This week, I have the pleasure of interviewing one of my favorite horror illustrators, Brian Coldrick. The first time I saw one of his illustrations I remember thinking of the old saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words”. I find myself still flipping through his images with the same satisfying chill. Enjoy the interview!
Jigsaw Puzzle by Brian Coldrick
We’re talking today because of your art series “Behind You”, what wasyour inspiration for this series?
Well originally I had wanted to start a webcomic but I decided to avoid having a continuing story simply so I could change my mind about what interested me each week. The actual form of a “something” lurking behind a someone grew out of a general love of horror, in particular I had been reading a bunch of creepy pastas which themselves are quite formless and often lacking a beginning, middle and end. By only offering a snippet of a story I freed myself to start again each entry but also allowed the reader to fill in the before and after however they saw fit. Their interpretation can often be more interesting than what I might have intended!
Neighbours by Brian Coldrick
You draw a wide range of genres. How long have you been drawing? What is your favorite genre to draw?
Like most I drew lots as a kid but then just never grew out of it. Drawing monsters and robots on the back of a copy book eventually become drawing monsters and robots for a living. I don’t have a favourite genre outside of generally the fantastical. I sometimes do storyboard work for ads and films and drawing people sitting in a room talking is never as much fun as drawing a rotting undead nightmare.
Radio by Brian Coldrick
“Behind You” is a collection of single scenes with a caption. Are you telling a whole story in these images or just part of a story?
It can vary. Sometimes I definitely have a wider story in mind outside of the sliver that I’m showing. But often I won’t have a clear arc and will instead add in some small details that could be interpreted as part of the story without knowing what they mean myself. It’s a bit of a cheat really, I’m making a puzzle without knowing the answer. Hopefully the fun part is trying to solve it and not whether there is or isn’t an actual solution.
Wolf Wood by Brian Coldrick
Do you feel that it’s hard to portray the story/event in a single scene?
Visually not so much, but I find that I can write long accompanying paragraphs and then have to edit them down to a sentence or two. It’s better to let the picture do the storytelling or at least do the hinting.
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Halloween Costume Ready by Brian Coldrick
Are you involved in any other medias of Horror?
Over the years I’ve done little bits of concept design that can veer into “Monsters and Robots”. It can be very satisfying as after my part is done it’s handed off to incredibly talented sculptors and designers who turn a rough sketch into a real detailed creature.
Outside of that while I have some story ideas for short comics I haven’t yet made any of them a reality.
Train Platform by Brian Coldrick
Who are your influences in the world of Horror?
There’s a big world of great horror out there to “borrow” ideas from. Comics by the likes of Mike Mignola and Emily Carroll and Junji Ito. I love lots of horror films from those of Jacques Turnier to Hammer to Carpenter to Cronenberg. And I’ve really enjoyed most of the new wave of horror cinema such as It Follows and The Witch and Hereditary. I’m probably not as well read as I should be in horror literature, it seems that for every book I’ve read I hear of 4 more I should read. Lots of Lovecraft and M. R. James but I need more Saki and Rampo and Robert Aickman and Ramsey Campbell and a hundred others.
There are artist like Giger and Wayne Barlowe and Zdzisław Beksiński that are endlessly inspiring. For Behind You I have found folklore often a fruitful starting point. I also love reading online accounts of spooky ‘real-life’ incidents. And a quick look on the internet will always reveal a thousand horrible things to be influenced by!
Manananggal by Brian Coldrick
Is there anything in the works you would like the Horror community to know about?
I do hope to try my hand at some actual storytelling with these short comic ideas of mine but for the moment there’s Behind You which I’m still updating every couple of weeks. There is a lovely hardcover book out from IDW which collects the first seventy odd of them, and it features a really fantastic introduction by Joe Hill.
A big thank you to Brian Coldrick for his time and samples of his art! I encourage readers to head over to his pages and check out his work. Even if you’re not a big fan of horror, there is something for everyone.
To start off check out our exclusive interview with Barb Dexter from My Haunted Hometown! Prepare for spine-tingling tales as Barb Dexter unveils her shocking personal ghost encounters on T+E Channel’s gripping paranormal series, “My Haunted Hometown”. Don’t miss exclusive behind-the-scenes insights and emotional revelations that will leave you questioning reality. Premieres Friday, September 6th at 10 PM ET/PT.
Click the trailer for My Haunted Hometown and set your clocks for the premiere 6 Sept!
Want to know more about T+E Channel’s My Haunted Hometown?? Check out the trailer below (and make sure you watch the show as it airs Friday 6 September, 10PM PT/ET only on T+E!
If you ever wondered what it was like to be in a town with a dark history–and live in a forever home that might be forever occupied by spirit energy, then you need to check this episode out!
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Why T+E Channel’s My Haunted Hometown hits
photo credit: Andrew Curr
The production value works. The camera. The crew. The sound. The editing. The PR team. These are all great assets–and the best asset of them all? The people in the show.
We have all seen shows where the ghost story is made up. It’s usually some quick cash grab for a celeb (although there were some great truly well done celeb ghost stories, too!) or just some channel/content filler type thing. This is not that….this is what every ghost show should be.
The crew sits down. The people are taken seriously. They are giving a channel to voice their story and by sharing their story, they get to grow and sometimes heal from the telling. We draw strength in knowing we are not alone.
When the episode starts, your emotions range from being afraid for the people to being all warm and fuzzy with knowing that these people are opening themselves up to you and you are not alone.
If you have any paranormal experience, these stories will help you feel a bit more whole.
If you are a believer, this is your show.
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If you are a doubter, this is your show. You might still doubt, but you won’t doubt that these are real down to earth people giving witness to what they saw.
See why we call the T+E Channel the Blumhouse of TV and catch the free preview on T+E Channel from Sept 2 to Nov 3
photo credit: Andrew Curr
The Setting
I think small towns work well as a setting. If you recall most of Seth Breedlove’s movies are SMALL Town monsters. If you recall our interview with Harker Jones’s interview the scary horror wasn’t the city of LA but the SMALL Town where you are a bit more isolated.
Not only does the setting work because of the more remote feel, but it works because of the people. The people in the show make the show. They are relatable. They are down to earth. They are easily your next best friend after moving into the neighborhood.
photo credit: Andrew Curr
Also, if you are a fan of cats and dogs–there are a few of the most adorable furry friends ever in this episode.
The Rating and Where to Watch
After watching the first episode, I can’t wait for the rest! I’m sure to check it out when they drop every Friday in September! Won’t you join me? 🙂
See what all the rave reviews are about (5/5 Cthulhu!) and see why we call the T+E Channel the Blumhouse of TV and catch the free preview on T+E Channel from Sept 2 to Nov 3 – your gateway to the supernatural! Tune in and share the thrills with #MyHauntedHometown and #TEonTV. Are you brave enough to watch?
(5 / 5)
Another game I had the chance to play at PAX East was, Let’s! Revolution!, a Minesweeper-inspired roguelite puzzle game by animation (and now game) studio, BUCK. I talk more about the game itself in another post. Here, I wanted to highlight the conversation I had with Michael Highland, the Creative Director for Let’s! Revolution! and his journey through video game development.
How did you become involved in video game development?
I studied digital media design in college; this was before there were many programs dedicated to game development. After graduating, I self-published a mobile game called Hipster City Cycle with friends. Over the next few years, I slowly got more freelance work as a game designer, and eventually landed a full-time role at thatgamecompany working on the follow-up to their 2012 GOTY Journey. I worked my way up there and was eventually the Lead Designer on Sky: Children of the Light. Working at thatgamecompany opened a lot of doors professionally. I eventually wound up at BUCK, where I saw the opportunity to help establish a new game studio within a very vibrant existing creative culture.
What has been the most challenging aspect of the development process?
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Each studio has its own unique issues based on the people involved. There are commonalities like the need to fight feature creep and building consensus around ideas early in the process when all you have is an abstract grey box prototype to react to. At BUCK the biggest challenge has been channeling the abundance of creative energy and talent into a shippable product. There’s a ton of enthusiasm for games within the company, and without clear product-centric goals (who is the target audience, what platform are we releasing on, what’s the marketing strategy), projects have the tendency to spiral out of scope. Another challenge has been building credibility with publishers. BUCK has an amazing pedigree for animation and design, maybe the best in the world, but when we initially pitched ideas to publishers, they all said the same thing: looks great, but until you’ve shipped a game, you’re too high-risk. That’s what led to us self-publishing Let’s! Revolution! Now that we have a well-reviewed game out in the wild, I feel confident we’ll have more luck with publishers.
BUCK primarily has its roots in animation, what led the decision to start branching into video game development?
It started with a general excitement about the medium and a desire among the staff to work on a game. Leadership at BUCK is all about providing the staff with exciting creative opportunities, and getting to work on a game, is, for some, a creative dream come true. And putting BUCK content out in the world is a point of pride and a boost to morale. From a business perspective, the fact we can staff out game projects with the top animation and design talent in the world is a huge advantage. We’re already starting to see new opportunities for the service side of the business based on the success of Let’s! Revolution!
The art, unsurprisingly, is delightful. What were some of the priorities during the character design process and how did those influence the final hero designs?
Our Art Director Emily Suvanvej really led the charge on the look of the game. There are obvious influences like Studio Ghibli, Moebius, and Steven Universe. My shared goal with Emily was to make something together that reflected the diversity of the team’s artistic and lived experiences. The artists put so much love into the character designs and animation, it really shows.
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Some of the primary game mechanics take inspiration from Minesweeper, what was the process like to create your own interpretation of those classic mechanics?
This article goes into depth on this topic. The TLDR is that we took a very iterative approach, at each stage trying to identify what was working about the prototype and lean into that. The initial game concept came together relatively quickly in part because our goal for this project was just to finish a game. We just focused on what was good and kept building on it. I wouldn’t say the final game is “perfect” – but we wound up with a much bigger and higher quality experience than I expected by not letting perfectionism get in the way of making good better.
Is there anything else you would like to plug or that you think is important for people to know about Let’s! Revolution! or other upcoming projects?
The music and sound design for the game is stellar. We worked with a creative audio company called Antfood and they knocked it out of the park. The audio got an honorable mention from IGF, which I think is extra impressive because most of the other games were audio-centric titles with some unusual hook to the sound design. For the OST, Antfood reworked all of the music from the game into a continuous flow, like a concept album. It’s so good. I love working with them.
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