{"id":2876,"date":"2019-11-08T00:01:08","date_gmt":"2019-11-07T21:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/r1vibes.com\/?p=2876"},"modified":"2019-11-08T10:18:52","modified_gmt":"2019-11-08T07:18:52","slug":"talking-to-a-comic-artist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/r1vibes-bench.vust.cloud\/el\/2019\/11\/08\/talking-to-a-comic-artist\/","title":{"rendered":"Talking to a comic artist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The power of pen<\/strong> is greater than a weapon of mass destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is due to the fact that no matter how small and fragile it is, that writing<\/strong> will remain in … “history<\/strong>“.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pen<\/strong>, in the form of a stylus<\/strong>, can also create images<\/strong>. Even a guitarist<\/strong> can compose music<\/strong> with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what happens when these three properties come together<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  Maybe Klimis Keramitsopoulos<\/strong> has the answer!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Can you introduce yourself?<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Although I usually pay people for this job, I can do it. I’m Klimis, born in ’78 in Thessaloniki.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have completed International and European Studies with French abroad and obviously I am not working in this capacity.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Athens, I have worked as\u00a0a sound engineer in 2004\u00a0after going to the army\u00a0and since 2005 I have been in Drama where I teach English.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since\u00a0my\u00a0childhood, I have been involved with sketches, but professionally since 2018.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 What is your relationship with rock\/metal?<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

 <\/em>Crazy Love. When a classmate<\/em> introduced <\/em>Black<\/em> Sabbath<\/em> to me,<\/em> somewhere in the distant 1994 I <\/em>felt<\/em> the shock of my life.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I went through several types of metal, from death, thrash to some very selective nu-metal bands (though I never liked this genre).<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From then on, the horizons opened up, even more, so now I’m much more receptive though still very selective about stoner rock.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I still hear metal from time to time, though lately, the new Tool album has completely absorbed me.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve never heard of power metal, epic metal, and hard rock. <\/em>We the fans are very weird when it comes to hard music.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Music is a big discussion, <\/em>better<\/em> discuss<\/em>ed<\/em> with a beer.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In your fanzine “Hell you don’t have your god” … which of the two characters is more metal?<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I will be <\/em>explicit<\/em> and clearly say<\/em> the<\/em> “Devil”.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I made God a little lazy, to be honest even though he does make a couple of comeback stuff.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Klimis<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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In your participation in song story, did the sketches come to music or the music to the sketches?<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I don’t think I can separate!<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, <\/em>when it<\/em> was announced<\/em> to me<\/em> that I was going to make sketches for Nightstalker I felt an indescribable joy – <\/em>fitting<\/em> because at that time I was at a playground with my family!<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 If I had to pick with <\/em>a gun to my head<\/em>, then I’d probably say that the sketches were fastened to the music.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you think you could sketch a story behind a song you almost hate?<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I think I would do a great disservice if I did, but I might as well have fun, maybe see it as an opportunity for revenge!<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is there such a song?<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Hmm, I was thinking recently that you can’t say you hate a song because to hate it you have to know it first.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But give me anything you want from a boy band or something in stupidly happy pop.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will find a song to hate<\/em>.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ah, of course! And many, many more Greek songs of “dance floor\u201d and weeping!<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What story behind a song would you like to sketch, but from the 1970s. So if you were to pick a song from the ’70s to do a comic book song, what would it be?<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Frank Zappa – Stinkfoot from the 1974 album Apostrophe (‘).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a guy who fails to take off the python boots he wears and finally ends up with dirty feet after taking off for a few weeks.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although there is indeed an illustration of this song, I would probably choose that.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you think the relationship between ninth art and music should be closer? And why;<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I think the two fit in very well.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, when you announce to your parents that you will be dealing with either or both of them, the same reaction is triggered: “And how will you make a living my child?”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the fun, though, I think the often surreal, almost poetic lyrics we come across in the songs can be very beautifully rendered with some nice sketches.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It helps to consolidate the meaning of the song but also tells you something about the band you love or the cartoonist you love, in the form of “Come on, Tool likes Klimis\u2019 sketches?”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, they both tell a story.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting contexts together is always nice. Unless either the song or the sketch is awful.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you make new comics, do you listen to music and if so, which?<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Lately, I’ve been badly stuck with the new Tool album.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past, if I remembered playing music (I often get so absorbed in the sketch that I forget it), I would usually put WinAmp on shuffle and let whatever was playing.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see it a bit like listening to music while driving.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I often put the shuffle in there and all of a sudden I realize that a track that I always listen to gets in a new dimension because I hadn’t noticed what the bass was playing at that point, or those drums oh my God…?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are your main sources of inspiration?<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

My biggest source of inspiration is everyday life, mine, but also the people around me and of course some stereotypical behaviors of everybody.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, my beliefs about religion, abuse, how our society works and so on.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if I had to define my inspiration in one phrase it would be “my hell are the others”, as Sartre very nicely explained.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, I recently read “The Closed Door”, which deals with this view, because I am thinking of making a comic book adaptation.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which of your characters is your alter-ego?<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Reader Palambra, without a second thought.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It appears in my first fanzine, “The Palabra Reader’s Various Stories”.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I like his name too. Palabras in Spanish means the words. So …<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you think there is a relationship between a musician and a comic book creator? <\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

After all, it is very difficult for both of their creations to live in Greece.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think inadvertently, I answered this before!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But yes, they have a great relationship, they are forms of expression and a drug!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can comics change the world, always for the better?<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

To change the world, it’s hard, it\u2019s big talk.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But they can be a meeting point for different people with different lives and points of view, like art in general that performs this role.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, the comic itself should have the same goal, to try to make a difference with a subject that it wants to tackle.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s what I’m trying to do, to get readers to think as much as I can of course.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, you do it and you hope that someone, somewhere, will understand what you mean by what you sketched …<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It doesn’t happen often, but when it does it is a beautiful feeling!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What future do you plan to give your readers?<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

For 2019-2020 there are several things in the making.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n