Im going way back to senior year of high school now. Adam, my best friend, introduced me to a comic book that would forever change me - Scud the disposeable assassin. A very funny, violent, bizarre comic, with a lot of heart in it. It was written and illustrated by a man named Rob Schrab. The book was a journal of his emotional battles, taking form in a comic. It remains my favorite series, and a large inspiration for doing what I do - drawing and writing, and now in college, animating. He did some animation for a movie called Zoolander, which I found to be entertaining, and a little movie that kicked some ass called Robot Bastard!, which has a website with art and movies at [link]. It was at that site that I got to catch up with the man who I now idolize and get an interview for my senior research paper. We had to interview someone about our career, who better than the guy who fuels your very being to do what you do? Well anyway, I thought some of us might like to read what he had to say, so here's my interview with Rob Schrab from 2003:


Q: When did you decide you wanted to go into comics, and at what age did you know/realize this is the job you wanted?

A:I always wanted to have a little book of my own. A place to tell the stories that were filling up my head. I think around the age of eight I said "I'll go to art School, make my own comic, get into animation, do stand-up, and then be a director." I've pretty much followed that path more or less. Making a comic book was just only one of the jobs I wanted.

Q: What college did you go to, and did it lead to your publishing Scud right out of college, or did you have to go through a few years of finding a publisher?

A:I went to the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design for four years and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Design. I fiddled with being a freelance Illustrator for about a year and got sick of it. I published Scud off my kitchen table to impress a girl.

Q: How much would say college helped you in developing skills and style?

A: College helps with discipline. It takes me a day to sketch, pencil and ink a page by myself. Sitting in a room by yourself with nothing but self criticism and pencils to keep you company needs to be taught. College also made me realise how important craftsmanship and pride is.

Q: As far character development goes, I think you have the most unique style out there. Is there any specific things you think the inspiration for certain characters come from? I know you said in an interview before that you sort of compared yourself to the bald guy putting the coins in the Scud machine in Scud #1, and then the man you wanted to be was who stepped out of the machine. Does most of the characters have that personal of a meaning to you, or only a handful?

A: Like I said, "nothing but self-critism and pencils to keep you company." every frame, every line has a story behind it. I always said Scud was my way of becoming a man. The bald guy putting coins in the machine was me when I started issue 1. Scud is who I became. That one of the many reasons I had to stop the book. It achieved it's goal and I was no longer a boy, I was all grown up. Sussido was my girlfriend, Jeff was my mother's opinion of me, Drywall was me as an eight year old, it goes on and on. I rarely held back on my self-obession.
Q: Im determined to get my ideas out there, get a small following, and hopefully make movies or animation someday from my own ideas. You seem like you mightve had that same idea, and have been quite successful. What do you think it would take for someone else, with as bizarre ideas and stories as some of the ones published through fireman press, to reach the same goals? (is it just drawing skills, story skills, people you know, etc.)

Aon't listen to anyone who says: "That's not going to work." Even me. That's been said before everything I've ever done that has been successful. Scud, Heat Vision and Jack, Robot Bastard. People say that's not going to work or don't do that because they can't picture how they would do you're idea. But nobody can do what you do. If those nay-sayers were to do your idea, of course it would fail. Only Ken Adams can make a Ken Adams book or movie. Robert Evans once said "luck is opportunity mixed with preperation." If you don't have a publisher or a budget, practice you skills because one day somebody's going to say "Can you draw a comic book?" and you want you hand him 20 issues of your work. Do it to entertain yourself for now and be patient, it will happen.

Q: Do you feel like the projects you've done are a progressive latter, like you havn't done your dream project yet? Is there even a dream project possible in the feild of animation and comics, one ultimate project for an artist/writer to be able to say "This is my best work!"?
A: My best work will be in feature films. I'm going to be one of those guys that shoots an independant film that becomes a cult classic.

Q: Do you have any words of advice for aspiring artists and writers of the independant comic industry and/or animation that you would like to share? Perhaps any mistakes you made, something to do differently?

A: wish I would have finished Scud. To do it now would be so difficult. Business wise, emoitonally too. Scud was my blood and I was a different person back then. It wouldn't be the same. People would be dissappointed. I had a window and it feels closed now. I know it sucks for you guys but you have to understand, I had to get out of it then or I never would have.
My advice to you is to draw from your heart every day and never do anything because you want to be a comic book artist or director. Do it because you just want to read a book or watch a movie that only you could make. Create for yourself. You have the best taste out of everybody you know, right?