JOIN US'I draw superheroes for work and when I'm free'
Todd Nauck, the artist who has worked on Marvel’s ‘Friendly Neighbourhood Spiderman’ series, is a name to reckon with in the world of comics.
In addition to working with well-known publishers like DC and Image comics, he has also come up with his own creation, the miniseries ‘WildGuard’, a result of his after-work doodling.
The artist, who was in the city recently for the Comic Con, talks to Chetana Divya Vasudev about his love for drawing and how social media has helped the likes of him reach out to more fans.
From ‘Deadpool’ to ‘Spiderman’, you’ve worked on several projects over the decades. The most challenging one...
Recently, I did two — the ‘Amazing Spiderman & Silk’ series and ‘Deadpool: Too Soon’ — which came out in the digital format before they did in print. For someone used to working the other way around, drawing separate frames for each screen rather than an entire page of illustrations was quite a challenge. But once I got used to it, it was a lot of fun.
What inspired you to take up this line of work?
I was introduced to comics through cartoons as a kid, but when I read the ‘X-Men’ series when I was 14, I was impressed by the art work by Arthur Adams and the rest. The same goes for Spiderman and a few Japanese comics.
How does it feel to have worked on Spiderman?
As someone who grew up with the character, it feels amazing to have got the opportunity and contributed to his history.
Your favourite character.
Spiderman, of course. And Kitty Pryde from ‘X-Men’. She can walk through walls and is really funny. Given a chance, I would like to work on more ‘X-Men’ characters.
If not a comic artist...
Till I was 14, I had set my sights on an acting career and had even been part of a few school plays. So I’d either want to host a television reality show or play a dad in a sitcom; both sound like a lot of fun.
Two things people don’t know about you.
Dawn? (He turns to his wife for help). I love to cosplay and often dress up as characters from ‘X-Men’ and I like playing cards with my wife and her friends.
What do you do in your free time?
I draw superheroes for work and I draw more of them when I’m free. The miniseries ‘Wildguard’ has come out of my drawing when I was free.
Tell us about your sketch retweet contest.
Whenever I go for a comic convention, I tweet my sketches from there for my Twitter followers to retweet.
I pick a winner at random and that person gets a personalised sketch from me. I
started this a few years ago and it has worked out pretty well.
How do you think social media has helped the world of comics?
It has brought creators and fans closer. If they can’t talk to us at a convention, they get in touch with us through social media and we interact with them whenever we can.