"Illustrators will never get the professional recognition they deserve"
Interview by Henry Gomez
5 facts:
I (almost)
always wear in red and black.
When I’m
quiet, I cannot avoid to make noises with my mouth or
percussion
with my hands.
I like
(fictional) stories with bad or tragic endings.
I look on
my pockets for my keys and wallet at least twice
every time
I leave home even knowing that I’ve got them.
I’m a hobbyist swimmer.
I’m a
freelance illustrator/digital artist and art director. I coordinate Aégis, my
artistic studio, which is focused on CD cover artworks / packaging and
illustrations for publishing houses (and pretty much everything related to
that). But what I really do is to tell something about my everyday life and its
relationship with nature on my images.
Q2.
Did you feel pressured in school to follow a more traditional career path?
Not
really. My teachers and classmates always supported me because I was the
drawing guy in the class, and they were always asking me to draw cartoon
characters for them and the like. My teachers used to tell me that I’d have
future in arts, and perhaps they were right!
"Betrayal"
Q3.
What was your first job as a digital artist?
The
full packaging design of “The fine line between escapism and losing yourself”
by the north american band The autonomy within.
Q4.
Which artists inspire you and why?
Dave
Mckean – Because he has my dream style and I admire his versatility.
Travis
Smith – Because his work pulled me to create CD covers on my own.
René
Magritte – For his poetical conceptualism.
Marcela
Bolívar – Because we have a lot of narrative elements in common.
The
Gathering & Anathema – These are the music bands that gives me my mojo.
"Ashent"
"Delirium"
Q5.
Do you draw everyday?
I
should, but I don’t. I only draw when I need to create sketches for certain
commissions or personal artworks. But I doodle a lot when I’m on the phone.
Q6.
When generating ideas do you sketch more from life or your imagination?
Always
from imagination unless I need pose references, specially from hands. I hate
drawing hands.
Q7.
What is you favorite medium?
If I
have to be honest, I miss the good ol’ days of painting with analogue
materials. I used to mix painting with collages of my digital illustrations
some years ago. I was feeling very comfy there. But I chose digital media for
many reasons (cleaner, more economic, easily reproducible, faster…) and I’m
sticking to that. It’s very intuitive and allows me to create things faster.
"Closer"
Q8.
Were you self-taught or did you train to use art computer programs?
I’m
self-taught in pretty much everything I do.
Q9.
What advice would you give to aspiring digital artists?
Practice
every single day, no excuses, and experiment with styles and narratives a lot.
That way the more you practice the sooner you’ll start recognising your style
in what you do. Once you’re there, the door will open for you and if you’re
able to exploit that new information, you’re ready to go!
"Comfortably Numb"
Q10.
How do you feel about your industry today?
Illustrators
will never get the professional recognition they deserve, but, in major houses,
the respect for them is top-notch. Everything is getting over populated, so
it’s easier to find cheaper illustrators.
Q12.
Is there anything you are currently working on that you would like to tell us
about?
Apart
of commercial artworks I’m developing for some bands now, I am not focused in
any special kind of personal artworks or projects at the moment, apart of
investigating the morphology of branches. It sounds weird, but I’m really
obsessed with them and their relationship with the language of my
illustrations.
Q13.
Is there anyone you would like to work with? How would you go about
accomplishing this?
As I
mentioned, Mckean, Travis Smith or Marcela Bolívar. Luckily enough, Marcela and
I have been discussing this subject for months and soon we will put our hands
into a collaborative project. So eager! Also, for me it would be an honor to
illustrate for some of my favourite bands, obviously.
Q14.
What is the greatest thing about working in your industry?
In my
case, since this is completely vocational, it’s a dream came true. I’m a
freelancer, so I don’t really work with the industry, but for the
industry. I’m the owner of my time and energy and I spend it the way I consider
appropriate. I feel free, and at the same time, I get paid for the thing I love
to do the most. What could I say?
"Nirvana"
Q15.
What courses/classes would you recommend someone take if they want to be a
professional in a similar field as yours?
Well,
I have never taken one, so… the only thing I can say is that if you’ve got the
will to be self-taught, apart of your intuition, there’s plenty of materials,
resources and tutorials over the net to get your hands into the unknown! More
than that… Is in there any kind of courses that teach you how to be a CD cover
artist? Really? I’d had killed for getting one of those!
Q16.
You mainly work on CD album covers/packaging. With the downloading of music,
has the need for this died out, or is it still used regularly?
Well,
this is a common issue, and I am usually discussing about it with my art
comrades. Artworks for digital use-only are cheaper because most of the time
clients pay you in function of the print-run of the product. So, this way, you
spend the same amount of hours for less money. But, actually, most bands ask
you to design for the physical thing, they still believe in the hard format. I
think that most bands see the digital download as an accessory to the original
product, which is the CD, so from now we don’t really have to worry.
But
maybe in a decade or so we will panic up. But, as with everything, this
profession will evolve as the market will develop itself, so new things will
appear on the way to deal with the new substantial changes.
Q17.
Share with us your proudest moment in your career so far?
The day I realized what I was trying to say with the
illustrations. I got to know myself in depth that day.
Marco's website: http://aegis-strife.net
"Deep"
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