I got into a big conversation with my bud Kyle Stewart one time about how we artists put all the stuff that’s in our head and heart into the brushstrokes or marker lines of whatever we’re creating.  That’s why it’s vitally important to be careful about the situations, people, and places you’re exposed to because they’re going to all get buried in your work.

When I go looking at old comics I’ve done, certain key sequences make everything that was going on around me when I was creating that moment whoosh back into my head as though it’s happening again. I remember what I was thinking about, what was going on in the house, and – most vividly – what music was on.

I have a whole philosophy that I hope to be able to lay out one day in some academic fashion about how comics has more in common with music than with movies. Most people think of comics (if they think about it at all) as cinema’s R&D department. But what music is for your ears, comics is for your eyes. I’ll get into this another time.

This time I’m talking about works of music that are important sources of inspiration. I subscribe to a whole bunch of MP3 blogs so I have new music all the time. But there are certain mainstay works that are vitally important to my creative vision.  Listening to any of these makes me want to draw more than looking at any pictures.

Nas – Illmatic

Nas is one of the greatest storytellers in hip hop.  His debut is packed full of layers upon layers of emotion and the private thoughts of a man caught up in a world he never thought would be for him.  There’s both the street-level reality of the thug and hustler, and his grand fantasies of one day being the kingpin.  The density of the details and the realistic street grit is what I tried to take from this to put in my comics.

Sloan – Navy Blues

I am not really a fan of Sloan but Holy Shit, am I ever a big fan of this album.  The whole record is good, but the first six songs are what do it for me.  The first six songs on this record play like a really grand drama.  If they could keep that level of interest, creativity, and flourish up for a couple of hours, what an opera that would be.  I tried to take the flow and energy of the first six songs and articulate it visually, without getting literal about it, more times than I can think about.

Paul & Linda McCartney – Ram

Paul took a lot of shit for doing this album with his wife, as though she had no right to be singing with a Beatle because she wasn’t famous enough.  But Paul and Linda were in love, and they wanted to make a record that let you in on what was exclusive and private to the two of them.  This album is minimal in its arrangements but wildly creative in the writing.  Further, we enjoy this record in the context of what was to come later with Wings.  It’s as though Paul had just figured that the break-up of the Beatles was not going to be the end of him, and set his second wind to music.  The romantic and optimistic feeling of this record is what I tried to put in my comics.

Tags: Free Music, ideas, inspiration, opinion