Jon Haward

Jon Haward
by Melanie C. Jordan

Jon Haward is an illustrator; he was the cover artist for Marvel Pocket Books which included:

Uncanny X-Men, The Amazing Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, Venom, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. He also worked on some great characters like Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles comic in 1991 and Marvel Rampage 2005-2006 Marvel/Panini. He has illustrated card games, board games and computer games as well. His graphic novel Hamlet tickled my fancy and I had to get an interview with him regarding this masterpiece. It was hard to pull Jon away from his schedule but I did and the interview was as I was speaking to William Shakespeare himself!

I.mag: What is your position in the graphic novel, Hamlet?

J.H: I’m art directing the book which means I’ve designed the look of the characters of the play plus I’m drawing layout roughs of the comic pages for the penciller David Lorenzo to follow. When pages have been pencilled I then check them and ask for corrections if I see something not drawn correctly. I will also comment on inks and coloring on the artwork; the other stuff like lettering, book design and packaging I leave to the editorial and creative director of Classical Comics.

I.mag: You stated, “The book will be the complete Play running to 186 pages”. Will there be any twists in the graphic novel that we won’t see in the original story?

J.H: Classical Comics always stay 100% true to William Shakespeare’s script. It will be his complete play drawn in the time zone the play was set in. But that doesn’t mean it’s the same as seeing a stage version we use lots of cutaways and mental images to engage the reader, as well as other dynamic comic book techniques to keep it fresh.

I.mag: Will we see maybe, a twist in characters?

J.H: Not really it needs to stay true to the original. The main thing is to put over the complex emotions of the characters as the story unfolds and in that way you get to know the characters better.

I.mag: The Ghost in Hamlet, the specter of Hamlet’s recently deceased father.  How did you draw this and what is your vision of his character in the book?

J.H: In my version I was thinking of an old but strong-ish Richard Harris with a hint of Sean Connery for facial features. When I design characters, I try to imagine who would be a great actor for the role – like a director for a movie would do and then I add bits and bobs of different features to make up the faces. Hamlet’s father’s face would look noble, but there would also be a great sadness about him and I wanted to capture this in the character and the costume designs

I.mag: Polonius’s daughter Ophelia is a vision of beauty and Hamlets love. How are you pursuing to bring this beauty to life?

J.H: I have tried to make Ophelia young, with a natural beauty and a lot of innocence about her

I.mag: How did you envision her before you drew her?

J.H: I looked at a number of actresses for inspiration, but in the end I went with a design that captures her innocence that was really what came to mind from the scriptwriter’s notes.

I.mag: You have done other work with Classical comics. Please tell us what you have done.

J.H: In the last 3 years I have: designed and drawn Macbeth which so far has won two awards: a bronze IPPY medal in the U.S and a Production and Design award in the U.K. I designed and pencilled The Tempest and art directed Frankenstein drawn by Declan Shalvey which won an award by the Association of Educational Publishers in America.

J.H: Over the years I have been lucky to draw for different media in theme park rides, children books and advertising. So, if a client asks for a design I usually do research on the Internet and sketch ideas. Then I send drawings for approval. I just seem to have a knack of being able to come up with good ideas for characters. I guess after 23yrs in the business you pick up the odd ref here and there stored in the old grey cells of the brain. It also helps if you have good communication with the client, plus it’s good to be aware of what’s popular in film, TV and other media.

I.mag: Many people are visual learners. Do you feel these classical graphic books help students?

J.H: A big yes! The feedback we have had has been amazing from teachers, students and librarians due to the fact that Classical Comics publish the whole play or classical story in 3 versions for different reading levels. Original text, plain text and quick text, so all students can follow the play. I wish I had these books when I was at school, it would have made my English lessons so much more interesting.

I.mag: Do you own any classical books, and what’s your favorite?

J.H: That’s a tough one. When I was a child I loved Treasure Island and 20,000 leagues Under the Sea, also Sherlock Holmes.

I.mag: What else are you working on for 2010?

J.H: I’m pitching for offers now for paid work. Once my immediate work on Hamlet is done, my work should be appearing in 2000AD this year after a break gap of 16yrs. Since my last Dredd strip I got to draw some new Judge Dredd stories for the comic, plus my humor strip art will be appearing in Wasted adult humor magazine .I draw ”Tales of the Buddha before he got enlightened” which is written by Alan Grant. Issue 3 has just come out featuring our character on the cover drawn by super star artist Simon Bisley.

I.mag: Thank you for taking time for this interview. Any last words to your followers?

J.H: Thanks for following my website:  http//www.jonhawardart.com and my blog http://hawardarthouse.blogspot.com/ and for buying my work over the years. I’m sure there will be lots more exciting stuff to come in the years ahead.

Thanks Melanie for the interview