Interview with Richmond Clements, Writer of ‘Brian Boru’ & Vicky Stonebridge, Colourist

Here’s another interview for you guys with one of our most exciting writers, Eagle nominated Richmond Clements and Vicky Stonebridge.

Art by Cormac Hughes

INTERVIEW:

RC: Vicky alerted me to the book, and I mailed asking if you were
looking for writers.
It was mentioned that you were interested in an historical strip and I
think I said I’d just written one about the Highwayman Captain
Gallagher for Tales from the Emerald Isle #2, which I thought could be
expanded into a series.
But when Brian Boru was suggested to me, I couldn’t believe my luck
and jumped at the chance. The story of his life is an amazing one, so
it was an easy thing to say yes to.

2.) L.S.: Do you follow any particular process when composing a script
or coming up with a story idea?
RC: No, not really! I read up a bit about the history, and decided to
start our strip at one particular incident in his life.
It was also important to get it historically accurate and add
verisimilitude in the language, clothing, building designs and so on.
The story is so dynamic and exciting, I really didn’t have to dress
anything up, what I have written is pretty much what happened. I have
added a character to act as the ‘chorus’ and the readers eyes on the
goings on, but that’s all.
3.) L.S.: What was it like collaborating with Cormac Hughes as artist
on this story?
RC: More a question for Vicky, I think. But for my part it was very
good. Cormac would mail me occasionally for a steer on a character or
a point in the script, but from my point of view, I really do leave it

up to the artist to come up with page layouts and character designs as
much as is possible.

VS I loved his crisp linear style to colour, it made my job nice and
easy.  It was a pleasure to work with him both in terms of
communication and the lovely ready to colour pages that came in. I was
given freedom to colour here in my own style rather than having to try
and change what i do. Which was great!

4.) L.S.: How did you feel when you first saw the finished story?
RC: It looks excellent. Cormac has a very neat line style and Vicky’s
colours really lifted everything. That first panel on the first page
is a real calling card for the strip and, in a very real way, is a lot
better than anything I wrote in the script.

VS, i don’t know about Cormac, but i was cursing Richmond for that
first panel and all the detail in it ( while secretly loving it too ).
5.) L.S.: Vicky you’ve done a fantastic job bringing colour to the
story, what inspired your choice of colour?
VS. The immediate choice here was to have the colours of Celtic
manuscripts like the book of Kells as my palette. Thinking about the
Celts clothing and accessories I know that pretty bright colours were
available through natural dying processes, but I chose to limit the
palette and mute it down to the warm ochres and browns that I used.
6.) L.S.: The two of you are running Hi-Ex together this year. What do
you have planned?
RC: Lots of fun things! The real backbone of the event is the
inclusions of families and children, who at other conventions are a
relatively rare site.
We run a lot of workshops in both writing and drawing and they are
always very popular. This year we have some returning guests and a few
new ones who will be giving out their advice.
There’s also the dealers room, an RPG room, Cosplayers and panels.
During the weekend the venue, Eden Court, will also be showing the
Scottish indie movie Electric Man, and the guys who made it will also
be guests at Hi-Ex!
7.) L.S.: Do you guys have any future comic projects in the works at the moment?
VS I’m currently painting a strip for on an anthology called Bayou
Arcana, which has had a lot of publicity as it is unusually all
written by men and illustrated by women. Think, spooky cowboys, bounty
hunters, blues and voodoo, its great fun to draw!
Richmond has also written an graphic novel adaptation of a very popular
Scots ballad for me to illustrate as soon as I get a moment. There are
always more projects than time!

RC: Quite a few as usual. I’m currently writing a series called Black
Dragon for the new British comic Strip Magazine, which is drawn by
Nick Dyer. We had an episode in the talent search slot in Strip #3,
and off the back of that, we have a full length series beginning in
#7. I’ve seen some of Nick’s art for it and it is the best he has ever
down, which is really saying something.
My book Turning Tiger is out in April from Renegade Arts and Arcana,
and I’m about to write the sequel.
I’m halfway through another GN for Markosia which is going to be
stonking fun but I can’t talk about just yet.
And Corvus, the book I’m doing with Kevin Levell is moving forward.
Expect something cool online soon, and as well as that we’ve roped in
another artist not a million miles form here to provide a unique
section in the book – this one is going to be great!
Annnnd… there’s another story for Barry Nugent’s Unseen Shadows comic
project, FutureQuake, Something Wicked, Dogbreath and Zarjaz.
There’s probably more, too…

February 13, 2012 | Categories: Brian Boru | Tags: Brian Boru, Comic Books, Comics, Cormac Hughes, Dublin, Eagle Awards, Graphic Novels, Lightning Strike, LSComics, Richmond Clements, Vicky Stonebridge | 1 Comment