonish. Maybe some day I'll get the chance.

Animals feature heavily in children’s books – do you have a pet?

I am a cat lover. I actually love dogs too but I haven't had any dogs as pets since I was a kid. My wife and I have always had at least two cats as pets in the house, each of whom had very distinctive personalities of their own. We currently have two gorgeous grey tabbys, a male named Max and a female named Missy. We love them dearly and spoil them whenever we can.

Have you ever thought about trying out a different technique or a different style?

Again, I strive to create a different look or style for every character or book I illustrate, based on how I think, or am inspired for that, character to look.

Tom Arvis

Children's Illustrator