Please tell us something about yourself, how has your adventure with comic books started? Where did your passion for colouring comic books come from? And what have you done so far?
Well, I kind of fell into coloring comics when I went to San Diego Comic Con in 2006 with a small portfolio. I was a tattoo artist for 5 years previously and I used to color more of my own drawings and such, now that is where the passion lies. I've started coloring Dragonlance from Devil's Due, and went on to color books for many other indy publishers but recently I've been working alot of DC comics on Green Lantern and Supergirl.
You are very young and we probably can say that your career is just starting. How have you got involved with 'The Talisman' project?
I always get my jobs through word of mouth or by association or mutual contacts. I got this job through a friend and fellow professional's agent who was showing Random House some other artists work, which I colored and they asked who I was, which lead to The Talisman.
Do you feel pressure or maybe excitement when you think you work on one of the most famous modern writer's project?
Oh yes, knowing that King himself will look at MY work is very exciting!
On your DeviantArt profile you wrote that Clive Barker is one of your favourite writers but you didn't mention neither Stephen King nor Peter Straub. What you appreciate more in Barker than in this two?
Well admittedly I haven't read any books by Straub and I've only read the dark tower books by King, but Clive Barker's Imajica is just one of my faves. Naturally I'm a little embarassed, but I'm sure after The Dark Tower I need to add Stephen King to that list as well. I've grown up with King myself, mainly seeing the movies from his books. Out of those The Stand is my favorite. My Father is an avid King reader though and I remember he has all his books.
Did you read 'The Talisman' book earlier or only after you got proposition on working on this adaptation? What do you think about the book?
I haven't read it before, and actually I've just been sent a copy of the book so I haven't read very much of it so far. I really enjoy the plot of the story though and I look forward to where it will take me!
We asked Tony Shasteen if he want to differ Territories from USA in '80s. He said yes but: "A large share of that work will fall on the colorist. They really have a lot on their plate when they color this book." How do you want to show this differences?
The major things we are trying to do on this book is making sure the colors in the territories stay much more vivid and beautiful than the real world palettes. Tony draws the whole book pretty much the same way, yet as he says it falls on me to make them vastly different. The territories are much more vibrant and the real world much more drab.
Do any of this worlds seems to be more interesting or more difficult to color?
They are both interesting because going back from the territories to the real world and back into the territories provides a lot of variation and keeps me on my toes. I'm not asked to make anything look any certain way minus the territories being much more colorful, so it lets me really play with color storytelling elements and effects.
Let's come back to Tony's quote, he said "they" when he was talking about colourist of 'The Talisman'. Is there anyone who help you or you are alone on that?
I have a tea m of flatters that prepare the pages for me, but I have to make vast changes to everything to suit my work and my palettes before I can start, so I'd say I do about 95% of the work.
Have you created or maybe will create some particular colour's palettes for specific places, Blasted Lands for example?
Yes I've given the blasted lands a certain ominous palette that I will continue to use in the future.
Tell us something about your co-operation with Tony Shasteen. Do you have any impact on comic besides colouring?
No, he is completely done with the pages before I get them.
Who accepts your work? Is it graphic artist, someone from DelRay or maybe King and Straub themselves?
I submit everything for approval through Betsy Mitchell who is Editor in Chief at Del Rey, who in turn submits the work to King and Straub for approval.
While colouring, do you base your work on the descriptions from the book or you approach to it freely and let your imagination work?
I base it largely on the scripts I get from Robin Furth, but often I can use my imagination to color the pages. Sometimes it is important to adhere to certain details or it will tell a different story.
Why issue #0 will have premiere in black and white and not until 3 months later in colour?
They are making it a special rare hard to find edition that is only available at San Diego Comiccon. It is a popular tactic for companies to do so.
How do you rate your work on Tony's drawings comparing it to your earlier projects?
I can't really find an answer for this question, because I have to change my work to suit every different penciller. My work over Tony is different then anything I've ever done.
In general, do you also draw besides colouring?
Yes, I've drawn my entire life and have been commissioned to do toy pachages for hasbro and also Covers for novels. I mentioned earlier I was also a tattoo artist for 5 years (but not anymore) and drawing is a very large part of that. I try to keep up with my own work every once in awhile, because it is complete freedom and I can do whatever I please.
Describe your work on technical side, what equipment do you use? Please tell us step by step what do you do since you get a sketch untill the final effect.
I download pages from the server, and upload them to my server for my flatters to prepare the pages. After I get them back, I alter the flats to my liking, sometimes asking my flatters to correct the other pages based on my changes.
Then I use photoshop to start laying down rendering and moods, this is the important part where I decide what colors I will be using for the whole page. Sometimes I have to do this for multiple pages so I have to make sure it works for the story.
After everything is completely rendered, I sit back and look at the page and and sure nothing stand out as off to me. Then I apply special effects to the page if it requires it, like texture, splatters, glows or motion/depth of field blurs.
thats it ^__^
Thank you very much :-)
Thank you!
[With Nei Ruffino talked: Grzesiek Tupikowski and Michal Ratajczak]
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Stephen King 
