5 Questions with Shane Kirshenblatt
Contributed by Sam S.
Shane Kirshenblatt, is an independent freelance comic book artist, as well as teacher, artist, entrepreneur and a close friend of mine. Shane founded Freefall Entertainment developing unique comic book and graphic novel concepts for print and web. He is the writer and illustrator of Dorothy Gale: Journey to Oz (Print, miniseries-PG) and co-writer and illustrator of Personal Space (Web Strip-Mature). In addition, Shane is co-founder of SKL’z Cartoon Workshop an in-school, after-school, lunch-time and special event programming related to comics and animation (instruction) for kids and adults. Most recently Shane co-founded New Voyage Studios developing new projects for publication and television/ film release.
I first met Shane when he was my instructor when he was teaching, at David Bluestien’s Comic Book Masters. I have since stepped into the role of teacher working as an instructor in some of SKL’z programs.
I sat down with Shane and picked his brain, and this is how it went down…
Sam: Describe your art style in 140 characters or less
Shane: No specific art style but my influences include: Will Eisner, Pretty much all the EC artists of the 50’s, Drew Struzan, Ralph McQuarrie, Robert Crumb and Tim Burton. I am probably forgetting some.
If you could have any superpower what would it be and what would you do with it?
I would freeze time. With all I have on the go, it would be nice to be able to take a vacation once in a while!
Star Trek or Star Wars?
Definitely Star Wars.
What is the reaction in general to your artwork? You also donate some of your profits to charity, do you find that this affects the way fans view or consume your artwork?
A lot of people love my work but for some, it’s not their thing. It’s subjective. Since I tend to put a darker edge on things, I understand that’s not for everyone and that’s cool. To me, my art has to simply be something I enjoy making. If it sells, great, if not, I keep it. Luckily, most of it sells:)
Since I consistently do very well with sales, I identified it as an opportunity to give people something they like and also benefit the charities. Everyone feels good in the end. I like to think people buy my work more so because they like it rather than whether or not there is a charity involved.
What can we look forward to coming up from you?
I’m currently working on the Anything Ghost Graphic Novel based on the popular podcast, hosted by Lex Wahl. It’s basically a collection of real people’s paranormal experiences, which have been shared on the show, adapted to the comic book format. It’s a bit of an homage to the old EC books (which I’ve become hooked on over the past couple of years) in that I’ll be using the same format (magazine sizing, different artist for each story) but since these are real accounts, I still want to keep the adaptations respectable and true to the source. I am overseeing the project and contributing cover art and illustrating one of the stories. I’ve also signed on a couple other very established artists, which I’ll be announcing in the next couple of weeks. The project is scheduled to be released for late summer/early fall this year to coincide with Halloween.
To see more of Shane’s work check out the gallery below and his website http://www.kirshy.com/. To learn more about his cartoon workshops for today’s younger g33ks, visit SKL’z Cartoon Workshop’s website http://www.sklzcartoonworkshop.blogspot.ca/
