Superstar inker Scott Hanna chats about working with pencilers, how cats can ruin a page and being an artist.even if you don't think inkers are artist.

MIKE COTTON: How'd you get started in comics, Scott?
SCOTT HANNA: It's kind of complicated but I originally worked as an apprentice to another inker to learn some of the tricks of the trade. I worked for him for a couple of months and then he and I went to a small New York City convention, where I sat at his table doing sketches for people-even though I'd never published anything. And there was a small publisher sitting on the other side of me and they liked what I was doing. That's when I started doing penciling and inking for Eternity Comics. That was my first job in comics.

COTTON: Were you always a comic fan?
HANNA: When I was 10 or 11, I was really into comics. Then as I grew up and got ready to go to college Joe Kubert tried to get me into the Kubert School-I was in high school with [his son] Andy [Kubert]. But I told him, "Naw, comics are for kids. This isn't something you do as a job." [laughs] I ended up going to art school in New York City and tried to do everything except comics. After I got out I realized that's where I belonged and ever since I've done comics."

 

SPIDER-MAN: FROM THE GRAVE DIORAMA STATUE!

COTTON: You've done some penciling work here and there. Do you ever think about just penciling?
HANNA: I've thought about it. But the weird situation is that I get paid not to pencil. My inking rate is so high, and I'm so much faster as an inker than I am as a penciler, that I literally don't have any time to pencil. I like penciling at shows though and I still do the occasional pen-up here or there, just to keep my hands in. But I'm such a busy inker I have very little time to do anything else.

COTTON: You've worked over some of the greats in comics. Who are your favorite guys to ink?
HANNA: Well, right now, I'm working with two of my favorite people. One is Tom Raney just because he has an amazing amount of detail and intricacies. His stuff is like fine art. Sometimes it's sad to even see it in color because it loses so much of the detail. One of my other favorite pencilers, on the other end of the spectrum, is John Romita Jr. He's actually very graphic and stylized, but he allows a lot of interpretation of his pencils by the inker. I've actually worked with JR longer than any other penciler. I've been with him a little over six years now. Usually, I can't handle working with a penciler that long but with John, I could work with him another six years and not have a problem.

COTTON: After so long working with John Romita Jr, do you two have a groove now?
HANNA: What happens is we both evolve over time. If you look at the stuff we did together six years ago, it look totally different than the stuff we're doing now. He learned to trust me with certain things and I learned to trust him with certain things. It just becomes a situation where we can read each other. We kind of get into each other's mindset.

COTTON: So, who's toughest to work over?
HANNA: [laughs] The toughest people for me to work over-and I'm not going to give you any names-are people who don't know how to draw. [laughs] That's always a problem. Redrawing their mistakes takes so much longer than being able to embellish someone's art. I love doing finishes, there I get someone's pencils and I finish them and then ink them. But I only like doing that when the people understand form and proportion. If I have to redraw form and proportion, it's just too much work. It's a strain to redraw someone's stuff. I'd rather embellish someone's art than redraw it.

 

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN FULL-SIZE HEAD BUST!

COTTON: Are there any guys you haven't gotten to work with that you want to?
HANNA: There a tone of people I'd still like to work with. I'd love to work with someone like Jim Lee. But a lot of the people I really want to work with-like Jim Lee or Alan Davis-already have spectacular inkers working with them. They don't need me. I have had a chance to work with a lot of my favorite artist, though because I'm so fast. There are a lot of legends in the industry I've gotten the chance to work with.

COTTON: You're an admitted night owl? What keeps you up at 3 in the morning?
HANNA: I don't drink coffee but I am a caffeine junkie. I'm addicted to Diet Mountain Dew. [chuckles] It's quite usual for me to work a 12 to 14 hour day. Frequently, I do that seven days a week, although I do take breaks between issues. A lot of people think I'm fast, but I really just work hard and long. I get so much more done at night just because there are fewer distraction from the phone or a sunny day outside.

COTTON: Have you ever ruined someone's page by spilling ink-or Mountain Dew-on it?
HANNA: I've had rare occasions of problems. I hate using white out but as an inker sometimes you have to. I have two cats and one of my cats used to love jumping into my lap while I was working and one time her tail brushed against a page of wet ink and smeared. After that, I got a new chair, so she couldn't sit in my lap. I haven't destroyed too many pages.

 

BLACK CAT 8 PURR-FECT BUST

COTTON: For aspiring inkers, how can they get started?
HANNA: One of my favorite books is "Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud. I think just overall it gives you a good understanding of comics. Each penciler thinks in a different way so if you can understand those ways of thinking, you can understand a lot of different pencilers. Also, I think it's important to understand color, which comes after you and penciling, which comes before you.

COTTON: So, what's one thing no one knows about inkers?
HANNA: We're artists! [chuckles] A lot of people think of inkers as things, but we're absolutely artist and most pencilers agree with that.

Mike Cotton is a staff writer for Wizard Magazine. For all the comic book news fit to print, check out Wizard on sale every month at comic book specialty shops and newsstands everywhere.

The Cotton Club Archive

August 7 , 2003 - HOLLYWOOD RUN DOWN July 31, 2003 - SPIDER-MAN 2 July 24, 2003 - BAG MAN July 17, 2003 - Moore or Less July 10, 2003 - Ink Test July 2, 2003 - HURRICANE WARNING June 25, 2003 - BANNER BANTER June 10, 2003 - PETER DAVID June 3 , 2003 - PAUL JENKINS May 28 , 2003 - GEOFF JOHNS May 21 , 2003 - BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS May 14 , 2003 - PHIL JIMENEZ May 9 , 2003 - Don't F[l]inch April 29 , 2003 - The X-Factors April 17 , 2003 - X2 Reviewed January 13, 2003 - Game Boy - WizKid’s HeroClix January 3, 2003- 2003 Bigger than 2002? December 20 , 2002 - Ring Bearer - A two-bit tour for ‘Two Towers’ novices December 13 , 2002 - ‘Sine of the Times December 6 , 2002 - Killer Read November 30, 2002 - Lex's World November 23, 2002 - Truth and Consequences November 15, 2002 - Triple X November 8 , 2002 - Giving the Devil his Due October 31, 2002 - Superhero DVD Preview October 25, 2002 - Mad Cow October 18 , 2002 - 80's a Go-GO October 11 , 2002 - Best Bets on Bats October 4, 2002 - Hunters & Pray September 27 , 2002 - The War Within September 19 , 2002 - Lee-Der of the pack. September 13 , 2002 - The Next Generation. September 6 , 2002 - Marvel Melee. August 30, 2002 - Breaking In. Joe Quesada reveals the ins and outs of getting work at Marvel. August 23, 2002 - Painted Into a Corner. An Interview with Greg Hildebrandt. August 16, 2002 - X-citing News on X-Men 2!