Rob Lisle talks The Devil’s Toilet #2’s cover art.

Rob (00:06):
Hey there. Uh, I’m Rob Lisle, AKA Spedsy and creator of The Devil’s Toilet. I am here with Shane, from ComX. Who’s putting together an awesome calendar to support, not only me, but a whole bunch of Australian artists. Um, so support Shane by supporting us so he can support just everyone’s support everyone. Let’s make some cool stuff. All right, Shane, let’s talk about that.

Shane (00:33):
So the piece we have here is The Devil’s Toilet. It’s cover number two. So what is it about this piece that you like?

Rob (00:40):
Um, well, I like this cause I was trying to make it sort of something big, jump off the page sort of vibe and I was going for, I would say so that’s the devil there, as you can see. And I referred to him in the book is a big horny Kaiju and so I guess I was going for a big sort of Kaiju look as cadre as I could get, um, I couldn’t find any – I could not get that pose right. I guess this is more the challenges question.

Rob (01:08):
Um, but so I ended up having to do the reference for that one myself, um, complete in my undies and everything. Not like a photo of me doing that from multiple levels. Um, yeah, no, I’m pretty happy with the way it came up.

Shane (01:25):
Same undies?

Rob (01:27):
No mine was stripe.

Rob (01:31):
Didn’t entirely get the full reference. Okay. I only have the one pair of this stripe. Yeah.

Shane (01:35):
So I guess that’s what inspired this piece. Was that, um, reference with you.

Rob (01:40):
Yeah, well, yeah, trying to get. Uh, So, um, the end of Devil’s Toilet Issue One, uh, the devil launches out of the devil’s toilet. So the devil’s toilet serves as a, uh, a portal. So it, long story short, the devil’s toilet is an actual toilet from hell. Uh, it’s the devil’s toilet as is in the name. Uh, it escapes from hell, um, which the devil allows it to do because, uh, it serves as a gateway for the devil to escape and inflict hell on earth.

Rob (02:12):
So the end of Devil’s Toilet one, the big sort of crash bang cliffhanger is the devil coming out of the toilet and issue two starts with the big horny kaiju, uh, running rampant on earth. That’s the vibe I was going for. And yeah,

Shane (02:29):
So that, I’m guessing that was also the challenges, like you said, the challenges was that pose, right.

Rob (02:34):
So, yeah, yeah. Trying to get that pose. I really wanted to, I love so, um, uh, more of a cartoonist than I am. Uh, I would love to be a comic book illustrator that could like draw, huge scenescapes and, you know, with, I just love like any of that big monster imagery where there’s the big, massive Godzilla type creature in the background and the tiny little heroes. Um, this was me attempting that while within my sort of cartoony style. Um, yeah, so it was a challenge trying to get that sort of, um, have him look big and menacing while still people don’t. Uh, so it says the Devil’s Toilet, but then when I, I like to tie and have the toilet on the cover, so people go “Wait, it’s about an actual toilet.” So having him – having the main characters still somewhat prominent, but being overshadowed was kind of the, was the challenge.

Shane (03:31):
Well, you did a good job. It’s a, it’s a cool cover. I like it.

Rob (03:33):
Oh, cheers mate. Cheers.

Shane (03:36):
Um, so did you have to learn anything new to, to, to do this, um, particular cover or, um, was it just your skills in the reference?

Rob (03:47):
Um, lighting was a big, so obviously you see the moon in the background, um, and then the shadows that, that the shadows that it’s brought out, I’ve never done that much shadow before. Like I do shadows to sort of give people a sort of like a 3d-ish sort of look, but that’s, as far as I go, this was like shading the entire character, except for highlights around the side.

Rob (04:10):
I’d never done that before. So that was, I guess, a challenge and something I had to learn make it, make it work. So, yeah.

Shane (04:19):
Yeah. It’s nice. You did a good job. Um, yeah, that’s cool. Um, just, so what do you think about this piece that would connect with your fans?

Rob (04:30):
Uh, I’m hoping that it sort of attracts the eye when it’s on the, on the comic book rack, um, that it kind of conveys that it’s a jokey book, but it has real stakes sort of thing. Yep. So are these characters about to get squished? You’ll have to read the book.

Shane (04:51):
Nice. I like that.

Shane (04:55):
Thanks very much, Rob. It was great to talk to you today. Um, it was good to learn about your art. Um, so, um, catch you either in the next video or you can check out the next person’s video.

Rob (05:06):
Yeah. Cheers man. Thanks for having me.

Shane (05:11):
If you’d like to see more of Rob’s work, go to psychojanitor.com to see what Rob has contributed to the calendar. Go to ComX.link to register your interest and just sign up with a Kickstarter and register to get a reminder when the campaign starts, uh, thanks for your support. Have a great day.