Here's a panel from my first comic assignment back in 2003. A two part Judge Dredd story (written by Gordon rennie) published in the weekly UK magazine 2000AD. Even though it is part of my first work, it still remains as one of my favourite drawings. I wanted to share it here. The inks and colors are by the very talented Eva de la Cruz (as always).
It's a rare opportunity for a comic artist to be able to spend a couple of months exclusively to discuss and visually develop the characters and the world a book will be set in before starting with the actual pages.
With TRIBES, I was able to live this, and I'm truly thankful for that. I have been given a lot of creative space to try interesting storytelling approaches and it's being a very complex and absolutely satisfying experience.
The release date is yet to be decided and I'm sure I will be dedicating lots of future entries to this book.
TRIBES is the post-apocaliptic/sci-fi toy creation of SOULCRAFT's comic producer Michael Geszel. I was lucky enough to be hand picked by him and asked to join this creation. Since then I've not only won a good "boss", but a good friend... a combination hard to find.
I'm not able to show too much at this stage, because I don't want to spoil any future promotion, but there's an early promotional trailer that I can share... hope it makes you curious...
TRIBES is being an incredible experience for me, both proffesionally and personally speaking. It has taken me to meet a lot of outstanding people inside and outside the comics industry and I got to visit San Diego, New York and Baltimore, with some incredible experiences along the way.
This is my first entry…I’m starting my walk stepping on virgin sands here. On one side I think I should make it a special one, but on the other side I know I’m not very much the “blogger” kind, so I’ll just get going and ride this horse as easy as possible.
Next month, June, is the release date of BURNOUT, the MINX/DC graphic novel written by Rebecca Donner and illustrated by myself and Eva de la Cruz (handling the grey tones).
It has been an absolute pleasure to work on this book. On one side I worked with my long time friend and partner in crime Eva, which guaranteed my drawings were going to look at least ten times better then how they looked when they left my drawing board. On the other side, working over Rebecca’s script made me feel like half of my pencils where already down in words. Her writing is very thoughtful; she really gets into the mind of the characters, making my job a delight. Checkout her novel "Sunset Terrace" to get another good glimpse of her quality and sensitive writing.
And I can’t talk about this book without mentioning Shelly Bond, my editor and the mastermind behind MINX. I had worked with her previously in a short story which appeared in Vertigo’s Fables. That short experience was simply fantastic. She is the dream editor of any artist that wants to become a real star. She makes the artist grow in every panel, in every page. So, after 144 pages of working under her genius guidance in Burnout I feel my storytelling knowledge and sensitivity has grown immensely. The feedback you get from her is absolutely incredible. Working with her is like receiving free (well, not free, they actually paid me!) classes of art and storytelling on a daily basis.
I raise muy cup for MINX and wish the line a long and happy life.
And here’s a sneak peek at the process for page 1 of the book… from the breakdowns (check out how they changed after a couple phone calls from the editor) to the final art…
