Bill Nichols’ Prescription:
Comics 10ccs of the Process with
Jerry Ordway

Jerry Ordway is not only an incredible comics creator (woring on Superman, Shazam, Fantastic Four and many, many others) but he’s a reall, really nice guy. You can ask around but I don’t think you will find anyone who would either of those points.

-Bill

What inspires you to create and keeps you going?

I guess I still think of story ideas, whether I have a place to use them or not. I also feel like I can still do decent work, and I get excited when something turns out halfway decent. That’s the dilemma. I start on something thinking I know what I am doing, and then find myself unable to draw! It happens to most artists, I think, if they have a sense of pride in their work. Sure, after so many years, I can still fake my way through a drawing that isn’t working out the way I had hoped, but I always try to do better. Sometimes you struggle and have to rip up the paper and start fresh. Sometimes you set it aside until the next day and you see where the problems are.

Do you have a set routine?

Without a regular comic book deadline, I try to not beat myself up if I don’t get something done. I make the effort, but don’t put in the same long 14-hour days I used to. I generally start with a short run every other day, and then eat breakfast, drink a lot of coffee, and read my local newspaper and the New York Times. That gives me ideas, which I will jot down on a piece of notepaper. Next, go through emails, and then put in a few hours work. I don’t eat lunch, but I may snack on some almonds. In the summer, I may go for a late afternoon swim, and then work some more in the evening. I also spend too much time on Twitter sometimes.

What kind of output do you try to achieve?

It varies day to day, but if I am on a deadline on a story, I try to average a half page of pencils and inks a day. I like to roughly lay out a page, so I know what will fit, then complete a panel at a time, rather than pencil the whole page, then ink it. There are also times when I will do a small 4×6 inch layout or prelim for a page, scan it, adjust it in photoshop, and print it out at 10×15 ” size, for inking. For better or worse, when inking my own work, I like working from loose layouts. It offers a little excitement, not having the drawing all there at ink time. Like improvisation, I think. Good accidents can happen. But also sometimes you struggle. But the approach keeps it challenging, and the finished art doesn’t feel labored to me. Pencilling tightly, then following the lines in ink can result in dull pages. I am bored just following the lines to be honest. When I pencil for someone else to ink, I pencil very tightly, mainly because most inkers don;t want to draw the page. Maybe I overthink that, but when I was inking full time, early in my career, I resented having sloppy or incomplete pencils, because the extra work fell on me to complete it. Not a problem when they paid me as a “finisher” because the page rate was higher than just inks.

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

If I’m doing a layout, or trying to stage a complicated scene, then I need movie soundtracks or classical stuff. When just tightening up a layout, or inking, I am listening to an audio book, and also music sometimes. I love a long audio book when I’m on a deadline. There are tons of books I wanted to read, but never completed.With audio books, I can finally listen to a Charles Dickens novel, or a biographical thing. I’m currently listening to The Power Broker, a massive book about Robert Moses, who built most of the parks and highways in New York. I have the book, and never made it past 100 pages because I don’t have a lot of time to sit and read. When I work In the evening I often just put the TV on, and draw along to it, looking up now and then.

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

My initial three were Gene Colan on Daredevil, John Buscema on The Avengers, and John Romita on Spider-man, circa 1967.They inspired me to try to draw comic images. Soon after, I fell in love with Wally Wood’s work, and then Steranko’s History Of Comics showed me amazing artists from the early years of comic books. I was always inspired by the people who had the draftmanship and figure drawing chops. That connection from Hal Foster and Alex Raymond to John Buscema and Wally Wood was alluring to me. I loved Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Gil Kane, but the figures grounded in reality made me want to be able to do that specifically, but the Marvel Comics had compelling stories to go with the art, and that aspect inspired me as well. I always imagined I would write and draw comic books.

When did you realize you could follow this path yourself?

I grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. No one I knew worked in comic books, so I had no idea this was a realistic career goal. I went to New York City with my friend Mike Machlan, in 1977, and was rejected by both DC and Marvel. I went home, and tried to get into a commercial art job. I had already worked as a typographer, setting headline type, a job I got a year after graduating High School. I learned how to do some darkroom stuff in that job, so in early 1978, I used those skills to get into a commercial art studio in downtown Milwaukee. I started in their photostat department, and worked my way up in a short time, to working at a drawing board. I did tight layout comps, in color, for ads, annual reports, things like that. Then, because they knew I liked comic books, the studio landed a contract to create a series of coloring books based on the DC heroes, and then the Marvel ones. Meanwhile, a friend of mine from the fan days, John Beatty, started getting work as an inker, and he would call me up and tell me I should get into comics too. He reminded me that I would regret it if I didn’t try. So I took my samples to a DC comics talent search held at the July 1980 Chicago Comic Con. I got inking work, and pretty soon I was offered a contract. I left commercial art for comics in early 1981, and have never regretted it.

What do you find to be a challenge in creating?

The challenge is to come up with something interesting! No one wants to be repetitive, so I am competing with everything I ever did, every time I start something.

What else do you have to learn?

I don’t ever think I know everything. I am not sure I need to learn anything, just refine what I already know. As I said earlier, I never sail smoothly through stuff, it’s always a struggle. For every thing you learn, you wind up forgetting stuff you already thought you knew. I will find myself struggling, and wonder how come I can’t draw a hand, or a nose, or something. That keeps you working hard. I think there is muscle memory for drawing, but that can get me through a convention sketch, but not a complex panel in a story. I still look for reference photos, to help flesh out a figure, or a background. You can fake a car, but if you need to draw it in several pages of continuity, it’s worth finding a bunch of photos. Ebay is good for cars, because you can look up specific models for sale, and their pictures are from all angles, including interiors. Sometimes I will use a scale model to draw from.

What keeps you motivated to get better?

Insecurity. As I said, I have a high standard for myself, and I am always struggling to be better. I have always put the long hours into this. I love that I can edit my work after I scan a page. I don’t need to white out any stuff on the paper, and redraw, because I can edit digitally. Shrink a head, shorten a leg, line up the eyes on a close-up. I look at older work, and wish I could take an editing pass on it, to fine tune stuff. I’m an imperfect perfectionist.

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

Nah, I am always thinking. I watch a film, and think of different ways to change the story, or turn it into a Superman story, or a Shazam one.

Booster Shots

What advice do you have for aspiring creators?

Do your own characters! Sure, you can raise your profile by working on the X-Men or something, but use that to bring an audience to your own creations. I have always had ideas for my own characters, but it’s been hard to find time to work on my own stuff for free, when I had kids to feed and bills to pay. In the past few years I have self-published some of my comic stories, and sell them at comic cons.

Do you ever worry about running out of ideas?

Not really. I am well-read, and stuff always comes to mind. The more you read, the more things you can write about.

How do you handle the slow times?

I love not being busy:) I could be busier than I am, but I turn down stuff so I am not stressed by overlapping deadlines.

Do you have a website or link to promote your work? 

I have stuff on a google blog, called “ordstersrandomthoughts@blogspot.com” and I am always on Twitter via @JerryOrdway

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

be reprinted or reposted without permission.