STEVE CROMPTON:
ARTIST WRITER GAME MAKER
I met Steve Crompton online, as a result of being impressed with his
works with my friend Ken St Andre. As it happens, sometimes a genius
needs another genius to interpret or enable the work of the other. I
've found I like Steve, very much, and as I've mentioned before, I love Ken, and in an entirely brotherly or uncle/
fatherly fashion. So with Steve I thought, I really want or need to know more.
Where are you from originally, do you think that region plays a role in how your talent is displayed to others? For instance, many writing prose were able to use local color to make their words more authentic sounding, whatever the quality of story. Does region, whatever region considered, affect your work? If so, how so?
I was born in Canada, though I have little memory of living there. My Parents moved to Canada from Brighton, England and so I have a lot of connections to English culture and entertainment. The Goon Show, the Beatles, Monty Python, Benny Hill, Doctor Who are things I experienced partly (or mostly) due to my parents English backgrounds. So certainly that affected me. I also grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona and I’m sure growing up there had a large effect on my views, and my interests including the old west. Certainly meeting Rick Loomis and being involved in Flying Buffalo is directly because I happened to live in Scottsdale AZ. So its a mix of those two locations…
As I often do, I wonder how you began your journey into the creative world. Did you find yourself at a young age drawing all the time, did you write stories, when did you realize you had to create for your future being? Were there any events or people who changed your path, or made it especially known?
I discovered comics when I was about 7 years old and fell in love with them. From that point on I spent my time trying to draw the characters I found so fascinating; The Spectre, The Metal Men, Dr Strange, Supergirl, The Inferior Five and many others. I was just a burning desire in me to emulate them. Even then I was also attracted to the logos and typography of everything around me growing up. It was something that no one else I knew back then seemed to even pay any attention to and I would even try to redraw logos as a child.
Do you believe that being creative has to start with DNA in you or any creative, before it become honed and sharpened? Do you think talent necessarily means ability to do works others will enjoy?
I think you have to at least have the DESIRE to be creative. I think it’s largely a set of skills that are honed over a long period of time. Are their prodigies that have amazing talents almost from the beginning? I suppose so, but for the rest of us I think it’s the 10,000 hours of practice. (Assuming you learn from that practice.) The skill levels of artist varies widely. Some people do things that are truly amazing while others I’m surprised they get any work. I think I am an adequate artist and I try to do the best that I can with the time I can. In my experience, the amount of time you put into a piece is directly equal to the quality, skill and beauty of the piece you are doing. (So generally a lot of modern art hold no interest to me as I know I many cases they just threw a bucket of paint on a canvas – which takes about 10 minutes.)
What works by other authors and artists especially led to being influences upon your work, or if they didn't directly do so, at least lit a fire beneath your feet to do work as exciting as they were?
As I got into my teens I discovered Walt Kelly’s POGO and really studied the way he inked characters and backgrounds. I really loved how Mobius drew the Airtight Garage series in Heavy Metal Magazine. Frank Brunner’s work on Dr. Strange and Howard the Duck were also major influences. You can see their influences in a lot of my earlier published work. Even now my inking and coloring approaches are very influenced by the contrasting colors of comics and the tight inking styles of artists like Murphy Anderson, Joe Sinnott, Brian Boland, and EC artists like Will Elder. I am also heavily influenced by 19th century black & white engravers like Gustave Dore.
Did you have a plan that you followed that took you into the arts, if so, was it education, apprenticeships, or did you dive right in? What do you see for others as the most likely to succeed? Why so?
In high school I was lucky enough to be able to take a vocational 2 year course in commercial art and that taught me the skills to be a commercial artist, which involved creating logos, laying out pages and specking typography. (This was all before personal computers existed.) Then my last year in high school I was hired to work at Flying Buffalo the game publishing company and that gave me my entry into the role-playing industry – which I am still involved with over 40 years later. I also went to ASU for several semesters and took classes in life drawing, art history, graphics design etc. After working at Flying Buffalo for a couple of years I also had numerous jobs and freelance work doing graphic design work for mainstream companies that had nothing to do with games or fantasy. One day around 1984 while desperately in debt, I was sitting on a bus trying to figure out how I was going to pay the bills and I came to a realization that the only way I could make more money was I had to committed myself fully and put in as many hours as humanly possible and take on any work I could get. I started putting in 12 to 16 hours days just doing art paying art of anything I could get – game books, advertising, menus, maps, logos and that is a habit I maintain to this very day. I became the person people came to when they wanted something done, often when other artists were unable to do or complete the work. That reputation served my well over the years.
At this point I am more lucky in that I can be more choosey about what art I do in my 14 hour day and a lot of it is devoted to working on Monsters! Monsters! RPG games and the Kickstarters I do with Ken St Andre. I do far more than art at this point and my skills also include writing, editing, marketing, running kickstarters, being a publisher, supervising other artists, and pre-press/project management. My wife tells me I’m a workaholic – and I probably am. If I’m away too long from my art table or computer, I do start to feel guilty!
Flying Buffalo Games offered you an entrance to the game industry. How did that change your story telling voice. As an artist does it lead you to create more didactically, or was it using art to illustrate a scene over telling a story? Did RPGs change your writer voice? Is it easier to create via RPGs than straight forward stories? (I know this is your interview, but I found when I began writing for others (after 34 years of doing so for my own self) it changed my ability to GM adventures and had no interest any longer to be a player.)
When I was first hired to work at Flying Buffalo, I was just an artist. Writing was not something I considered as an option. I had lots of ideas for characters and creatures, but like many artists, I only saw my creative option to express those ideas was in art. In working on the first Traps book, I was invited to create a few traps which I drew up and then illustrated, so that was probably my first published writing. I had 10 traps in the first Traps book. After that, I was given the chance to write a couple of locations for the first Citybook. I was very lucky, as at that time Larry DiTillio (one of the writers/creators for the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon was an editor at Flying Buffalo and he mentored and taught me some of the fundamentals of creative writing. When the Citybook came out and we won an Origins award for best RPG supplement, I truly felt that I could be a writer! I had come of age. Michael Stackpole was also an editor/writer at Flying Buffalo back then and he gave me advice and tips as well!
Your comics character Demi the Demoness is a different kind of character, than those you've illustrated or created for Flying Buffalo, Ken St Andre, and Rick Loomis and in kickstarters. Or is the Tunnels & Trolls focus on being able to play as a Troll as a character, and all the humans, elves and dwarves aren't necessarily good guys fit the same outlook? Do you look at Demi as an expression of art, or is she a character you like portraying and have a proprietary interest in her? She reminds me of Japanese Manga characters more than any Judeo Christian Western values comic characters.
Demi is totally my attempt at doing a manga character before manga became popular. I created her in 1991, and at that time manga was just a niche thing that a small group of fans liked. I was attracted by the art and cuteness of it all. At the time in comics everything was “dark” and “grim.” Razor, Faust, Cry For Dawn etc… So I had my main character Demi be the exact opposite; carefree, goofy, cute. Demi was also inspired by Wendy the good Witch and Casper the Friendly Ghost – both typically scary evil characters done as “nice” characters. For me Demi has a life of her own and I just chronicle it. If you look at the all the Demi comics and stories, they all fit and are part of a consistent continuity. It’s one giant storyline. She finds Kit-Ra, has many adventures, learns to fly, helps get Kit-Ra a Pardon, goes to the city of the gods and eventually ends up on the wild planet of Zimrala as the Cat Goddesses aid-de-camp and closest confidante.
As a writer which is more difficult, creating your own works, or creating stories for a corporate group, for the enjoyment of others?
I’ve always found far more happiness working on my own ideas or on joint projects with other independent creators. I’ve never wanted to be just be a cogwheel in a “machine.” I’ve done some of that of course, but I’m always happiest creating my own worlds and characters. I’ve truly enjoyed working with Ken St Andre and developing the new world of Zimrala for the Monsters! Monsters! rpg. How often does one have the chance to work with an rpg legend to create a whole new world for an established RPG and be able to take that rpg in a whole new exciting direction? My goal is ALWAYS to try to create things that others will enjoy, that are unique and compelling. I’m not trying to send a message or preach to the reader – I want them to just enjoy an exciting story or experience a wondrous place. Hopefully I achieve that from time to time!
People are welcome to find me on Facebook or visit my websites at:
https://www.facebook.com/steve.crompton1/
https://stevenscrompton.wordpress.com/about/
https://cityofthegods.com/
https://monstersmonsters.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Crompton
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