AZTEC EMPIRE: Treasure Interview with Paul Guinan!
Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett with their Inkpot Awards at the San Diego Comic Fest!
The creative couple is behind Aztec Empire, one of the most exciting graphic novel series today, using documentation to battle the myths surrounding this epic!
Aztec Empire detailing the fall of the Aztec in never-before-seen detail and accuracy.
Paul Guinan, co-creator and writer, is on Art Of Webcomics.
More than an interview….a treasure hunt!
Hi Paul!
– Where do you come from?
I was born and raised in Chicago, I now live in Portland, Oregon.
– How old are you? ( tell it or not !)
500
– Influences?
The comic artists that influenced me most as a kid were the 1970s naturalistic illustrators like Nick Cardy, Russ Heath, John Severin, and Gray Morrow. Also, the writer/artist combo really stood out to me as I practiced my craft. The style mattered less to me than the storytelling, therefore I loved Frank Robbins, Howard Chaykin, and Harvey Kurtzman. I didn?t have to draw like them to learn from them.
– Art school or not?
I went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I went before the Internet was a thing. These days you don?t need to go to art school, go to YouTube, save yourselves years of debt.
– Favorite digital art software?
Photoshop 2020
– Your working method?
I co-founded the comics studio Helioscope as a way to keep myself from becoming too isolated, despite my favorite quote, ?A good artist should be isolated. If he isn’t isolated, something is wrong.? ?Orson Welles. I work there most afternoons, then work at home in the evenings. For AZTEC EMPIRE, I draw layouts on a standard piece of paper, 8.5? x 11.? I send scans of them to my co-artist David Hahn, who uses them to pencil and ink the page onto 11? x 14? bristol board. He then sends me scans of the page which I digitally color and letter.
?A good artist should be isolated. If he isn’t isolated, something is wrong.? ?Orson Welles.
– What your webcomic is about, in a symbolic way, the hidden sense?
Like all fall-of-empire stories, it?s about hubris, greed, and folly. It shows how we humans repeat our destructive behaviors despite harsh lessons of history. This project is meant to teach to those willing to learn.
– Tell us more about your main character, the hero!
My story is an ensemble piece drawn from actual history, there is no ?hero.? The two most recognizable figures in the epic, Moctezuma and Cortes, are complex characters. Moctezuma rules over what is believed to be the entire world, now known as Mexico. Cortes has rebelled from his Spanish Governor, determined to find gold in a new land. My story recounts the dramatic fall of the mightiest empire in the Americas, only three years after the arrival of strangers from another world. A unique
tale in human history.
– How do you see your future?
My project will take a half-dozen years, or so, to complete. I?ll be happy just to finish the epic. Then an epic nap.
– Your next goal?
I always have stories I’d like to tell, I’m just never sure which one I’ll do until I’ve finished the one I’m working on.
– Advices for beginners?
Start small, six-pagers, eight-pagers, to show yourself and others that you can be concise and complete in your storytelling. Practice with lots of drawing from life, objects, people environments. Draw everything, not just stuff you like to draw. Watch movies made before 1980, watch YouTube tutorials!
– Your technical secret trick?
That would be telling.
– Favorite quote?
(see my above answer for working method question)
– Your social links and website?
www.bigredhair.com twitter.com/AztecEmpire1520
Thanks to Paul Guinan!
Big Red Hair ?
