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DAVE NAKAYAMA'S CITY OF HEROES
by Jennifer Contino (Pulse)
In this detailed interview we find out a little about artist Dave Nakayama and learn how he went from being a student in the Kubert School drawing a Dark Horse project, to an intern at Top Cow working on some of their newest properties including the hugely popular City of Heroes.
THE PULSE: What drove you to draw so much when you were younger? Did you feel as if it were in you and you HAD to draw?
DAVE NAKAYAMA: I think that’s true. In grade school I realized that drawing comics had to be the coolest job in the world, so I got really serious about it and even produced my own books at Kinko’s. Total garbage of course, but you gotta start somewhere.
THE PULSE: How did you get into editorial cartooning and drawing comic strips for your college paper? How tough was it to get a chance to do something like that? Were there a lot of other artists jockeying for the same chance when you started?
NAKAYAMA: I was majoring in Illustration and had a real beef with the faculty who, for some reason, hated comics. Basically, I ended up at the paper just to get my drawing fix. My application came in at a good time because the previous editorial cartoonist was about to graduate. So I took over his job and eventually started humor and political strips as well. Later on, I found out that Mike Peters (creator of the Mother Goose and Grimm comic strip) had gone to
the same school and had my job in the '70s!
THE PULSE: How did it feel to be nominated for the Charles M. Schultz Award for Best College Cartoonist? Who were you up against - anyone who's still in the industry now?
NAKAYAMA: Frank Cho had actually won the grand prize a few years earlier and was making a name for himself on Liberty Meadows (which I loved), so it felt pretty special to be included in any group with him.
THE PULSE: What made you go to the Joe Kubert School after college instead of just taking what you learned and trying to get your career started then?
NAKAYAMA: Well, even though I’d picked up a lot of cartooning skills from the paper, my comic portfolio kind of sucked, and Kubert seemed like the perfect place to go.
THE PULSE: Who were some of the teachers you had in those two years at the Joe Kubert School?
NAKAYAMA: The year I started, Adam and Andy Kubert came to teach with their dad, so I really lucked out. Adam taught a class in 1st year and Andy had one in the 2nd. So you’d be sitting there in class, learning from guys who were drawing Ultimate X-Men and Origin, and thinking ‘how cool is this?’
THE PULSE: What do you think were some of the most valuable lessons you learned there? What were some of the things you just couldn't pick up off the street or learn on your own that the School helped you realize?
NAKAYAMA: The School trains you in all sorts of different media—from airbrush to paint to
Zip-a-tone—and along the way you figure out what’s working for you and try to develop a personal style. But I suppose the most important lesson was learning how to deal with deadlines, which is a make-or-break proposition in this business. They absolutely slammed us on homework, and that turned out to be great training.
THE PULSE: At the School, was it all about drawing or did you learn other lessons about the inner workings of the comics industry as well?
NAKAYAMA: We had a class devoted to the business side of things, and on top of that, the teachers shared lots of anecdotes from their own work. We heard a few horror stories, that’s for sure, so it was nice to know in advance what we were getting ourselves into.
THE PULSE: When did you get the opportunity to draw a story with Dark Horse? Were you through with school or were you still considering taking a few more classes? Did you submit to Dark Horse or did they contact you?
NAKAYAMA: Two or three times a year, I’d put together packets of my latest samples and send ‘em out to every company I could think of. That paid off in second year when Dark Horse emailed me about the Star Wars gig. I did it during school, and I probably would’ve stayed for third year if the opportunity at Top Cow hadn’t popped up.
THE PULSE: Why did you want to draw something like that? Were you a Star Wars fan or just looking to get your artistic feet in any comic book door?
NAKAYAMA: Honestly, I was so thrilled about being published for the first time that it could’ve been
Captain Carrot and I would’ve happily drawn it. That said, I’m a huge Star Wars fan, and I had a blast playing in that universe.
THE PULSE: Did you have to submit art for consideration in the Wizard Magazine "Be The Next Top Cow Superstar" contest? If so, what did you enter?
NAKAYAMA: They provided a specific six-page selection from a Tomb Raider script that involved Lara meeting Sara Pezzini from Witchblade.
THE PULSE: When did you find out you'd won? What was that like?
NAKAYAMA: When (Top Cow President) Matt Hawkins gave me the good news, I flipped out. It’s almost impossible to describe that feeling. After years of training and trying to break into comics, and then finally getting the chance … well, it’s one of my favorite memories, that’s for sure.
THE PULSE: Why did you move to Los Angeles? Was that part of the deal that you'd go work at Top Cow if you won?
NAKAYAMA: Exactly. The prize was a six-month internship at Top Cow, and they even threw in an apartment and a plane ticket to the Wizardworld Chicago show that year.
THE PULSE: What were some of your first thoughts when you stepped foot in Top Cow?
NAKAYAMA: Being a Top Cow fan, it was hard not to geek out. The conference room alone, which they filled with various Top Cow trades, sculptures, and toys, blew me away. But even more exciting were the artists themselves. I mean, yeah, I knew their work
pretty well, but the idea that I’d be able to work with and learn from these guys was something else.
THE PULSE: How were the lessons you learned at Top Cow different from what you'd been schooled in at Kubert?
NAKAYAMA: I guess it’s fair to say that the Kubert training covered a broader range of artistic topics while Marc [Silvestri]offered a much more personalized style of mentoring. He really zeroed in on drawing fundamentals and helped me fix the weaknesses in my penciling. It always impressed me that he could tailor his advice to every artist in the studio, despite our different styles.
THE PULSE: What was it like learning from Marc Silvestri? Was he an influence of yours?
NAKAYAMA: Marc has a knack for picking out drawing flaws and explaining the corrections in a way you can understand, which is a lot harder than it sounds and makes him the single best drawing teacher I’ve ever encountered. I don’t spend as much time in the studio these days, but whenever I’m there, I photocopy anything new he’s turned in. Marc’s stuff is full of cool tricks, and it always pays to study them.
THE PULSE: What was the first Top Cow project you got to work on? What were some of the challenges or working on that in house? Did you have to do a lot of corrections or did you get it right straight out the gate?
NAKAYAMA: I started with an original graphic novel called Proximity Effect, which weighed in at 70+ pages and pretty much overwhelmed me, considering I’d only done single issues in the past. But I took it one day at a time with Marc giving me feedback along the way, and ultimately, it took about four months to finish. I did some edits and redraws, but you expect that when you’re cutting your teeth.
THE PULSE: How did you become a part of the art team on City of Heroes?
NAKAYAMA: CoH players receive a comic as part of their monthly subscription, and Matt Hawkins, who’s a big fan of the game, figured Top Cow could produce a better one. I did samples to go along with his proposal, and a few months later we were up and running!
THE PULSE: What are some of the challenges to working on a property like this?
NAKAYAMA: The biggest one is capturing the look of the game, which features hundreds of unique characters and environments, but with some reference help from the game studio and by taking notes when I play, I like to think we’ve nailed it.
THE PULSE: When you're reading the scripts, how do you decide how to lay out the pages and what deserves more attention or what should be a small panel or the like?
NAKAYAMA: Marc always says to look for the most dramatic moment and play it up, so typically I anchor the page on that panel and build the rest around it.
THE PULSE: What's coming up in City of Heroes?
NAKAYAMA: There’s a ton of interest in City of Villains right now, which is the sequel and companion to CoH, and we’ve got a brand-new story arc starting in issue 10 and running through 12 that blows the lid off both games. It’s an all-out COLLISION with more characters per square inch than I’ve ever been asked to draw.
THE PULSE: What other projects - in or out of comics - are you working on?
NAKAYAMA: The City of Heroes Trading Card Game comes out this month, if I’m not mistaken, and I did quite a bit of art on that. And I’m taking to people about covers and other projects, but it’s too soon to announce anything. Otherwise, I have a wedding coming up, so I’m sure that’ll keep me pretty busy too!
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