Travis Charest
Encyclopedia
Travis Charest is a Canadian
comic book
penciller
, inker and painter
, known for his work on such books as Darkstars
, WildC.A.T.s, Grifter/Shi
, WildC.A.T.s/X-Men
: The Golden Age and The Metabarons. He has also done extensive cover work for many other books, such as various Star Wars
series from Dark Horse Comics
.
, Adam Hughes
and Brian Bolland
among his artistic influences, as well as many artists from the early 20th century.
, most notably Darkstars
. He also produced cover work for other DC titles such as The Outsiders, Batman
, and Detective Comics
. After illustrating a 1993 WildC.A.T.s Special called Destiny's Hand, he illustrated a number of issues of the WildC.A.T.s monthly series beginning in 1994. He became the regular artist of the series with issue #16, illustrating the title during the runs of writers James Robinson and Alan Moore
. His last regular issue was #31 (September 1996), though he later returned to illustrate the title's 50th issue (June 1998).
In 1999, Charest returned to WildC.A.T.s to illustrate five of the first six issues of that title's second ongoing series, written by Scott Lobdell
. He was replaced on the title by Sean Phillips
, and later left Wildstorm and Homage for French bande dessinee publisher Humanoïdes Associés
.
In April 2000, Charest moved to Paris to work on a Metabarons
graphic novel
. With plans to paint the entire graphic novel, the progress on the book went much more slowly than Charest had anticipated. Humanoid Publishing selected Serbian artist Zoran Janjetov
, who previously worked in the same Alejandro Jodorowsky
"Incal" universe on "John Defaul" and "Technopriests", to complete the art chores for the project.
By 2007 Charest had moved back to the United States, settling in California. Among his works are cover art for David Morrell
's Captain America
: The Chosen mini-series. He has also been running the strip Spacegirl on his MSN group. In 2008, a limited edition printed volume hardcover of Spacegirl was self-published by Charest and Big Wow Art, collecting the first 56 strips of the series.
ing, in part due to impatience, and in part because he enjoys the serendipitous nature in which artwork develops when produced with greater spontaneity. He also prefers to use reference only when rendering objects that require a degree of real-life accuracy, such as guns, vehicles or characters of licensed properties that must resemble actors with whom they are closely identified, as when he illustrated the cover to Star Trek: The Next Generation: Embrace the Wolf in 2000.
Charest previously illustrated on regular illustration board provided by publishers, though he disliked the non-photo blue
lines printed on them. By 2000, he switched to Crescent board for all his work, because it does not warp when wet, produces sharper illustrations, and is more suitable for framing because it lacks the non-photo blue lines.
Charest uses mainly 2H lead to avoid smearing, and sometimes HB lead. For ink wash, he uses Rapidograph ink, and waters it down to three hues in order to achieve light gray, medium and charcoal tones, in addition to straight black. He applies the wash with watercolor brushes of various sizes. To ink linework he uses Rapidographs of all sizes. For color work, Charest uses Aquarelle watercolor pencils and acrylic paint
for airbrush work. He also uses white Pelikan
ink for additional effects such as highlights, fades and blends. Charest stated in 2000 that while he did not use a computer for his artwork, he would be using one soon, and anticipated they would be a necessity for professional artists.
According to Charest, the time he needs to finish a given page varies, depending on how fast his editor needs it, and what he is being paid, though because he came to prefer producing artwork that takes longer than the norm to complete by the time he left Wildstorm, he no longer finds it feasible to be the regular artist on a monthly series. He points to WildC.A.T.s/X-Men
: The Golden Age as an example of a book that took him considerable time (under a year), though he stresses that he finished it on time.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
comic book
Comic Book Artist
Comic Book Artist was an American magazine founded by Jon B. Cooke devoted to anecdotal histories of American comic books, with emphasis on comics published since the 1960s...
penciller
Penciller
A penciller is an artist who works in the creation of comic books, graphic novels, and similar visual art forms.The penciller is the first step in rendering the story in visual form and may require several steps of feedback with the writer. These artists are concerned with layout to showcase...
, inker and painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, known for his work on such books as Darkstars
Darkstars
The first Darkstars were a group of fictional intergalactic policemen that appeared in comic books published by DC Comics. They were introduced in Darkstars #1 , and were created by Michael Jan Friedman and Mike Collins. The series lasted a total of 39 issues, ending with issue #38 , with an issue...
, WildC.A.T.s, Grifter/Shi
Shi (comics)
Shi is a fictional comic book character created by writer/illustrator William Tucci. She first appeared in Razor Annual #1 , and has since appeared in books by a variety of publishers, most notably, Tucci's company, Crusade Comics...
, WildC.A.T.s/X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
: The Golden Age and The Metabarons. He has also done extensive cover work for many other books, such as various Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
series from Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
.
Early life
Charest began drawing at as a child, and cites Mike MignolaMike Mignola
Michael Joseph "Mike" Mignola is an American comic book artist and writer who created the comic book series Hellboy for Dark Horse Comics. He has worked for animation projects such as Atlantis: The Lost Empire and the adaptation of his one shot comic book, The Amazing Screw-On Head.-Career:Mignola...
, Adam Hughes
Adam Hughes
Adam Hughes is an American comic book artist who has worked for companies such as DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Lucasfilm, Warner Bros...
and Brian Bolland
Brian Bolland
Brian Bolland is a British comics artist, known for his meticulous, detailed linework and eye-catching compositions. Best known in the UK as one of the definitive Judge Dredd artists for British comics anthology 2000 AD, he spearheaded the 'British Invasion' of the American comics industry, and in...
among his artistic influences, as well as many artists from the early 20th century.
Career
Charest became known in the American comic book industry for his work various DC ComicsDC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
, most notably Darkstars
Darkstars
The first Darkstars were a group of fictional intergalactic policemen that appeared in comic books published by DC Comics. They were introduced in Darkstars #1 , and were created by Michael Jan Friedman and Mike Collins. The series lasted a total of 39 issues, ending with issue #38 , with an issue...
. He also produced cover work for other DC titles such as The Outsiders, Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
, and Detective Comics
Detective Comics
Detective Comics is an American comic book series published monthly by DC Comics since 1937, best known for introducing the iconic superhero Batman in Detective Comics #27 . It is, along with Action Comics, the book that launched with the debut of Superman, one of the medium's signature series, and...
. After illustrating a 1993 WildC.A.T.s Special called Destiny's Hand, he illustrated a number of issues of the WildC.A.T.s monthly series beginning in 1994. He became the regular artist of the series with issue #16, illustrating the title during the runs of writers James Robinson and Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
. His last regular issue was #31 (September 1996), though he later returned to illustrate the title's 50th issue (June 1998).
In 1999, Charest returned to WildC.A.T.s to illustrate five of the first six issues of that title's second ongoing series, written by Scott Lobdell
Scott Lobdell
Scott Lobdell is an American comic book writer.-Early Career:Scott didn't begin to read comics until he was 17 years old, while lying in bed after lung surgery....
. He was replaced on the title by Sean Phillips
Sean Phillips
Sean Phillips is a British comic book artist.He is best known in the American comic book industry for his work on DC Comics' Sleeper, WildC.A.T.s, Batman and Hellblazer.-Career:...
, and later left Wildstorm and Homage for French bande dessinee publisher Humanoïdes Associés
Les Humanoïdes Associés
Les Humanoïdes Associés is a French publishing house specialising in comics and graphic novels. Founded in December 1974 by Mœbius, Jean-Pierre Dionnet, Philippe Druillet and Bernard Farkas in order to publish Métal Hurlant, it quickly expanded to include a variety of science fiction work...
.
In April 2000, Charest moved to Paris to work on a Metabarons
Metabarons
The Metabarons or The Saga of The Meta-Barons is a science fantasy comic series relating the history of a dynasty of perfect warriors known as the Metabarons. The Metabarons series was written by creator Alejandro Jodorowsky and illustrated by Argentinian artist Juan Gimenez...
graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
. With plans to paint the entire graphic novel, the progress on the book went much more slowly than Charest had anticipated. Humanoid Publishing selected Serbian artist Zoran Janjetov
Zoran Janjetov
Zoran Janjetov is a Serbian comics artist. He lives in Novi Sad. Janjetov is best known as the illustrator of The Technopriests, written by Alejandro Jodorowsky. In 1986 he was chosen by Moebius to continue his work The Incal.- Biography :At very early age he started to draw with a strong support...
, who previously worked in the same Alejandro Jodorowsky
Alejandro Jodorowsky
Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky, known as Alejandro Jodorowsky, is a Chilean filmmaker, playwright, actor, author, comic book writer and spiritual guru...
"Incal" universe on "John Defaul" and "Technopriests", to complete the art chores for the project.
By 2007 Charest had moved back to the United States, settling in California. Among his works are cover art for David Morrell
David Morrell
David Morrell is a Canadian-American novelist, best known for his debut 1972 novel First Blood, which would later become the successful Rambo film franchise starring Sylvester Stallone. He has written 28 novels, and his work has been translated into 26 languages...
's Captain America
Captain America
Captain America is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 , from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby...
: The Chosen mini-series. He has also been running the strip Spacegirl on his MSN group. In 2008, a limited edition printed volume hardcover of Spacegirl was self-published by Charest and Big Wow Art, collecting the first 56 strips of the series.
Technique and materials
Charest usually prefers not to employ preliminary sketching practices, such as layouts, thumbnails or lightboxLightbox
Lightbox may refer to:* Various backlit viewing devices:** A container with several lightbulbs and a pane of frosted glass on the top. It is used by photography professionals viewing translucent films, such as slides. This device was originally used to sort photographic plates with ease. It is also...
ing, in part due to impatience, and in part because he enjoys the serendipitous nature in which artwork develops when produced with greater spontaneity. He also prefers to use reference only when rendering objects that require a degree of real-life accuracy, such as guns, vehicles or characters of licensed properties that must resemble actors with whom they are closely identified, as when he illustrated the cover to Star Trek: The Next Generation: Embrace the Wolf in 2000.
Charest previously illustrated on regular illustration board provided by publishers, though he disliked the non-photo blue
Non-photo blue
Non-photo blue is a common tool used in the graphic design and print industry. It is a particular shade of blue that can not be detected by graphic arts cameras. This allows layout editors to write notes to the printer on the print flat which will not show in the final form...
lines printed on them. By 2000, he switched to Crescent board for all his work, because it does not warp when wet, produces sharper illustrations, and is more suitable for framing because it lacks the non-photo blue lines.
Charest uses mainly 2H lead to avoid smearing, and sometimes HB lead. For ink wash, he uses Rapidograph ink, and waters it down to three hues in order to achieve light gray, medium and charcoal tones, in addition to straight black. He applies the wash with watercolor brushes of various sizes. To ink linework he uses Rapidographs of all sizes. For color work, Charest uses Aquarelle watercolor pencils and acrylic paint
Acrylic paint
Acrylic paint is fast drying paint containing pigment suspension in acrylic polymer emulsion. Acrylic paints can be diluted with water, but become water-resistant when dry...
for airbrush work. He also uses white Pelikan
Pelikan
Pelikan is a German manufacturer of fountain pens and other writing, office and art equipment, credited with the invention of the differential-piston filling method....
ink for additional effects such as highlights, fades and blends. Charest stated in 2000 that while he did not use a computer for his artwork, he would be using one soon, and anticipated they would be a necessity for professional artists.
According to Charest, the time he needs to finish a given page varies, depending on how fast his editor needs it, and what he is being paid, though because he came to prefer producing artwork that takes longer than the norm to complete by the time he left Wildstorm, he no longer finds it feasible to be the regular artist on a monthly series. He points to WildC.A.T.s/X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...
: The Golden Age as an example of a book that took him considerable time (under a year), though he stresses that he finished it on time.
Covers only
- DarkstarsDarkstarsThe first Darkstars were a group of fictional intergalactic policemen that appeared in comic books published by DC Comics. They were introduced in Darkstars #1 , and were created by Michael Jan Friedman and Mike Collins. The series lasted a total of 39 issues, ending with issue #38 , with an issue...
#1-3, 8-11 (DC ComicsDC ComicsDC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
, 1992–1993) - Detective ComicsDetective ComicsDetective Comics is an American comic book series published monthly by DC Comics since 1937, best known for introducing the iconic superhero Batman in Detective Comics #27 . It is, along with Action Comics, the book that launched with the debut of Superman, one of the medium's signature series, and...
#652-653 (DC Comics, 1992) - BatmanBatman (comic book)Batman is an ongoing comic book series featuring the DC Comics hero of the same name. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #27, published in May 1939. Batman proved to be so popular that a self-titled ongoing comic book series began publication in the spring of 1940...
#488-490 (DC Comics, 1993) - Robin III: Cry of the HuntressTim DrakeTimothy "Tim" Drake is a superhero who appears in comic books published by DC Comics and in related media. The character was created by Marv Wolfman and Pat Broderick. From 1989 to 2009, he was known as Robin in the Batman comics, becoming the third character to take up the identity...
#3 (DC Comics, 1993) - OutsidersOutsiders (comics)The Outsiders are a fictional DC Comics superhero team. As its name suggests, the team consists of superheroes who allegedly do not fit the norms of the mainstream superhero community, namely the Justice League....
#1α, 1Ω (DC Comics, 1993) - WildC.A.T.s: Covert Action Teams #19, 22-24, 40 (WildstormWildstormWildStorm Productions, or simply WildStorm, published American comic books. Originally an independent company established by Jim Lee and further expanded upon in subsequent years by other creators, WildStorm became a publishing imprint of DC Comics in 1999...
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#32 (Wildstorm, 1997) - Divine Right: The Adventures of Max Faraday #1 (Wildstorm, 1997)
- Phantom Guard #1 (Wildstorm, 1997)
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, 1998) - C-23 #0-3 (Image, 1998)
- Danger GirlDanger GirlDanger Girl is an American comic book series created by J. Scott Campbell and Andy Hartnell. The comic features a group of female secret agents led by a mentor named Deuce. The series follows the James Bond and Indiana Jones action-adventure formula, with the Danger Girls being an homage to the...
#3 (Cliffhanger, 1998) - WildcatsWildcats (comics)Wildcats, sometimes rendered WildCats or WildC.A.T.s, is a fictional superhero team created by the American comic book artist Jim Lee and writer Brandon Choi.-Publication history:...
#5, 7-11 (Wildstorm, 1999–2000) - Star Trek: The Next Generation: Embrace the Wolf GN (Wildstorm, 2000)
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old RepublicStar Wars: Knights of the Old RepublicStar Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is a role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by LucasArts. It was released for the Xbox on July 15, 2003, for Microsoft Windows on November 19, 2003, and on September 7, 2004 for Mac OS X. The Xbox version is playable on Xbox 360 with its...
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