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Friday, September 18, 2015

AFTER RESONANCE with TEAM ASH

Team Ash, 2015; composite photo provided by Vaysha Hirsch

ASH MACZKO is the creator and writer of the SQUARRIORS comic book serial for Devil's Due Entertainment.  He is also the creator and organizer of the pop-culture event known as "Count-I-Con" in Grayslake, Illinois.  Ash lives in the Northwest suburbs of Chicagoland.

ASHLEY WITTER is the illustrator for the comic book serial, SQUARRIORS. Ashley recently worked with Yen Press illustrating and adapting the graphic novel of Anne Rice's INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE: CLAUDIA'S STORY, and THE WOLF GIFT.  Ashley is also an illustrator for the FANTASY FLIGHT card game, NETRUNNER, the comic book series BLOOD THIRSTY: ONE NATION UNDER WATER, and her own original comic book, SCORCH. Ashley graduated from Madison Area Technical College with a degree in Animation and Conceptual Development.  She grew up in Madison, Wisconsin.  

1.  How did the two of you meet ~ event, purpose, or accident ~ and what happened?

ASH:  A random encounter at Nocturna, in downtown Chicago.

ASHLEY:  Yes, the odds of us meeting were incredibly random.  I had just finished work on the Twilight graphic novels, and took a trip down to Chicago on a whim.  When I met Ash, to put it simply, we were kindred spirits.  We were certainly good at combining our efforts to get things done.  Hence, we're now known as Team Ash.


2.  Which artists or writers or comic books would you say, influenced your creative development?

ASH:  Comics had little influence over me, as I just recently started to read them.  But movies played a part.  The Secret of Nimh was a big one.  I also like the early Lord of the Rings animated movie.

 ASHLEY:  I've read a ton of Manga.  So much Manga it's slightly embarrassing. Some of my favorites are Lone Wolf and Cub, Blade of the Immortal, and Berserk.   I'm a fan of Mike Mignola, Jamie Hewlett, Moebius, Katsuya Terada, just to name a few more influences off the top of my head.  There's so many of them I could spend hours pointing them out and telling you why I dig their work.  Above all, my professors at Madison Area Technical College had the most influence over me.  I was an animation student for four years, so I learned a lot of what brings characters and a story to life, from all of them.

3.  When you collaborate creatively, what becomes your atmosphere or inspired environment?  For example, what kind of music is playing, or what kind of movies are on in the background?

ASH:  I'm an "only write when I'm inspired" kind of writer.  I know you're supposed to put in a lot of daily effort "practicing" writing, but I just can't do it.  I could go days (or weeks) without writing a word.  Then it will just hit me, and I'll spend 2 or 3 days straight - writing.  In that time, I am usually completely focused on the work.  No music, no videos, no distractions.  That being as it is, Ashley and I usually work independently, while occasionally checking up on each other or discussing particulars.

ASHLEY:  When I work I'm probably the polar opposite of Ash.  I tend to have a lot of background noise going on.  I'll listen to audio-books and documentaries to keep my thoughts from wandering while my hands are at work.  In high-school I was the kid who had to be sketching while I was learning about something.  I think that is deeply ingrained in me, still to this day.

4.  Outside of creating comic books, what else do you dig doing, that shows other facets of you?

ASH:  I spend a lot of time on my pop-culture event, Lake Count-I-Con.  It is a massive undertaking and the majority of everyday is working on that.  I am also a musician.  I get together with a few band-mates and play, when it's convenient.

ASHLEY:  I really love playing piano.  That kind of takes me away from everything for a bit.  Whenever I needed a break from work, I would get up and go play music.

5.  Looking at your cover for issue #1 of SQUARRIORS, I notice that the starkness of the blood is punched up in intensity by draining the image of color; how did you arrive at the look for this series?

ASH:  Squarriors started as that cover.  Before we even knew what Squarriors was, I designed that image.  We knew we wanted to create this project, but we weren't sure what it would ultimately be.  A few weeks before our first C2E2 (in 2012), we decided to make prints of this idea and see how it was received.  We were promoting it as an upcoming web-comic.  But as soon as we posted the image online, we had offers from publishers to make it a real comic.  There wasn't even a story yet.  I just had a vision of what a Squarriors comic might look like...and it was that poster, which later became the cover for #1.

ASHLEY:  I think what made Squarriors was the overall tone of a post-apocalyptic world.  That genre typically has a lot of desaturated and gritty texture to it. (my favorite!)  And turning up the saturation on red is a good indication that something is wrong here.  It's the color of passion, violence, caution, "bad things."  I've done this with a lot of horror type art.  Everything will be nearly monotone except for an area of distress or tension - blood, for example.

6. When the SQUARRIORS concept was initially sparked; how did the idea evolve into a story you intended on telling; how did the story idea change when the artist became involved?

ASH:  Ashley was involved from conception.  We wanted to do a project together, something on the side; something we could do as a team.  I liked the idea of doing something with animals, but I didn't want it to be cartoon-y.  The title Squarriors could have easily been a silly adventure comic, but I don't think it could have kept my interest.  I like world-building.  I like grand story arcs and deep back-stories.  I felt making Squarriors a realistic, semi-fantasy tale, would make that possible.  There's actually a lot to the story; I think that surprises people.

ASHLEY:  It's pretty amusing to watch Ash during his writing process.  He'll be completely silent and I know the more quiet he gets, the more intense things are getting inside his head.  It's really great working with someone who's into their work and that it's something I can agree with.  I typically have a hard time being in a supporting role as a collaborator, but Ash writes the kind of stories that I want to be drawing.

7.  Which animated movies do you love, and why do you love them OR are you excited by any indie comic books you see bubbling up from underground?

ASH:  As I mentioned before, The Secret of Nimh is one of my favorites.  I love The Last Unicorn.  I'm still not that into comics.  I have a few I pick up:  Afterlife with Archie, Sabrina, Gotham at Midnight, Masters of the Universe: Eternity War, Mortal Kombat X, Black Hood...I know there's some good stuff out there, I just haven't read it yet.  I have a huge stack of comic books on my night-stand that need to be read.

ASHLEY:  Man, I love everything done by Studio Ghibli.  I have loved and learned a lot from studios Gainax and Madhouse, too.  Before I started doing comics professionally, I wanted to be an animator.   Maybe someday, I'll be able to do animated shorts like I always dreamed.  Squarriors, the animated series!  Wait for it...

8.  What else is TEAM ASH collaborating on, and/or what else is in the works for either of you, that you are able to talk about?

ASH:  Ashley has a big book coming this summer:  SCORCH.  She did 99% of the work on it, but I helped with some co-writing.  Other than that, I am pitching some ideas and sending in submissions to other publishers.  I'd really like to pick up another writing gig, but it's sort of a passive endeavor at the moment.

ASHLEY:  - Your MOM~! :D

9. What do you really care about, at this time in your lives OR what can you tell us that you find really ridiculous about life, these days?

ASH:  I care most about being happy, and keeping the ones I love happy.  That sounds simple, but I think, in a time where people put in a lot of effort to ensure others' unhappiness, it takes work.  I guess that answers the second part of your question as well.  There are a lot of people...I mean A LOT of people, especially in the pop culture community, that want to make others miserable.  There's a lot of complaining, arguing, abuse, and harassment thrown at the artists and creators these days.  It's pretty scary.  You have to carefully choose every word, every image, every piece of content, because there is a vast number of people waiting to beat you down if your art doesn't coincide with their sensibilities.

ASHLEY:  What he said.  I've always had tough skin but I know a lot of talented creatives who would be absolutely crushed if they were ever exposed to the outside world.  It's sad that those people may never break out of their shell.  If you're one of those people, climb that wall!  Do it for yourself, pay no mind to the haters.

Thank you, Team Ash, for sharing your thoughts; to keep track of Team Ash and the SQUARRIORS progression:  SQUARRIORS









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