The time has come for the second entry of Bits and Pieces, Oshkosh Horror’s interview series. This time around John talks with Brian Defferding of Deftoon Comics. I have gotten to know Brian quite well over the past few years as we have traveled around the Midwest together trying to keep up with the horror circuit. Brian is the one and only face behind School: A Ghost Story, a self-written, drawn and published horror comic book. Come along as we talk School, hot lunch, good tunes and so much more.

Has art always been a big part of your life?

Not until I was twelve or thirteen years old. When I was growing up I never had the attention span for comic books, suddenly when I hit the age of 12 I started reading my friend’s comic books. Then I bought an issue of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk and I became hooked.  A year later I started drawing some of my own comics, typically during class when I should have been paying attention to the teacher. It grew from there.

When did your artwork begin taking a darker direction?

It was my senior year at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. I interned at Dead Dog Comics, a horror comic publisher, which was in Minneapolis at the time. The publisher now runs the Crypticon horror convention out there. I started my senior project while at Dead Dog – it’s an art student’s version of a senior thesis – and my project was the first issue of School: A Ghost Story. I always had a fascination with ghosts, the very idea of it intrigued me, and the stories that connect to them. I wanted to write one of my own.

What artists have influenced and inspired you?

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Here’s a little something new we are going to be featuring on Oshkosh Horror…interviews! Bits and Pieces will feature interviews with all sorts of individuals from the horror community. For the first entry in Bits and Pieces, John ventures out of Oshkosh to the foot of the lake, Fond Du Lac. Wait, Fond Du Lac means “foot of the lake” so why the hell did I say that? Moron. Anyway, Oshkosh Horror spat some questions to a man who could be labeled an artistic Jack of All Trades, Mr. Erich Claude Polnow.

OH: Portraits, pez, life size figures, etc? What’s the deal?

ECP: As soon as I could hold a drawing tool, I was using it. I used to do only pen and ink. Then, a buddy came over in ‘05 with some pastels and told me to draw something. I reluctantly obliged and decided on Dr. Tongue. It hit me like a fever. I fell in love with color and worked on tweaking my technique over the years to what it is now. Mixed medium awesome. The content allowed me to work on advancing my skill on monsters, likeness, shading, and all of that. And it was fun to do characters I love.
The Pez? Kind of the same thing. I also had been making action figures for about 10 years or so. And when making figures of George Carlin or Jules and Vincent–heads are usually the most difficult part of the piece for the same reasons as the portraits. So, I started making Pez dispensers to hone my skill of sculpting and be able to walk away with a finished piece. Plus, not many people do Pez or 3-D sculpting these days, so it’s been fun to have a rare calling card like that.

When did your artwork start to take a direction to horror?

I think it (horror) always had an influence on me. I can remember being in kindergarten and doing the thing where you’d draw a picture of yourself in your Halloween costume and write a wide-spaced page about it. I drew myself as Jason Voorhees with a bloody machete and hockey mask. Ahh, the eighties– a time before they had meetings about what kids would draw.

What events/people have inspired you throughout your adventures?

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