There’s a new art sheriff in town and he goes by the name of Aaron Kuder. Handpicked by Chris Burnham as the man who could continue to breathe new life into “The Amory Wars, In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3,” Aaron will pick up the series at Issue 8, as Chris departs for a much deserved run on Batman. Evil Ink caught up with the self-professed transient dog lover from his current home in Arkansas, to give readers of “The Amory Wars “a peek into the past and mind of our newest team member.
Get to know him now, then be sure to check out his debut on TAW #8 next month!
“I enjoy thinking. Not just as a hobby, but as a way of life.“–Aaron Kuder
EVIL INK: Let’s start with your “bio.”
AARON: I‘ve worked as a freelance artist for over ten years. Outside of a handful of classes, I’d say that I’m entirely self-taught. I have moved around a lot in my life, which I believe has only benefited my art. Pen and paper always seem to be easy enough to pack. Currently I live in the northwest corner of Arkansas, which is nice and has it’s perks but is only for the moment. If I had to say where I am from I would definitely say Earth, northern hemisphere, North America, the United States of ‘Merica, and generally close to water or not, but absolutely born in Michigan (or so my parents have told me).
One of the biggest feathers in my artistic hat came from being asked to join Ten Ton Studios. Ten Ton Studios is compiled of a bunch of crazy awesome artists and writers that bust each others artistic balls in order to make the world a little bit safer from poorly executed comic art. Which is also where I met fellow Ten Ton-er Chris Burnham (you may have heard of him). Burnham has been a huge supporter and fan of my work from day one. To which I thank him.
EVIL INK: What is the lure of the medium for you? Why did you choose to pursue comics rather than some other art form?
AARON: I really love telling stories with images. Making silly marks on paper and it translating into the viewer watching a ball bounce across a room. I just think that things like that are really awesome. I love comix, for a lot of reasons; campy superheroes, nostalgia, accessibility (rich or poor, young or old, etc, comix are an art form that can be had), etc, etc, etc. And to answer the second question… I’ve dabbled in a lot of other art forms, and some I like, but comix, I love. It’s really that simple.
EVIL INK: Tell us about your process.
AARON: Ha. My “process” is a lot like shampoo instructions. Read script, rough-out pages, pencil/ink page, repeat last step until finished. There little things that I do for each step that I guess could be considered a process though. Like, when I read the script, I keep a pen and paper handy, and doodle down the first images that pop into my hand (sometimes I use them and sometimes I don’t, but it helps me to remember the initial emotional response I have to the story line).When I’m penciling a page I work from top-left to bottom-right and when I ink the page I work from bottom-right to top-left. This helps keep smudging to a minimum… it can be really hard to ink a page when the pencil lines are all ground into the paper.
Roughing-out the story usually requires a sacrifice to a lesser knows deity… I generally try to stick with the gods that accept offerings like fruit and vegetables, but many times, when it comes to splash pages and the like, neighborhood stray cats come in handy.
EVIL INK: Who, what or where do you draw most of your inspiration from? Any artists out there you’re particularly influenced by?
AARON: Hmmm. This is something I don’t really think about that often. I guess as silly as it sounds, a lot of my inspiration comes from my friends and family. It’s a pretty diverse crazy group of people. Hippies to hillbillies, brainiacs to goofballs, gear-heads to grease-monkeys…you get the idea. As for artists, there are simply too many to name. Although, there is a guy by the name of Grzegorz Rosiński, who doesn’t get nearly enough recognition in the states. He’s a Polish artist. I know of him from a book called Thorgal, beautiful stuff.
EVIL INK: You’ve easily transitioned into the artist role on The Amory Wars. How has your experience been working with the Evil Ink and Boom!Studios teams so far?
AARON: Great! … to the point where maybe “Evil” Ink may want to think about a name change… just saying. 
EVIL INK: What are you reading right now?
AARON: I’m a big fan of Invincible, Ryan Ottley keeps improving his game by leaps and bounds every time I turn around. Also, I’m a pretty hard core Madman fan. Mike Allred’s campy style has always done it for me. I really like a lot of indie books. It’s pretty hard to pin down what I pick up consistently.
EVIL INK: Obviously there are some big changes in publishing right now with the introduction of digital comics. Do you prefer the instant gratification of a digital issue or are you more of a print guy?
AARON: I prefer the old school newsprint comics. To me, those books are just as holy as any sacred text. However, digital comics offer a much wider variety of ways to tell a story. The writer and artist aren’t limited by industry standards such as page count or paper size. Be that as it may, I still like holding the book in my hands, and the feeling of flipping through back issues. Searching through file names or bookmarked websites doesn’t have the same vibe.
EVIL INK: If you had to choose a different career, what would it be?
AARON: Oh that’s easy; I’d be an astronaut-cowboy-knight-errant-physic-ninja, duh.
EVIL INK: A lot of our fans are aspiring writes and artists themselves. Any words of wisdom on how to break into the industry?
AARON: Well, don’t think of it as something to “break into.” I mean, I don’t have any golden gems that anyone else isn’t going to tell you: “work hard, study your anatomy, draw from life first, leave your ego at the door, etc.” All of which is great advice, but I think there’s a myth in some peoples’ minds before they start getting jobs, that “breaking in” is a onetime thing. Every job is a new thing. It’s breaking in all over again. So, I guess I’d say if you want to make comix, just make them. Write and draw the stories you want to tell. That way you’ll get better as you go and have something to show for it.
