• Equestria Daily FIENDship is Magic Interview with IDW Colorist Heather Breckel

    In a silent visual medium like comics, there are few things that can affect the mood of the scene than color. After all, the pastel colored equines of the main series are always cheerful, bright and colorful. The villains of the show, not quite as much, and theses guys are the one's starring in Fiendship is Magic.

    Heather Breckel was kind enough to spend a few moments of her time to sit down with EQD and talk about her involvement in the series.

    You can find the interview below the break as always!


    When and how did you first find out about FIENDship is magic?

    I was at NYCC [New York Comic Con] and dropped by the pony area to say hi to my coworkers. Andy [Price] told me about it.

    Of course Andy would know. So how did you react?

    I've been waiting for either us or the show to do something with the villains for a while, so I was very excited about it. Especially because I get to work on pretty much all of them!

    I'll bet! 

    Speaking of working on nearly all of them, how much of an additional workload was it to work on your four issues?

    Well, Bobby [Curnow] has been very good about keeping it spread out. I started on Sombra in very late December and did both that and Tirek in January. So the next few weeks will be NM+Chrysalis. It's obviously added extra workload but it's all been manageable. Once I get done with the rest I get to take a little time off to be lazy.

    Perhaps playing a little Smash with all those Amiibos you've been collecting?

    Probably!  Marth's been in Lucina bootcamp lately and I'm working on sculpting a custom rockstar Pikachu so they're keeping me busy when I'm not working.

    Considered giving Pikachu a KISS makeup job? 

    Haha no, it's actually a costume he has in Pokemon ORAS.

    Well then, I'm sure that will turn out amazing. I hope you'll show it off when you're finished with it. 

    Thank you! I will! I haven't sculpted or painted in a while so it's been interesting.

    I'll bet. It's always fun trying out new artistic forms. I know I'm… slowly trying to learn how to draw.

    It's been fun, but very slow going.

    Just keep at it, it takes time.

    Will do!

    Anyways, Sombra, Chrysalis, Tirek, and Nightmare Moon all have much darker colorations than the usual pastel colored cast of MLP. What sort of impact, if any, did that have on your coloring choices for those four issues?

    Thus far I've only gotten to tackle Sombra/Tirek but it's been nice getting to do something more dramatic again like on the Chrysalis and Nightmarity arcs. Tirek I colored in a different style entirely which I'm excited about people seeing. It would be cool to color each issue in a different style but due to time constraints I doubt I'll get to go too crazy on the last 2
    I'm very curious to see how that turns out.

    People that are familiar with my work outside of pony probably won't be too surprised by the style, but it should be something new and exciting for those that aren't.

    Similar to your work Peter Panzerfaust perhaps?

    Yeah! But a bit more colorful!

    Awesome! Loved you're coloring style on those issues. 

    Thank you!

    You're very welcome!

    So, out of the two issues that you've done, is there any particular moment that you've signed your name at the bottom of?

    No, I really only do that on pages where the artist has already signed. Andy is usually the only one that does it.

    Ah. Did not realize that Andy was the only one to do that.

    As far as I know, I don't recall any instances where it happened with another artist.

    Maybe they will. To me it always seems like whenever an artist does that, it's a moment that they are particularly proud of. Andy's work always seems to really stand out when there's a signature next to it. 

    For some reason, yours does to. 

    Thanks  I think it's just more common for artists to only sign covers.

    Well, hopefully it's a practice that will expand outside of the covers. 

    That would be cool.

    Indeed it would.

    Well Heather, thank you for your time. It was wonderful chatting with you. 

    You're welcome. You too!