Interview audio – Page 17 – FULL CONTACT NERD

Sci-fi and fantasy writing – Jack Campbell interview

Jack Campbell has published multiple sci-fi and fantasy book series over the years that are extremely popular. Two of his most popular series are the Lost Fleet series and the Legacy of Dragons series. In March 2018 I spoke with Jack about his writing.

1:28 – Jack Campbell talks about his latest work which is part of the Lost Fleet series.

5:01 – Jack talks about how he balances sci-fi and fantasy elements in his novels.

6:20 – He makes sure he maintains consistency in the rules of what characters can and can’t do in the world in which they live.

7:17 – Jack talks about how he meets deadlines and gets what he wants in his novels.

9:15 – His Lost Fleet series was inspired by the idea of a Long Retreat type story in Star Trek. The second inspiration was the idea of a sleeping hero returning to save the day for some society.

12:25 – Jack decided to get into writing seriously once he retired from the Navy. He felt he had stories he had to tell.

14:41 – Mixing short story and novel writing at the same time can help keep your writing progressing.

15:44 – Jack’s first success was selling a story to Analog magazine. After selling three stories he was part of the Science Fiction Writers Association.

17:31 – Attending conventions are exhausting but very energizing overall to see his fans and hear from them.

18:35 – He finds it difficult to listen to his own books as audio books. But the feedback from his audio books has made him more aware of names and language elements in his books.

21:24 – He loves Andre Norton, CJ Cherry, and Lee Brackett. He read a lot of books when he was young. But now that he writes he doesn’t have as much time to read. He does try to keep up with science discoveries though.

25:05 – He was living on Midway Island when the original Star Trek series came out. He would watch the shows on a base movie screen. He learned that it was the characters, not the special effects, that made the story. He watches a lot of anime nowadays. The mashups they create in anime can be amazing. He also loves anime soundtracks.

27:35 – The interest in time travel wanes once you have kids and you can develop a fear of doing something that could cause them to not exist.

29:58 – His website is Jack-Campbell.com.

Links of interest

Jack-Campbell.com

For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

Guests: Jack Campbell

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: science fiction, fantasy, lost fleet, legacy of dragons, writer, sci-fi

Cartoon development – Bob Camp interview

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Bob Camp is a cartoonist and cartoon developer who co-created the iconic Ren and Stimpy Show. He worked for Rankin Bass, Marvel Comics, Warner Brothers and has worked on numerous well-known animation projects. He currently teaches Visual Arts in NYC. I spoke to him about his past work, inspirations, process and future goals at the 2018 Great Philadelphia Comic Con.

1:26 – Bob Camp got into animation in the 1980s while working at Marvel Comics. He started with Thunder Cats and other Rankin Bass shows. Then he moved to LA to do animation full-time when Rankin Bass closed down.

3:29 – Bob isn’t an animator and is self-taught in everything he does. He considers himself too lazy for animation. He studied film in school and then did caricatures and portraits for rodeos and such. He met Gary Holgren who got him into comic art for Marvel Comics. He inked for John Buscema and then was doing fixes on just about every Marvel comic while he was there.

6:18 – In LA, he worked for the studio Deke who [doing] did Captain Planet and Inspector Gadget. Bob worked on an animated Alf series and then a Ghostbusters piece.

7:35 – Then he began working on Tiny Toons for Warner Brothers. He began doing other work and then worked on Your Gang and Ren and Stimpy were minor characters in that show. Then they teamed up with Nickelodeon and began doing their cartoon show. Ren and Stimpy started as a theatrical cartoon.

10:59 – Bob was inspired by the cartoons from the 1940s that were created for theatrical release. Those cartoons were for entire families.

13:44 – The reboot of Ren and Stimpy poisoned the well of the original series. Ren and Stimpy could have gone on for a longer time if it hadn’t had the troubles they had.

15:59 – Bob is an actor and did a bunch of the voices for Ren and Stimpy. He’s in the Screen Actors Guild. His favorite part of creating cartoons is the development. He likes show running too. He also likes to fix scrip ideas.

18:09 – Bob teaches at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. He teaches storyboard creation and critiques his students’ work as if he were the director. He likes taking ideas and making them better.

20:20 – Bob likes using Pinterest to inspire himself. The images there give him new ideas.

22:19 – The comic business is tough though. It’s a hard and stressful life which you need to love.

23:49 – He’s been inspired by Bob Camplett, Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, Harvey Kurzman, and a slew of others. He loves the Three Stooges.

25:19 – Comics are an incubator business for movies. The artists don’t make the money. The studios and the executives make the money.

27:43 – Bob has a sci-fi epic project he’d love to do. He has a little kid show that takes place in New York he’d like to do. He has lots of ideas and plenty of sketches.

28:59 – Bob said the way to succeed in this business is to just start making films and don’t wait for money. Get a youtube channel, teach yourself the skills you need. Do it yourself. You don’t need college.

30:17 – He’s on Bob Lab Studios on facebook and instagram. Michelle Fire is his partner and she has sites on facebook and instagram.

Links of interest

https://www.facebook.com/boblabstudios/

https://boblabshop.com/

http://boblabstudios.com/

https://twitter.com/boblabstudios?lang=en

https://twitter.com/michelefire

For more of the podcast “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

Guest: Bob Camp

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: cartoon, art, animation, rankin bass, ren, stimpy, nickelodeon, marvel comics, john buscema, ghostbusters, alf, tiny toons, crazy

Sci-fi armor and weapons – James Johnson interview

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James Johnson is a builder with ShotanKazori Studio. I spoke with him about his work at Escape Velocity 2018.

2:33 – James talks about the props Shotan Kazori creates. They build every genre, Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5, armor, guns, weapons.

4:09 – Everything they build has a visual component, an auditory component, and a kenistetic component. They’ve even added sound amplification for helmets.

6:28 – Their Mandalorioan Wraith Armor is fitted to James. They fit any armor to the person who buys it. They build light to heavy armor.

7:42 – They brought a Kyber shield to Escape Velocity.

9:17 – James collected toys until he was 18 and stopped until he was 48. He loves Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Babylon 5, LOTR and so on. They love anime and James is into Halo.

11:08 – A Grendel rifle would take a month to make. Armor could take a week to many months depending on how detailed the buyer wants their armor. They build from scratch to finish.

13:23 – They also have an Apax Mnemnon lightsaber built for Escape Velocity. It has 137 points of detail. They also consider the “era” the weapons is from.

16:27 – James wanted to be the Hulk when he was young and still does. He also loves Tony Stark and feels like him in the shop.

17:22 – He’d love to build something very challenging. He’d want to build the Mech Armor for a group of four.

18: 22 – They’re exclusively on instagram at shotan kazori. They’re just outside of Atlantic City and can be reached on instagram. They also teach how to make props on instagram.

Links

Instagram Shotan_Kazori

For more of “The Art and Design of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Mystery and Horror” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez, on twitter @crisalvarezwlc, and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

Guests: James Johnson

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: science fiction, fantasy, art, artist, props, builder, mech, grendel, lightsaber, rifle, flame thrower, armor