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WC Carani was the inker of Legionnaires for five years, which is where I
first saw his work. I’ve run into him at several San Diego Comic
Conventions. Mr. Carani is a very talented artist and very nice
gentleman. As I was interviewing him at San Diego this summer, he was
painting an absolutely beautiful portrait of Wonder Woman for the
charity auction.
Sidra:
How did you get interested in comicbooks?
WC Carani:
Comicbooks are one of those things that have interested me
since I was a child. I suppose I reacted strongly to the pictures. It was
the visuals that always appealed to me and that was the thing that
grabbed me as a child, the way comics looked. To this day, even as an
adult, the thing that attaches me to comics is the visuals behind them.
I’m an artist. So, I suspect that’s why I was always drawn to them, purely
based on the pictures.
Sidra:
Did you ever think as a child that you’d end up working in the
comic industry?
WC Carani:
Well, I suppose at some point as a child you think you’re
going to be an astronaut, a fireman, and a lot of things. I always thought
I’d be doing something artistic. Comics wasn’t a real goal until I hit high
school.
Sidra:
How does one become an inker?
WC Carani:
Well, I suppose it depends on your aptitude. I’m really quite
a craftsmen in the sense that I really like to do refined work. I have a
penchant for it. Some people, I think that’s why they go into penciling;
they want something more immediate. As for me, inking was always an
interest because I had a good aptitude for it and it seemed to be a good
road for me because it’s what I like doing. I like to paint, and in a weird
way, I guess inking is sort of like painting.
Sidra:
Is there any specific technique you like to use?
WC Carani:
I work mainly with traditional style just using a brush. I
don’t know if that’s a technique.. well I guess it is. I do all my inking in
brush, that by far being my favorite way of producing any sort of
drawing, really. I trained myself to draw with a brush. Granted, I do the
traditional pencil it first, pencil it out and then ink it up. But I would say
brush is my favorite style, because it’s similar to painting.
Sidra:
Is there any specific type of brush you prefer to use?
WC Carani:
I use a special tool called a color brush, and the particular
color brush isn’t widely available anymore. It’s a tool that I used all
through college, and now I use knock off versions of it that are widely
available in Japan and overseas. They stopped making the specific one I
use over here. That is my tool of choice: Its a nylon brush with a cap,
and it lasts a lot longer than a regular Sable. It’s just a real sturdy tool,
and I really like that.
Sidra:
When did you first meet Jeff Moy?
WC Carani:
I first met Jeffrey Moy in college. I think in a watercolor
class that he was sitting in. I just happened through and I saw him
working on a piece. He has a twin brother and I actually confused the
two guys. And one day I was talking to his brother Phil about how neat
his stuff was. The next day I started talking to Jeff, not realizing that
they were two different guys. So I met Jeff at Northern Illinois
University, in a watercolor painting room.
Sidra:
When did you begin working with Jeff, inking his work?
WC Carani:
I suppose officially right after college was when we started,
but of course, there’s all the time we spent together in college. I think we
were always monkeying around together on some little this or that or the
other thing in college. Professionally, we started working together more
or less from the get go. As college ended, we continued with what we’d
been doing in school and took it with us right after we left.
Sidra:
Does it ever bother you that the penciller gets more credit even
though the inker’s job is more difificult and time consuming?
WC Carani:
Not at all, I never got into this to get my name in lights or
anything. That’s really not a concern.
Sidra:
What other mediums do you like and what medium is your favorite?
WC Carani:
I like all kinds of art. I can’t think of anything specifically
that I wouldn’t mess with. I suppose you’re asking if I couldn’t be
inking what would I rather be doing. I suppose I’d like to be painting.
My using my illustration degree doing painted work, painted pieces.
Sidra:
What does one have to do for an illustration degree, out of
curiosity?
WC Carani:
Your training is a little more extensive in creating things that
are more realistic. You’ve got a better overall grasp of how things really
are, how things really look, and more realism in your work. Of course,
that can be tailored to a bunch of different things. I like illustration
because it’s the one discipline that sort of involves all the disciplines.
You can render things real tight and realistic and close to life, but you
have plenty of room in illustration to go ahead and make things more fine
art-ish, if you will. To me, it’s just got the best of all the worlds. You can
take it any way you want.
Sidra:
What’s the best part about working in the comicbook industry?
WC Carani:
Gosh, I don’t know. I suppose the best thing about it is I get
to do things that are really fantastic and things that are really fun and
different. I don’t have to deal with certain things in the field that I’m in.
You know when you wake up in the morning that the work you’re going
to be doing is going to have superheroes, creatures and fun stuff. It’s
nice that I don’t have to wake up and draw a car seat or something odd
like that. I suppose that’s one of the more fun things to wake up, and
know I’m going to work with Superman and Batman.
Sidra:
What’s the most difficult thing you’ve ever worked on?
WC Carani:
I would have to say, without too much hesitation, that the
most difficult thing I ever worked on was that first thing. Everybody has
some project, some first thing they worked on, and I would think that
was probably the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to work on. I think
that would go for anyone though, because... oh boy... you want to make
it just right and perfect. Even though you know it’s going to be full of
mistakes and when you look back you’ll realize how many glaring errors
you’ve made. I suspect that’s the most difficult thing in retrospect.
Sidra:
If you could work with anyone in the comicbook industry, who
would you like to work with?
WC Carani:
If I could work with anyone in the industry, quite honestly,
the partner I’ve had for the past six years, Jeff Moy, is really one of the
people I have enjoyed working with. We get along so well and we’ve
been friends for so long that I’ve had all my wishes come true as it comes
to comics. I’ve gotten to work on the comics that I’ve wanted to. As for
people I’d like to work with, I’m pretty easy. I’d be happy working with
just about anybody.
Sidra:
What was the first comic you worked on?
WC Carani:
My first work in comicbooks was for this hideous company.
I’m not going to mention their name. They are out of business. It was a
Chicago company, not the one people are probably thinking of. It was
just awful. It was run by a guy who was just kind of...I don’t know what
he was trying to do. It was a very bad experience, but we were pretty
well prepared for it by our instructor Mark Nelson. We knew the comic
industry was a bit sleazy at certain levels. So, we knew it was coming,
and everyone’s gotta start somewhere.
Sidra:
You worked on Legionnaires for five years. Did you know a lot
about the characters before you started working on it?
WC Carani:
Yeah, I did because when I got into comics one of the first
things that I wanted to do, who doesn’t, was work on X-Men. Well, sure
enough, that’s where I started. My other favorite for all those years was
the Legion of Superheroes. So I went from my favorite book, The X-men
to my other favorite book, Legionnaires. So yeah, I was quite familiar
with the characters. I never dreamt I’d be going from one hot
commodity to another.
Sidra:
Recently you and Jeff Moy did work on the Voyager comicbook.
What are you currently working on?
WC Carani:
As we speak, I’m working on a painting of Wonder Woman.
I’m just joking. Currently we’re working on the Wildstorm annual, and I
believe it’s been re-titled Magic. I think it’s the debut of a character
called Magic. I can’t really say I know anything about it because it’s a
new character.
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