Guatemalan Writers: Byron

My friend Byron Quiñonez's dark writings were recently turned into a graphic novel by editor Pablo Luján and artist Byron Zuñiga, which in turn inspired me to make Byron a comic-style portrait! Admittedly, looks a lot more menacing than originally intended, but knowing Byron, that's a good thing. 11 x 8.5 inches, digital. 

Travis

You talkin' to me? My third piece for the INKtober challenge!
9 x 12 inches, ink on paper

Freddy

Sweet dreams! Here's my second image for the INKtober challenge 2015!
11 x 13 inches. Ink on paper.

Hannibal

Hello Clarice! Here's my first drawing for the INKtober challenge 2015! This year's theme: movie villains! 11 x 13 inches. Ink on paper.

Deep-Fried Art!

FrenchFryzilla tears thru Tatertown!

These "salty" art pieces were made entirely with French fries during today's visit to a Ronald McDonald House! Organized by Revista Capiusa and McDonald's Guatemala, the event gave several local illustrators like me the chance to see the inside of one of Guatemala City's three Houses helping healing children and their families stay together. To find out more about Ronald McDonald House Charities, visit: http://www.rmhc.org/

We love to make you smile!

Max

Another quick digital sketch inspired by Eny Roland's portraits from his mural series "Ordets Magt" (The Power of the Word) right now on display at Cophenhagen Pride 2015.

Camilla

Quick digital sketch inspired by one of Eny Roland's portraits from his upcoming mural series "Ordets Magt" (The Power of the Word) to be presented at Cophenhagen Pride 2015.

Blue man

I love working with Alex Dukal's AD Artbox because it allows me to simulate traditional media tools. The "brush pen" is one of my favorite digital instruments, but this quick sketch was an experiment with the "chalk" brush. The flexibility of digital media allows me the freedom to experiment in ways no traditional media ever would. If something doesn't work, you can always go back, and being able to do that, is just beautiful. 

Pata de chucho

Because of a few recent travels (which happen to be the reason I haven't posted here lately), an illustrator friend called me a "pata de chucho" (literally, a "dog's leg" in Spanish), which means something like a "rolling stone", someone who doesn't stand still in one place for long. When she said it, I decided to make a self portrait sketch of myself with my leg turning into an actual dog's leg. Just a bit of weirdness for your day. Cheers!

HUGE NEWS!!

As you may have already guessed from the accompanying picture, a) this post has to do with New York, and b) I'm really excited about it. 

Well, here it is in a gist: one of my artworks will be on display at a collective expo in Brooklyn! Awesome, right? So if you like fine arts from far away exotic countries and you find yourself near the DUMBO area on the 29th of May around 6pm, make sure to get to the NYFA Gallery. Can't go on that date? Relax, the expo closes on October the 2nd, so you'll have plenty of time to drop by.

See you there!

Sea serpent, then and now.

Recently, I came across an old drawing I made when I got my first Intuos tablet, a few years back. So I got inspired to redo it and see how much my style has changed. Quite a bit, apparently! 

For Tha Nookie

Back in the 90's, Limp Bizkit had a trilogy of videos: Re-Arranged, N Together Now, and the most famous one out of the three, Nookie, which I happened to come across while surfing on the YouTubes. I hadn't seen them for a while, and I had forgotten how fun and goofy those videos were. So I did a practice sketch of bandleader Fred Durst with the puffy jacket he wears on one of the vids.(I never found out which sport team that jacket belongs to. Does anybody know?)

Even though I'm trying to depend less and less on contour lines, I think I'll keep using them on some quick pieces like this one.

These Are NOT What You Think!

No, these are not Ku Klux Klan members! Not at all! Cross my heart! As sinister as they may look, these are actually Catholic cucuruchos, who predate the KKK for at least 1000 years. Cucuruchos ("cones", more or less) are so named because of the shape of their hats, which may or may not cover the face of the wearer, depending on the parish they belong to. During processions, they take turns carrying andas (platforms decorated with religious imagery related to Easter) on their shoulders, as a form of penance. Processions are a very important part of the Catholic Holy Week celebrations in Latin America and Spain.

I've always had trouble using color properly. While making this image, I came across some videos regarding color which became very useful, specially regarding the use of saturation as a way to guide the viewer. I applied some of their tips and I really think it helped the illustration quite a bit. 11 x 17 inches, digital.  

Kuul, the comic book character

 Full piece

Close up

It's funny how things develop sometimes. When my friend Kuul uploaded his latest Facebook profile pic, he never suspected that his many, many mischievous graphic artist pals would photoshop the hell out of it, with hilarious results, I wanted to join the fun, but being able to top the outrageous images was proving next to impossible, so I went a different way, by redrawing his picture in a comic book style. True, it's not humorous like what the other guys did, but I like the end result and had a lot of fun working on the piece. It's making me think about making a comic book, Whaddaya think? 

Celebrating Womanhood

International Women's Day (IWD), is celebrated on March 8th of every year. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political, and social achievements. This year's theme is Make It Happen, encouraging effective action for advancing and recognising women.You can learn more by visiting the International Women's Day global site.

Regarding the illustration, it's another example of the new style I'm working on. I gotta say, it's quite a bit more complex to render than my usual style. This piece in particular took about 6 hours to make (usually I spend 2 or 3 hours rendering, tops). But it's worth it. 11 x 17 inches, digital.

Little Doggie, Big Bone

One thing I've struggled with for some time now is my dependence on the line. Practicallly all of my pieces feature a very strong, very visible line. The shadowing and the color become afterthoughts, in a way. But the line is the ultimate protagonist. I believe that, as an illustrator, it's my obligation to try new things constantly. Some of these new things will become part of future projects, and some won't, but the need to constantly challenge oneself is real. Otherwise, you risk getting stuck in a rut. So this is my most recent attempt to dispense with any lines whatsoever. The way I worked this piece was to treat it as if it were a painting, blocking big masses of color and then working my way in, sculpting the hues, in a way. I must say that, I'm really satisfied with the result, so it's safe to say you'll be seeing more of this technique in the future. 8 x 6 inches, digital.

PzP Tshirt Design

Plaza Pública is a Guatemalan digital newspaper. For their 4th anniversary, they asked several local artists to come up with designs for merchandise. Mine is about how I perceive the work they do: Plaza is unlike most news sources, because they don't just give you the raw news, they analyze and investigate to provide the public with an in-depth look. They also have several columns which provide an even further breakdown of current matters. The design is avaliable in three colors: black, white and aqua. Cloth bags, mugs and buttons were also made. And they're all available for purchase right now at selected stores. 11 x 17 inches, digital. 

Photos: Plaza Pública

Wednesday Ash

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, which lasts until Easter. On this day, devout Western Christians (Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians and the like) line up to get their foreheads marked with blessed ashes by a priest, who utters, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.", which is kind of a downer. Usually the priest just makes an ash cross with his finger, but sometimes they lean into it a bit much. 8.5 x 11 inches, digital. 

Zombie Cupid

There's no bigger zombifying agent today that's more powerful than love. When it hits, it hits fast and hard. Many times, you never see it coming. So it makes sense to think of an undead cherub spreading this plague thru his infected arrows to feast on the remains of broken hearts everywhere. Or maybe it doesn't. But then again, nothing about love is logical. 9 x 16 inches, digital.  

Redhead

I'vebeen told that my drawing style lends itself for vectorization. So every now and then I do one of these sketches on Illustrator. Gotta say, I like how they look, but I still have a bit of trouble getting the lines to look how I want them to be. The way I see it, I have three options:

1. This kind of line becomes a new style 
2. Making the line on Photoshop and then vectorizing it
3. Not using lines anymore

Which line style would you want to see more?

8.5 x 9 inches, digital. 

Victorio Coronas

Meet Victorio. Don't let his looks deceive you: he's a young, long-haired, tuff mofo, and he takes no lip from nobody. Last guy who commented on his long eyelashes, went home with his teeth in paper bag.
8.5 x 8.5 inches, digital.

Tiny Tiger

If you like my art, here's a good way to get a unique, handmade piece and do some good at the same time. A friend's mom got sick and a few people decided to help raise some funds for her treatment by organizing an auction. Some of us local artists were asked to donate art pieces to be sold to the highest bidder. Instead of giving away some piece that was lying around, I made a new one specially for the occasion. You want it? Go here to place your bid. It's for a good cause! Deadline: March 31st. 5 x 7 inches, ink on paper.

Kid Writers

For an article about Julio Serrano and Rubén Nájera, two writers who just published a children's book each, EsQuisses, a cultural blog, asked me to portray them as five year-old kids.  8.5 x 20 inches, digital.

Foreplay

Revista Y, a Paraguayan literary magazine, recently published Lascivia Textual (Textual Lust) an anthology of erotic short stories, each with black and white illustrations by different artists from all over Latin America. I contributed with two pieces for Preámbulo (Foreplay), by Mariano Ducos. It's about a stunning woman in her late thirties or early forties and the sexual tension that ensues after she meets a young handsome teen outside of an apartment building, during a torrid summer afternoon in the city. 6 x 8 inches, digital. 

 (The book. You should totally get it.)

Garabatti Group Portrait

Last year, Prensa Libre's Revista Plus magazine invited Los Garabatti to illustrate the inner covers for its November issue, which focused on Guatemala City's Festival del Centro Histórico, which celebrates the city's Historical Downtown. Because of the publication's youth target demographic, nine of the youngest and most talented members were chosen to create images with their own characters with local landmarks as backdrops. As a last minute surprise for the artists, I was asked  by the magazine to make a group portrait for the editorial page, and here they are. From left to right, top row: Mike Vanegas, Serge, Vik Corona, JuanMa Oliva, Baku Estrada. Bottom row: Carlos Jiménez, Rebeca Orantes, Eyla Luján, Carolina Marín. 12 x 9 inches, digital.

Freaky Skull

The guys over at Freaks Clothing came up with a contest, where they ask people to send in skulls drawn in their own personal style. Here's mine. If you're like me and love drawing skulls, you should enter. Go to the Freaks fan page for details. Deadline is on Feb. 18, so hurry! 8.5 x 8.5 inches, digital.

Serge's Freebie

Whaddaya think of my li'l weirdo? I've always loved things that are creative, easy to do and fun. Freebies, Serge's new campaign to promote his Facebook page is all these things. If you want to participate, just download his template, make a silly character with it and send to Serge.  If your creation is picked, you could win a prize! To read all the info, click here. (in Spanish only)  Now go and make your own!

UPDATE: The contest is over, and I was one of the winners! Woohoo!! 

We're All Charlie

The world has been shaken by the brutal murder of 12 people at the offices of Parisian newspaper Charlie Hebdo, including 4 cartoonists. The international art community has come forth with illustrations to show their support for the fallen comrades and their families. Here's mine.

#JeSuisCharlie