Artist Spotlight Series is Powered By: The Comic Regime www.TheComicRegime.com
Hello, and welcome to The Artist Spotlight. Every week I will be going over different artist in the industry. This week I had the great opportunity of speaking with Eisner Award winner Allen Passalaqua. Allen is a professional colorist, who has done digital artistry, photography, water coloring, and commercial art. He has created artwork for several National Parks such as, the San Diego Zoo, and the Grand Canyon. He has done a lot work for DC Comics . In the past he worked for various publishers such as Image Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Marvel Comics, and Valiant Comics. He has worked on titles such as JSA, Batgirl and the Birds of Prey, Batman and Robin Eternal, Amazing Spider-Man, The Occultist, Damage, and Detective Comics.
The Comic Regime was able to get an exclusive interview with Allen to discuss his artwork. Hope you all enjoy the interview:
As I have been researching you, there is just a little bit of information out there. Could you give us a little back story in how you became a part of and your introduction into the Comic Book industry?
I started out being a comic book fan in the early 90s, spending all my money every week at the local shops in Modesto where I grew up. I like most aspiring comic book artist I copied images I saw in the books like X-Men, Wildstorm, Deathblow, The Maxx and even Heavy Metal to name a few. I was pretty confident in my art one image at a time but my sequential work was pretty weak. I started going to school and got some of my first taste of computers and computer related art which sent me on a different path than comics. I was doing Graphic Design, Production Design and general layouts for companies/clients using early Photoshop, Page-maker, Illustrator, etc…
That was a pretty far cry from drawing Wolverine and being anywhere near the comic book world… or so I thought. In 1997 I applied for a blind job listing at a company in La Jolla, CA. When I went in I nearly jumped out of my socks! There in the waiting room was life-size cutouts of Grifter, Zelot (Wildcats), Fairchild (Gen13) and more! I was like “What the?!?!?!… I gotta get this job!” So I interviewed for a production job at Wildstorm.
I got the job and was neck-deep in a dream that I honestly had given up on. I learned a LOT in my time at WS and meet a lot of people who are some of my best friends to this day.
You have done many things your career, from coloring an Eisner winning BattlePug series, to creating artwork for several National Parks. What in your career has been the most influential experience that you have had?
Winning an Eisner was amazing and it’s an honor being part of Mike Norton’s wacky world. He’s been an amazing influence and inspiring force of nature.
…but way before I was introduced to Mike Norton coloring Green Arrow and the Black Canary for DC while I was at Wildstorm comics. Well, I was there and then I left… I loved working at WS but, they didn’t pay a living wage for my position in San Diego unfortunately. Luckly, I had interviewed at several companies before WS and I got a job doing Production Art and ART.
Production Art: Setting up art to be produced, at WS this included Scanning in boards and setting up in Quark (or in-design), at the next company it was for 1000’s of products
At my next job I did that for the National Parks, San Diego Zoo, The Field Mesuem, and lots of other places tourists go and buy the stuff that end up at thrift stores. Luckily I was also encouraged to create art as well and I not only was paid to draw and paint but travel and experience the places I was creating art for. But as all things do that came to an end and I decided to get back into comics if I could.
I had never left in some ways… I had been doing Flatting for Color Artist David Baron who was on an epic run of coloring JLA. He agreed to mentor me so I moved into his house and sat behind him for 6 months learning. It wasn’t easy going from being a Commercial Artist at a high level to being his pupal but i came out of it with relatively few scars and a real career.
I see that you have worked for a many publications, on several different titles. Is there any one title that you worked on that meant more than the others? If so, what was your connection with the title.
I’ve got to color I think every character for DC Comics… so my first solo run on JSA was pretty awesome. Now I’m doing a lot of the re-colors of the collected works so I’ve colored some of the biggest names in comics. I LOVE that… hell I love comics so just being part of it is rewarding. I also have colored a bit of Spider-Man and a bunch of Valiant which i’m a big fan of.
BattlePug of course because of the Eisners and Harveys.
Here is some examples of the work I have done:
You have been a penciler, an inker, a colorist, and you have done some covers. What part of the book do you enjoy doing the most and why?
Well I’m a Digital Artist mostly these days, so those other credits really are under my umbrella of Color Artist (more than just coloring). I love Color covers of course. They are relatively simple usually only trying to express one feeling or narrative while looking as eye-catching as possible. I also really like to do a series of one book start to finish so I can establish a color scheme and mode from the get go to help tell the story (Check out Grave Danger right now).
Looking at your work, you have great talent with many different styles. Where does that essence of your coloring come from?
Coloring Comics is about telling the story… good Colorist do that... bad colorist can do beautiful work that never actually help tell the story. Comics is a visual medium and I love art for art sake but story telling is what we do as Colorist I think.
Are there any titles out there that you would someday like to do? If so, why do those titles stand out to you?
Yes… all of them. I want a chance to color something that will allow me to push my comic book boundaries. I would guess a tittle like Doom Patrol or Shade the Changing Woman. My own art has a very different ascetic then what I’m usually asked to do in comic books. So being able to unleash that would be awesome.
If there was anything you wanted to say to the readers about your work, what would it be?
It’s funny when I first started Coloring I would have asked readers to really look at what Color Artist contribute to the comics they are reading but now… I feel like Color Artist are getting their due and I love it.
So THANKS! I love it when people respond to what I’ve done. I think I’ll never stop learning and adapting to the comic book industry and I hope part of that will be fans responding to it.
One last thing…
I’ve been teaching at California College of Art in San Francisco for some years now. I teach classes for MFA in Comic Books program and I’d encourage people to look into it. I’ve got to work with some really talented students and it’s great seeing their names out in the industry now.
Here are some links to Allen's personal pages:
IG- angryf
twitter- angryf
deviantart- angryf.deviantart.com
ICBDB- http://www.comicbookdb.com/creator.php?ID=3554
