Milton Willer

Penciller

Where were you born? Where did you grow up?
Recife, Pernambuco.

Schooling? Art training?

Yes, when I was 13 years old I studied art for 2 years in Recife.

How long have you been working professionally in comics?

I’ve been working with comics since 2001 for American erotic websites and independent authors in Brazil.

What things — both in art and otherwise — have you worked on besides comics? Are comics a full-time gig for you or part-time?

I’ve also worked as a freelancer at a publicity agency. I’ve done posters for plays and t-shirt paintings at a comic shop I used to own. Drawing for comic books was like a part time job for me back then, perhaps even less. But now I dedicate all my working hours to comics.

Talk about how you broke into the business –was it easy? Hard? Ups? Downs? Any interesting anecdotes? When you held your first published work in your hands, how did you feel?

Actually, it all began as a hobby. We started working in comics because we had fun doing it. My first comic book published was sponsored by Pernambuco government and it was released during the Garanhuns Winter Festival, in 1998 I guess. I felt like a celebrity, giving interviews for all kinds of media… television, radio and newspaper.

Something funny happened when I was being interviewed by a television network. We were shooting the interview at an open space, full of trees, I was so nervous, and when they started asking me questions, there were a few and quite annoying mosquitoes flying around me, specially on my face, and I kept trying to scare them away shaking my hands from one side to another, and when they showed that on television, my friends laughed at me.

Throughout this time I had to stop working with comics for several times so I could focus on other things, like a regular job, my family, etc. But when I realized that many artists in Brazil were achieving their dream of working for big publishers, my desire of drawing comic books for living became stronger.

Did you work as an assistant to any other artists? If so, please talk a bit about those experiences.

No, I never had that privilege. But if that had happened, I think the technical aspect would’ve been a lot easier for me to learn.

How did your parents take to the idea of working in comics?
My mother still does not approve it, she thinks drawing super heroes for living is something that only crazy people would do, and she definitely would rather see me working in a more conventional job, as a store manager for example, like I used to be before working in comics…

How would you describe your workspace? Is it part of your home,
or do you go “to the studio”?
When I was working at the comic shop, I used to rent a room to use as a studio, but since I decided to work full-time as a penciller, I work at home. It’s less stressful and a lot cheaper, I don’t need to spend money with rent, expenses, power, etc.

What are you currently drawing? Comments on that project?
My only project right now is my portfolio, which enables me to sign a contract with a publisher from the American comic book market…

Talk about your family: Parents, siblings, home situation. Are you married? Have kids? Names? Anecdotes about married life, how does it relate to your busy schedule, etc. If you have kids, do they understand your job? What do they say about it? Do they read comics?
I’m an only child. My parents got divorced when I was a baby. My closest relative is my mother, she lives next to my house (I live on the top of a duplex, my mother lives in the house below). I have a foster family, which, in fact, I consider as my real family because when my mother had to work, she used to leave me with them, until I was old enough to take care of myself.

I have six year old son, his name is Thiago. He lives with his mother and comes to visit me on the weekends. He’s very interested in everything related to comics, such as movies and toys, and also hates having to go to his mother’s and said he wants to work with me as a penciller (my mother almost had a heart attack).

What projects do you hope to work on in the future?
I hope that someday I’ll sign a contract with a big publisher.

Where do you see yourself in five years? Ten years?
I see myself as being nationally and internationally recognized for my work, like many other Brazilian artists, such as Deodato, Ivan Reis and Ed Benes; having financial conditions to provide my family a more dignified and comfortable life, and also being able to publish my own comic books and characters so that maybe I can create a comic book market in Brazil.

What is the interest in comics where you live? Do friends and neighbors know you draw comics for a living? How do they react?
There are a lot of people around here who read comic books, some of them even dreamed about working with me as artists, but most of them decided to continue as readers…

Most people know what I do for living, like the comic books for adults over 18 years old, and it’s not like I used to show it around, but when people saw my drawings of superheroes they were usually impressed and continually asking me why wasn’t I working professionally for American comics.

What’s 1 thing you’ll always find in your refrigerator?
Cheese.

What’s your favorite food?
Lasagna or macaroni with mince meat.

What are your favorite interests –Movies? Music? TV? Any hobbies? Sports?
Soccer, I’m a fan of SANTA CRUZ.

Have you ever thought of writing your own stories?
I’ve written several stories during the time of fanzines, but one day I plan to write stories about one of my characters, who is a vampire by the way…

Have you ever been in a gang?
No.

What’s an average day in your life like? Walk us through a typical day.
Currently I’m not under so much stress as before because now I work at home. I get up around 7:30 a.m., take a shower, brush my teeth, have breakfast, turn on my computer, check my e-mails and other stuff, then I start drawing. At 3:00 p.m. I have lunch, and then start drawing again until 6:30 p.m., have dinner, and then I continue to work until around midnight, when it’s time for me to sleep.

Do you know any funny or interesting anecdotes to tell about the comics market?

A funny thing that unfortunately happens all the time is the bias Brazilian readers have regarding national artists and material. There was this one time when I was in my comic shop and we had released a comic book for an artists cooperative called Brado Retumbante, and one of our clients asked us a few questions about it and then another client intervened and said that it was not worth reading it because national artists are only capable of imitating the American style, that the book had a low quality, the script was cliché, etc… after the first client had gone away, I asked the second client if he had already read it, of course he said “no”. It wasn’t a surprise for me he had spoken those words out of prejudice.

Do you have any great, unsold projects in your files that nobody’s got to see published?
As I mentioned before, publishing my characters and help creating a comic market in Brazil.

What’s your complete list of published credits?
– agakê 2
– prismarte horror
– brado retumbante 1,2 ,3 and 4
– comic books on the websites – spacebabe central, horror babe central, drawn sex , lustomic, and etc

If you weren’t a comic-book artist today, what would you be?
A store owner or manager.

Have you ever taught comic-book art or had any assistants? If so, talk about that.
I’ve held comic book classes for the basic level at my comic shop for 2 years, I’ve had 2 inking assistants, Cicero Teodósio and Daniel Steel.

The single thing you’d most like to be remembered for in your life is…?
As the legendary penciller of Batman and Conan.

Any closing words to your fans?

I’ll always try to do my best in order to tell the adventures and misadventures of your beloved characters in the best possible way and I’ll also always find a way to transport you into the marvelous world of comics.

agakê 2
prismarte horror
brado retumbante 1,2 ,3 and 4
comic books on the websites – spacebabe central, horror babe central, drawn sex , lustomic, and etc

Gallery

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