Declan Shalvey Interviewed

Over on the Forbidden Planet blog, Joe Gordon has just posted a fascinating interview with artist Declan Shalvey, who has carved a good name for himself on titles such as Andy Winter’s Hero Killers which went on to win an Eagle Award, and work for the Judge Dredd Megazine.

Declan now has a high-profile gig working for Classical Comics, illustrating their new adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

"I was very apprehensive when starting out and very conscious of all the other takes on the Monster," he says of the project. "I was certainly pointed towards different interpretations of the character when starting out. Coming up with a look for the monster was the very first thing I had to do and was also obviously the most important. I really tried to ignore any reference material when it came to the monster to be honest."

Talking in detail about the project, Declan also reveals just some of the projects he's now working on. "I’m actually nearly finished a full-colour one shot with Andy Winter, called Tim Skinner: Total Scumbag, which will be out later in the year, in time for the Dublin Comic Con in November. I’m also about to start work on a new graphic novel for Classical Comics; this time it’s Sweeney Todd, so that’s a lot of work on the horizon.

"I actually have written small stories of my own; a three pager recently featured in this year’s Tripwire annual, and some for a self-published comic called Your Round. that’s a project that’s really fallen on the back-burner because of all the paying work I’m getting, but Your Round is basically an anthology of pub-stories I’ve been putting together, along with contributions from Bob Byrne, James Hodgkins and David Baillie. I really must get the first book, Tequila, distributed!"

• Read the interview on the Forbidden Planet International blog
• Visit the Classical Comics web site