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Oct 29 & 30
PRESS quick links Artist, illustrator delves into the dark side of comic books - The Desert Sun Comic Book Artist Wes Huffor KPSP - CBS Local 2 Palm Springs Wes Huffor gets Comic Booked - comicbooked.com Comic artist's work to be entombed in Poe's NY cottage - Press Realease by Jesse B. Gill Poe Fans Restore Bronx Cottage "For Evermore" - By: Roger Clark New York 1 |
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Click here for article on Desert Sun website
Standing on his patio, smoking a cigarette and drinking his morning coffee, Wes Huffor looks like any Palm Springs resident who enjoys a laid-back desert lifestyle and works at home.
But step across the threshold into the apartment he shares with his girlfriend of two years, Kristeen Kidd, and it becomes apparent the 33-year-old Huffor is equally comfortable in a different, sometimes dark, larger-than-life world.
Shelves filled with gruesome, graphic, and gory artwork, some his own, some from friends and mentors, line the walls of Huffor's living room.
“I always loved comics and I always liked really dark stuff,” the comic book artist and illustrator said. “I'm a big fan of horror and scary movies, so it didn't take long for me to get into horror comics.”
His love of horror is evident in “Charnel House,” the independent comic book he created in 2008. The book is a tribute to old-school crime, horror and suspense stories like “Twilight Zone” and “Tales from the Crypt.”
“Wes is gaining success because he understands the genre. He loves the horror, crime and suspense of the stories and the emotions that evolve from that,” illustrator and colorist Matt Slay said.
“Wes is fearless in a genre of fear,” he added.
A lot of creative collaboration goes into producing comic books like Huffor's.
First, there's the writer who drafts the story line, creates characters and sets the scenes. Then the artist gets a hard copy of the book that looks similar to a screenplay. The artist uses that to interpret the writer's words into pictures.
“It's always a weird thing because writers speak their own language, and a viewer has a language that they see, so trying to translate it can be difficult,” Huffor said.
“Sometimes I will call a writer and tell them that they've put too much on a page,” he said.
After the artist finishes his or her part, the black-and-white drawings go to a colorist and then move on to a letterer who adds “bubbles” and dialogue to the scenes.
“Wes has a great eye for detail as well as a way to draw nontraditional images. His sequential art is highly impressive as well,” said A.J. Herrera, founder of Forbidden Panel Inc., an independent publishing company specializing in graphic novels, comic books and multimedia.
“His art is nontraditional in the way that his light source choices and selection of imagery are not common when drawing comic art,” he added.
Huffor's work recently caught the eye of fans of one of the world's all-time classic horror and suspense writers, Edgar Allen Poe.
As first-place winner of the Visual Award for the “How Does Edgar Allen Poe Inspire You?” contest put on by the Historic House Trust of New York City, Huffor received the honor of having one of his works entombed in a wall at the historic Edgar Allen Poe house in the Bronx, N.Y.
The contest called for pieces of drawn and written art to be placed in the walls, creating a kind of artistic time capsule.
“I've always been a fan of Poe, so I had a lot of stuff that represented my inspiration,” Huffor said.
Within two days after his submission Huffor received an email announcing his win.
“It was kind of mind-blowing,” he said. “Some of Poe's best work was written in that house.”
Huffor traveled to New York in April to place his work into an acid-free box along with 12 other winners' work.
The box was then placed in the wall of the house and plastered over.
“The plaster was made out of lye and horse hair — all original methods. We got to help finish one of the rooms,” Huffor said.
“The whole putting-the-box- in-the-wall thing goes along with the crazy insanity that Poe is all about,” he added.
In addition to working for publication companies and on independent projects, Huffor attends more than 20 comic conventions across the U.S. annually.
“In October I am doing a show every weekend,” he said. “I love drawing at the tables and talking to the fans.”
Huffor attended in July one of the largest conventions in the nation, San Diego Comic- Con, where more than 150,000 people a day walked by his booth.
“I make most of my money at the conventions doing commission work,” Huffor said.
From the time the doors open to the time they close, artists are promoting their work and making connections, Slay said.
“Conventions are part of the cycle. It gives fans a chance to meet those who create what they love,” Slay said.
Growing up in San Bernardino, Huffor started drawing at 4 years old. He began his professional career straight out of high school working for a couple of small presses in San Bernardino.
“Being an 18-year-old and not really understanding how anything works, wasn't the best thing,” Huffor said.
“That business is as sharky as Hollywood. They will let a kid work for free forever,” he added.
Following his brother to the Coachella Valley when he was 21, Huffor relocated and continued to work on his craft and make connections.
“I can work anywhere, it doesn't matter, but I grew up in Southern California and this is the place that I'm comfortable with,” Huffor said.
At one point, Huffor took a break from the industry to work at several different jobs. That changed about five years ago when he decided to get back into professional drawing.
“I'm sure he could land a job with one of the major comic publishing houses if he wanted to, but I suspect he'd miss the freedom he enjoys in the indie sector,” David Berner, a writer with Broken Voice Comics, said.
“For those of us, like Wes, who think of ourselves as storytellers, there's nothing quite so rewarding as seeing your own creations come to life.”