As I was figuring out who my second artist to pester at Comicpalooza 2010 would be, I ran into inker Rodney Ramos, who thought I looked just like one of the the Kids In The Hall (I assume Dave Foley, as he's not the first to make the connection, and preferable to my assumption he initially meant Jim Carrey circa Dumb & Dumber.) We talked for a bit about comics, movies and art supplies, and he seemed like a cool, opinionated guy. If I hadn't been so stingy with my funds this time out, I'd have gotten something from him, but the money flowed to the pencillers, I'm afraid.
Unlike most every other artist at the convention, Humberto Ramos (no relation) had a longish and slow moving line. I'd been a fan since his work on Impulse (what was with that book?), and especially dug his DV8. Clearly the man has fans, as I waited for an hour or so to reach him. Luckily, there were a couple of guys in line to chat with along the way. Since I'd brought inadequate supplies to get commissions with, I bought a copy of Ramos' sketchbook Fairy Quest: The Narrator's Book for $25 to use a glossy interior page for a $40.00 piece.
While Ramos worked off reference from a Joe Certa House of Mystery page, he and my girlfriend chatted in Spanish about Mexico City (his home town,) Monterrey (hers,) his family's dashed hopes he might become a civil engineer or architect, their mutual love of Joaquín Sabina, and her one-sided affection for Enrique Bunbury. I just watched Ramos work with a big grin on my face, as he outlined just the right outlandish proportions and diabolical grin on Prof. Hugo's face. I believe the whole process took just 15-20 minutes, and it was easily my best experience with hovering over a work in progress.
That's the look the CEO of Goldman Sachs had when he was thinking about how to spend the bailout money.
ReplyDeleteAhhhh!!! I love it!!!! The expression is so amusing. He really captured the over-the-top megalomania.
ReplyDeleteYou have to provide your own paper, too? Good to know...
What exactly about art supplies were you talking about with Rodney Ramos? I'm curious. (Traditional inks vs. digital, perhaps?)
God, I love that expression so much!
ReplyDeleteSupplies differ from artist to artist. Van Sciver had his own drawing pad. Ramos & Malki drew on whatever you gave them. Others used official comic company art boards or individual sheets of glossy stock. The one constant in my experience is that artists bring their own pencils/pens/markers, as most are partial to very specific utensils.
Rodney Ramos saw my yellowed old spiral sketchbook and wondered why I would subject a new sketch to such a poorly preserved medium. I argued that it was a last minute precaution to bring my own sketchbook, figuring correctly that either the artists would have their own supplies, or that I could improvise (Ramos' artbook, backer boards, etc.) Rodney Ramos also argued against using bound books of any kind to store art, as losing one book means countless pages of art gone. I countered that a) I'm more interested in digitally storing requested art than maintaining the physical medium, b) a book of art is a priceless collection, where loose sketches are only that, & c) a book encourages artists to check out one another's work and compete for quality.
Maybe he was worried your sketchbook wasn't acid-free. But if it's digital, it doesn't matter.
ReplyDeleteI like reason c...that's pretty clever.
After seeing this, Hugo really needs to make a guest appearance somewhere. Even if it's a cameo.
Well, he just had his first new adventure in over 40 years. Even if it was Super Friends, that's a start.
ReplyDeleteGRRRRRREAT piece!
ReplyDeleteMore to come, but developing events have interrupted their delivery until this weekend. Feel free to guess s'more...
ReplyDeleteWell, I've been searching Comic Art Fans for both Mr. V and Human Flame pieces, and neither are represented. Since you stated no Mr. V, I'm going with Human Flame. But my gut tells me that you're not that big of a Human Flame fan, so I still waver in my decision.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe you went and got a sketch of one of Marco Xavier's "chicks."