I first encountered insanely talented Boston based artist/illustrator
Logan Faerber at HeroesCon 2014. It was early in the morning as the vendors and artists were still setting up their booths before the hordes came streaming in. He sold me a very charming print of his piece
"Monster" for a mere $3. Then I saw the Pokeman Trainers series with
Bulbasaur,
Alakazam, and
Nidoking. And holy sh*t, I knew we had ask Logan to do an interview.
It is really difficult to list all of the projects Logan has been involved with. Just to name a few, Logan was featured in the comic anthology
Hellbound 2 with his story “Grampire." Logan also provided the art for the graphic novel “Re-pro-duct” with writer Austin Wilson (aka:
Hideous Energy). He has done alternate covers for Adventure Time and Bravest Warriors comics from BOOM! Studios. Logan collaborated with writer Erik Craddock
on the book series
Cartoon Guidebook for Absolute Failure. His art is on t-shirts. His prints are sold in numerous stores. He does commissions. He has been a teacher at MassArt and Montserrat College of Art. And, aside from his freelance work and working on a super secret project with a major publisher, he puts his BFA of Illustration and Graphic Design to good use as head of the creative department at Dockyard.com.
Despite being busy juggling all these projects, Logan was kind enough to agree to an interview. I also highly recommend checking out his
Website,
Tumblr,
Dribble, and following him on
Twitter, where he posts the most amazing progress photos on the illustrations he is currently working on.
*Click any pic to enlarge.
Q: You illustrate a fair amount of video game related art, what are your all time favorite games? What are you currently playing?
Logan: Oh man, my all time favorite games? Let’s see here… Super Mario World, Tetris, Super Metroid, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Final Fantasy Tactics, Super Smash Brothers Melee, Final Fantasy 9, Bioshock, Halo 1. I’m sure there’s a ton more but these are the main ones that come to mind. As for what I’ve been playing; I have very little time to play games these days due to work and being an adult, but most recently I played through Shovel Knight and Mario Kart 8, both of which are fantastic!
Q: My friend, who is a gigantic Pokemon fan and loves your recent Pokemon trainer illustrations, said I need to ask you what character is your favorite Pokemon starter?
Logan: I assume this is based on the first game, but even if it’s not I would still go Squirtle for his husky Somers voice, but really because I ultimately want a giant turtle with water cannons. The closer I can get to having Gamera as a pet the better.
Q: On June 30th, Out of Step Arts published the statement: Logan Faerber has also started a new project that should be announced soon. I can tell you that it will be with a major publisher and he’ll be doing all of the art and coloring. Care to elaborate? Is your awesome character The Brains part of this project?
Logan: No, actually. He’s for a separate project I’m working on at
dockyard.com as an experimental in house website/HTML5 game. More to come on that soon, but we hope to have that website out and ready for people to use by the end of the year. As for the book I’m working on, it is in fact with a major publisher and will be a 4 issue series. I will be starting work on it every soon, but all of the characters and story have already been established so it’s just a matter of getting the final script ready and I’ll be good to go. You will hear more about it once the announcement comes in the next few months.
Q: Your Rocket Racoon for Multiversity Comics Guardians of the Galaxy month is badass. Were you a Bill Mantlo and Keith Giffen fan growing up?
Logan: I was, but without knowing it, if that makes sense. My older brother had been at the peak of his comic reading and ownership when I was only 5 or 6, so I had flipped through a ton of old Marvel and DC comics he had laying around, but certainly wasn’t aware of who any of the writers or illustrators were. It was only later, once I became a teenager and started to collect my own issues while also revisiting his back issues that I really started connected all the names and faces. That being said, I became a fan of theirs at 14.
Q: When can we expect the next installment of your collaboration with Erik Craddock “Cartoon Guidebook to Absolute Failure?”
Logan: So The Cartoon Guidebook to Absolute Failure” is complete for now, aside from a hardcover collection due out at the end of this year. We had planned on making 6 issues, which is what will comprise this collection, and had spoken about continuing with it into the future, but I was busy with some of my personal projects and was going to be starting the comic series we mentioned earlier this interview. That being said, there may be more to come years down the line.
Q: I noticed the Tomb Raider Official Website is selling screenprint posters of your piece “Field of Lost Sailors,” how mind blowing was it when you heard from them?
Logan: Pretty crazy actually, especially since I was a huge fan of the early games and was really looking forward to the revitalization of the franchise. My friend Marc in NY actually got me in touch with them, so it wasn’t 100% cold call or anything, but it was still crazy to get feedback from a team who is currently working on a game you’re amped to play. Thankfully, the game was also fantastic.
Q: You painted Sulu for GeekOut’s Takei Back the Night fundraising event in 2012. Do you prefer painting or digital illustration? Which one is more time consuming?
Logan: I actually think that both of these take an equal amount of time and I love both of them equally. I’ve been doing a lot more digital work recently purely due to the times and the necessity for reproduction, or the requirement that it be vectorized. I am going to be doing more physical painting pieces soon however, starting with skateboard decks in order to get back into the medium. This will also give me a good break from staring at a screen from time to time while also still being creative.
Q: What graphic novels or comics are you currently following?
Logan: Currently I’m following the new 52 Batman, Wonder Woman, Saga, Black Science, Elektra, All New X-Men, and am super excited to read more Fables, but I hopped on to the bandwagon late so I’m only at issue 80-ish at this point.
Q: Link or Finn? Who would win in a fight?
Logan: Link because he had more years of experience… unless of course we are taking into consideration that every Link is a different Link, then Finn. Also, Jake is 100% better companion than Navi.
