Artist/Writer Profile
Barry Blair
by Ariel Wulff

Barry Blair was born sometime after 1960 in Ottawa, Ontario Canada and spent a good part of his childhood in China. He's evasive about his age, but willing to talk about just about anything else. He sites his creative influences to be Wally Wood, Maxfield Parrish, Wendy Pini, Trina Shart-Hyman, and Scott Gustafson. His artistic style is greatly influenced by the Eastern manga art form. Barry reflects that "To understand the Japanese manga, you need to understand the pacing the Japanese use in their drawing. The Japanese artists really appreciate the art form as an expression."

Presently, Barry is the artist for the Elfquest: Fire Eye series. Writing with Richard Pini, and working with Colin Chan on the pencils, inks and colors, Barry likes to experiment with different techniques, and lends his multiple talents to the established Elfquest universe. I recently had the good fortune of speaking with Barry and pounced on the chance to ask him about his experiences.

Did you receive much encouragement to pursue art? If so, from whom?
I was encouraged by everyone. I drew all over Asia and Canada!

How much of your childhood did you spend in Asia?
I went to China first when I was about 9 years old. We lived in Taipei, in Taiwan - at least that's where the house is but at the time I was staying in Hong Kong so as to get acclimated. There was a British school in Kowloon that I went to with a bunch of Tiapans who were really rotten. When I started Chinese school in Taipei it was much better. I returned to Canada at about age 12 and lived in Ottawa. That's when I started drawing professionally. I visited the Ring of Fire for a summer when I was 13 and traveled by boat all over the South China sea. Back to Taiwan at age 15 to stay for a few years then home to Ottawa. To China, Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Viet Nam, etc., at age 18 to 20 than back to Canada. I think that's it, there may be more.

What was your school experience like? Did you like school? What was your favorite subject?
I liked school a lot because it was all over and I got to see what the world was like. In the USA it's extremely closed in and no one knows what's going on anywhere else but America. We miss a whole lot here and the rest of the world thinks its funny! I of course loved art - my teachers pretty much let me do whatever I wanted. There is probably the best art community
in the world in Bali - everyone in encouraged to do what they like! I love history next to art because it's so interesting. If you study other countries' history it's not only fascinating but you learn why things are as they are and how to change them. It's difficult here in the US because
of so many factors. For instance, last year I was in Hong Kong and Taiwan and the People's Republic of China was launching missiles across the sea near Taiwan to intimidate them. British CNN was all over it. It was the big story of the month and could have escalated because the US fleet was there to help Taiwan. When I got back to America I asked everyone what they thought and they didn't know what I was talking about - all CNN carried was the OJ Simpson trial!

Did you go to college?
I went to Carleton University In Ottawa but got kicked out when I rode my motorcycle in the connecting tunnels!

When did somebody notice that you had artistic talent?
I was 13 when I did all the animation for the show "You Can't Do That On TV." and a show called "Let Me Prove It," a science show. I got to do all the drawing and camera work. I used the camera at Crawley Atkinson Film - they won an Oscar for the film about the man who skied down Mt. Everest. If you saw it you'd think he fell down Everest.

How did you get involved with You Can't Do That On Television?
I sent a picture to the producer, Roger Price, when I found out he did "The Tomorrow People" on Thames TV. I flipped - that show is so cool, I wish I had copies of the whole run!! Roger asked me to draw stuff for new shows as promos and stuff. Roger was one of those people that realized talent can be anywhere, so he let me do all the animation as well.

Have you ever won any art awards...either in school or out of school?
I won a lot of awards but doing the work is the best reward. That's why I never sign my work - once it's done, it's over. I am only as good as the next thing I do. I don't have the awards anymore. I'm not sure where they are - one is on the wall at Warp, from the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

How and when did you get started with Warp?
I'm not sure of the date but Richard has notches carved in his chair. We can count them - I guess about 3 years ago or so. But we'd been aware of each others work for long before that.

What was your first "art' job?
I think it was "Women of the Elf Mounds", from Tryskel Press, Charles de Lint's company - he is a good friend of mine.

What other comics have you been involved with besides Elfquest?
Let's see, - Elflord, Samurai, Dragonring, Warlock 5, Warlocks, Gun Fury, Team Nippon, Leather and Lace, Sapphire, Vampyr's Kiss, Demon Hunter, Walking Dead, China Sea, Dragonforce, Climaxxx, Demongate, Elfheim, Elflore, Greenhaven, Stargate, and a bunch of others I forgot.

I've read that you published ElfLord yourself. What year was that?
Elflord came out in a small self-published series in the 70s before I started Aircel in 1986 to publish everything else! I was working for a company called Aircel Insulation and when their government grants died, instead of killing the company, I convinced the owner to start Aircel comics. There was Warp, Me, and Cerebus, that was the alternate press.

Where did you get the idea for ElfLord?
I was passing a mirror when I was 11 years old on the way to Wu Shu and said, hello Elflord.

What is your favorite medium to work in?
I suppose I like pencil, ink and tone or color. I like pencil shading most - it's fun!

Have you always liked elves? What attracted you to them?
There are a lot of elf-like beings in Asia - Red Boy for instance. He will appear in Samurai. But it was the China Sea that started me doing elves - they were always seagoing because of the islands. The Warp Elflord is actually the closest to what I originally envisioned years ago!

Do you have any siblings?
Three. My Chinese brother Jimmy, my biological brother Bruce and sister Sandy who looks like Annie Lennox!

What are some of your interests outside of comics?
I was in a sports car club when I had my Triumph Spitfire - it was all painted up like Ginger Lacy's Battle of Britain plane with the same letters and roundells. I wore this leather flying helmet and made a total fool of myself. I crashed it in a race. I had a kind of gang when I had my Electroglide but I sold the bike to go to Burma. I have an army jeep right now and enjoy off-roading with it but farmers get mad when you crash through their fences. I used to skateboard, I still have my own board with turga wheels and tracker trucks. Richard and I like to drive real fast in his van the Warp Wagon down country roads while I hang out the window and whack mailboxes with a baseball bat.

Do you have any pets?
Luss the fat scaredy cat, Tiger the orange sleepy cat, Weezmar the psycho big-eyed cat, Blacky the weird stray cat, Pete the Possum who scares the neighbour girls, Squeeks the mouse who taunts the cats, Nipper the screen climbing squirrel, Rickie Rackoon who mooches food, Peeps the sparrow who sings all day, two Bluejays , three Cardinals, a herd of deer who stalk the Hudson Woods with Richard the big fat turtle who lives in the pond and crawls under my car, and Colin the lump.

Sendings Issue #5, May 1998

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