This interview was compiled from electronic correspondence which took place from April 2001 to October 2002. The interview was then appended to and edited by Paul Renaud from his home in Balma, France.

Ray Cuthbert: Who are your artistic influences?

Paul Renaud: I've got quite a lot of heroes... When I was a kid, I used to read some famous French comics like every kids here...Tintin, Asterix, Spirou, the Smurfs...Later, when I was around 12 years old, a friend of mine showed me Marvel books for the first time. I was badly hooked! As a kid of the 80's, you can easily imagine what were the books I read, the artists I liked: John Byrne, Frank Miller, Neal Adams, Don Newton, Art Adams...But two artists were really important to me at this time: Paul Smith, and Michael Golden. I found out that Golden had a big influence on Art Adams work, and it was enough a reason to study his work...and I'm still learning a lot from him. What I loved about these two guys was their care for the characters they were drawing, the work on the body language, the expressiveness of the faces...they were also trying to bring some cartoony touch to their realistic style only to serve the story. Their layout were always reader friendly, clear, and powerful. I have the feeling that part of my roots as a comic-book artist can be found there. Later came Alan Davis, Steve Rude, Kevin Nowlan, Rick Leonardi, Mike Mignola that I loved for the same reasons, and still follow everything they do! The as a teen-ager I felt the need to search for different kinds of artist. I discovered Moebius then, and I fell deeply in love with his work, his way of living his career as a true artist. I think Moebius, through his books, made me realize that I wanted to do this as a living. At the same time I was into digging some old stuff , Frazetta (of course I was very influenced by Frazetta... who ever has interest in the sexiness of the human body has studied Frazetta!), The Studio guys (Jones, Kaluta, Windsor-Smith and Wrightson), and then all the Alex Raymond/ Hal Foster family! Al Williamson was probably my favorite, even at this time. Now you can easily imagine all the guys that went later from the same kind of influence that I could name here: Adam Hughes, Bruce Timm, Bryan Hitch & Paul Neary, Kyle Baker, Frank Cho, Charles Vess? I could name hundreds - where could I stop?! Another hero of mine I have to mention is Georges Bess! He's a French artist.

Ray: Tell me about Georges Bess, being a North American, I've never heard of him.

Paul: With pleasure. Georges is famous here for his work with writer Alexandro Jodorowsky. Together, they did a very successful series called The White Lama, and later a four part story, Juan Solo (Son of the Gun is its American translation). His books are released right now in USA by the Humanoids Publishing. Before that, he did quite a lot of work for the Phantom comics. Georges Bess usually works in a very realistic style (you could make comparisons with Joe Kubert, others with Moebius), but he also does more "cartoony" comics form time to time. He did a series called Annibal5 that are close to the mainstream North American art style, but quite different from American comics in terms of the story. He simply masters every style he chooses! Lately, he's been doing more personal work in black and white that he's also writing Escondida, and Leela & Krishna. Wonderful stories, wonderful art.

Ray: You mentioned Al Williamson, so how do you feel about Alex Raymond?

Paul: Rip Kirby has always been my favorite of Raymond's work where the art is concerned. It's amazing how he took on the brush inking and mastered it in a few days after years of fine pen and inks rendering... I just don't see any other artist who would be such a master in these two different techniques (well, maybe Jean Giraud/Moebius with his Blueberry series...)! The Alex Raymond version is a good way to be brought up with Flash Gordon. When I was 15, I bought two huge French books reprinting in black and white the first adventures of Flash. It cost me like $75, and it was my biggest expense at this time. It was such a shock to me to discover such good art. The great quality of this black and white printing allowed me to appreciate the very fine pen and ink work. I was, and still am, so impressed! A little while later I read that Al Williamson had done some Flash stories very close to the Raymond version. I was already a fan of Al's work, and the few Flash panels or illustrations (the Flash plate he did for the National Cartoonists' Society Portfolio) drove me crazy! I found some really bad French version of some of the stories, but the printing was just awful. Recently, my friend Rich DeDominicis helped me find the 1966-67 comics, and I can't stop looking at them since... Williamson is the one who made me love the whole family - Krenkel, Torres - the whole Fleagle gang. And Flash Gordon!!! Well, actually I remember watching an animated movie as a young kid that made a big impression on me... I realized much later that it was Flash Gordon. When I saw the comics of Williamson for the first time, I found back all these wonderful feelings I had watching the movie. Rockets, space pirate looking guys... I love to chat about the "good lizard men" with Paul Neary who's also a fan. Williamson is an artist I definitely admire. I'm really fan of his whole career, from the early EC jobs to the great inking jobs he has done of some of the finest artists of modern comics such as Mignola, Leonardi, Romita Jr, and Weeks among others. It's a shame we don't see more of his own penciling nowadays... The "One Last Job" story he did some years ago was just gorgeous! I heard he was going to do a back-up story for Xenozoic Tales, but since Kitchen Sink is out of business now I guess that brought an end to that. The Flash Gordons that Al did for King Comics are some of the best Flash comics ever. He was really the heir to the master, Raymond. One can see he truly loved the character and his universe. He gave it all he had. I'd love to have the opportunity to do a Flash Gordon story someday! Not the modern thing some have been trying to do, but a very 40's Flash Gordon...Very old fashioned, in the way they did Indiana Jones or The Rocketeer. The character could only work in his own universe, in his era. Doing Flash nowadays doesn't make sense to me. It's just ridiculous. I'd just love to draw old cars, art deco buildings and stuff before they reach Mongo. I'll just have to ask my publisher someday if we can get the rights. I'm sure Paul Neary would love to ink that! I know I look just like a little fan here...well, I'm afraid that's what I am!

Ray: Are there any other modern artists that you admire?

Paul: I was unfamiliar with the work of your friend Terry Twigg... His pastel paintings are really amazing! Very nice paintings, really. He has a very soft approach in his way of rendering shadows. I love the light. I also think Glenn Barr is a fantastic artist. He did Brooklyn Dreams and the JLA Real World... I could shoot a hundred without breathing you know... David Mazzuchelli is an artist that I admire a lot...he did two of my all time favorite books, Daredevil: Born Again and Batman Year One, and at his peak he left the mainstream industry to work on his stories. His style may have changed a lot, but the storytelling is style awesome (better and better I should say). It took me some time to understand his current art, but now I can say I really love it.I could name also Dave McKean, the Hernandez brothers... please shoot me dead, or I'll go on forever!

Ray: I first began collecting original artwork in 1976...

Paul: Well, I was just a year old in 1976! You must have had fun with all the Wrightson, Neal Adams, Jeff Jones and all doing some of their best works (well, Jeff Jones is still doing some of his best work)... I hope you didn't miss The Studio book at the time it was released!!

Ray: Yes I was around for all that, geezer that I am...! What do you think of Dave Stevens, Frank Cho and Mark Schultz... all favourites of mine?

Paul: I'm very fond of the era that their work evokes! Mark Schultz and Frank Cho are very fine people... Their work is so full of nostalgia, and yet very modern and appealing to a younger audience. I miss Dave Stevens' Rocketeer very much! I know a new Rocketeer series wouldn't make Dark Horse rich, but then I have the feeling they wouldn't lose money on it since the art is so good. Maybe I'm just naive. Frank Cho is another example of a artist who can mix a realistic style with cartoony elements with GREAT talent (and a guy who can come along with so many stupid jokes a week deserves all our admiration!). I don't laugh out loud that often reading a comics: Frank Cho can do that, Kyle Baker can do that. That's a great talent. Anyway, I should have mentioned Schultz and Stevens in the list of my heroes. I've read Mark Schultz was willing to write a Xenozoic novel... Have you heard about it? Dave & Mark should come here in France where the comic-book business is still steady! Jeffrey Jones is another one I'd like to talk about some more. He has always made a big impression on me. He's really an artist I truly admire in every aspect. His work seems to be very personal, very inspired. I mean, one can see the influences of such as Whistler, Klimt, Wyeth on his work, but then his personal evolvement is greater than his infuences - The feeling he gets is always "pure Jeff Jones". I'm always moved by his colour choices...his soft approach. He's a dream artist.

Ray: I assume that you heard the sad news about Gray Morrow losing his life. I've always enjoyed his art, and wished that more people appreciated it as well.

Paul: Paul Neary had told me about Gray Morrow's death. That's very sad. I've always loved his art as well... so elegant! That's another giant that leaves our art world. I also heard Reed Crandall had a very sad ending... It's so terrible that such great artists have to suffer from jerks who cannot see what good art is .

Ray: Your work that I've seen on Ariel Lewis is great story-telling! Your inking though is in a very bold style, as opposed to your pencil work.

Paul: Thanks for the nice compliments about the storytelling. I kind of think that everybody can produce nice pictures, but I'm very VERY flattered when someone like my storytelling and layout designs. That's the real work! I understand what you mean about the high contrast in my inking. I think it's best suited to the coloring. But I really have to improve my art, and my inking especially. I understand why you prefer a softer approach in inking, after all I'm a Mark Schultz fan too! Speaking about coloring, I don't remember if we mentioned Charles Vess earlier, but I'm a big fan of his art. Actually, I'm very fond of fairy tales in general. He's one of my favorite color artists with Moebius and Barry Windsor-Smith.

Ray: I was a little curious about a number of your young superheroine pieces. Is it your idea to come up with the freckles for them?

Paul: I love freckles! In this case, I think it gave them a teenager look (even if they have adult bodies). I thought it would be cute. Supergirl has always been a young girl for me. As for drawing teenage girls..maybe it's because one can never forget his first love... I guess that's why I love to draw that kind of girl. They are fresh and I like their innocence. That's a real pleasure to draw, more than sultry women from my point of view. Nowadays teenage girls mostly try to look like women and older women try to look like teenage girls? How weird!

Ray: Tell me about your creative process. Often I look at your work and I really enjoy the soft fine lines and detail in your penciled preliminaries even more than your finished ink work. For example, the prelim for the Jean Grey image you did for me, I like even more than the finished ink piece! Your pencil work is so delicate, that sometimes the inking seems to produce a harsher effect.

Paul: Yeah, I've just seen my old master Georges Bess, whom I mentioned earlier. Yesterday as he was visiting me, he told me the same thing about my pencil work. He picked a few of my inked works that he chose carefully, and then said: "these are the ones you have to study from"... "these are the good ones, try to see why". Penciling is the part I prefer. Shaping and shading a portrait or whatever... I must admit that sometime the rest of the work process can be just hard work. Not all the time. Drawing with a pencil is really an act of pure creation that I cannot match with any other tool (for now). I think artists like Alex Toth or Moebius worked a lot to get that feeling with their inking... They truly are drawing with ink... Same thing with Jeffrey Jones for painting. His pencil work is just a preliminary to the final piece -- a rough -- but the painting is the real creative act. When I'm doing the roughs for my comic-book work, I prefer to work directly in ink to get to the point... to get the figures' attitudes right more than the rendering.

Ray: Tell us about what ever became of Ariel Lewis which was the project your name was attached to when I first heard of you.

Paul: I had to stop working on Ariel Lewis because my publisher realized that he wanted me to do something more modernistic than what I was doing. I was finishing the first book of the series. They wanted me to take out all the "old fashioned" aspect of it, and believe me, that was a totally unexpected decision! I wouldn't change the book. I wanted to do my Flash Gordon story, to pay my hommages to Williamson, Raymond and that whole movement. That was part of the concept. I've nothing against doing something fresh and new and exciting or whatever, but then I would have come with a different concept in the first place. I wanted this retro style and backgrounds and ships...and so did they in the first place. I'm sure I'll be doing it like I want later (maybe for another publisher), that's just a matter of time. It's hard to believe they waited me to have the first Ariel Lewis book almost finished before asking for changes! I now know I can go back to Ariel with another publisher whenever I want, but I would have to rework it because I don't want to be paid two times for the same work AND I'd have a chance to improve it a great deal. But I like the idea of having some time to think about it doing some other project in between... I know I'll be glad to get back on it when I am ready. With Ariel Lewis, I put more panels per page than US comics because the format was to be larger, like the big graphic novels we do here in France. I'll try to have the next one more...international. I'd love to have it published in the States.

Ray: What do you think of the comics produced today?

Paul: I'm really happy to see so many good books published these past two years...It seems the big publishers have finally understood that they needed good writers. I think Marvel is doing a great job. I would never have expected to get back reading X-Men, Spider-Man, Daredevil, or even Fantastic Four. Most of their titles are good reads, and some are just really good! The publishers are going back to the real basic of comics which is strong storytelling. The 90's was a very sad period for comics from my point of view. I had the feeling that Image Comics had established a new standard that I just hated, and the other majors were trying to do the same. Giant pin-up pages, big flashy characters jumping off the panel, no backgrounds. It seemed like Art Adams (a very good artist on his own) was their oldest and only reference. Nowadays we've got guys like Bryan Hitch, Chris Sprouse, Wieringo...all trying to get a clear story with good layout designs, whatever their style. Great artists like Alan Davis, John Romita Jr are back as fan favorites. That's just great. My only wish would be to see some great series back in print . I really miss titles like Nexus, Xenozoic Tales, Rocketeer or Concrete.

Ray: Thanks for your willingness to share your views and tell us about your life.

Paul: You know I love to chat with you Ray. It's always a pleasure.