Carlo Barberi's Workshop

So this weekend I was invited by my good friend elmudo to a comic book workshop. This was specially cool because the artist that was giving the workshop was Carlo Barberi which in case you didn't know is a killer artist, who has worked on many titles for both marvel and DC. And he is also from my hometown of Monterrey, Mexico which makes him even more badass.

Joking aside, it was very insightful to speak and receive advice from another professional, because as you should know, every artist experience is different, regardless on how many years they have been working in the industry, everybody has a different story on how they broke into comics and how to say relevant, produce excellent work and still have a life outside the drawing board (or at least trying to ).

It is my personal opinion that every workshop, every little chat and every porfolio review, every chance you get to speak with a person that is clearly better than you is, is always enlightening because every time you learn something that you didn't know, or you didn't think you know. Is in this occasions that you actually get better because you are forced to act on the spot, trying to get the better part of your work and getting good advice at the same time.  In a way it is kind of what they are teaching us at the Kubert School, but as I mentioned before, every artist has a different story.

And one more very important thing is the people you know in these sort of gatherings. You never know who are you gonna end up chatting with, they might just end up being really good people and you never know, may be very good friends for life. And in this business connecting with other peers and colleagues is as important as the ability to draw.

So if you ever get the chance to attend to one of these workshops don't hesitate to do so. That might be your first step in the right direction.

Rock on my friends... y arriba Monterrey!

Art Jam 15: Captain America

Another Artjam! wednesday. This time we selected good ol' Captain America, cuz, you know, the up coming movie and everything. Once we decided which character we were going to draw, I started with a couple of sketches. This serves me as warmups, because its very rare that I'm happy with the first idea.

They suck. I know.

So after an hour sketching and not going anywhere, EDSFOX convinced me that it was time for some concept art style. Try something new for a change. This is how I started the piece:

First the background. I imagined Cap to be in a heroic pose, with the camera looking up to the sky. Maybe a town is burning down in flames faw away. This is completely backwards from what I usually do. I usually start with the sketch of the character and then place it in a place. But different is new and new is always better.

Then I sketched the pose and silhouette of the character (heroic remember?) , with the intention of creating everything with the brush strokes in Photoshop.

I don't have in between stages from the initial strokes to the final touches, but all I can say is that the process was kind of discovering where I wanted Cap to be in relationship with the background.

At first I haven't thought of the Shield, but my buddy Eds reminded me that it was such an icon, I had to include it. At the end the important aspect was a very bright light, contrasting with the background, giving him details only in certain parts I wanted to enhance for the viewers (face, chest, left hand and shield)

The cool thing was that I almost finished the whole thing in a very short period of time. I know that it doesn't have that much of detail, but, I think this is the essence of concept art, just with brush strokes and gestures, artists create remarkable and wonderful worlds that later will turn into fantastic entertainment.

If you want to see some wicked painting styles check out the entries for The Rift videogame contest.
Also one crazy artist: David Rapoza

Until next time, keep rocking and drawing!

Art Jam 14: IronWar

Full view please!

Long time since my last post.

I should have posted something sooner but here it is. My tribute to Ironman and WarMachine. I should say that I grew a rather stronger preference towards Warmachine, I dunno why.

Here is the process:

1. Sketch

 

Although Ironman's lines are semi clean, this is how it started, setting both characters in position. I tried to make them as dinamic as I could, given the fact that they are both avoiding the explosions and flying at mach 5 speed (hehe). Then I proceeded to draw both armors in place.

2. Clean up

Using a clean hard brush, I cleaned all the sketchy lines, leaving some of them as I saw fit.

3. Finished piece

So there you go. I hope you guys like it.

Be sure to check EDSFOX version of Ironman.  He did an awesome job!

Til next time dudes.