Interview Dave Bardin
How would you describe your drawing style?
My drawing style is heavily influenced by animation. I'm always striving to capture the motion and expressiveness often seen in traditional 2D animated films.
What materials do you use?
I've been drawing completely digitally for the last few years. I work on Wacom Cintiq 22HD hooked up to a MacBook Pro. I pencil and ink in Manga Studio and color my work in Adobe Photoshop. When drawing traditionally, I will sketch out my pages or illustrations in a blue Col-Erase pencil, tighten the drawings up with a hard lead pencil like a 4H, and then ink with a Kuretake Brush Pen.
When you design new characters, what aspects do you give special attention to?
When designing a new character, I try to think about that particular character's personality. How would this character dress? How would they stand, walk, or run? All of these decisions help to flesh the character out visually. If the viewer can understand the unique nature of a character based off of just one pose, then I'm on the right track.
If you were a character from fiction, who would you like to be?
That's a tough one. There are so many great characters out there all with their own appealing set of powers, abilities, and personalities. I've been a big fan of Zorro since I was really young--he always looks so cool running over rooftops, fencing, and swinging in to save the day. The best part is that he always looks like he's having a great time doing it as well. I'm not sure I would want to live in the same time period as Zorro though, which really, is so much a part of who the character is. If I were to pick a more modern character, I would have to say Spider-Man. He has just the right amount of cool powers and abilities without the ultimate burden of power that, say, Superman would have. Yeah, Spider-Man. Living in Los Angeles, though, I don't have too many tall buildings to swing from.
What other artists do you like?
Once again, this can be a hard question to answer. I feel like every time I scroll through Tumblr or Instagram I find amazing and admirable artists whose illustrations lend heaps of inspiration. To put a finer point on it though, Mike Wieringo has been my favorite artist since I was a kid and I still go back to his work all the time to be inspired. Other artists that influence me are Skottie Young, Sean "Cheeks" Galloway, Pierre Alary, Bruce Timm, Chad Townsend, Daniel Krall, Erica Henderson, Shane Glines, Paul Gill, Dan Hipp, Gurihiru,...the list goes on and on.
Also of interest: Interview-Scotland-Barnes
