

Todd Rayner inker,colorer, letterer for "Templar" from Enterlight Studios
Interviewed by Richard Vasseur/Jazma VP www.jazmaonline.com
RV: How did you join Enterlight Studios?
TR: Keith and myself wanted to create a “house of ideas” and Enterlight Studios is that entity.
RV: How did you learn how to ink, color and letter?
TR: Well I taught myself to ink by inking my own work, all pen and ink back then. Now I digitally ink pretty much
everything. Lettering to be honest isn't really my forte, Keith needed a letterer and I’d figure I’d give it a shot, and it
worked out. Coloring I’ve been doing since I was a kid, first it was that old trusty box of crayola crayons, then as I
got older I used colored pencils and markers. Then once I was accepted into college I was introduced to
Photoshop and have been refining my skills ever since.
RV: Do you pencil as well?
TR: Oh yeah, I had to create the pictures to color and ink. I actually did a 10 pager of templar (aside from Keith's
writing) pretty much by myself, just to see my interpretation of the characters. Which someday may pop up
somewhere, you never know.
RV: Why is inking important to the finished art?
TR: Honestly in my opinion inking is very important, it "cleans up" the artwork. This step really helps to define the
art and "punch out" the areas of black that need to be black. When you don't ink sometimes you loose the stark
contrast of just black and white. With "Templar" we all agreed to have it inked to show that contrast, black/white,
good/evil.
RV: What do you think of the story of "Templar"?
TR: Personally I love it. I love the blurred line between real life history and fantastical fiction, and since I love
history, especially religious history. I think Keith did a great job on making the story believable yet over the top
fiction. I catch myself sometimes thinking, "This could really happen". The story also has a lot of "real life" talking.
It's not always "comic talk" it's more or less how everyone talks, and that element really pulls the reader in to the
whole story. Also there's even a love story buried in the "Templar" world so for all those hopeless romantics out
there we got a little something for them to.
RV: Do you have a favorite character from "Templar"?
TR: Right now I'd have to say Isaiah, yeah he's the hero in all and everyone loves the hero but I think he's just too
cool not to like. I mean who, wouldn’t want to be a Knight Templar? I think over time that may change seeing as
we're still early in the story and there are many more exciting characters to come.
RV: Who has inspired you the most?
TR: That's a long list. I started to get into comics in the late 80's early 90's and well we all know the big guns that
made everything possible for us to do this now. It goes without saying as far as artists go you have guys like Todd
McFarlane, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Marc Silvestri, Dale Koewn, Sam Keith and later on guys like Michael Turner,
Dave Finch, Eric Basaldua, Stephen Platt, Brett Booth, J. Scott Campbell, Joe Madureira, Andy Park. As far as
coloring goes, people Like Christian Lincher, Steve Firchow, J.D. Smith and Nei Ruffino. It's really hard to pinpoint
one or two people I like to pull from everyone and come up with my own way/style to color this or that. I also must
say that looking al real life is a big help, you gotta look at real elements to see how light hits them and how
different items would reflect color, things like that.
RV: Are people or backgrounds easier to work on?
TR: They each are different in their own way. I would say the backgrounds could be easier just because they are
usually not the most important item on that page or panel. Keith however does a great job of writing these larger
than life scenes, which require more than usual attention to detail. People on the other hand I find slightly more
difficult to do mainly because of different skin tones. You really have to make sure the skin tones are correct or
your viewer will know hey something's off here. All in all they each can be difficult, I just try to work each element on
it's own, one at a time.
RV: What superhero would you most like to work on?
TR: Aside form "Templar" of course; I'd have to say Spider-man, Wolverine, Batman, Spawn or even Grimm Fairy
Tales. I really like the dark element in most those characters. Spidey's not too dark but I’d like to explore the darker
side of his life. I think it would really create a challenge for writing and artwork. The others each have a fun
interesting element about them, which creates it own set of challenges.
RV: Do you have any ideas for a comic book of your own?
TR: Yeah I do, the penciler on "Templar" Dave Dabila and I have had tossed around a few ideas since high school.
Maybe if things all work out it'll see the light of day sometime in the future. I still have lots to flesh out with a story,
since I’m more of an artist the story is the weakest part of the whole concept, but we'll have to wait and see what
the future unveils.
RV: Do you like to do commissions?
TR: Oh yeah, I love the fact that someone likes what I do enough to contact me and have me do a commission for
them. Actually I'm working on one right now for one of the guys over at Arcana.
RV: If you could have one super power what would it be and why?
TR: That's a toss up. I would have to say either a healing factor or invisibility. A healing factor would allow me to
do what I love a lot longer, and being invisible would well,…cool. lol
RV: How can someone contact you?
TR: Mainly though email, todd.rayner@enterlightstudios.com or though our website enterlightstudios.com or on
facebook. You can search enterlight studios to see what's new with the crew and where we'll be.
RV: Any final words of wisdom?
TR: Never stop pursuing your dreams. Set goals for yourself, I would never have gotten here without them. Go out
and make contacts, that's probably the biggest thing. If your good at whatever it is you do someone will find you
and give you that chance to be great.