When I first talked with Jerrell he was already working on moving, writing, drawing, and a whole slew of other tasks that make the rest of us scream, but he was ready to talk and go into detail with me on just what theREDr was and what he was trying to do with it. This is one of those books that draws you into it’s universe, the kind of book that has you loaning it out to your friends and excited to read more.
Jerrell isn’t a boastful guy, like many in the comic industry are, he seems laid back, calm and ready for whatever the road in front of him was bringing. We’ve talked of and on for a few months now, he’s a interesting guy, a smart guy, and he’s written a book that’s as simple as it is complicated. (Read our Review)
Last week Jerrell and I talked about his book and work…
Jef- Alright Jerrell, so for those who don’t already know, what is “The Red R”?
Jerrell- The red r is basically a short reference for Revelations (a graphic novel series i stared back in 2001) the logo for the books is a backwards red “R” people started referring to it as such and it has seemed to stick.
Jef- (Laughs) Nice. So where did this idea come from?
Jerrell- Revelations came from my senior year in college when i was searching for a MEANINGFUL senior thesis project that i was passionate about and deeply invested to.
Jef- So that brings us to the next question, of course your faith comes into play with this story, how much so?
Jerrell- As I mentioned earlier, this project surfaced in a search for a relevant outlet for my art. i am very deeply invested in biblical history and the richness of the stories contained in scripture, as well as the entertainment culture that surrounds all of us (film, animation, video games, comics, etc), which at times seem diametrically opposed…
But i felt like, what better material to explore in these mediums, then the greatest stories ever told?!? far too often i’d see these stories in watered down portrayals and not in ways that were all that interesting to me or even on par with what the ‘world’ was doing. Revelations is a project that i wanted to stay true in spirit and content, but equally matched with the quality of the portrayal.
Jef- Sounds like a plan. How has this kind of book been received at the Comic Cons You’ve been too? I know you were at Longbeach CC last year…
Jerrell- Revelations has been at many of the cons in NY, SF, LB, and of course SD (many-a-time) it’s been received, uh… inerestingly… hahah they’ve always been mixed. People seem to like it for the art, right away and pretty much across the board, but when it comes to the content there are very different reactions. some are excited about it being a biblically themed story and something that they recognize and are familiar with, and others are almost offended, some cut conversations short and just bolt, others may give a confused or appalled look. Very seldom is there indifference.
Jef- Not surprissing, the Christian faith is under fire in America like never before right now. So the story itself, walk us through it…
Jerrell- In a nutshell. “Revelations: the Prophets” is a graphic novel mini series (3 installments) telling the story of the two prophets/witnesses that are spoken of during the first part of the tribulation period, while the antichrist is coming into power, and the church is out of the picture. The Bible doesn’t go into a lot of the specifics about their story line, but cross referencing Old Testament with the New, and current events as well as other parallel Biblical stories Revelations is more of an interpretation or retelling of the same story, but still staying true to the original, but filling in gaps and flushing the story and characters out a bit.
Jef- And You’ve done a fantastic job at that. Now what’s your creative process like? Are you someone who moves from concept to final project quickly or is it a long process?
Jerrell- I think i move fairly quickly (give that i actually have time to work on the project *side note* i’ve been working on a feature animation with cheech and chong for over a year now and have been off and on with Revelations every few months… haven’t touched it in a couple months now… yikes!) but in general, for the books it’s an INVOLVED process; I lock down the story (months prior) have some trusted friends read over it and give me notes, i revise, put it away for a while and come back to it.
Then quite a bit later i’ll storyboard out the sequences for the book, don’t ask why they are boarded cinematically for a graphic novel… maybe that’s just from my background, then I take the boards and build them in page layout form with word bubbles and etc, then I bring all those hand drawings into photoshop lay them down in spread format, then use them as a template for the final artwork. And that’s where i spend the majority of the rest of my time on, 2-3 days per spread typically.
Jef- Wow, that’s incredibly involved. Art wise, who influences or inspires you?
Jerrell- I pull inspiration from everything around me, wether it be a movie i’ve recently seen, or a painting at an art show. but in terms of influential artists a few of the notables are, Classic: Schiele, Mucha, Klimt, and Rockwell.
Contempory? Ragnar, Macaig, Hewlett, and especially Ashley Wood, who’s work I really got into RIGHT before i jumped into Revelations as a graphic novel.
Jef- What advice do you have for young artists and writers trying to make their mark?
Jerrell- Well, things really started falling in place for me when I found something that i was really passionate about and put my talents to work in regards to it. A lot of times it can be the hardest part, because it is the first step of moving in your calling. Prayer was definitely a big part of it too, because it at times is such a shot in the dark and out of our hands to some extent. so really searching hard for things that you find interest in and are always eager to talk about in groups of friends or find yourself immersed in it in your spare time, or something that bothers you that you feel is lacking in comics, movies, games, TV or etc, that you feel you can fill. another good place is to team up with other artists/writers who have the same mindset or are already headed in a similar direction, a lot of the time a writer will have a project, but not know how or be able to bring that vision to the page, or screen and vise versa.
No man is an island and most of the time your calling will bring you in direct contact with others that can help your vision come to fruition, or the other way around.
Jef- All solid advice. Now back to Revelations for a second, how did this project start? The idea is one thing, but how did it turn into a Graphic novel project?
Jerrell- Revelations started back in 2001 as my senior thesis project, but it was quite different. back then it was a short animated trailer for a movie that didn’t exist, so basically it was a mock presentation, with movie posters and concept art, etc. But it ended at that, there were no thoughts of taking it beyond a school project. flash forward about 2 years later (after a myriad of questions from friends/coleagues about Revelations) i decided to pick up the project again, but there was no way to do a full on animation of such an epic production on my own, so I opted to do a graphic novel mini series and once that was done use the books as the visual screenplay to pitch the feature animation pitch, down the line.
Jef- What’s it like writing and drawing everything yourself?
Jerrell- It definitely makes things twice as long, because I’m doing double duty. However, I have noticed that when i’m working on scenes and doing the artwork, sometimes i catch something that I might want to change or edit in the writing or structure of a sequence and i suppose that’s a luxury of being responsible for both, being able to jump back and forth like that and write in things i visually want to do, or write out things that i don’t. But again, wearing so many hats on the project, holding that chunk of responsibility means things take FOREVER… so that’s also a drawback as well.
Jef- What can we hope to see in the future, are there more tale from theREDr after this?
Jerrell- Hopefully a finished Revelations book II, and III sometime soon-ish… it’s been REALLY REALLY tough juggling it with multiple other projects, book II has been off and on for a couple years now!!!
Jef- How may books are in the first story arc? or is it book to book, I know I’ve just read the first for the 5th time before our interview, and it really leaves you hanging…
Jerrell- Like I mentioned briefly, Revelations is a graphic novel mini series. it is split into three chapters. book I is already out, book II is in production, and book III is… uh… a little ways off.
oh yeah, hahah the cliff hanger. I spaced out the books so there were definite points of interests that the readers would want to resolve with the next issue… but i never expected it’d be this long of a departure between books, and it eats me up, when I’m at the convention and a fan walks up looking for something new, some kind of resolution… of any kind… and all I can do is shed a single tear… well it’s not that dramatic… but it’s close. New stuff is on the way… It’s close.
Jef-Now beyond just the core book(s) you’ve created quite the universe, are we going to see stories beyond just the core story?
Jerrell- The way i’ve envisioned the 3 books they definitely carry through a story arc and there is a resolution at the end, so I never intended on taking the story beyond the one in the trilogy. that being said, I believe the story is open for more to happen beyond these 3. simply put Revelation (the Biblical one) is a MASSIVE, INVOLVED story line. Revelations: the Prophets only tackles about 3 paragraphs of the whole book! so i’d say there is potential there. who know’s what God has in store for it.
Jef- So what would we find in your artbox?
Jerrell- A bunch of old used paint brushes and painting supplies, sketches and prints on one side, and a Wacom Tablet, Macbook Pro, and G5 tower on the other.
Jef- So you do really use a mixture of the Computer and traditional art.
Jerrell- For Revelations, yes. initially I wanted to have it be a nice blend of painted backgrounds and hand drawn elements in photoshop. but book I ended up being about 100 pages and it was just going to take forever. so, I settled on a 90-95% photoshop with a few painted elements here and there.
Jef- Which do you prefer or lean towards?
Jerrell- Most of my commissioned work ends up being pretty commercial. so digital seems to be the majority of my gigs, I try to keep things gritty and not looking TOO digital, though. also, I never want to give up getting my hands dirty on the analog side. so, I do a lot of art shows and paint, and screen print, and do a lot of mixed medium stuff, to mix it up.
Jef- So what does 2010 hold for theRedr?
Jerrell- Who can say? only the Lord really knows. I have set goals to finish part of book II to release at Comic Con in SD as a bit of a preview of things to come.
1. As a bone for the fans out there to have something to move them along and 2. as a way to see if I can get any publisher to pick up the book so I can transition to doing it full time and finish the whole series… in my lifetime! But all that remains to be seen.
Jef- (Laughing) Alright, thanks Jerrel, we’ll talk again soon!
Jerrell- Thanks it was my pleasure!
Jerrell has a lot on his plate that’s for sure, but something tells me he’s just getting started. NC