READERSVOICE.COM: You always seem to have movement in your pictures, and not just in your Hulk action pictures. In Amethyst you have things moving even in headshots, like hair flying around or facial expressions, but even portraits like Karloff’s Frankenstein seem to have energy. What are some techniques for getting movement in pictures or across the page?

AARON LOPRESTI: It is so easy to get caught up when drawing figures to just have them standing there. I would draw that and it would just seem so boring to me. (I probably realized this after talking to Golden.) So I started putting movement in the hair, capes blowing in the wind, and doing something with the body posture of the character.
As far as expressions are concerned, if a character is saying something or even listening there is something going through their minds. I try to show that rather than just being stoic all the time. It is just almost second nature to me now. If I don’t do stuff like that it just doesn’t look right. Of course, you can put a totally wrong expression on a character’s face, which might undermine what the writer intended, so you have to be careful.

I don’t know if there is a technique as much as there is the ability to develop an eye to really see what needs to be added to a panel to create energy in it. It really comes down to taking the time to ask yourself what is the character thinking or trying to do here and does this look static or boring?

RV: When writing the Batman stories, and drawing Batman, did you just make him your own Batman or is there like a template that you can’t vary much from?

AL: As long as the costume is right and you stay within the character confines of the current incarnation of the character, you get some freedom. But you always risk the editor saying, ” I don’t think Batman would say or do that.” At that point you have to step back and think about who Bruce Wayne is and if he really would react that way. He’s difficult because he is very grim and brutal but at the same time has compassion and understanding and is committed to not taking a life. I don’t think he wants anyone to know that he cares but he clearly does.

RV: Does it get tiring going to comic-cons or is it fun?

AL: I must admit it’s more like work now and less fun. I enjoy talking to the people and looking around for interesting and unique items you can only find at comic cons but doing sketches gets to be a lot of work. Plus I am just not the go out drinking or go to a party kind of guy. I am so used to being around my family, that when they are not there, everything seems off to me. But overall, I still like going to them. I will probably being doing at least five in 2014.

RV: What are some of your plans?

AL: My immediate plans are drawing three issues of Detective Comics (#26,28,29). It seems recently I have fallen into a lot of Batman work, which is really cool. I am finishing up the last script for my creator owned series, Atomic Toybox, which I hope to start drawing very soon. I have more work coming up from DC but I can’t reveal any of that just yet.

-see aaronlopresti.com.
-copyright Simon Sandall.