Questionable Comics is a comics creator survey series, with Dan Hill presenting sets of questions to professionals from all corners of the comics industry.
What current projects are you working on?
The Covenant written by Rob Liefeld from Image. Dr.Crowe written by Corey Fryia from 215 Ink. Space Stepdad written by Donny Cates and Eliot Rahal from Dark Horse. Various other shorts and in development projects. Art director for EarthQuaker Devices.
Use one word to describe how you work.
Multifarious.
What’s your workspace like?
A wreck. Piles of paper from a bunch of projects, laptop on the drawing table. Surrounded by books and comics. Cup of coffee.
What do you listen to when you work?
Podcasts- Comedy Bang Bang and Earwolf in general, Doug Loves Movies, The Dollop, Hardcore History, audiobooks.
Music- Metal, Soca, Ambient, Hip Hop, Metal.
A particularly gruesome page by Matt from Covenant
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
Don’t touch that, it’s hot.
How do you get into art mode?
Coffee and a smoke. Find something good to listen to.
Is your work paper or digital based?
Paper mostly. A lot of scanning and reworking often times.
What’s the one thing you wish you could improve about your work?
Anatomy and faces.
When’s the best time to work?
Always, but usually late at night.
Who do you consider to be inspirational creators in your field (classic and modern)?
Mignola, Moebius, Art Adams, Otomo, Kirby, Toth, Chris Ware, Darrow, Quitely, Stuart Immomen, Duncan Fegredo, Ba and Moon, Paul Pope, Evan Dorkin, Eduardo Risso, RM Guera, Esad Ribic, Gaijin Studios, Rob Liefeld, Eric Stephenson, and thousands more.
You can see more of Matt Horak’s work on his Tumblr.
What current projects are you working on?
Currently I’m the artist on S6X from 451 Media, written by George Pelecanos and Andi Ewington.
Use one word to describe how you work.
Quickly.
What’s your workspace like?
Working from home, I have my own little room, the Art Den. Has my computer and Wacom on one table, then across from that I have an art desk riddled with ink stains, and pens and paper, and a homemade light box, my dad made me.
What do you listen to when you work?
Depends on the mood. Thumbnailing or doing layouts, nothing. I need to concentrate.
Inking, I tend to go for soundtracks or soundscapes. Sometimes podcasts – although I tend to listen to the chats too much!
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
I suppose, perfection isn’t done. And it’s all about creating something and finishing it, and moving onto the next piece. You create, you learn (by either being successful or failing) either way, you’re onto the next piece.
How do you get into art mode?
A nice quiet cup of coffee in the morning after I’ve finished the school run, then I’m ready.
Normally ALWAYS in art mode though!
A style test piece from a project Mack is working on
Is your work paper or digital based?
Digital layouts – easy to swap/erase/scale/print. But drawn and inked on paper.
Coloured digitally at the moment, but I’m determined to crack the paints out this year!
What’s the one thing you wish you could improve about your work?
Confidence in my ability.
I use more photo ref than I need, but the current project kind of demands it.
When’s the best time to work?
I can work mostly anytime. But I do like working late at night.
Who do you consider to be inspirational creators in your field (classic and modern)?
For me, there are TONS of artists who I love, but my real inspirations are artists who have found their style and just let it out EVERY TIME they create. Möebius, Mort Drucker, Mignola, Drew Struzan, Alex Toth, Austin Briggs…the list is endless.
You can see more of Mack’s work on his Tumblr.
Leave a Reply