WHEN LIFE GETS IN THE WAY

It has been a while since my last entry, but it seems that posting once a year is the new way. I’m not happy about it but there is a pattern and I can’t break it out! Why haven’t I been writing my blog more often? Good question! The answer can be summarized with one word, time, or lack thereof. It’s not that I’m complaining, but it seems that now I have to be very conscious on how to spend my hours. Did I tell you that I recently had another kid? I did! Now we are a family of four and I couldn’t be happier. Needless to say, most of my free time I rather spend it with my family than to do any other job related activities. I am very cautious not to cut back hours from making art, but the activities I do end up neglecting are: posting on social media, setting up a decent online store, and you guessed it, write my blog.

It doesn’t help that nowadays I need to focus more on making enough money to meet my expenses rather than making challenges to get better on my art, or making projects for the foreseeable future. To tell you the truth I spent a lot of my time making the infamous “DC Daily” (drawing a complete illustration of one DC character a day for 2014) and the most recent one “Marvel52” (drawing a fan art comic cover of one character or team every week for 2015) and although I’m truly happy with the results of those collections, I have not yet seen anything real productive come out of them in terms of profit. Yes, I do sell prints of my work at comic conventions but that is simply not enough. Not only travelling to the conventions is expensive, but also I would have to sell much more prints to justify a year's work. I learned a lot and I enjoyed the ride, but I can't keep working for free hoping that somebody will notice my work and offer me a job. What I’m currently focusing on are commissions, mainly portraits and illustrations. I’m thinking out loud but maybe I should draw or paint less and focus more on advertising my services and selling merchandise online. It is easier said than done though.

Ok, without further ado let me unveil to you my recent work. I had to be very picky since a year of art cannot be squeezed in one single entry, so it won’t come as a surprise when I upload just my favorite pieces, which are still a lot.

Let’s start off with some pieces from my “Marvel52” collection. To be completely honest I didn’t finish this challenge at the end of the year like I was supposed to. I had some personal issues to attend and even though I take my own imposed deadlines very seriously, I had to delay 4 pieces to February 2016. I had no editor and nobody was paying me for those so in the end it wasn’t a big deal. I preferred to make them awesome rather than rushing them. I enjoyed making them and I received a lot of praise for the work itself. I don’t think I won’t be doing this kind of project anytime soon unless there is money involved. I mean, they look awesome in my portfolio but this is the time to get a bit dispassionate about popular characters and start creating my own. I would love to be a cover artist though, I truly hope somebody out there notices the amount of effort and dedication I put into these pieces. Here are 14 examples of my fan art Marvel covers. Can any of you guess which one is my favorite?

Since I mentioned my 2014 challenge “DC Daily” above, let me show what I did for this year’s Florida Supercon. I drew 365 DC characters throughout the year, and although they were illustrated in Manga Studio (now Clip Studio Paint) individually, each one of them were drawn on their own individual layers. This is one of the perks of drawing digitally. So I decided to put all 365 characters together in a big poster. How long could it take me, a couple of days at the most? Wrong! I spent assembling them together for a couple of weeks if not three. The amount of work I had to put into organize them to create a good composition, not to mention drawing extra body parts for the ones that were either sitting or blocked by their own foregrounds, was exhausting. In the end I was really happy with the result, and the good news is that I sold every unit of them. This poster was a huge success and it depicts not only a year of hard work but almost two decades of DC iconic characters.

DC Daily poster

My beautiful and supportive wife at Florida Supercon

Now let’s move on to a very challenging month earlier this year. DC Comics announced they were going to open the doors to a few artists. They rarely offer this opportunity to newcomers. You just had to submit the maximum of 6 pages of sequential work, I mean, eh, comics of one of their characters. My good friend Marcelo Cury wrote this beautiful 6-page script and now I had the challenge to make the art as good as the story. I did my best and I am really satisfied with the end result. The devastating earthquake that my country Ecuador suffered around that time interrupted my work though. Luckily all my loved ones were fine, but hundreds of people lost their loved ones and their means of livelihood. It was a very sad time for my country as a whole and the feeling of sadness and powerlessness was overwhelming and took a toll on my work and me personally. But also the feeling of joy to see my country united to alleviate those who were suffering and overcome this catastrophe was reassuring. We as a country were not used to earthquakes or aftershocks and honest to God we were scared. I mean, I did my best to focus and by all means this is not an excuse because I really love the way the short comic turned out, but it took me a long time to finish those pages. So it is fair to say that the production of the pages were not as smooth as I would've liked them to be. A few months later I received a letter telling me that it was good work but I didn’t get in the program. It wasn’t very shocking since the competition was fierce; then again, it was a disappointment to be completely honest. It is still a great read if you like this kind of stuff. Please, go ahead and enjoy a short noir story of a well-known mercenary called Deathstroke. Thanks again to Marcelo for the great script and to my friend Eduardo Risso for trying his best to give me advise to better those pages.

Deathstroke: The Once and Future Part 1 of 1

Are you familiar with blank cover comic variants? These blank covers are meant for sketching directly into the cover of a regular monthly comic. They are very popular at conventions and you can bring one comic book to an artist and he/she can draw on it since the quality of the paper is intended for that. Of course they’re going to charge you, do not expect them for free, please. They are mostly done in pencils, inks, Copic markers, or a combination of those. I buy these comics mostly for gifts. I really enjoy surprising my friends with these unique comics. Here are three examples of those cover sketches. By the way, if you are interested you should google blank cover comic variants and choose the cover of the character you like for me to get it and draw on it. They are relatively easy to get and it is always a great gift.

I also want to show you 3 pieces I did throughout this year. One was a commission of Darth Vader, which is always fun to illustrate. I’m attaching a time-lapse video of the making of this illustration. It is around 5000% faster than what originally took me to make it. For instance, this video lasts around 12 minutes. I don’t remember how long it really took me but a good estimate would be 12 hours. Could be more, I’m an artist not a mathematician. Also, the music on the video is by my good friend Robert Serlinn and his band mUte. Not only I love the song, but is there any song more appropriate to put in a Vader video? (Maybe the Imperial March but Disney wouldn’t let me!) Another was a small illustration I did of Wally West because “Wally is BACK!” Yes, a character long lost in the DC Universe, Wally West, mostly known as The Flash during two decades, was missing. Heck, I even did a fan comic covering his absence from the mainstream universe. DC brought him back in a beautiful comic called “DC Universe Rebirth”, which I highly recommend to any DC Comics fan. I drew his new costume and was very pleased with the end result. The last drawing I was bullied into making it. Yes! I was indeed, but in a good way. A pal I made through my Instagram account posted a picture of a DC character that was not included in my collection everyday for a week in order for me to draw it. This usually won’t work, but he being such a cool guy and for being so supportive during that year I decided what the hell. He really liked it and I was very glad with how this one turned out.

Darth Vader Comic Cover Commission

The next commission falls into the category of portrait/comic illustration. I think this combines the best of two worlds. You see, what I really enjoy are illustrating covers and painting portraits. I think this is what I’m mostly good at. I love making comics but it is much harder, takes more time and commitment, and it brings a lot of frustration to the equation. With this commission I made a portrait of a client dressed as Wonder Woman. What sometimes people don’t understand is that drawing the face (likeness) it is still time consuming, especially if it will be inked as a comic book illustration, so I need to charge as if I were making a portrait, and then some for the whole composition. You cannot get a more unique gift than this, and also the sky is the limit. You want to be an enraged green monster filled with gamma radiation energy, done! You want to be classic TV Wonder Woman, you got it!

Next, I want to show you the portraits I’ve done. These paintings take around 8 to 12 hours depending on the complexity of it, or how I woke up that morning. It is unbelievable how a well-rested night can help you solve problems in your painting. Because of that, I never try to finish one painting in one sitting. It is much better to go to sleep and wake up refreshed in the morning to see mistakes (and solutions) you hadn’t even considered the night before. Most of the time, I make these paintings digitally and print them giclee (the best way to print art work) on canvas. Usually my standard size is 18”x22”, but it could be anything really. One of the advantages of doing them digitally (besides the fact that you can print it again if it gets damaged or stolen) is that you can manipulate the painting into other sizes and ratios (this is a bit harder though). Another benefit is that you can print them on different surfaces, like metal or bamboo. Painting digitally is just another tool. Some people think they are crutches, but I use the same artistic approach as I would in creating an oil painting. I repeat, it is just another tool. I will be making an oil painting soon and probably film it so you can see that the approach is almost the same. You still have to know how to paint, how to mix colors, color theory, proportions, light and shadows, contour, line, etc. Here are a few examples of my portraits. I’m also uploading a 5000% faster than real time video of the making of Juliana, her second year. I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but I’m planning on painting her and my son every year for the rest of my life. At least that’s the plan.

Deanna

Alessia

Efrain

Mercy

Ju 2nd year

Finally, I wanted to show you a caricature of myself I commissioned to a very talented artist named Jeff Stahl. He is not only a great guy but I truly admire his work. He is the quintessential artist and his work shows it. You can follow him on Instagram at @jeffstahl_art.

I wanted to make more art throughout this year. If you see my previous entries, you can notice plans that never actually materialized. Sometimes I just desisted on pursuing those projects, other times they were just postponed to an undefined state. Yes, life gets in the way, but in the most beautiful and marvelous ways. I have a great wife, two amazing children, and responsibilities that demand more of my time. I consider myself a very goal oriented person, and it is frustrating not to be on schedule of your own imposed plans, but you do have to enjoy the scenery as well. Life goes by pretty fast, and I feel blessed on how I’m able to live it. What would have I done different? Nothing at all, I wouldn’t change a thing!

This is just a taste of all the work I’ve done this year. If you want to see more feel free to check my webpage at www.journeystudios.net. Also, you can follow me on my Instagram at @journeystudios or my Twitter @jostudios

I am

Yours in anticipation, 

Jose Luis Molestina aka JO

(and Godspeed to you all)

GETTING ANXIOUS, ARE YOU???

I will start this entry by stating an undisputed fact: “time travels fast, especially when you are busy”. I cannot believe that my last entry was written at the beginning of the year. I would like to write more often but drawing and moving forward in my career is a priority. Since this is a blog about making it in the world of art (comics to be more precise), I think I have made the right choice on prioritizing my work.

Although I have been feeling anxious about my place in the industry so far, I have never been more focused on my goals. It has been harder than I thought but the good news is that my will to achieve my dream is still strong.  Somehow I’m living the dream everyday so no complaints there, I just need to keep at it until I get my big break.

I have seven months worth of art to show, and I couldn’t possibly show every piece here. I’ll be brief on this entry and show you a couple of examples of each segment. For those who can’t get enough of my art (Come on!, there must be some out there!) you can visit my new and improved website www.journeystudios.net which has all my artwork arranged in an orderly fashion. I try to keep the site updated every other week.

Let me begin by saying that I already have 5,255 hours on my main challenge of achieving 10,000 hours to become a master in art. I'm halfway there, and although it seems that it has been a long time ago since I started counting my hours invested in the craft, I can’t help to think that everything is downhill from now. My first post stating the rules of the challenge was on September 1^st, 2010. It has been almost 5 years for 5000 hours, so I can only estimate 5 years more down the road!

Now let’s get serious. If you follow me or read this blog, chances are you either enjoy art or make art. I’ll try to deliver on both accounts.

Let’s start off with what I’m doing now to grab the attention of publishers and art directors. I hope you remember my previous yearly challenge on drawing a DC Comic book character everyday for 2014 called DC Daily (I sure do!). I haven’t really tried to contact DC Comics to show off my work, mainly because it is so hard to reach them and also I haven’t the slightest idea on who to approach. I did print a book with all 365 illustrations and I think it looks great. This is for show of course since I haven’t  gotten permission by DC Comics to sell them. I guess I like more to make art rather than sell it. Some people tell me to sell it anyways as "fan art" since it falls under the category of 'Fair Use'. I'm not sure about that so I wouldn't risk it. By the way, what is Fair Use? It is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders". The following book is NOT FOR SALE, just for showing to art directors and publishers at conventions. Also, the fact that it exists physically makes me less anxious on having spent a year of my life on that and haven't done anything with it yet. Although I do sell individual prints at con as fan art :) 

For 2015 I decided to do something lighter but also challenging. I’m drawing a Marvel Comics character (or team) cover every week for 2015 called Marvel 52. These are done in comic book cover format and the series will contain 52 pieces. Although this is not as gargantuan of a challenge as the DC Daily project, I'm still investing a lot of my time in these illustrations. I spend between two to three days on average to complete each cover. I draw everything by hand but all digitally as well by using a Cintiq (Wacom) with my favorite software Manga Studio. Some of them I had the opportunity to sell as commissions. In these cases I like to draw with traditional pencils so I can give them the original art as well as you can see in the Beast piece. Prices on commissions are listed on my webpage on My Store.

I hope I finish my Marvel 52 challenge on 2015, but if not, bear with me. Remember I’m not getting paid for these covers and when paid work comes across I have to do it. I’m halfway there so there may be a possibility of meeting the deadline. If not, I will probably finish on January 2016. Following some Marvel 52 examples and a time-lapse video process of making the Vision.

I’ve been really busy this year but I did find the time to go to C2E2 (Chicago’s best comic convention by ReedPop) and be at the artist alley. It is a big deal because you have to be accepted in order to participate as an artist. It was a really great experience but very tiring. I don’t know if I’m cut out to do that very often though. My beautiful wife was with me at the table helping me to sell some prints. She was a great help and business was good. We had a lot of fun. Of course my expenses tend to be much higher than Americans because I have to travel from Ecuador so it wasn’t as lucrative as I would have liked. Still, it was a great way for getting my work out there. I even met a lovely couple that was getting married on July (they must be married by now) and commissioned me an illustration cover based on the famous Amazing Spider-Man annual # 21. I had fun with this project and I even have a video showing the process. Last but not least, I had the opportunity to give Mark Waid (a famous comic and Flash writer) my Flash fan comic I made that I had dedicated to him, and he was very kind as always. He even asked for my signature, how cool is that?

My Artist Alley table at C2E2

Me and the Wife

Me with a fan :)

Me with Mark Waid

What about comics? I‘ve been doing some comic pages for a new series that we want to launch. It is called Heartthrob but we are still in the stage of finding a publisher that is interested in the project. This is Nikolai Barkats’ story, a young but great writer that has not only fun and solid ideas but also knows how to write amazing scripts. I will only show you the cover for this one since I don’t want to spoil anything out to you. The interior pages, which I cannot show, are colored by a friend of mine and great artist from Ecuador, David Méndez.

Cover for Heartthrob

I also met a fan, which now happens to be a friend and also a great writer. He is Marcelo Cury from Sao Paulo, Brazil. He was very supportive when I was drawing my DC Daily challenge and commented on almost every post. We happened to meet on New York and then he told me he had the good habit of writing scripts. I didn’t think much of it until he sent me a page or two. I was hooked with the way he writes and needless to say we are cooking something special. It is still top secret and hopefully we will launch it next year. Sorry, no peeking!

Me, Marcelo, and Dr. Hurt

Ok, now let’s get technical and talk about color. I have always considered myself more of a drawer rather than painter. From the beginning of time in art there has been the distinction, line versus color, or to be more precise line versus values. Some people think either one of them is an ability that you are born with, just like music talent. Although musicians have that special talent, they also have to learn techniques and how to play instruments. The same happens here and I’m confident you can learn both abilities. For me drawing comes easier and more natural than painting. I love lines and to flirt with the idea of the type of lines I can make to denote weight or texture is fulfilling. Values are just as important since it can show volume just by shading or highlighting the planes of the subject. They can be done in grayscale. To understand values you have to understand how light works. This Andrew Loomis’ drawing is self-explanatory but hard to grasp at first. Memorize it! It will get easier with practice, practice, and more practice. 

Color is another beast and it is challenging as hell. For this I recommend the book “Color and Light” by James Gurney. You can find it on Amazon here. It has everything you need to learn about color.

Finally, my beautiful daughter turned 1 year old this July 27^th. I, of course, decided to give her a present from the heart (along with toys of course). I drew a portrait of her and also edited a time-lapse video of the process. I hope you enjoy it.

Portrait of my daughter Juliana for her birthday

Besides my current Marvel 52 challenge, and my upcoming comic work by Marcelo and me, I have two other announcements. In order to keep the blog more active, I will create an online course on essentials on drawing. I will try and get the lessons done for summer 2016. They will be video time-lapses, examples, and even homework. There will be free content but also exclusive content for paid memberships.

My other announcement is that I’m planning to live feed my 24-hour challenge comic, which consists on creating an entire comic of 24 pages in 24 hours. This is a demanding but also a rewarding task. I will hope to do this on October 3, 2015. Of course, I will make official announcements via Instagram (@journeystudios), Twitter (@Jostudios), and Facebook (Journey Studios). This is a project based on the famous Scott McCloud challenge that has inspired hundreds of artists to make this challenge. The rules are in the following link. What normally takes you one day to do (a penciled page) you now have to do it in one hour (inked and probably with some color too). If this is not a challenge I don’t know what is. I love challenges, haven’t you noticed?

Talk to you soon.

Godspeed,

Jo