Behind the scenes with Matt Baker, illustrator of "The Story of Jesus"

Matt Baker

How do you get from your first ideas through to the finished comic?

After reading the script, first I do whatever research is necessary about the period in time I am drawing. Next I do sketches of how the main characters will look. Then I stare at blank paper for ages, waiting for something brilliant to pop into my head…
When nothing does, eventually I just have to start drawing anyway.
I go through page by page, drawing small 'thumbnail' layouts of how I imagine the pages will work best.
The artist sketches 'thumbnails' of each page
When the thumbnails are approved, I print them out so that each thumbnail is roughly A3 size, which is the size I draw my final artwork. Using a lightbox, I trace the thumbnails onto my artboard using a blue pencil. Then I switch off the lightbox and draw my detailed panels over the top of the blue thumbnails.
Detail is added with pencil, scanned to computer and lettered
Then I scan the pencilled page into the computer again, and at this point I letter it in the computer, so that the editors will see where the narration and dialogue (all the words) will fit on each panel.
Finally, the drawings are inked and the pencil lines are erased
Once that stage is approved, I ink over the top of my pencilled artwork, rub out the pencil lines, and scan the page in once more. Then I put the lettered file over the top of the inked drawings. Now the page is ready to be coloured in the computer...

Do you draw by hand or on a computer?

I draw by hand mostly, making adjustments on the computer using a wacom stylus instead of a mouse. There's something nice about having an original piece of art, rather than just a file in cyberspace.

Did Jesus really look like he does in the comic?

No, and that's a tricky thing. No-one really knows exactly how Jesus looked, although the Bible tells us he wasn't our society's idea of an especially good-looking man. (His amazing appeal came from his character: the way he spoke, his actions, and his relationship with God). So each artist will interpret him differently. Throughout the centuries he has been often depicted as a white person with long, straight, light brown hair. Jesus was Jewish, and no Jewish people from that time would have looked like that. He would have had olive skin and dark hair.
I've drawn Jesus in 5 or 6 different publications now, and each time I have drawn him looking slightly different.

What or who inspires your artwork?

I think God often inspires my work, because I often pray before I start, and ask Him to! As for less supernatural inspiration, I am inspired by whatever artist's work I am looking at, at the time I am drawing. We absorb whatever we see. So if I am going for a certain style on a project, I will make sure I am influenced by similar styles.
For the Jesus comic, I surrounded myself with superhero comics for inspiration, as well as paintings and photos of landscapes and scenery from Israel.

What are your favourite comics?

Well if you're asking about genre, I would have to say Superhero comics, though there are not a lot of good ones these days. I also have a soft spot for Al Hartley's Archie comics.
But if you mean individual comics, my all time favourites are "Tommysaurus Rex", by Doug TenNapel, "Calvin and Hobbes" by Bill Watterson, "The Picture Bible" illustrated by Andre Le Blanc, and "Kingdom Come" by Alex Ross and Mark Waid.

What do you think about the story of Jesus? Do you think it's true?

Without a doubt it's true. There is just too much historical evidence that proves Jesus is who he said he was in the Bible, and that's the son of God.
Archaeology has only ever proved the Bible to be true, never disproved it.
And on top of that, I have seen too many people's lives changed for the better (including mine) when they ask Jesus to be lord of their life. So I couldn't ever doubt that He rose from the dead and is alive today, and that God's Holy Spirit is still on this earth today changing people's lives.

What other comics have you done?

I haven't drawn a whole lot of comics so far. I've drawn a few of my own, including my personal testimony (at http://www.christiancomicsinternational.org/testimony.html#Anchor-44867), and I've drawn a couple of comic books for government projects. Apart from that I've drawn a few short comic pages for the Bible Society.
I also enjoy illustrating children's books, but The Story Of Jesus has been the longest comic book I have drawn so far, and the best one I've done yet!