It’s time for another spotlight on a wonderful artist. This time I am sticking with a local artist and showcasing his talent just in time for Comic-Con in New Orleans. That’s right, Comic-Con is in New Orleans this weekend and this wonderful artist will be there. His name is Roland Paris and he hails from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is one of the best inkers in the biz and has worked on a variety of titles. Odds are, you may have some of his books in your collection and just not realize it, well, until now. So ladies and gentlemen, I present unto you, my interview with the great Roland Paris.
SWN: Who are you and where are you from?
RP: I am Roland Paris, a professional comic book inker, and I am originally from New Orleans LA. Currently I am living in Baton Rouge, LA
SWN: I love your artwork! Can you tell us what comic book titles you have worked on?
RP: Over the past 20 years or so I have worked on quite a bit of stuff!! Early work included work for Chaos on a Purgatori mini series, then some work for Top Cow on Darkness and City of Heroes. When I was hired at CrossGen, I was the fill-in inker, so I worked on every title that the company put out, Later, I was moved onto Crux, where I got to ink Steve Epting, then onto Brath, where I inked Andrea DiVito. Since the demise of CrossGen, I have been working for Marvel, mostly. Lots of Spider-Man stuff, quite a bit of X-Men, a great mini series based on Homer’s The Odyssey, written by Roy Thomas ans penciled by Greg Tocchini. I have also worked on She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel, a Black Panther annual… lot’s of stuff!
SWN: You are currently an artist for Marvel, any exciting projects coming up?
RP: Nothing in the pipeline as we speak, but you never know when an editor will call, so I keep my inking had warm by practicing!
SWN: Speaking of projects, I understand you are doing sketches to raise money for the Wendy’s Over the Rainbow fund. Can you tell us what that is about?
RP: A friend of mine has terminal cancer, so we are raising funds for her to travel around the country and say goodbyes to friends and family, and get to see a few things she hasn’t had the chance to see.
SWN: That Is a great charity! How can we help?
RP: Well, I am doing sketches for anyone who donates $30 or more for her fund. The sketches are black and white, fully inked pieces on 9″x12″ Strathmore Bristol. Any character you want, I will do… and I will cover all shipping costs! 100% of the money will go to help Wendy. (contact me at paris.roland@gmail.com to get more info!!)
SWN: Getting back to your work in comics, what was the first title that you worked on?
RP: Well the VERY first issue I worked on was a book called Silverstorm, written by Roland Mann and penciled by Steven Butler. I was HORRIBLE! So please, don’t go looking that one up! After college at Ringling School of Art and Design, where I earned a degree in illustration, I think my first book I inked was Purgatori:The Hunted by Chaos.
SWN: When did you know you wanted to work in comics? Do you have any advice for up and comers?
RP: I knew I wanted to be a comic book artist when I purchased my first book at the age of 5. It was a very cool Aquaman issue where he fights Starro, and it was illustrated by Jim Aparo. I was hooked!!!
As far as advice for up and comers… practice, practice practice!!! Take your work to cons, ask working pros to critique you. LISTEN to what they have to say (even if it may not make sense then, it most likely will somewhere down the line!), work on what they tell you… once you feel your stuff is up to par, start sending submissions to small publishing houses. I can almost guarantee you that you will NOT get your first gig at Marvel of DC. Work at smaller companies, be professional, meet your deadlines. This will show bigger companies that you have what it takes. Climb the ladder… and remember, you are not competing against the so-so artists out there, you are competing against the best. So, your work has to be good enough to be noticed. I can honestly tell you, it is NOT easy. You have to work your butt off to not only get into the business, but you have to work JUST as hard to STAY in the business. And did I mention practice?
SWN: If you could be a part of any creative team to create any figure in comics history, past or present, who would it be and why?
RP: Wow, why don’t you ask a tough question! Geez… Umm, I think I would have loved to ink Gil Kane. There was something about his pencils that really captured my eye. His sense of anatomy was different, but he made it work. And nobody was as good at making figure “move” as he was.
SWN: If you were not in the Comic Biz, where would you be?
RP: I would be at some menial job being miserable, working my butt off to GET into the comic biz!
SWN: Where can my readers see more of your work?
RP: They can check out some of my work at rolandparis.deviantart.com
