Buffy : Season 9

Hey Steve. Thanks for agreeing to do this interview. We all know that you’re the current main cover artist for Angel & Faith and Buffy Season 9, and had previously done covers for Dollhouse and Serenity.

But let’s start from the very beginning, a very good place to start: When did you decide that art was going to be your life?

Steve: There wasn’t a time where I didn’t plan on being an artist. I always drew and by later in grammar school was using watercolors, then on to acrylics and oils from junior high and high school.

How did you start in the business? What is your artistic background like? Did you go to school for sequential or fine art?

Steve: In junior high I discovered kids would part with their money for fantasy drawings or paintings of their favorite metal band on the back of their denim jackets. By high school I started to get very focused on portraiture and that interest has continued to this day. But along the way I’ve bounced to photography, semi abstracted figurative art and everything in-between. I was a fine art major in college…which was like paying for four years of study hall, but being around a lot of other creative people caused me to experiment more with mediums and styles, so it definitely had its value. Toward the middle of college, I wanted to create art that would be mass producible, because I felt galleries weren’t really a way to reach people. And thus began my slow descent into computer art and the comic book world.

What was your first major project?

Steve: Right after college I was hired to illustrate a children’s Christmas book called Silver Berries and Christmas Magic. They needed 20 paintings completed in 3 months…I was totally out of my element both in subject and time frame. It was a grind. I was living in NYC at the time and when I went home for the Christmas holiday, I brought some of the paintings with me, so I could continue to paint… I made the deadline.

You were the winner of Dark Horse’s 2004 New Recruits contest, which led to the publication of your creator-owned original graphic novel, Blessed Thistle. How long did you work on that project?

Steve: It approached a year of time I think. I did everything on the book, including lettering.

How would you describe what the story of Blessed Thistle is about in a quick sentence or two?

Steve: It’s a suspense/horror graphic novel, containing four interlocked stories, which deal with themes of God’s relationship with man, free will, consumption and the parent-child relationship.

As mentioned above, you had also previously done covers for other Whedonverse projects (Serenity: The Shepherd’s Tale and Dollhouse: Epitaphs). Did those projects naturally transition into landing the Buffyverse gigs?

Steve: I’d imagine so, I think they were happy with my ability to render likenesses as well as the manner in which I interpret story content beyond the surface.

Since we’re on the topic of the Buffyverse, I wanted to first commend you on the beautiful covers for both books so far. Your cover for Buffy #5 and Angel & Faith #6 are my personal favorites so far. Could you explain the design concepts for both the covers?

Steve: Thanks! I can’t explain the juicier parts of A&F #6 (the Giles and spiky hand imagery) without risking a pummeling from Dark Horse. I can say that I’ve always been fascinated by nesting dolls or objects splitting in half or housing other objects… it carries into metaphors about secrets, inner worlds and/or past-present relationships. I repeat this motif from time to time; I used it to similar effect on A&F #3 with Angelus split in half around Angel.

With the Buffy #5, I had pitched a few different ideas, although the dress one was my favorite. I wanted to put Buffy in a dress that she might ogle at in a magazine, with a pronounced sigh, but never have any practical occasion to wear…considering her on-the-slay life style. Also, The dress’ Pucci-esque pattern would lend itself to morphing into disturbing and hellish imagery, which was a plus.

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Click on the link :

http://slayalive.com/showthread.php/2306-Exclusive-Interview-with-Steve-Morris-Buffy-Season-9-Angel-amp-Faith-Cover-Artist