Despite his fine talent, I doubt that you have heard of the artist Jason Copland. He is a kind fellow who I met online while I was a writer at Slush Factory. When Pop Thought got started he was one of our first regular posters. He is a comic book artist who received an assignment to do the pencils for Hoarse & Buggy’s WESTERN TALES OF TERROR (issue #4). My family and I met Jason and his beautiful wife Jackie during my visit out to Washington state last July. He and I are now very good friends, and I hope/think that fact will be evident in this interview. His art is found on his site and at his Pop Thought Gallery, found here.
Alex Ness: Mr Copland, welcome to the Land of Frost
Jason Copland: Thank you, Alex. It's a pleasure to be here.
AN: Please tell my readers, if you would, where do you live, what do you do, are you married? kids? cats?
JC: I live in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with my beautiful wife Jackie. I don't have any cats but we are expecting our first child in early August!
AN: Other than working on art pages, which we will talk about, I promise, what do you do?
JC: I work at the Vancouver Public Library as a Librarian Assistant. It's mostly a grunt job but it pays the bills.
I also play hockey. I'm a goalie for a recreational hockey team called the Invaders. Sadly, we were eliminated from the playoffs last week!
AN: D'oh!
Now, ... where were you trained in art? Or are you mostly self taught?
JC: Ah..... schooling..... I have attended a few schools. I did 2 years at the Alberta College of Art in Calgary, then packed my bags and came to Vancouver to do 2 years at a local community college... then, finally went back to art school and did my last 2 years at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design here in Vancouver.
AN: Wow, that is a lot of school.
JC: Yeah.... 6 years. And one big student loan bill at the end!
AN: What goal did you have going to art schools, other than finishing?
JC: Originally, I wanted to be a painter. I thought that it would be cool to be a gallery artist and make huge pieces of work. But I soon realized that I had absolutely NO colour sense. So I switched to drawing. I loved comics, but found that they didn't have a place in Art school.
AN: What artists were among your favorites before going into art school and who are they now?
JC: Byrne, Simonson, Miller.... most of the 80's Marvel guys. Now.... I still love those guys (minus Byrne) but I love Guy Davis, Ashley Wood, Paul Pope..... the list could go on and on....
AN: So why only comics folks? Do you have fave artists outside of comics?
JC: Yeah. I love a lot of artists..... Joseph Bueys, Hans Hoffman, Cy Twombly.... the list could go on and on.... lol
AN: Now this might seem the same question, but who are your strongest influences upon your work?
JC: Well, I'd say I still see a big Byrne influence in my work. But, I'm really thinking about breaking out of that traditional style and start throwing down some stuff like Ash Wood and Bill Sienkiewicz....
AN: I have spoken with a few working great comics artists and each told me that working on a comic page they were very careful to avoid any works by other artists or they'd begin to use that artist's style even subconsciously. Do you have that ability (or curse) to just pick another artist's style by looking at it?
JC: No, I don't think so.
AN: What was your first published comic work?
JC: The first comic that was available to comic stores was A. David Lewis's "Mortal Coils". I was in a mini comic before that, though.
AN: This interview is set to present you and your work to the comic reading audience. What is the title of the Hoarse and Buggy book you are doing?
JC: Western Tales of Terror.
AN: What issue? What is the story titled? Who did you work with?
JC: The story that I illustrated was written by the very talented Stuart Moore and will be available in the fourth issue of Western Tales of Terror. It's titled "Other Folks' Troubles"
AN: So it is a full length comic story?
JC: No, it's an 8 pager.
AN: Short stories can work often better than full if the creative team works well together. Like an illustrated O. Henry story, or something.
JC: Insert candy bar joke here......
AN: Mmmmm, O Henry
JC: Well done!
AN: OK, then, what is your favorite Canadian Candy Bar?
JC: I LOVE Big Turks! Are they Canadian......?
AN: I think so, but I am not Canadian and I do not eat much candy so what the hell do I know?
What is the diamond previews order number for Western Tales of Terror now in April Previews?
JC: Just a sec..... apr05 2945
AN: Excellent
OK, so what do you think are your strengths as an illustrator?
JC: Hmmmmm..... I'm very detail oriented. I think I do pretty good layouts. They tend to be easy to read. I also give the reader backgrounds in most panels! I get soooo tired of reading comics with one panel a page that has a background and the rest are empty...... I feel ripped off, as a reader.
AN: What comics do you read?
JC: Well, I tend to follow artists around from book to book. So those books change quite often.... but... I do read WALKING DEAD, STRANGERS IN PARADISE, EX MACHINA, CAPTAIN AMERICA..... Anything by Ash Wood and Guy Davis.....
AN: Do you have a favorite all time title?
JC: YES!!! Yes, I do!
AN: What would it be?
JC: Frank Miller's "RONIN". Nothing can beat that. Nothing.
AN: Goseki Kojima + Moebius + Cyberpunk = Frank Miller
JC: It's got it all.
AN: Ok, so Western Tales of Terror flies off the shelves... you become a hot artist... what is your dream in comics?
JC: Well, I would never assume I'm the reason those copies of WToT are flying off the shelf..... but my dream would be to do a self published comic that financed itself for the rest of it's life.
AN: No work at the big two? No groupies shouting Ja-son Ja-son?
