Rob McCallum

Q: What made you want to draw? Was it a life long dream? How long have you been drawing?

I’ve always drawn all my life. It was my way of telling stories when I wasn’t playing with Star Wars figures. I was still making wee stories with my drawings. I would start in one corner of the paper and work out. There were gunfights, explosions, people in peril all on one sheet of paper that probably didn’t make any sense to anyone but me.

Drawing for a living was never really a lifelong dream or anything. It’s strange to say but I kind of knew I would never do anything else and have been lucky life work out that way for me.! I almost went into architecture because it was suggested that it was more of a “proper” job that involved drawing. I was conditionally accepted to study architecture and had to get certain marks in my exams in school in order to meet those conditions. The day before the exams all started and after a LOT of studying more academic subjects, some of which I quite enjoyed, I got my letter of acceptance into the famous Glasgow School of Art so the exam marks really didn’t matter. Still took the exams though and got the marks I would have needed but glad I didn’t need them. I went through a load of different departments at Art School. Painting, Graphic Design, Illustration before eventually ending up with about 5 other students in a course they created for us specializing in Video and animation. I drew my first storyboards on that course for my own short films.

I was much more of a film fan than anything when I was a kid. Star Wars, Ray Harryhausen movies, Tron, Flash Gordon and loads more. They were what made me draw because they really inspired me a lot. The drawing was just something I did to recreate bits of the stories I loved and to “play” with the toys I had to draw if that makes sense. I never really was someone who sat down to perfect their art as drawings were more of a means to an end. This is actually the first time I’ve thought about all that…funny.

I got into comics when. I was probably around 14 or 15 years old. Comics like 2000ad and Judge Dredd reprints. Artists like Brian Bolland, Mike McMahon, Brendan McCarthy, Massimo Belardinelli, Cam Kennedy Bryan Talbot, Kev O Neill and Brett Ewins – I’ve missed out loads- were all producing amazing artwork and telling great stories visually. It made me think that might be something I’d like to try and maybe something I could actually do. I had my first published work when I was 17 in a Glasgow underground adult humour comics called “Electric Soup” alongside now comics superstar Frank Quitely. I went to a London comics convention with him to try and see if we could get work and he had to go back to Glasgow so left me with his photocopies of his Batman samples. I gave them out to people the next day and the rest, for him is history. I have a set I kept for myself. Ebay may see them one day!

A few years later and just having graduated artschool , writers Robbie Morrison and Jim Alexander, Frank Quitely and myself headed down to the London comic con UKCAC with comics work we had done. The strips were bought by Randy Stradley for Dark Horse Presents and I got over a years worth of work out of that trip. Lobo for DC Comics was my first published work in the US. I ended up over the years working for DC, Dark Horse, and Marvel for Stan Lee himself on his never published Excelsior Line. It was the day after the plug was finally pulled after a year and half on the Excelsior gig that I got a call to do storyboards as I had been recommended by Steve MacManus the 2000ad editor to the director. I had done boards before for my short films so got the job and ended up storyboarding a bunch of TV movies for Hallmark which led to The Acid House and load of short films.

After a break I ended up in Toronto and got work storyboarding The Recruit which led to Bulletproof Monk which led to work offers in film storyboards and concept work which has kept me pretty busy over the past few years. I had always wanted to work in film and I feel very fortunate that I’ve ended up doing just that.

Q: What got you into Resident Evil in the first place?

I enjoy drawing zombies! I had storyboard a TV pilot with director Steve Miner. It was very horror based and had a blast on it. I was working on a Lyndsey Lohan film when I saw the sign up that elsewhere in the studios “Resident Evil – Nemesis”- as it was called then- was setting up offices. They were making the Dawn of the Dead remake in town at the same time. I had to pass when I got a call to do boards for it due to being on another film so when this came along, I was really wanting to work on it to get my drawing zombie fix. So I dropped off samples, was interviewed and got the job.

Q: Do you like horror movies? And if so, what’s your favorite one?

I love horror films. There are too many to list as a single favorite but I would say John Carpenter’s The Thing and Halloween, Night of the Demon, Polergeist, Exorcist 1 and 3 , Evil Dead 2, Jaws, Shaun of the Dead, An American Werewolf in London. Romero films, John Carpenter- too many to mention.

Q: Did you play the RE Games?

Yes I did. I borrowed a playstation and I played the game for a bit then ended up watching the video the production had of someone who was much better at it playing the game. Mostly I was interested in the cut scenes where the Nemesis appeared and a few other key moments.

Q: What is your advice for hopeful artists?

I’ve been reading some people online giving tips to aspiring artists trying to make it in the business. Few of them ever say Learn to draw! Sure believe in yourself, promote yourself all you want but you sure has heck better have something to back it up.

Learn to draw and work hard at it.

Draw from life- learn to draw quickly. Sit yourself down somewhere crowded and give yourself 15 seconds to draw people walking past. 99% of the drawings will be bloody awful but every now and then BAM- the best , most simple drawing you will ever do. It’s all about practice and actually wanting to spend time doing it. If it becomes a chore, it’s probably not for you. Don’t learn to draw from comics. A lot of the people drawing comics these days have learned to draw from comics where those artists in turn learned to draw for comics……etc etc. You need to draw from life, learn the rules of how things work before you can take a step back and start to stylize things- if that makes sense. If you look at the old school comics artists from the 50 s and 60 s. People like Wally Wood. That guy could draw ANYTHING in ANY style. Cartoony to ultra stylized to total realism because, simply, he knew how to draw. To be honest, it’s a good idea to cut yourself off from a lot of outside art. It’s one way to develop your own style thats for sure. One good way to see your work with a fresh eye, I find, is to look at it in a mirror and see how it looks- always different from how you think and some things become very obvious- mind you most people don’t carry a mirror around these days!-

Spend time at being critical of your work. It’s a tricky line to walk cos most of the time you end up hating a lot of what you have done. With storyboards- you dont really get the time to ponder too much over your drawings because there’s no time but you REALLY have to work at knowing if something is good or a total stinker for a drawing. When I had my very first comics work printed- it was AWFUL. Really bad. But over the years I worked on it and made judgments on if it was good enough and it’s something you have to deal with your entire artistic life. There’s always more than a few utterly crap drawings just waiting around the corner. Be objective and be able to maybe leave it and go back to it once you have some distance and look at your work again. I look through some of the work I did even a good few years ago and wonder if I could do something that good now or just plain cringe that I ever let it look like that. Edit yourself as it can get embarrassing if you don’t.

I used to be a guest at various conventions in the uk. I’d get people coming up to me and telling me how great their work was and really talking it up- even had one guy who was commissioning for a role playing games company- abig one too- tell me about his art- and he had a few “hint and tips” to give me about mine- which I totally ignored once I saw the utter derivative dross- not very well drawn art he was producing. Not only that but he had his portfolio at a night club on an unrelated evening trying to show it to people at 1 am and tell them how good he was! Never find yourself being that guy! If you work at your craft and can produce constent and timely work, people will find you a lot of the time.

If you work hard and make sure you can look at your work objectively – then you can get to showing your work around.

Q: What did it feel like to do the art for Apocalypse?

Tiring. Very tiring but it was a great thing to be drawing. Loads of very fun things to draw but very hard work and a lot of pressure to get things done as soon as possible- which is understandable with films like that. I was one of the first people hired in the big empty studio and hit the ground running having to get 2 sequences done very quickly in the first few weeks. I can say about this film that I actually drew until my hand bled. It was the church sequence- rather a large sequence the first time around then it was edited down further with each draft. I was working until about 1 am each night at the offices for a few nights in a row and late one evening I was drawing away and there was dark brown smear left on the paper. I looked down and one of my knuckles had split a little from the dryness of the air and the rubbing on the paper. Had to tape it up and get on with it. It was a tough job but I met some great people on there and I had a good rest when it was done cos I needed it.

One part I really enjoyed was designing the Nemesis for the film. I worked with Paul Jones the fx makeup guy. I initially did some designs for the licker too but they were happy enough with the one in the first film so got to sit for a few days studying the game designs and some sculptures of toys and stuff that had been made and then did a few versions. I won’t forget the day Paul came in with the sculpt of the head and we put it beside my drawing and turned the head to the same angle and they were exactly the same. Made me proud!

Q: Did you get to meet any of the stars behind the scenes?

Yes I got to meet Milla a few times and there were a few others kicking about closer to filming. I started about 3 months before filming and went on for a bit when filming started so went to set a few times for meetings and see how it was all going. The thing is when you are on set, it’s for work and they are working so everyone tends to be rather focused on what’s going on and I’m focused on trying to gets much info as I can in whatever time I can get with the director so it doesn’t really make for that much of a social thing at the time. Got to chat with her at the wrap party though and she thanked me for making her look good in the storyboards- which was nice!