First Comics News: How did you get into colouring professionally?
Ian Herring: I was an illustration student interning at RAID and one of the artists, Andy Belanger, found out I could use Photoshop so he put me to work.
1st: How was RAID studio created and what does it do?
Ian: RAID is a loose collection of artists that work in a variety of fields, we all share the space and sometimes work together. It was created by 4 artists that needed a place to work away from home, they rented out a small office in Toronto’s west end and from there it grew to include more artists that have rotated in and out over the years. We just finished moving to our new location this summer.
1st: What type of skin tones do you give to Luke Cage?
Ian: I tend to colour Luke on the darker side depending on the scene.
1st: Is shading important in colouring?
Ian: It’s important to give form but secondary to palette for storytelling.
1st: Why is Luke Cage a character you wanted to work on?
Ian: Luke Cage has been getting a lot of attention lately and is a character I hadn’t had the chance to work on until now.
1st: How are your colouring talents put to the test on Luke Cage?
Ian: We’re launching 40 pages at a time instead of 20 so it feels more like a graphic novel in terms of workload.
1st: Do you like colouring colourful characters such as Iron Fist?
Ian: I generally like using a lot of golds and yellows so he fits the bill for what I enjoy.
1st: “Ms. Marvel” why should people pick this up other than the fact you coloured it?
Ian: Ms. Marvel is a book that shouts “joy” from the rooftops. It’s been years since we started Kamala Khan’s adventure and I’m still excited to work on every new issue.
1st: What is “Junior Citizens” all about and how did it come to be?
Ian: Junior Citizens is my first shot at drawing and writing a comic with my long-time friend, Daniel MacIntyre. It’s a retro sci-fi story created in our spare time since a conversation about the Cold War and we’ve been figuring out the rest as we go. It’s come to be a story centered around 2 characters, Natasha and Bosley. One is capable, the other is incompetent. Their actions are not always seen as so by others and we’re exploring that. Plus we have fun with cosmic apes, asteroid mines, space elevators, and the general danger that is outer space.
1st: Do you read the finished comic books you worked on after they are published if so what do you get out of it?
Ian: I check them to see how the colours turn out in print or if there were edits to the script since I last read it. Edits are sometimes made last minute.
1st: What would you like to accomplish next in your career?
Ian: I’d like to draw a short for Marvel.
1st: What comics did you read as a child and do you now?
Ian: I read fan-translated versions of the old Dragonball manga online because we didn’t have much access to comics in my town. I pick up graphic novels and trades to see what’s going on outside the books I work on.
1st: Who has helped you the most in your career?
Ian: Without question, my friends at RAID have given me the most.
1st: How do you feel about all the fans who pick up your comics?
Ian: For someone to take the time to follow along with these characters is amazing for me to hear. To the people who make the trip to a convention or reach out digitally and express their appreciation is very humbling and I’m thankful every day for that.
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