Short & Sweet with Tomer Hanuka

Digital works are often scoffed at by the art elite these days. Many seem to feel that it cheapens the art by taking away the hand-to-medium element.

Yet, with a mouse as the brush, artists these days can take advantage of new technology that brings their work to a new level. One such artist is New York City illustrator Tomer Hanuka.

Hanuka is best known for an experimental comic book entitled 'Bi-Polar', that he wrote with his twin brother Asaf. The book is split in half for each brother and each side has it's own adaptation. He is also known for his 'Placebo Man' series as well as his most recent book 'Overkill'.

Beyond comics, Hanuka has developed a highly stylized illustration style and has worked with the likes of Time Magazine, Lucas Films, Marvel Comics and Nike... to name a few.

It's this same style that has his legion of followers on the edge of their seats, waiting for his next release. His dynamic creations are contemporary examples of surrealism, perpetrated on the new computing medium.

We got a chance to interview Hanuka, and kept things straight and to the point:

Were you an avid comic-maker as a child?

Yes, for sure. I think for most kids reading comics and making them is considered a single activity.

I have a twin brother, Asaf, who also likes reading/drawing them, so we naturally did that for hours.

You served three years of mandatory Israeli Army service.

During that time were you making plans to join a visual arts school when you got out?

I saw the catalog for the school towards the end of my service, another soldier was carrying it around. It was a revelation, just reading the curricular. I had to get there somehow.

One of the most well-known projects you worked on was 'Bipolar', a collaboration between you and your twin brother Asaf. What was it like collaborating with your brother?

It's always a different mix. In Bipolar we published separate stories next to each other.

We had much closer collaborations since, as in drawing on the same image.

The thing about collaboration is that you loose yourself in the process, so the final thing is not exactly 'yours' which can be a problem early on, but now I find it liberating.

Much of your work is for major periodical clients, do you find time to create your own pieces?

Yes, I always have a few things going. I love illustration in many forms.

There is the client work which is fulfilling.

And then there are projects I try to push.

These are content driven works which I strongly believe in, and find the financial risk associated with these type of operations is the smallest risk one can take in the span of a creative life.

Where do you derive your inspiration from?

It used to be the Strand when I lived in NYC. Now I don't have that so I need to get over it.

Many times it's the actual text I'm working with. It's a story based art form, in a way all the energy and ideas are already there condensed into some kind of pure narrative core.

What was your favorite comic growing up?

Anything with Wolverine, who was the only sort of hairy super hero.

The comic book industry, along with print media, has had some difficulties adapting over the past couple decades. Where do you see comics going in the future?

Into the tablets and iPads. It's already happening. Print will last, just become more boutique.

How do you feel about the explosion of big-budget studio films based on comic books?

I wish I was at the age I could see them without the irony and have my brain explode every weekend.

What can we expect next from you?

The Divine is a graphic novel I'm working on with Asaf and writer Boaz Lavie.
And Hard Apple is an animated TV show Asaf and myself are developing with a larger group.

It's based on a series of crime novels by Jerome Charyn.