Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Interview with Nate Milliner



Full Name:
Nathan Thomas Milliner

Do you have a nickname or what do your friends call you?
Nate mostly.

Birthplace:
Louisville, KY

Current hometown:
The same.

Favorite city and why?
Chicago took my breath away when I first visited it. I had never been to a city that big and there was this moment where I was standing in that big park downtown in the field in front of the ampitheater and there was an orchestra playing classical music and I am looking at the city skyline behind the trees and theater and there are maybe 8 girls doing ballet on the grass (not as part of the show) just doing it on their own. There was just something very beautiful about it and it was pretty emotional for me.

Birthday/Age:
May 10th. I'm 37.

How would you describe yourself physically?
Big guy, broad shouldered, tall.
 
How would someone else describe you physically?
Big guy.
 
The first thing people notice about you is…
I've had many mention my eyes.
 
Hair Color/Eye Color/Race?
Black, brown, caucasian.

Sexual orientation?
Straight.
 
Religion, if any?
Raised Christian but not practicing.

Are you superstitious at all? Any phobias?
Not really.

Do you smoke/drink?
No.

Any bad habits?
Food maybe.

Current occupation / Dream job:
Professional artist, journalist, film maker, Scream! Factory, HorrorHound Magazine, Comic Book publisher and creator, UPS. I am pretty much doing my dream job with Scream! Factory.
 
What do you like to do when you’re not at work?
I'm always working. Big movie buff.

What is your zombie outbreak survival plan?
Protect my family at all costs.

Weapon of choice:
Lightsaber.

Do you have any special skills?
My employers believe so.

Did you go to college and, if so, what for?
I was an art major at the University of Louisville.

If you went to college, did you manage to pay off your student loans?
My parents actually paid for my college education but I ended up only doing two years.

Any pets? If so, what are they and what are their names?
We just got my 5-year old daughter a puppy. A golden retriever named Chloe.

What is your favorite animal?
I love dogs for sure.

Speaking of pets, any pet peeves?
Too many to list. Stupidity as a whole. Disrespectfulness. A lack of respect for others and one's self. Ego.

Favorite/Least favorite Food:
Unfortunately I am a pizza fanatic (on a low carb diet) and I am one of those weirdos who doesn't like condiments. I'm probably one of the only people who doesn't want dressing on his salad.

What is your favorite quotation/motto/saying?
"To avoid criticism--do nothing, say nothing, be nothing."

What is the best thing that ever happened to you?
Meeting my wife. It led to everything else that I have now.

What is the worst thing that ever happened to you?
Probably losing my grandfather a few years ago.
 
Ever had your heart broken? Is there a story worth telling behind your answer?
I was a shy person (still am but nowhere near as bad as I was ten years ago. So that means I didn't do a lot of dating. I was very picky and defensive and didn't open myself up to many people. Truth is, my wife is the only person I have ever given my heart to and so far, it's intact.
 
Ever broken someone’s heart? Is there a story worth telling behind your answer?
It's possible but I have no idea.

What is the best thing you’ve ever done?
Again, marrying my wife. I know it is boring but it is true. Very much a family man.
Dude, that’s not boring. That’s awesome! Everyone should be so lucky.

What is the worst thing you’ve ever done?
I have a big issue with anger. I have a temper. Sometimes I am a bad husband/daddy because of it. I consider this to be the worst I have done. For the most part, I am a very conscious person and rarely do anything that I find immoral or questionable.

If you could kill one person, consequence free, who would it be and why?
I'm not a very violent person. But if I have to answer, probably someone in a car near mine the next time I leave my house.

What do you do?
As a freelance artist I do everything from logos, portraits, blu ray covers, movie posters, tee shirts, art prints, art books, book covers, album covers, magazine covers, etc. I've written articles for magazines. I've written several screenplays. Produced and directed a couple films. Acting. I have written, drawn, lettered, published a dozen comic books including some graphic novels. I attend horror and comic conventions. I work at UPS and I do my best to take care of my wife and daughter in the process.
Geez Louise! When do you find time to sleep?
I don't. I get maybe 4-5 hours of sleep a night. I wish I could sleep more but I wake up early and always have so much to do that I can't shut my brain off and I just get up.

How did you get started doing what you do?
I've been drawing since I was 5 years old. I just stuck with it. I started working at UPS when I was 20 after leaving college. Been there 17 years. It was just a job to have. I started doing comics after seeing Tim Burton's Batman in 1989. I started actually publishing them when an old co-worker from my teen years invited me to be part of a company called Feral Comix. I eventually upstarted my own publishing company called Rebel Rouser Comics. I contact the editor of HorrorHound Magazine after reading their second issue and 2 years later I was added to the staff as a writer and artist. Working with them led to Scream Factory and all of it snowballed from that. I started making films when a local filmmaker got hold of one of my comics and decided to make it a film.

What is your advice to other people that want to get started doing what you do?
Just keep working hard, learn your craft frontwards and backwards. Take it seriously. Respect it. Attack your weaknesses... don't accept them. Beat them. Be professional. Be appreciative. Enjoy your journey as you are on it. Stay positive. Don't talk trash about others who are where you want to be. Just keep doing it and don't stop. Keep putting it out there. Eventually, the right eyes will see what you have to offer. From there, your hard work and attitude will determine your success and longevity.

What are some of the projects you’ve worked on/finished in the past? Give us a little history if you will.
With Feral Comix I released a 250 page graphic novel titled THE MALEVOLENT. I released a horror comic called GIRL NUMBER THREE and A WISH FOR THE DEAD. The first comic was turned into a film with me writing the screenplay. The other was turned into a film with me writing and directing. I wrote and starred on the sketch comedy series "The Necroville Picture Show". I released Rebel Rouser Comics Presents 1 & 2. I released two artbooks called Monsters and Madmen featuring original drawings of famous horror archetypes. I am currently working on an artbook called The 13 Faces of Halloween which is all about the holiday. I have produced tee shirts for Fright Rags, Creepy Tees and Rotten Cotton. I have worked on projects with Horror Decor, Strange Kids Club. I have done book covers for fantasy novels like Sagas, a book on the films of Joe Dante and a William Castle children's book. I have worked on nearly 30 issues for HorrorHound Magazine including around 8 covers. I have written about 4 articles for them. I have done 10 covers for Scream! Factory for blu ray releases of films like Halloween 2 & 3, The Burning, The Howling and Day of the Dead. I have done other dvd and blu ray covers for distributors in France and Austria that include Torso and many more of the Halloween films. I was hired by Harvey Weinstein to provide art for an event at the Museum of Modern Art honoring the films of Quentin Tarantino. I did some Lady Death covers for Brian Pullido. I have worked with The Reverend Horton Heat and countless other clients. It has been very steady for the last 2 years and I am constantly getting to work on some amazing and fun projects. I have been very lucky.
Wow. I am truly floored. Not speechless, because that never happens. But definitely floored. By the way, I’m a huge fan of Reverend Horton Heat’s first two or three albums. I saw them at Club Babyhead on their Full Custom Gospel tour and got the chance to interview them and they were nice to me even though I wasn’t a lady-person and I really appreciated that and I’ve been a fan ever since.
The Rev is great. I was able to meet Jim and Jimbo last year thanks to my buddy Carty Talkington--writer/director of Love and a .45 which featured the band and many of their songs. Carty has known Jim since the mid-80s I think. But yeah, it's been a hectic and crazy journey and it just keeps going and going. Just the other day I had THREE projects dropped on me. It really is almost a daily thing now. I just don't have enough time to work on all of them. One of the biggest issues you get are those who want you to draw their graphic novel (for free) in exchange for "exposure" and a percentage when the book sells. Problem is, drawing a graphic novel takes a year at least and there is no guarantee that it will sell. Indie comics are nearly impossible to move, even if they are amazing. So asking a professional artist in high demand and being up to his eyeballs in work to put it all on hold, to spend a year unpaid drawing someone else's comic book doesn't make a lot of sense...lol. I get at least one of those a week. I hate to say no because I understand that need to make a comic but I don't because I write AND draw so I never needed anyone else to help realize something I want to make. And that is the other thing. I have a stack of projects I have written that I want to make. If I am going to invest time into creating something for free...it's going to be one of my own projects.
Yeah, I totally relate. I’m always getting asked to write things for free or for exposure and I’m always like, “Would you ask your mechanic or your dentist to do work for you for free or for exposure? I didn’t think so.” I’m a professional. I get paid for work that I do just like anyone else. Except for this blog and my other blogs which I do for exposure, but mostly as a labor of love.

What projects are you working on now?
Doing a few indie film posters. Some commissions. That 13 Faces of Halloween artbook. Volume 3 of Monsters and Madmen. I am finishing my directorial debut A WISH FOR THE DEAD. And I am doing a few logos and dvd covers.

What are you watching?
Right now I am watching a Care Bears cartoon with my daughter. I was just watching CRYSTAL LAKE MEMORIES. The new Friday the 13th documentary.

What are you listening to?
I've been listening a lot of Harley Poe. HorrorHound Magazine just released their new album on the brand new HorrorHound Records label. They're an awesome band. Catchy, spooky, hilarious songs.

What are you reading?
I just finished reading Marvel Comics: The Untold Story.

Favorite author/book?
My favorite writer/book is "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." Hunter Thompson was from Louisville, Kentucky as well. Also love Mickey Spillane, Cormac McCarthy and Elmore Leonard.
What about Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett?
I do like them but I can't claim to be a well read fan of theirs either. But definitely have read several of their books and loved them. I have NO TIME to read anymore which really stinks.  I keep buying books and blu rays and dvds and they just stack up and up because I really have no time to enjoy them. It's such a bad habit.

Favorite band/song?
My favorite band is actually Garbage. Been in love with them since 1995. Even got to meet them once. My favorite song of theirs is "Milk."

Least favorite band/song?
Why waste time on stuff I don't like? One of the biggest problems with people today is they waste so much time talking about things they hate--or want people to think they hate. I believe people need to start focusing more on what they love, sharing that and talking about that and to just move past the stuff they don't care for.

Desert Island Music/Movies/Books: You know the deal. Five of each.
Garbage, The Beatles, The Reverend Horton Heat, Alice Cooper and Iron Maiden for music.
Taxi Driver, Reservoir Dogs, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Die Hard for the movies.
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, I am Legend, Romeo & Juliet, No Country For Old Men, To Kill a Mockingbird and Watchmen for the books.

If you could do anything other than what you do now, what would you do?
I'd love to be a comic book cover artist. My #1 goal as an artist is to do anything BATMAN for DC Comics some day.

Who would you want to meet that you haven’t met? You get three choices:
Michael Jordan, Jim Lee and Wes Craven
Alive. Dead. Fictional.
Alive: Robert DeNiro. Dead: John Lennon. Fictional: Batman.
I think that makes six choices, sir, but I’ll let it go this time.

What’s the best and worst job you’ve ever had?
Blu ray cover artist as the best. I haven't had many different jobs. I guess I'd go with grocery store for worst.

Are there any questions that I didn’t ask that you wished I had asked that you would like to answer now?
Not really.

Anyone you recommend I interview that you can put me in touch with?
What kind of people would you be interested in? I know artists, musicians, directors, writers, etc.
All of them. Seriously. All of them. I’ve been posting two interviews a day and I’m at no loss for subjects but I’m always looking for more. Anyone you know that wants to be interviewed or to promote their work or an upcoming project, point them in my direction. I’ll take all comers.
I know a few indie filmmakers like Carty Talkington, Jason Saint, David Brewer, Harley Morris, Travis Miller. Quite a few. I know musicians like Dead Dick Hammer. I know Fred Dekker (director of Monster Squad and Night of the Creeps.) I know Victor Miller, writer of the original Friday the 13th. I know Dick Warlock, Michael Myers from Halloween 2. I know David Stieve--writer of Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. I'm just throwing names out there. Artists like Daniel Horne, Jason Edmiston, Gary Pullin, Christopher Lovell, Norm Breyfogle, Dick Starr, Billy Tackett, Don England.
Cool. Anyone interested in being interviewed put a bug in their ear or I’ll raid your Facebook Friends list and drop them an inquiry.

Got any questions for me?
What are you wearing?
*laughs* “What color panties are you wearing… and how long have you been wearing them?”
I like to spend most of my time off in bed working on stuff on my laptop so I’m rocking one of my two pairs of ZERO: Zombie Emergency Response Operations sweatpants and a t-shirt from the Necronomicon Providence convention that I helped to put together this past August.

TEASE.

Your art is seriously pretty amazing. I’m working on a novel-length post-apocalyptic zombie epidemic book project. How do I go about talking you into doing an illustration for it? I know, as an artist, that asking a fellow artist to do what they do for you for free is a dick move, so I can afford to throw you some cash for your time and effort out of pocket, but not much since I’m funding this mostly out of pocket. You interested?
Never say never.  I'm currently booked till December.
You’re a poet. But I bet you know it.

On a similar note, how in the hell does one get a write-up in HorrorHound Magazine? I sent Nathan a message but he’s way too busy to handle a personal favor like that.
It's pretty hard to get a hold of Nathan for anything. Even I have a hard time to get hold of him.
 
Any interest in maybe doing a write up for the mag about my zombie book project? If not, no love lost.
When it comes out I'll let them know and put it on their radar if you ask. Can't promise anything. They have limited space in the issue being bi-monthly and they don't do a lot of articles or reviews about that kind of stuff.
Yeah, I kind of thought as much. But I appreciate you putting me on their radar.

Thanks for allowing me to subject you to an interview!

Pitch parade: Give me all of your links for things you want to promote. All of them.
Facebook: Nathan Thomas Milliner: www.facebook.com/nathan.t.milliner
and
The Art of Nathan Thomas Milliner: www.facebook.com/pages/The-Art-of-Nathan-Thomas-Milliner/222423141158934
Website: www.rebelrouserart.com

About the Interviewee:
Nathan Thomas Milliner is a freelance artist from Louisville, Kentucky who is best known for his work in the horror genre. Perhaps his best known work is his various covers for
dvd and blu ray releases from Scream! Factory which include Halloween II, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Terror Train, The Funhouse, Deadly Blessing, The Burning, The Howling, Day of the Dead, Night of the Comet and Night of the Demons. He has also provided a couple of covers for dvds overseas for films like What Have They Done to Your Daughters, Halloween 3-6, The Exterminator, Torso and Contraband. Nathan has been a staff artist/writer and cover artist for HorrorHound Magazine since 2008. He recently did several covers and pin-ups for Brian Pullido's Lady Death comic series and the cover of the forthcoming book Scared Silly: The Films of Joe Dante. He began his career self-publishing comic books with the now defunct Feral Comix but in 2010 he upstarted his own publishing company, Rebel Rouser Comics. His titles vary from crime dramas to pulp comedies like The Malevolent, Girl Number Three, Final Days and A Bloody Pulp. He has also contributed several short stories to PLB Comics. Nathan has also fallen into the world of filmmaking, starting out as a writer/performer on a sketch comedy series called The Necroville Picture Show in Louisville, KY and then as a writer/producer on the feature film adaptation of his comic book "Girl Number Three" in 2009. Nathan is currently in post production on his directorial debut, "A Wish for the Dead"--a feature length film adaptation of a comic short he wrote and illustrated back with Feral Comix. Nathan recently was hired by the Weinstein Co. to provide the presentation artwork for the Museum of Modern Arts tribute to the films of Quentin Tarantino in New York City. Nathan also released two artbooks in 2013 titled Monsters and Madmen featuring original prints based on popular archetypes in the world of horror from screen, literature, folklore and the news headlines.

About the Interviewer:
Scott Lefebvre has probably read everything you've read and can write about whatever you want him to write about.
Mostly because when he was grounded for his outlandish behavior as a hyperactive school child, the only place he was allowed to go was the public library.
His literary tastes were forged by the works of Helen Hoke, Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell, Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Stephen King, Clive Barker, Edgar Allan Poe, and H. P. Lovecraft.
He is the author of Spooky Creepy Long Island and a contributing author to Forrest J. Ackerman’s Anthology of the Living Dead, Fracas: A Collection of Short Friction, The Call of Lovecraft, and Cashiers du Cinemart.
His reviews have been published by a variety of in print and online media including Scars Magazine, Icons of Fright, Fatally Yours and Screams of Terror, and he has appeared in Fangoria, Rue Morgue and HorrorHound Magazine.
He is the Assistant Program Director for The Arkham Film Society and produces Electronic Music under the names Master Control and LOVECRAFTWORK.
He is currently working on a novel-length expansion of a short-story titled, "The End Of The World Is Nigh", a crowd-funded, crowd-sourced, post-apocalyptic, zombie epidemic project.
You can check out the blog for the book here: theendoftheworldisnighbook.blogspot.com/
You can check out the Facebook Fan Page for the project here:
You can check his author profile at: www.amazon.com/Scott-Lefebvre/e/B001TQ2W9G/
You can follow him at GoodReads here:
You can check out his electronic music here: soundcloud.com/master_control
You can check out his videos at:
You can check out his IMDB profile here: www.imdb.com/name/nm3678959/
You can follow his Twitter here: twitter.com/TheLefebvre or @TheLefebvre
You can follow his Tumblr here: thelefebvre.tumblr.com/
You can check out his Etsy here: www.etsy.com/people/arkhamscreenings
You can join the group for The Arkham Film Society here:
You can stalk his Facebook at: www.facebook.com/TheLefebvre
You can e-mail him at: Scott_Lefebvre@hotmail.com



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