Interview with Menton3 (Hell Descent)

Date published: 2010.12.01
Source: Hell Descent

Menton3 is a fantastic artist, composer, and now a new face in the Silent Hill series. His first foray into the series is with what’s arguably the best Silent Hill comic adaptation to date, Silent Hill: Past life. We talk to the man behind the imagery and what we find is quite interesting! Hit the jump for our full interview with Menton3.

HD: In an earlier interview, you mentioned that you did not attend an art school at all, and had no professional training. How did you manage to get into such a field without the backup support of college and money under your name?

M3: This is a very difficult question to answer, as I am not really sure how I have been so lucky to be able to work with such an amazing company like IDW and get to work on such great books. I had considered going to art school , but after talking with a few friends who had spent a great deal of time in school and talking with a few professors I decided it was not right for me. Not to say that it does not help others, it was not right for me.

So, I guess the story starts in mid 2007. To make a long story short, I had been reminded that making comics was a childhood dream. I did not just want to jump into it so I spent about a year deciding if this was something I really wanted to do. I went to comic book conventions, read a lot of comics, and tried to teach myself to paint. Eventually getting on forums, reading about how the various companies allow you to submit art and basically how the companies accept new artists, etc. The brief education I got about the industry coalesced into the apprehension and understanding I did not want to be one of those artists walking around conventions with a portfolio under their arm more or less begging. If I was going to make comics, then I was going to make comics. If you want to be a runner in the olympics, you don’t run a little bit and then try to find an athletic coach to put you in the olympics. You have to run and be the best possible runner in your own mind that you can be. So the obvious decision was made to self publish my own book whether it be a failure or success. At least at that point, I had made a book. To be honest, it was one of the hardest things I have ever done on so many levels. Not only did I pick an extremely personal and difficult book to write, I had no idea what I was doing. During the process of making the book, I even set myself a deadline. I had overheard various publishers and editors discussing great artists that could not meet deadlines. Deadlines are fifty percent of the job. I was trying to make the most professional book I could. The biggest mistake I made was in the middle of making the book, submitting the book to various unnamed publishers. This was a disaster. I never heard back from any of them. Which made it extraordinarily difficult to finish the book. Somehow, I was able to pull up from my bruised ego and finish what I had started. When I was nearly done with the book, I began sending emails out to people I actually liked and respected in the industry. Not looking for a handout, I was looking for a professionals opinion of the book. Some I never heard from but a few got back to me. Of those few, one in particular has been most influential on me and helpful. Without them, we would not be doing this interview.

So I’m not sure if this has answered your question or not. As I said, it is a fairly difficult question to answer. In the end, I don’t think getting into this industry is rocket surgery. Do work that you really love and someone out there is going to love it too.

HD: Looking at your bio on your sites, you say you are heavily influenced by consciousness, the psyche and other psychological aspects of the mind. Looking at Past Life, there are these occasional circles with text that highlight key points. In our review we stated that they remind us of something a early psychologist would do. Are we close at all?

M3: One of the main reasons producing artwork appeals to me is the relevant use of images to the psych. I have spent a great deal of time researching iconography and symbolica with heavy interests to the early alchemical symbol sets. This is all a type of language , when I use what I refer to as “Diagrams” I am trying to say something that applies to the images taking place within that language. Whether or not someone can ‘read’ it is irrelevant, but that does not in turn mean that the diagram is not ‘saying’ something. So I would say your extremely close.

HD: How did you get involved with the Silent Hill comic series? Were you previously a fan of the games or movies?

M3: I am and was a fan of Silent Hill yes, but as to how I got involved with doing the artwork for this series is a bit of a long story. I can say that it is more or less Chris Ryall , Tom Waltz and IDW’s doing. They are truly an amazing company to work for. I truly could not ask for a better set of people to work with.

HD: Were you drawn to Silent Hill after discovering it? Did you feel a connection between your art style and the game’s focus on psychological aspects and horror?

M3: This is a bit of a hard question to answer, I think IDW saw a connection between my art style and the property , but it is difficult for me to draw lines like that with my artwork. Fundamentally I do not think I am very ‘good’ yet. At lest I am not producing what I truly ‘see’ yet. So coming from that stand point it is hard to say that my artwork connects with anything yet. But I truly hope I will get to the point someday that I can draw those kind of connections. In many ways I still feel like I am new to this and practicing but with working with IDW I am getting an amazing education.

HD: The previous Silent Hill comics never entirely grasped the look and feel of Silent Hill. Did you do some research? Did you look into the work of Silent Hill artist Masahiro Ito?

M3: I did a great deal of research, I went back and played all the games, ( hard to find some of them, thank you ebay ) but as far as other art work, I try to stay away from being influenced by other artists. I went into this wanting to try and bring something fresh to the property , so to be honest I did everything I could not to look at previous artwork for it of any kind.

HD: You art is very dark and has a really nice disturbing quality. Where does this kind of style manisfest from? Life experience? General fasicnation with macabre imagery? Have you killed people? (Jk!)

M3: HA ! No I have never killed anyone, nor would I ever want to. One way of saying it , is ‘ If I paint it, I do not have to live it’. The other aspect of why I paint is the need to manifest the internality of my own psyche. To place in the external world my own personal internal architecture, iconography, tropes and loci, connecting them together and seeing them in ways that my psyche does not naturally do outside of dreams, to the point that resolution was a forgone conclusion.

So I would say I am drawn more toward ” phantasy ” rather then ” Fantasy “, in psychoanalytic terms when spelled with the “ph” it refers more to the unconscious content of the psyche. I see painting it as a way of communicating to the part of me I have no seeming connection with i.e. the unconscious self, the various archetypes and of course the ” shadow aspect “.

HD: Ars Memoria: The Art of Memory is your own graphic novel correct? As Silent Hill fans, it looks pretty interesting. Do you feel like Silent Hill fans would especially be interested in it?

M3: Yes, that is the book I self published , the first book I worked on, so thank you for the kind words. But to answer who might be interested in it would be hard. Ars Memoria is in many ways autobiographical as far as what is going on in my psyche. I tired to be extremely honest with that book, so if you know anything about iconography and some symbol set I am pretty naked in that book. I will say writing and doing the artwork for that book was one of the hardest things I have ever done. The book your talking about is book one, there are sixteen in all, and I plan to be doing then when I am eighty , I have to live it before I can write it , you see ?

HD: You also have your own music career under the name Saltillo. After some listenings we could only think of one thing: Why is this Past Life your first work with the Silent Hill series?! Your music and art works very well within the Silent Hill series. This is less a question, and more of a compliment, but wow!

M3: Thank you very much. I try not to cross promote between my artwork and music, over all I think that is cheap. But you are one of the first to make the connection.

We would like to extend our thanks to Menton3 for giving us his time. We are glad that Silent Hill: Past Life has an amazing artist, and from now on we are some new fans of his work. We hope to see Menton3 attached to future Silent Hill projects, and we can’t wait to read the rest of Silent Hill: Past Life.