OCT, 2010 – CHARLES P. WILSON III has not only donated a piece of art for the charity auction but he’s also going to appear at COMIC FUSION on October 24, 2010 for the Official Wonder Woman Day celebration! Charles is the artist behind the spectacular fantasy adventure comic book, THE STUFF OF LEGEND. You can place your bid for the Wonder Woman donation by Charles by emailing bids@comicfusion.com from now until Oct 23, 2010 or stop by Comic Fusion in Flemington, NJ.
In the vain of TOY STORY, THE INDIAN IN THE CUPBOARD, and even A NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM, the Th3rdWorld Studios smash hit THE STUFF OF LEGEND showcases the concept of the inanimate toys in a boy’s life coming to life at night when he sleeps. The team has taken the character of the Boogeyman and developed him into a fearsome adversary rather than a cliché. The Boogeyman comes across as a higher being ruling The Dark (that space inside any child’s closet), either noble or perhaps even divine.
The entire SOL team is taking the time to answer some questions and presented here is Charles’ portion in time to kick off a full week of Wonder Woman Day promotional coverage. To connect with Charles, check out the TenTon forums.
Did you know about the monochromatic plan for the final coloring before you started illustrating?
Nope! [Mike] Devito and I had discussed colors a great deal before it was decided. They had even done color tests on the Colonel and the boy’s room. And while a black and white or sepia scheme kept cropping up in conversations it took a bit of exploration to finally get there, and I’m glad it did. The monochromatic sepia tone adds a texture to the setting of the book. One thing I hardly think about while working on the book is that even though I haven’t finished drawing the story, the story itself happened a long time ago and will have been resolved long before I even pick up a pencil for the very first time.
The Jester is a good guy but he’s quite scary looking, as most clowns are, and he carries two hatchets. Do you think toys from previous generations were tougher toys? Are today’s toys so safe that they don’t encourage young imagination?
Oh, I’m not the person to answer this one, I don’t have any kids (yet), so I’m not up to date on the current toys. However, the action figures look ten times cooler. More articulation, better sculpts and colors. But yeah, I suppose toys from previous generations required more imagination to work, and I’m sure it won’t be long before we’re all buying toys for our kids that are so mechanized the toys just play by themselves and require little-to-no interaction from kids.
What was your favorite character to draw in The Stuff of Legend?
Tough to say these days. Sometimes it’s Quackers, Jester or Percy, maybe even Max. There’s one character coming up in the next volume I’ve drawn very little of, but very excited for his first appearance. And then at some point we see The Mayor again, and I enjoy drawing him. I can’t imagine others get as much out of his appearance as I do, but they’re really going to enjoy what the writers put into him.
Who are your influences?
Anyone responsible for producing and image that moves me in some way or another. Kevin Nowlan, Leinil Yu, Norman Rockwell, Bill Watterson, Joe Kubert – I have so many favorites whose work I draw inspiration from and think on whenever I see it.
When you were young and playing with toys, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I liked the police car toys, and I think I wanted to be a cop so I could chase down criminals in a cop car. On the flip-side of it, I wanted to be the criminal so I could drive the car that outran the cops.
What was your favorite toy?
Between the transformer Rodimus Prime (I guess they were out of Hot Rods) and my baseball glove — actually, I think it was my whole collection of Transformers. I had a ton of them.
Do you still play with toys? Come on, really, do you take them out of the packages?
If I get a cool action figure, yeah, I like to take them out of the packaging. With Transformers, I still enjoy the puzzle aspect of transforming them in my hands, although I don’t make the transforming sound anymore. I do remember, when I was 11 or 12, trying to play with Batman and Joker figures from the first Tim Burton movie and having a hard time having fun, and afterwards stopped playing with toys altogether.
What advice would you give to your 13 year old self if you could go back in time?
13, eh? I’d tell myself to keep the Megaman Gameboy game I borrowed in my pocket during lunch at school instead of my backpack in the classroom. Except that I think I learned a lesson from that, so I guess it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to give myself advice if I did go back in time. Hmmm…
All proceeds from the auction will benefit SAFE in Hunterdon to raise awareness of domestic violence issues.
Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AmberUnmasked.com and Vodka O'Clock Podcast. Author of The Farrah Wethers Mysteries, comic book short stories, prose, and non-fiction. Cosplayer and figure model.