Eduardo Risso on Painting the Intoxicating and Alarming in The Blood Brothers Mother
Eduardo Risso is an artist with the capacity to pacify and horrify simultaneously. In The Blood Brothers Mother—his western venture with longtime collaborator Brian Azzarello—that skillset comes into frequent use in the story of three juvenile siblings who embark on a frontier trek to recover their abducted mother.
The exceptional artist of 100 Bullets, Moonshine, and Batman delivers a hard-hitting, saloon-spitting, blood-spilling tale of revenge. Gone are the pages of black ink and noir silhouettes. Risso is ambitiously watercoloring the entire series and it's delivered one of the most visually stunning Westerns ever put in print.
With The Blood Brothers Mother's sophomore chapter hitting stands today, the legendary artist answered questions courtesy Ernie Estrella about his process and approach.
The Blood Brothers Mother #2 Digital Exclusive Cover Z by Eduardo Risso, Out Now
Eduardo, it is such a thrill to see your work in Blood Brothers Mother. It's been a real evolution to see your work evolve from Vampire Boy and 100 Bullets to Batman to Moonshine and now The Blood Brothers Mother. Did the idea to fully paint the interiors come from coloring your own work in Moonshine?
Eduardo Risso: The idea basically came from a certain weariness I was feeling from doing the same kind of work over and over. Moonshine might have provided some courage to go ahead with it, but the prime motive was my own need to try something different.
The Blood Brothers Mother #2 Interior Art by Eduardo Risso
The Blood Brothers Mother is perhaps the brightest we've seen your art because there's less black. Again, it's such a beautiful departure from your noir work, the color palette is full of surprises with the use of purple and gold in issue one and your use of green issue two. What were your first impressions of your art without the ink and will you continue using this style?
Risso: I'm quite happy with how it's turning out, but the main treat for me is enjoying the process. I'm using a rare liquid watercolor that I bought on a trip to Spain a long time ago and was very eager to try. Of course I'll continue with this style for the remaining issues of BBM but as you can imagine it is very time consuming, so I don't know if I'll be able to keep doing this kind of work. Enjoy it while it lasts, folks!
It seems like a lot of artists are trying things differently for their DSTLRY books. Joëlle Jones is trying a new style for Through Red Windows, many artists are learning how to draw with the bigger page to design and fill. What are your impressions of the bigger real estate of the DSTLRY format, especially since you're drawing AND painting it?
Risso: The bigger page actually came in quite handy, because it allowed me to work on a 1:1 scale, something that would have been a lot harder if I'd had to do it on the traditional American size. When you work for the usual publishers you do it on an 11x17 paper, that later gets printed on a 6x10 (give or take), with this work on DSTLRY what the reader is seeing is essentially the same thing I drew and painted.
The Blood Brothers Mother #2 Interior Art by Eduardo Risso
What was it that you liked about the look of the fully painted style that made you want to do that for all of The Blood Brothers Mother?
Risso: I was looking forward to doing something different. Something that'd make me challenge myself and in the process give the audience a real bang for their buck.
This is a bloody, violent tale but you and Brian put three young siblings at the center of it. Can you talk about what's like filtering the lens of this violent story through the experience of these children?
Risso: I don't think I've done much filtering, haha. As any tale set in the wild west, even more so a Coming of age story, there'll always be innocent bystanders subjected to unfathomable violence, perhaps that's what made it such an imperishable genre.
What's been the biggest draw or most enjoyable part of these scripts to visualize and why?
The Blood Brothers Mother #2 Interior Art by Eduardo Risso
Risso: Most of it really, horses, landscapes, characters.
You've always been able to draw kids being mischievous. In many ways, this reminds me of the stories behind the stories in 100 Bullets when you would do a one or two page story with no dialogue, like street kids playing with a cat. What's it like drawing kids doing things they shouldn't be doing?
Risso: I'm a father of three so I can tell you right now that a kid doing a thing they shouldn't be doing is kind of a redundancy, haha. But anyway, most good stories are about characters doing things they 'shouldn't be doing' so if it's children, teenagers or senior citizens, it doesn't really make a difference to me as an artist.
I believe this is the eighth serialized story you've worked with Brian on: Jonny Double, 100 Bullets, Batman: Broken City, Wednesday Comics, Flashpoint: Batman Knight of Vengeance, Spaceman, Moonshine and now The Blood Brothers Mother. What is it about the team of you, Brian and editor Will (Dennis) that has just been one of the best creative teams in the last 30 years?
Risso: Well I don't think I can really give a precise answer to that question, but, any successful venture is about bringing the right people together. For my part, I've always felt very comfortable with the way they handle themselves and any project we are involved in. They're just good friends I like collaborating with, you can't really top that.
