“I went to art school for about a year. I was born and raised in the Willamette Valley in Oregon into a middle-class family who didn't have the funds to say, "Here, kid. Here's your money for school." So I worked real hard during the summer and saved money and was able to go to school for a year and borrowed a little money which I paid back after that first year.” YearsFirstsLittlesArtRealHardKidsAbleSchoolBornClassMiddleSummerPaidRaisedSavedMiddle ClassFundValleysBorrowedArt SchoolOregonBorn And RaisedLittle MoneyMiddle Class Family Author:Mike Royer
“I sometimes look at the careers of other... I guess I could call them contemporaries or maybe close artists; you know, the 4 or 5 guys who go to New York City and get a loft and work together and use each other as models and that sort of thing and wait for years and years to get married. Maybe I just wasn't that definite.” KnowsYearsLooksSometimesUseTogetherArtistGuyWaitingCitiesCareersNew YorkMarriedModelsWorking TogetherNew York CityDefinite Author:Mike Royer
“I did get a nice compliment from Ramona Fradon a few years ago.She was talking about the one and only Plastic Man comic that I inked for her for DC and she said it was the only time that she'd ever had anyone ink her. Everyone else put in their own personality and changed it. In fact, bless her heart, she said if she were still doing Brenda Starr, she'd have me ink it.” IfsMenYearsHeartSaidStillsFactsTalkingNiceChangedPersonalityYears AgoComicBlessComplimentPlasticInkOnly Time Author:Mike Royer
“It's not Comic Con any more. It's this huge marketplace for the motion picture and television industry. And the toy manufacturer's and the game people. One of the problems with International Comic Con is that tickets go on sale for the next year's event and the place is full of thousands and thousands of kids who have scraped together every dime to get admittance because they want to get all the freebies.” PeopleWantYearsProblemKidsTogetherNextGamesEventsTelevisionHugeGoes OnIndustryInternationalComicToysTicketsMarketplaceNext YearDimesMotion PicturesComic ConAdmittanceTelevision Industry Author:Mike Royer
“I've been very lucky with the people I've met over the years. Way back in the early '70s I went to [Phil] Seuling's conventions for something like three years in a row from '70 to '72 and I remember at the '72 luncheon with the Academy of Comic Book Artists and talking with John Romita about the kind of brushes he used. Pros ask pros the same questions that fans do. "What kind of pens do you use? What kind of brushes do you use?" I was so amazed that the wonderful work John Romita was doing was accomplished with a Windsor-Newton series 7 Number 4. Not a 2 or a 3, but a 4.” PeopleWayYearsKindBookUseRememberUsedArtistThreeAsksNumbersTalkingWonderfulFansMetsLuckySeriesComicAccomplishedPensThree YearsConventionsComic BookAmazedBrushesAcademyNewtonWindsorNumber 4 Author:Mike Royer
“When you're paid $29 for something and 30 or 40 years later you're seeing it on eBay with pages going for $199 or more, it's like, "Dammit!"” YearsSeeingPagesPaidEbay Author:Mike Royer
“Why are other people profiting off that? I can see that if I have the page and sold it for $50 and 20 years later somebody's got it for $200, okay. That's business. But I had no say in that art being out there. It just really burns me.” PeopleIfsYearsArtI CanPagesArt IsOkay Author:Mike Royer
“If I wanted to own some Jack Kirby original art unless it was something that Giacoia or Sinnott had inked I was too close to it. I didn't want to collect his pages inked by me. Of course 40 years later I'd LOVE to have some of that stuff.” IfsWantYearsArtWantedCoursesStuffPagesOriginalsOriginal Art Author:Mike Royer