INTERVIEW: LEILA DEL DUCA & JOE KEATINGE ON IMAGE’S SHUTTER

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Shutter #1

Writer Joe Keatinge is the writer of such comics as Glory, hell Yeah, and marvel Knights: Hulk. Leila del Duca is the artist of  Deadskins and the upcoming The Pantheon Project. They are joining forces for Shutter, a new series debuting in April from image Comics. Westfield’s Roger Ash recently contacted the creators to learn more about the book.

Westfield: What can you tell me of the genesis of Shutter and how did you come to work on it together?

Leila del Duca: The comic came together about 6 months after meeting each other at nyc Comic con 2012. Joe had impressed me with his writing and his delightful personality and I kept pestering him over email until he said, “Here’s this Shutter idea…” I right away said I wanted to do it, and Shutter slowly went from a realistic adventure comic to a fantastical adventure comic about family secrets.

Joe Keatinge: That’s just it. While the core of the idea — an adventure comic book starring Kate Kristopher, lured back into the life after family secrets force her to — existed before Leila, it lacked a certain life to it. That extra kernel that takes an idea and gives it a proper execution. At that NYCC, Leila proved to be the final ingredient the book needed. and it transformed into something entirely different. This book doesn’t exist without her.

Shutter #1 preview page 1

Westfield: how much world building did you do – character designs, locations, etc. – in preparation for the series?

del Duca: It doesn’t feel like we did extensive world building, but I know we talked a lot about making the world of Shutter vibrant and unique. the best part of drawing Shutter is that I’m surprised in every issue by something new and exciting and ridiculous that Joe throws into the story. I did a few sketches of creatures and of the main characters before drawing issue 01, but most of the world building has been on the fly. However, Joe and I did talk a lot about what we wanted in this world. For one, we wanted a multi-racial cast since I don’t want to draw just white people. It’s boring and I want better representation of non-white people in comics. So Kate is half white (on her dad’s side) and half Latino. I think. Joe’s still keeping Kate’s maternal descendency mostly a mystery to me.

I also really wanted a transgendered character in the comic, so Kate’s best friend, Alain, is a male to female transgendered girl of Filipino descendency. Visually, it’s been a challenge for me to draw Alain as Filipino, as I’ve not mastered the skill of drawing various ethnicities in my cartoonish style yet. On top of that, she’s dyed her hair blonde and pink, so I won’t be surprised if it’s not obvious to readers.

Lastly, no superheroes or zombies allowed in Shutter. other than that, we can draw and write whatever the hell we want to!

Shutter #1 preview page 2

Westfield: Shutter stars Kate Kristopher. What can you tell me about her?

del Duca: Kate’s very multi-layered. Fun, but sometimes up-tight. She’s goofy, polite, intelligent, confrontational, old-fashioned but also quite modern. She loves the world she lives in, but also tries to bury her sense of adventure and her lust for life. She harbors terrific guilt and is quite insecure about it, but she puts on a good face for the most part.

Westfield: What can readers look forward to in the series and who are some of the other characters involved aside from Kate?

Keatinge: Kate will be the main character for the far foreseeable future, but it’s one with an ever expanding supporting cast. A world-spanning book where we really flesh out the differing locales she explores. From the get go, we’re in new York and it’s a new York filled with robot cats, minotaur stock brokers, and an NYPD utilizing flying saucers. But, yeah — amongst those denizens are the people Kate knows best, the family she’s built on her own when the one she had, well, you’ll see. I don’t want to say too much just now. but there’s a big, ever growing cast here with Kate front-and-center.

Shutter #1 preview page 3

Westfield: What’s your collaboration process like?

del Duca: We have a lot of back and forth concerning what we think would be amazing to have in Shutter, so if I make sure to tell Joe what I want to draw. He keeps that in mind, then writes the script and sends it to me. After thumbnailing the script, we get on the phone and talk about everything in the story. It usually digresses into saccharine compliments since I rarely have complaints for Joe. I pretty much die from happiness whenever I read his new scripts. then I pencil and ink the pages. I usually send him images every 4 or 5 pages to get feedback and show him I’m making progress. Joe doesn’t ask to see pencils unless it’s my idea. This allows me to keep the momentum I started instead of having to take a break for feedback between pencilINTERVIEW: LEILA DEL DUCA & JOE KEATINGE ON IMAGE’S SHUTTER (###) This post is Filed Under:

Home page Highlights,
Interviews and Columns

Shutter #1

Writer Joe Keatinge is the writer of such comics as Glory, hell Yeah, and marvel Knights: Hulk. Leila del Duca is the artist of  Deadskins and the upcoming The Pantheon Project. They are joining forces for Shutter, a new series debuting in April from image Comics. Westfield’s Roger Ash recently contacted the creators to learn more about the book.

Westfield: What can you tell me of the genesis of Shutter and how did you come to work on it together?

Leila del Duca: The comic came together about 6 months after meeting each other at nyc Comic con 2012. Joe had impressed me with his writing and his delightful personality and I kept pestering him over email until he said, “Here’s this Shutter idea…” I right away said I wanted to do it, and Shutter slowly went from a realistic adventure comic to a fantastical adventure comic about family secrets.

Joe Keatinge: That’s just it. While the core of the idea — an adventure comic book starring Kate Kristopher, lured back into the life after family secrets force her to — existed before Leila, it lacked a certain life to it. That extra kernel that takes an idea and gives it a proper execution. At that NYCC, Leila proved to be the final ingredient the book needed. and it transformed into something entirely different. This book doesn’t exist without her.

Shutter #1 preview page 1

Westfield: how much world building did you do – character designs, locations, etc. – in preparation for the series?

del Duca: It doesn’t feel like we did extensive world building, but I know we talked a lot about making the world of Shutter vibrant and unique. the best part of drawing Shutter is that I’m surprised in every issue by something new and exciting and ridiculous that Joe throws into the story. I did a few sketches of creatures and of the main characters before drawing issue 01, but most of the world building has been on the fly. However, Joe and I did talk a lot about what we wanted in this world. For one, we wanted a multi-racial cast since I don’t want to draw just white people. It’s boring and I want better representation of non-white people in comics. So Kate is half white (on her dad’s side) and half Latino. I think. Joe’s still keeping Kate’s maternal descendency mostly a mystery to me.

I also really wanted a transgendered character in the comic, so Kate’s best friend, Alain, is a male to female transgendered girl of Filipino descendency. Visually, it’s been a challenge for me to draw Alain as Filipino, as I’ve not mastered the skill of drawing various ethnicities in my cartoonish style yet. On top of that, she’s dyed her hair blonde and pink, so I won’t be surprised if it’s not obvious to readers.

Lastly, no superheroes or zombies allowed in Shutter. other than that, we can draw and write whatever the hell we want to!

Shutter #1 preview page 2

Westfield: Shutter stars Kate Kristopher. What can you tell me about her?

del Duca: Kate’s very multi-layered. Fun, but sometimes up-tight. She’s goofy, polite, intelligent, confrontational, old-fashioned but also quite modern. She loves the world she lives in, but also tries to bury her sense of adventure and her lust for life. She harbors terrific guilt and is quite insecure about it, but she puts on a good face for the most part.

Westfield: What can readers look forward to in the series and who are some of the other characters involved aside from Kate?

Keatinge: Kate will be the main character for the far foreseeable future, but it’s one with an ever expanding supporting cast. A world-spanning book where we really flesh out the differing locales she explores. From the get go, we’re in new York and it’s a new York filled with robot cats, minotaur stock brokers, and an NYPD utilizing flying saucers. But, yeah — amongst those denizens are the people Kate knows best, the family she’s built on her own when the one she had, well, you’ll see. I don’t want to say too much just now. but there’s a big, ever growing cast here with Kate front-and-center.

Shutter #1 preview page 3

Westfield: What’s your collaboration process like?

del Duca: We have a lot of back and forth concerning what we think would be amazing to have in Shutter, so if I make sure to tell Joe what I want to draw. He keeps that in mind, then writes the script and sends it to me. After thumbnailing the script, we get on the phone and talk about everything in the story. It usually digresses into saccharine compliments since I rarely have complaints for Joe. I pretty much die from happiness whenever I read his new scripts. then I pencil and ink the pages. I usually send him images every 4 or 5 pages to get feedback and show him I’m making progress. Joe doesn’t ask to see pencils unless it’s my idea. This allows me to keep the momentum I started instead of having to take a break for feedback between pencil