Interview with Artist Tomás Morón, Part 1

It's my pleasure to present to you the first part of a two-part interview with my Customer partner in crime, Tomás Morón, who provided the spectacular art that goes with my words. You can check out his work here:
http://eldibujantesinpoderes.blogspot.com/


In this first part of our conversation, we discuss his influences, his technique, and his tools of the trade. BTW,if you haven't read our story yet, check it out to the right.

Let’s talk about your early influences: How did you get interested in drawing comics?

Well, I don’t remember exactly but I wanted to draw comics since I was a child. I always had a pencil in my hands and drawing all day. But the first time I remember wanting to do comics was when I first reading the Bruguera and Vertice comics (these were Spanish publishers with characters like Mortadelo, Superlopez; and Vertice did the Marvel Spanish editions) and the Mazinguer anime.

What are some of your favorite comics of all time?

There are so many, but some of I never tire of reading are Conan the Barbarian, from Barry Windsor-Smith and the early John Buscema issues; Mutant World, and all of Richard Corben's stuff; all of Alan Moore's Superman stories and some of the John Byrne issues. And some more current ones, such as Ultimates (the Millar issues), Ultimate Spider-Man, and Preacher. Garth Ennis rules!

Who are some of your biggest artistic influences from art, comics, film, etc.?

I think one of my big influences is John Buscema, but some of the others are Corben, Mike Wieringo, Carlos Pacheco, and, one of my friends, Juan Santacruz.

What comic books are you reading now or have recently read?

I’m waiting for every new issue of Invincible, The Walking Dead, Scalped, and Ultimate Spider-Man.

Now I’d like to know a little about how you draw. How do you begin working on a story? For example, do you highlight the script, take notes, then maybe sketch?

First, I read the script and began doing some little sketches for some of panels. And then I looked for some pictures for references for the guns, cars, of some real places, etc. I do the first layout of the pages, and then I do an scan of it and print in a big size to use like sketch for the final pencils. I use a light box for that, and when all is approved by the writer or publisher, I do the inks with brush and pens.

What kind of tools do you use? Do you work on paper or on a computer tablet?  What kind of pens, paper, etc., do you use?

I use paper for the drawing but the fx or the greys tones I do with the computer and my tablet, a Wacom. My pencil is a 2H, and if I have time, I like to ink with brush, “ Da Vinci “ number 2. If I have less time, I ink with pens of different sizes of Unipin line. The paper is Geler Mate.

How long does it normally take you to do a page?

With the first layout through the inks, maybe 1 or 2 days.

Your grayscale coloring is fantastic: it provides the story with a rich, deep luster.

Well, I like the Corben grayscales, and I try to do the same sense of volume and ambience.

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Next time we'll talk about the story itself and get into the grisly guts of storytelling.