Mark Edward Geyer has illustrated many books, including the limited edition of The Green Mile....You can now buy a signed lithograph of the Electric Chair from the Green Mile. Mark will include a short inscription along with his signature if you ask. UPDATE! You can now buy the signed print from Mark's Website using paypal!... No need to mail a check anymore. The 2nd Q&A is below, enjoy!

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Who are your favorite artists?

In pen & ink: John Tenniel, George Hutchinson, Richard Gutschmidt, Reginald Birch. In painting: Rembrandt, da Vinci, Degas, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Jusepe Ribera, Watteau (spelling), Canatello, Pissarro, N.C. Wyeth, Matisse. In sculpture: Bernini, Houdon—just saw Houdon’s work from the Louvre at the High Museum in Atlanta; and, whatever sculptor did the 42’ high sculpture of Blackhawk along the banks of the Rock River in Illinois. I saw it from across the river with the treetops up to Blackhawk’s elbows as his arms are folded, so that mostly just his bust was visible as he looks down river. I saw the statue of David by Michelangelo when I was in Italy, but the statue of Blackhawk for some reason (I’m sure it has a lot to do with its setting) surpasses it in beauty and power. I could look at it for hours.

Prior to doing the Artwork for the book, had you read the story already; and/or had you seen the movie starring Tom Hanks and had to contend with images already planted in your mind's eye?

An illustrator is always given the manuscript to read first. Keep in mind that Mr. King wrote the chapbooks in 1996, years before the movie. I read them and illustrated them as he wrote them.

What was your biggest challenge with regard to illustrating The Green Mile?

I can’t think of anything daunting about it. Illustration is a total joy from the pencil sketches that you show the publisher and author to the finished ink. I always challenge myself to do the very best work I can.

 

Are there any specific books that you would like to illustrate? Or authors you would like to illustrate for?

I would love to illustrate the work of Poe; or, Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Dickens, Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes), Robert Louis Stevenson, Bram Stoker, or something by Peter Straub or Stephen King, or anything set in the Western World prior to nineteen-forties.

How much longer does it take for you to make color drawings vs Black and White?

My color work is done with color pencil over pen & ink; but, the lights and darks are established in the ink, so that the coloring is really just a tinting process—some drawings can be colored in a couple of hours.

Do you wind up discarding many drawings before you come up with a final piece?

Not right now.

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A big thank you to Mark for taking the time out for this!