Bill Nichols’ Prescription:
Comics 10ccs of the Process with
Angel Medina

I first got to meet Angel many years ago at a comics show in Lexington and bought a few pages of Adam Warlock and the Infinity Watch. I loved poring over those pages and taking in the vibrant energy his art gives off. The next time we met was at the Chicago Comicon and my friend Beau Smith called me over and started to introduce me to an awesome artist named Angel Medina. He quickly realized we’d already met, but it was a cool moment. Even now, Angel lets me call him my friend. And really, he doesn’t charge me much…j/k…it’s a LOT.

-Bill

 

What inspires you to create and keeps you going?

The gratitude that I get to draw comics for a living. As a 54 year old man, my gratitude and appreciation for the position I’m in, in terms of career, it ust keeps getting greater and greater with each passing year.

 

Do you have a set routine?

Not really. I’ve learned that some days you will wake up inspired, some days not. You take each day with what it hands you, and work from there.

 

What kind of output do you try to achieve?

When I was younger, I tried for one page a day. With the format in this industry changing so much, I just try to finish as much as I can with time available to me. Somedays, if I’m learning a new digital tool, that may mean I won’t get a lot work done, but at least I’ll something new that day. Other days, I get to draw the old fashioned way, and my seasoned background will allow me to accomplish quite a bit.

 

What inspires you WHEN you create? Music? Noise? Silence?

It varies. I only collect stuff, whether it be music, movies, art, whatever, things that inspire me. Which for me means that if I come something, like a movie or an artbook, that I only like but not love, then I’m not keeping it. Items only stay in my collection if its something I love. That way, if I put the item away, and pull it out later, there’s a good chance that it will inspire.

Not to mention that, again, at my age, I’ve become comfortable to listening to my needs internally. If I “feel” like listening to some good music, or I “feel” like watching something really cool, I pay attention to that feeling. And it usually ends up inspiring me to creating something cool or unique.

 

Who was the first comic book creator that influenced you to pursue this?

When I was kid, George Perez and Sal Buscema were two of the big ones. They had a kind of art style that young kids could easily gravitate towards.

As far as a creator actually telling me that I could do this, that would be Marc Silvestri and Jim Shooter. I met them both separately at my very first convention and showed them my art. They both let me know, albeit in entirely different ways, that I had the potential to do this as a living.

 

When did you realize you could follow this path yourself?

I don’t know if there was one moment specifically, since I always knew, even as I was a child, that I wanted to pursue illustrating superheroes as a means of support. I do remember one instance, reading Avengers issue #159, and thinking to myself that drawing these kinds of adventures has got to be one of the greatest jobs in the world.

 

What do you find to be a challenge in creating?

The business side of this industry. The actual act of creation comes easy when you have the high level of gratitude and appreciation that I mentioned earlier.

What else do you have to learn?

Oh, everything, Just when I think I’ve gotten the handle on how to draw the anatomy or backgrounds or shading, I come across an artist who make me think “Hey, I wanna draw the anatomy like THAT!” Or the background or shading or whatever. I plan on learning until I’m in the grave.

 

What keeps you motivated to get better?

For me, I don’t look at as getting better. That was my mindset when I was younger. Now, I just wanna grow. For me, that’s one of the biggest thrills of being creative. Finding new ways of doing something that you didn’t before. I still like the end result(s) of what I did before, but once I’ve done it, it’s time to move on. And that is so much fun.

 

Can you turn your brain (creativity) off (and on)?

Nope. Nor do I try. However, I have learned that we, as human beings, do have the ability to decide which thoughts to focus on and which to not. If I don’t feel any real creativity going on “upstairs”, that doesn’t mean that the creative thoughts aren’t there. It just means that they’re being dominated by other thoughts that are not so creative (like, hey, I gotta run some errands). In those times, I just take care of what needs to be done, or if, that isn’t possible, then I just start going through my collection of stuff that I love until something hits me.

My lucky enough in to be in that point in life where creative blocks are extremely rare.

 

Booster Shots

What advice do you have for aspiring creators?

STAY FOCUSED. Today’s generation lives during a time where they are surround by so many things that are screaming for attention.

 

Do you ever worry about running out of ideas?

Nah. I have piles and piles of papers in my studio of possible ideas in sketch form and written form, for any future projects. I’ve accumulated way more ideas that I will ever be able to use in my lifetime.

 

How do you handle the slow times?

In my life, there is no such thing. If there isn’t a deadline I’m trying finish, then there’s a 7 month backlog of private commissions, or an upcoming convention. With the abundance of cons and the accessibility of social media, slow times are even more rarer than creative blocks.

 

How do you feel about the industry?

I love it. How could I not. It’s the industry of drawing comicbooks! Sure, the business aspect can pull on you sometimes, but the way I look at, it’s because its a business that I can draw comics and use that ability to feed, clothe and house myself.

 

And do you have a website you would want to direct folks to?

Not yet. I’ll have one once I get creator owned project (which won’t for a year or two), I’ll have a site to direct people towards. For now, they can just follow me on social media.

 

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed by the above creator are theirs. This interview may not 

be reprinted or reposted without permission.