Talking with Artist JM Ringuet |

J M Ringuet is a true artist, having explored the crafts of writing, drawing, coloring and painting for everything from traditional comic books to computer games to graphic design for bands to production art for films, and now- digital comics. Currently, Ringuet’s color work can be seen in the upcoming Lords Of Misrule from Radical, collecting the infamous cult hit series. He speaks here of his experiences and his trade with Richard Caldwell.

I love talking with what I call “myriad artists”, namely, creative-types who bravely take on multiple genres and multiple mediums. You certainly fill that bill. Among many other things, you are currently coloring The Lords of Misrule collection for Radical, but can you take us back in time? Did you always have such creative leanings?

I told my mother when I was 7 that I wanted to be a comic artist. So I guess that would mean I always wanted to be an artist but more than anything I think I always wanted to tell stories. Basically I wanted to tell people how I was seeing things around me. I discovered later that there are a lot of ways to tell stories, and coloring is one way to tell, or help tell stories.

Did you go the collegiate route, or are you primarily self-taught? What artists, what works, influenced you in your impressionable years?

I studied a bit in some very bad art schools but I mostly learned everything by myself. I was not in a creative environment so it was mostly working by myself and trying to learn things by trying them.
What influences I got came from books that I could find… the earliest influences were probably Herge, William Vance, Frazetta, Kirby, Buscema inked by Alcala, then later Steranko (who by the way did some awesome covers for Radical), Sienkiewicz, Miller, Bisley and the great Mike Mignola. I never tried to emulate those artists directly but tried to understand why I liked what they were doing. I’m still trying to understand now. Obviously Frazetta and Bisley especially were big influences for my coloring, as well as some classic painters.

It is my understanding that you are something of a globetrotter. Is this by design, or by fate? And does exposure to such ranging cultures have much of an affect on what you do, how you work?

Yes I lived on almost every continent (well at least 4 of them), and it is both by design and by fate. I like to discover new places and new cultures (and not as a tourist), so every time I had a chance to go somewhere I didn’t know I just went. It really affected the way I see things in general, I can’t think in terms of nations or borders anymore and I look at everything globally. Art wise I think I got influenced directly by my environment so it probably shows in different ways, although it’s difficult for me to say what they are. For example the fact that I lived in Derby, England, which is just a few hours away from where the action of Lords of Misrule is taking place gave me a real feel for the mood, the tones, the light. I didn’t have to do research, I had a real instinct for how I thought it should look. Right now I’m looking at a lot of traditional ink Chinese paintings and it directly affects the way I draw and especially ink.

You have some years of experience in the video game industry. How did that come about for you, and what are some titles you have worked on?
Being a newer storytelling medium, is the work aesthetically satisfying, or is it more trial and error?

It came by accident, mostly the fact that I could not get a foot in the door at any comic publishers in Europe at the time and that game companies were hungry for talent. It was a very well payed, extremely unrewarding experience. I worked on a variety of games, notable ones would be Tomb Raider 2, Battle Realms and Clive Barker’s Jericho.
The problem with video game companies is that they are not controlled by artists or creators, and it’s extremely difficult for anybody inside of a company to have a creative input. I have had a lot more input in games now that I work freelance than I ever had when I was an employee- go figure. Video game work has also become unbelievably technical and the only artistic job is at the concept art level (designing visually how the game will look like). Luckily that’s what I’m doing now as a freelance artist, so I’m free of the technical grind and I can focus on creating cool visuals. I have done recently some concepts for a Larry Niven-written video game project called Freefall, and I’m gearing up to work with a movie director (who should remain nameless for now) on an ambitious game movie tie-in.
If Radical ventures in the video game business I’ll also be there to do concept for them.

So what was your first comics gig? You’ve landed some really fun books, like your work with Jonathan Hickman at Image, and Radical seems intent on pushing generally quality materials.

My real first paid comic gig ever was 2 pages in a surf magazine, and that wasn’t half-bad. My first pro job though was coloring Death Comes To Dillinger for creator James Patrick, with line art by Se7enhedd. A very nice atmospheric horror western that allowed me to do some crazy painting with a different technique than the usual flats-channels-gradients. That is the same kind of painted technique I used for Lords of Misrule.
Radical was extremely demanding about the quality and the consistency of the coloring. They really care about the artistic value of their books. Editor Dave Elliott and Art Director Jeremy Berger were always in close contact with me to make sure the coloring would always be as good as possible. Great guys to work with.
From the beginning I was really keen to work for Radical because of the insane amount of quality they have in every book. It was a really great collaboration.

Was it at all intimidating, not just in adding a dimension to a work that had been previously released, but to do so over dynamic artists like Snejbjerg and Erskine?

Coloring is never really intimidating for me. Coloring over beautiful line art from Peter and Gary is just inspiring. I knew everything was already there and worked by itself, I just had to create the mood, the atmosphere, the music score. It made my work that much easier quite frankly. Working with great line artists is always a great experience.

If you yourself could travel back in time, with the experience and knowledge you have now, are there any projects you would love to take another crack at?

No.

Right on. So in addition to The Lords of Misrule trade, is there anything else in the works that you’d care to mention? More of your line art, mayhaps?

I’m doing a lot of other things at the moment, including some graphic design work and concept art, but for comics proper I am working on my own project called ‘Stolen Suns’ that will be exclusively distributed on mobile platforms such as the i-phone and the Android phones, among others. It’s a graphic novel about a rock band, a gothic mystical epic or maybe just a rock ‘n roll soap opera. It should be out this year through Iverse comics. You can follow the development of the project at: www.stolensuns.blogspot.com
All the other things are under wraps at the moment but I don’t have any printed projects planned, I’m going digital and see where it goes.