It’s been around 12 years since my first post detailing my journey of drawing and/or painting for 10,000 hours in order to master this craft. For those who are not familiar with this blog from my recent past, I aimed to reach 10,000 hours drawing or painting in order to master this craft. This is based on a popular theory better explained by Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers, which clearly had an impact on me. I remember back in August 2010 feeling so anxious and yet so eager to start this new era of my life. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to graduate from the School of Visual Arts or even to be successful in my new career. I really had no idea what would happen to me while achieving this humongous and ambitious task. The road has been slippery rocky and harder than I thought, but it has been even more joyful than I could have ever imagined. Not only that, my art skills are now beyond what I had ever dream of. This journey has been so interesting and mesmerizing that I don’t have the proper words to describe it. Not to sound poetic or pedantic but I think the main feeling I have is basically gratitude, for every obstacle and goal achieved, and even for every failure I’ve endured. This journey has been a privilege for me and although the right words elude me I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has been there for me all along. I reached my goal of achieving 10,000 hours and I couldn’t have done it without my family, my friends, and believe it or not, my fans (There are a few out there! Yes, I couldn’t believe it myself). I unceremoniously accomplished possibly my greatest dream and here I am at my studio with no awards or any type of recognition (not that it was expected or deserved) but the anonymity of a dream come true and the pure joy of having been able to achieve it.
For consistency’s sake I will be posting The work I’ve created since my last entry to properly catalog them for my progression in mastering art. Let’s start with the ones that look back at me, portraits.
Portraits have always come natural to me, or at least I thought that when I started this journey. I’ve made around 60 professional portraits and although the improvement is highly noticeable, I know there is still room to grow and learn a few tricks here or there. I’ve done some oil paintings as well but my main focus has been in digital art. I’ve never told anyone but I think it is time for you to know, I just hate getting paint on my hands😁 Here are some of my recent portraits and a couple of time-lapse videos showing my process.
Another thing that comes fairly easy to me are caricatures. I’ve loved painting caricatures since I was in middle school. To tell you the truth I always wonder what could I have done if I just dedicated all my focus in studying this craft. That’s the thing about variety, you can never truly focus on one thing. In any case, my portrait painting surely helped in making these caricatures look as professional as they can get.
Of course by being a digital painter I can conjure all sorts of compositions based on reality or not. I’ve played around with styles and techniques, but if you know what you’re looking for you can recognize my style a mile away. I’ve also been very versatile with my work. I’ve painted superheroes, sport legends, landscapes, and even religious pieces. Let me go one by one.
As I stated before, my favorite tool with color is digital painting, but what I truly consider to be my strength is in drawing. I’ve drawn the human figure thousands of times and 12 years ago I was obsessed with anatomy to draw realistic characters, superheroes or not. Now, I’m leaning more on conceptual paintings and maybe not focusing on every muscle on the human body. Still, anatomy for artists is like a language, and you have to review it from time to time. In this case I was commissioned to paint the Justice League in acrylics. It was a challenge but I loved how it turned out.
I also love the fact that I can create scenes that could never have happened. This digital painting printed giclee on canvas is based on the Yankees. There is no photograph uniting all these icons together, and how could it be since Babe Ruth was from another era altogether. I named this “Baseball Legends” and it takes a very special place in my heart because it was commissioned by my brother in law. He was very specific on what he wanted depicted and I’m so glad I could make it happen.
As a bonus another legend, Diego Armando Maradona. I did this for a private commission and printed it on metal.
Another painting that I’m very proud of I did was based on a monument of my client’s father. Painting this scene was challenging because he wanted to show how important it was to have this type of monument on a well-recognized and transited avenue from my hometown.
I’ve never been recognized for religious paintings, but a good friend of mine commissioned me to paint not only his daughters, depicted on my portraits segment, but also a painting based on the Virgin Mary – Our Lady of Schoenstatt oil painting. If you think getting the likeness from a person (model or photo) is hard, believe me when I tell you that getting the likeness from another painting is even harder. You don’t have much room to paint it your style since it has to resemblance the face of the other painting. I’m really satisfied with how it turned out.
Comic covers have always been what I wanted to do for a living once I realized drawing comic pages just took me too much time to finish and the compensation wasn’t in par with my expenses. This may be due to the fact that I may have started this career later in life compared to other younger artists with no families to provide for and more time to spend on their art than myself. I’m 45 years old now and I must confess I don’t have the energy for all-nighters anymore as my competition does. Limits breed creativity and I found out that designing comic covers is not only something I truly enjoy but also something I can do quite fast and therefore sell it at a good price. This didn’t come easy since I had to study drawing, inking, lettering, composition, coloring, special effects rendering, designing titles and adding cover elements to make complete covers. Here are three examples of private commissions I’ve done.
It is also fun to make illustrations to sell as high-quality limited giclee prints, which I normally sell through my website
www.journeystudios.net. As an example here's a Superman I recently did.
Remember my comic confessions? Well, for anyone who have no idea what I’m talking about I started these confession panels at the beginning of the pandemic. I still make them from time to time but I just can’t find the time to do them regularly. I plan to keep doing them because they are great for warmups and also I love to encapsulate some storytelling in just one panel. In other words, since I’m not doing comic interiors, this way I scratch my storytelling itch. Here are some of my latest ones.
I also landed a gig designing t-shirts for a special client. Tyson not only has become one of my most recurrent customers but also he is such a great guy who not only likes my designs but also respects my craft. I’ve always said that creating comics is a collaborative effort and we have done just that, as a team. I’m so proud of the work created so thank you for your trust and the opportunity to keep making these illustrations. Here is just one sample of the many illustrations I’ve done for him.
I never imagined that one person would be tattooing one of my designs on his leg. He approached me and was very specific of what he wanted. I put my heart and soul on this design because it was so personal to him. I’m so proud of that tattoo and I hope one day I can recognize my art walking by. I also have another design that I liked very much. Sadly, this for some reason never got made into a tattoo. It is based on Eddie from the band Iron Maiden, which I’m a huge fan.
Did I mention that I also did some book covers for my brother, who happens to be a writer? I love this gig, not only because I get to be a part of his journey but also because I found cover designs delightful. No wonder I always wanted to have a bookstore.
But what about comics? Yeah, the progress is very slow since it has been constantly interrupted by paid work. I can’t seem to find momentum for it and some of my stories have been left unfinished. It is a damn shame because I think the harder parts are already done, but that amount of time is something I just can’t spend right now. There is a Joker story in the works but sadly I won’t be showing any preview as for now. I guess the joke’s on me, right?
About my career in the comic book industry… I’d say timing played an important factor in not making me pursue an ongoing career in the industry. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to dedicate my life by drawing comics, I just don’t think the time invested and the tentative payment per page are worth it as of now. Also, the comic book industry is not what it used to be and I just lost interest in participating. Social media didn’t help either. Now in order to get proper exposition you need to show your ugly mug and make reel videos for a living. I guess learning how to edit videos is mandatory nowadays, but to like making them is just another story.
Maybe I will be printing a coffee table book of this experience. I’m not hoping for it to be a commercial success and I’m sure I will be giving them away for free to my friends and family who have been supporting me since the beginning. Hopefully, I will be able to inspire anyone into believing that anything is possible and that your most precious weapon is perseverance and not to deviate from your dream in order to be able to stay consistent with your goals.
During this 12 year ride there has been many obstacles, some of them inside my head and some of them external factors beyond my control. There has been financial troubles, earthquakes, ideology wars, social media, and as a human race, we’ve endured a devastating pandemic. There have been many losses but also many wins as well. It has been hard I’m not going to lie, but to be completely honest with you this has been the second best decision I’ve made in my life. I know you can guess which one is the first. Marrying my wife has been a blessing and I couldn’t have gone along with this crazy plan without her infinite support. I love you Morole and my gratitude is limitless. Also, thanks for giving me my best joy, my children. They were born during this challenge and they know that his father is a happy artist and that he draws and paints for a living. They never knew the other side of the coin when I felt frustrated and sad for not being able to do what I loved. Many thanks to my parents for their endless support and to my brother and sister and my family as a whole for always been there for me. There are many dear friends that have been with me during this decade or so that I’d need another entry to properly thank them. Since this is my last entry then I guess I will send you a copy of my book once it’s finished. In any case, You know who you are. A very special thanks to Eduardo Risso who has not only been a great mentor but also a great friend. He is also responsible for reinforcing the idea to embark on this journey. Also, whenever I create a piece I hear his words "Think before drawing"
I’ve done a lot of things, some of them I wish I could take back and some of them I’m so happy that I got the chance to do them. There are some that I still wish I had the courage to try. Well, if there is a lesson here somewhere is that anything is achievable if you put your mind into it. You know what I haven’t done? I had never stop drawing ever since.
Like Chazz Palminteri wrote in his play A Bronx Tale: “The saddest thing in life is wasted talent, and the choices you make will shape your life forever”.
I don’t regret a thing.
Godespeed,
Jo
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| WE FINALLY DID IT! |
