Get Kitson!

Barry Kitson

He’s one of the best British artists out there right now he’s been in the business for more than twenty years. Barry Kitson has drawn such characters such as Batman, Superman, Spidey and many others. Barry is currently doing a short run on the Incredible Hulk. He’s well known for drawing meticulous illustrations at conventions, adding not only the character but also back ground and colour. Usually most artists charge for this but Barry does this for free.

Not only does this make him a man in demand for anyone wanting a sketch but you get to see someone who is dedicated and passionate about his field of work. If you want a sketch off him best thing to do is get there early or be the second or third in the queue. A fellow artist once asked him “he should exploit his talent at conventions.“ Barry explained that if it wasn’t for comic fans out there and going to cons he wouldn’t be working in the industry which is a fair comment to make.

I caught up with Barry at Thought Bubble which took place at the weekend. Whilst he did an illustration for me, I asked him questions about his career, Marvel, his first con and an obscure Spider-Man comic which he did.

What was your first convention you went to?

The first ever in my life would have to be the one in London. I can’t remember where it was but Alan Davis was there Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, a bunch of those guys when they were all with 2000AD.

How did you get the Incredible Hulk gig?

Uh pretty much the way any gig in Marvel, they just ring you up and say “Would you like to do a run on Hulk?” And you just say yes or no, basically it’s as simple as that. I think they have editorial meetings every week where they discuss what everyone’s doing and what they’ll say is” Tony or Barry might be free next week if anyone’s got anything for them, you’ve got three or four editors come up with we can use for this and that they just give you call and that’s it.

You did a re-design of the Hulk’s look was it because of Greg Pak’ script or was it that you wanted a different look to the character?

Yeah Greg had written gun belts things into the script then the editors asked if I did a re-designs of She Hulk, Red and Banner. They’ll probably be in back of the trade paperbacks scans of these when they come out as well. In fact there is at least a page I was working on pages scanning them and sending them and they said “love these pages they’re great” I did four pages and they said, “We sent you the wrong script!

These days artists usually do short stints on titles there was a time when it was one artist, one book. How come times have changed?

Yeah I know I prefer to be on a title for a long time. I’ve been talking to Marvel about doing just that. I like to have a book where that I can feel it is my book, you can get to know the character inside out. It’s so much easier as the artist you really know the character. I think it’s become a scheduling thing it’s easy to mess with peoples schedules.

Before Hulk you drew an Iron Man mini-series that was based on the film, how come you didn’t draw the likeness of the actors that were in the film?

We were asked not to; I think it was because of copyright reasons. Basically we were asked to make them reminiscent of the actors but not actually look like them that was the theory.

Are there any Marvel characters you’d like to have a go drawing?

I’d love to the more I can draw the better. I was really pleased that in the Hulk series I got to draw the Secret Avengers, I want to draw everyone! I loved them all as a kid; every time I get to draw them I’m really pleased.

When you started off as an artist one of your earlier works was doing a Spider-Man back up strip which had the presenters of the Wide Awake Club. What was that like?

God I’d completely forgotten that now that you’ve mentioned it! We were taken up Birmingham to record a TV show actually when we were in the studio that was the first time I met Jim Shooter (Marvel’s Editor In Chief at the time) and that’s the first time Marvel put me in a big hotel. We’re talking about twenty five years ago now as for the actual script I can remember drawing it now you’ve reminded me, I can’t remember anything other than that!

Here are Barry's design sketches for a comic he did.

Barry Kitson design samples

Special thanks to Barry Kitson and Thought Bubble.

Posted: 24/11/2010
Categories: Comics / Artists

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