In the nearly twenty-year period since the character made his cameo debut in Eternal Warrior # 4 (1992), Bloodshot has been written and illustrated by some of the industry’s top talents. Most recently, artist Marc Laming took up the reins and began working with writer Tim Seeley on the ongoing Bloodshot series.
Not long ago, I caught up with Marc to discuss Bloodshot and working with Tim Seeley; here’s how the conversation went:
Charlie Chipman/The Brazen Bull: Bloodshot is a nearly twenty-year-old character, at this point; when you were offered the opportunity to draw him, what was your initial reaction?
Marc Laming: I came back to reading Valiant when THE VALIANT miniseries came out. I loved the take on Bloodshot and, of course, the Paolo Rivera artwork made him look super cool, so I was really stoked to get to draw the indestructible super soldier.
How is your approach to drawing him different than other artists? What aspects of the character’s overall aesthetic were the most important, to you, to capture correctly?
The only real difference is that I’ve given Bloodshot a slightly higher and tighter hair style, taking where Brett Booth had gone but made him maybe a bit more military looking. Other than that, my take is a mix of Rivera, Larosa, Braithwaite and Smallwood’s approach to the character – a big guy but he’s a man and not The Hulk.
What excites you most about working on this Bloodshot run?
I had wanted to work with Valiant again after I had drawn Ninjak for them, I really liked the way their editorial approached their books. Lysa Hawkins (who I was very keen to work with) approached me about drawing Bloodshot and I have always liked the aesthetic of the character, and when I was told Tim Seeley would be writing the book it was an easy ‘yes’ as I had wanted to work with Tim for a while.
What is it like working with Tim Seeley? Did he provide you with a lot of direction, in his scripts, or were you provided with a good deal of creative freedom?
It’s been great – Tim wrote me a fantastic character piece in the zero issue and a mad action book with the new arc. It really helps that Tim is an artist too – so you get enough detail in the script so you’re not scratching your head but enough is left to me, such as panel layout, to feel like I’m driving the art car hahaha.
After receiving a script and giving it a read, what is your first step in the illustration process? Do you plan your approach or just get to work?
I read it again, make notes and start gathering photo reference for locations, hardware, vehicles, etc. I make very quick and very small layouts on Post-it notes – I then make a just slightly more detailed but same sized version of the layouts in my sketchbook to go off to my editor. When approved, I scan those into my Mac and use them for the basis of my pencils and ink the pages from there.
The final page of Bloodshot (2019-) #7 is nothing short of epic; run me through your process of working on that final scene. How much fun was it to draw those beasts-that-should-not-be that were in, and eventually out of, containment?
The process was as above but I also drew loads of sketches for the Kaiju until I was happy with their design. Then I had to work out how to draw what looked like thousands of nasties escaping from the base without actually drawing thousands of them!
If given the opportunity to work with any other of Valiant’s characters, who would be your first pick?
Eternal Warrior set in the Dark Ages, please…
Bloodshot (2019-) #7: Fully Loaded Edition is available now; Bloodshot (2019-) #8 hits spinner racks on September 16, 2020. Support your local comic shop: Comic Shop Locator. Learn more about Valiant Entertainment: Valiant.
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