Mick Gray and his pretty wife Holly in a ComicsConvention

 thought I could work in the field. I started working as a  technical illustrator at 16 years old and that company (Candela Electronics)  worked me through college and when they went under I started my own  business called Draftecnix, doing any kind of drafting, tech illustration  or graphic that were needed. A friend of mine introduced me to Dan Vado  of Slave Labor Graphics located here in San Jose. He hired me to do  background inks on a few of his books, including One Fisted Tales, Hero  Sandwich, Bloodlust and The Griffin.  When The Griffin was sold to DC Comics all the art was redone and new  inker was hire the the book, Mark McKenna. He then hired me as his  assistant and that partnership lasted for about 8 years. We, as a co-inking  team, inked over about 30 different pencillers for both DC and Marvel.  Some of the titles we worked on were Nomad, Doom Patrol, Darkhold,  X-Men Unlimited, Hawkman, Wonderman, Scarlet Witch mini series,Spiderman  2099, Spiderman mini series, JLA Task Force, Spartan and LOTS of Punisher books. At the same time I was assisting Randy Emberlin on Amazing Spiderman, Ian Akin on Darkhawk, Chuck Austen on Strips, Hardball, Zot! and Trouble with Girls! Around this time I got my first full inks job on Phantom Force. Inking Michael Thibodeaux on this book also lead to me inking a few different Jack Kirby pieces just before he died... this is still one of the BIGGEST honors of my 13 year career! Working with so many great artists was just the best learning experience a rookie inker could have, and I got as much out of it as I could... it was ALOT of work but I gained a confidence level that has carried me though to this day.

-What is that attacted you to Super-Heroes comics and mainly, drawing?

I have always loved to draw since I was a little kid. I was influenced  by all the cartoons on TV... Superfriends, Mickey Mouse,etc... all  cartoons! 

- Technically speaking, what material do you use the most? What are  the steps you follow from first conceiving to the final page ?

As an inker, which is what I am, brushes and ink is what I use most. I  receive a fully penciled page of art and I look it over first to try  and see just what that penciler was trying to get acrossed. My whole job,  as I see it, is to "capture" the essence of that penciler. I am not the type of inker who likes to put "my style" over those pencils. I think he has worked so hard to do his job good, I should not cover it up with my style. I then ink the figures first and then the backgrounds. I try to keep a 3D effect to the pages by inking as if there are thre layers, Foreground, middleground and background.

-Do you use a lot of photographical references or prefer to draw by your own ( mainly figures concerning) like the departed Burne Hogarth?

I wish I had time to draw! If I ever get the inspiration and time I would probably like to do a more "cartoony" style art, which would not need me to use any reference!

-How did you first become interested in comics? What are your earliest memories as far as that goes?

I was about 10 and I remember an issue of the Avengers which I cut up  and made a collage out of all the characters! And then the issue of Batman of Detective in which they illustrated the interior of the Bat cave... THAT was the coolest!

-What was the first comic you read that had been written by Alan Moore?

Watchmen

-Did it have a special impact on you? Why?

It is still to this day my favorite comic. The story telling was so  unique and I just loved the way the "camera" pulled back from the cover close up on each issue.

- AM´s debut in mainstream literature, Voice of the Fire ( it has been just published here in Brazil, if you did not know) - do you think it accomplished it´s intention to tell the history of Magic, witchcraft, shamanism and so on, through the history of Northhampton?

I bet he does a pretty "kick-ass" job on it...can't wait to see it!

- What do you think about Magik and about Alan's lyrics, CDs, The Birth Caul and Snakes and Ladders?

I love Alan's musical endeavors...he should do more!

-Do you have any partnership with also great artist J.H. Willians III in doing Promethea?

My partnership with J.H. Williams II started about 1995 and I feel  blessed to have had the chance to work with him. He is one of the GREATEST  artist in comics and can do any style he puts his mine to. When  Promethea ends on issue #32, J.H. and I will go separate ways...J.H. doing  more painted art and inking himself and I going over to Detective Comics  at DC to ink another of my Favs... Ryan Sook.I think J.H. and I will work together again in the future ...and I look forward to it! 

-By the way:I´ve read in an interview with JH for Ninth Art , that you,too, have suffered some kind of ilness when working on Promethea # 20 (see excerpt below). Is it correct? What kind of "problem"?  What are your "explanations" - if there is any - about this "phenomenon"? I´m very curious...

Hey- I was just "goofing" around when I said I had "a bad case of hemorroids" while I worked on it! I have never even heard about the stuff!
Sorry!

- In my own art studing I have concluded that that ilusion of  tridimensionality in your art -as well as that by Frazetta, Serpieri,etc - is  obtained mostly through a very precise light-and-shade. The figures - the main, under focal point ones, at least - are always iluminated by two source lights at minimum. One stronger from one side and a slender one from another side. Or, at least the unique light source is so strong that causes reflected light to fill in the dark sides of the figures. Am I 
right? Would you like to better elucidate us about this hard to get technique? It would be great.

J.H. is a master of lighting and ,yes, this is a VERY important aspect of his art.

-What do you think is your best comics work to date, and why? Have you been publishing more over there or internationally?

J.H. and I have done ALOT of books together but for me NOTHING comes close to the magical inspiration Alan sends down the pike on Promethea... this is the GREATEST thing we have done.

-What about 3D CGI Art? Have you tried it? I do not know for you but at my very subjective view it is almost "plastical", or "too much clean", lacking the liveness,the fiery that conventional painting with all that brush-strokes encompass.

There is a place for all styles of art... I have not tried working on art with a computer but I have seen some great stuff done with it... and some REALLY bad too!

-Do you have a homepage or site in the web? What is it's URL in order our readers to see more of your amazing art?

http://members.aol.com/JHnMick/comics.html...this will be changing soon!

- Do you know the comic art of the now famous Brazilian Mike Deodato? What are your impressions about it?

FANTASTIC!

-Finishing, my friend, what guidances would you give to aspiring  artists like myself concerning realistically figure drawing and painting? Any  book reccomendation? Live models?

Draw all the time, copy the masters to gain technique, do life drawing...
draw...draw and draw some more!

Many Thanks, Mick! It was rewardfull "to talk" - and learn - from you.

Excerpt from JH Willians III ´ interview from "The Nith Art"

"The weirdest thing that's happened was with issue 20, the abyss issue. The characters go to a sphere in the Kabbalah that's sometimes referred to as the Invisible Sephiroth, or the Dead Sphere. It's supposed to be kind of a scary place. When Alan was working on it, he got really ill. When I started on the pages, he called me up and said, 'Listen, I just wanted to let you know, if 
something bad happens, feel free to call me. It could be anything. It could be nightmares.'
"Well, as I was working on the book I started developing these really bad chest pains. At the centre of the book is a black hole that leads to the anti-Tree of Life, to the Klippoth, and that's where all the nasty stuff in reality supposedly comes from. So, as I started getting closer and closer to that spread, the chest pains got more and more severe, and when I finally got past that hump, it started to dissipate. ... The pain was enough that I went to the doctor and got an EKG test. "They couldn't find anything. There was no reason for it. After I got past the black hole page, and the issue started to wrap up, it completely subsided. And then when Mick started working on it, his whole family got sick! They all got colds that lasted about two weeks.