Travis Charest (born 1969) is a Canadian comic book penciller, inker and painter, known for his work on such books as Darkstars, WildC.A.T.s, Grifter/Shi, WildC.A.T.s/X-Men: The Golden Age and The Metabarons. He is known for his detailed line work and muted color palette, and is a much sought-after cover artist, having done extensive cover work for many other books, such as various Star Wars series from Dark Horse Comics. His work has influenced artists such as Chrissie Zullo, Shelby Robertson, and David Marquez.
Early life
Charest was born in 1969 on a farm in the small Canadian town of Leduc, Alberta. His parents held various jobs, though he has stated that his mother and sister were skilled designers, and attributes his early childhood interest in drawing to them.
His earliest exposure to genre illustration came through Metal Hurlant, which his uncle collected. American comics were not among his earliest reading, and his initial drawings were of life, such as animals.
Career
Charest did not initially know how to parlay his drawing ability into a career, as there were no schools where he lived for such an endeavor, and did not foresee it as a profession. He worked a number of dead-end jobs, and it was while living on his own at age 18 or 19, and became friends with people who read comics, that he realized he could make a career out of it. Charest cites Mike Mignola, Adam Hughes, and Brian Bolland among his artistic influences, as well as many artists from the early 20th century.
Charest spent six months continuously producing new sample art and sending them to various publishers, including Marvel Comics and DC Comics. In 1992 he got his first paid work, when DC Comics hired him to provide the art for a Flash story in Showcase '93 #3 (March 1993). Charest drew the book from a full script, which he said meant that he did not have to make as many storytelling choices as he would have with a plot script, explaining in a 2020 interview, "My weak point is storytelling, I'm not a great storyteller. I'm good with cars and atmospheric things."
He followed that initial Flash story with another one that appeared in Flash Annual #5 (August 1992), which he calls "my first real thing", and then a story focusing on an arm wrestling match between the Hulk and the Thing written by Peter David in Incredible Hulk Annual #18.
He later became the regular artist on Darkstars, illustrating issues 4 - 7. He also produced cover work for other DC titles such as The Outsiders, Batman, and Detective Comics.
Charest was then contacted by publisher Jim Lee, who offered him work for Wildstorm Productions. Charest's first work for that studio was a pinup that appeared in WildC.A.T.s #0 (June 1993). Later that same year, he illustrated WildC.A.T.s Special #1 (November 1993). He subsequently illustrated back-up stories featuring Voodoo and Warblade in issues 8 and 9 of the regular series (February and March, 1994). He became the regular artist of the series with issue #15, illustrating the title during the runs of writers James Robinson and Alan Moore. While his initial work for Wildstorm was characterized by large amounts of cross-hatching, which was popular among the Image Comics founders and their imitators, Charest's style began to evolve as he looked to other designers that piqued his interest. His last regular issue on WildC.A.T.s was #31 (September 1996), though he later returned to illustrate the title's 50th issue (June 1998). He also did many covers and unpublished private commissions.
In 1999, Charest joined writer Scott Lobdell on a second series of Wildcats, illustrating five of the first six issues. Charest felt that his Wildcats both work, both under Moore and Lobdel, had begun to "slide," and that it was time to do something different. During the San Diego Comic-Con that year, the president of the French publisher Les Humanoïdes Associés invited Charest to lunch, where he offered the artist the opportunity to work on The Metabarons. Charest, having long-enjoyed L'Incal by Moebius, had aspired to work for the same publisher, and was "thrilled" by the offer, relating, "I was very young, ambitious and they told me that I could make complete pages, painted, not just drawn in pencil. I was going to live in Paris with my girlfriend, painting all day. 'It will be great!' I told myself."