The first Umbrella

My brother and I are used to do all parts of the process ourselves, from the beginning to the end of a story. It has not been long since we started working on projects with other people, playing just one role, like just the artist. I like to see myself of a creator, specially because I'm working on projects that have just begun and I will help build the entire universes of these stories.

Two weeks ago, Scott Allie wrote me to see if we could do something for the release of new album from My Chemical Romance, since I will be drawing the lead singer Gerard Way's new comicbook, The Umbrella Academy.



It was supposed to be only one drawing showing maybe two of the characters, but they had the bold idea of doing a 2 page story. It was a good thing to see the first scripts of this story, and how it is different from the Casanova scripts Matt sends me. It was much more lose and light, so I think the art could do a lot of breathing, even though it is just a 2 pages story.



Anyway, I am glad it is finally starting to happen and a new step on our way has just been given. And it is funny that is happened today, on the day of the dead, which I think has a lot to do with the band and it's thing. The images shown here are from this story, that you can see online here, with the press release.

We're loving comics right now.

The future looks bright. Comics lie ahead.

Ba and I have been talking like crazy about the new projects we'll be doing next year. Some have already started, some are about to start, and some we just started talking about.

Talking about is fun. That's when the energy is all there, in the creating stage of things, when our only limits are our imagination. After that, our imagination will have to go through our hands and our deadlines, and that's when the monsters will be born.

The belly is getting bigger, so surely it won't be much longer now.



Our box of Casanova 5 arrived only yesterday. We had some problems with customs and the box got held up for a week or two. And now we're rereading the issue and enjoying it immensely. We can't wait for the reaction of the reader about issues 6 and 7, though, as Ba is once again doing stuff he's never done before in order not to repeat himself.

He's working on issue 7 right now.

Suit day.

Today is the day I'll finish drawing the new book, "The Alienist". It's going to be a long day, but it will be worth it all the while.

One step back.

Taking one step back, here's Ba drawing the panels I put on my last post, using his regular pencil and his very loose pencil lines.

Note how much Xeno is just a box with glasses.

Leave a message.

artwork by Gabriel Ba for Casanova 6.

We hardly talk on the phone. Maybe I'm too much of a close personal contact kind of person, but I don't like phones all the much. They're fun to draw (specially if they're very old, or just don't exist yet), but boring to use.

Anyway, our phone doesn't even ring that much. We're working so much that we don't call anybody, and everybody knows we're working, so they don't call us.

Also, phones are distracting. Sometimes we want to be distracted, but more often than not, we're working, and the phone takes us of our working mood. I know some people who can work and talk on the phone at the same time (I know an awesome inker who inked with a brush, talked on the phone and watched TV all at the same time), but that's not for me. I pay too much attention on my very loose pencils, and then I leave to much to decide and have fun on the inking, so there I can't talk also. Maybe if I didn't have to hold the phone, but alsothat feels funny (CRAZY, more like it).

I'm ten pages alway from finishing the new story, so probably friday will be another suit day. Pictures will be taken, and maybe I'll make a short film of it. I guess this time around I'll even wear a tie, but it might get in the way of the inking.

No man is an island.

Here is the latest interview with Matt Fraction about Casanova. He talks more about how difficult it is to write the book. And how rewarding.

Ba also thinks it's very difficult to draw the book, with so much going on, so much to show, and to make it all look easy and clear.

So far, Ba have done an incredible job making it look good, and making it look easy.

This week, Casanova 5 hits the stands. Go read the "Island" issue, go get lost in it.

Ba's drawing amazing pages this week. My jaw is on the floor. And I'm drawing in this situation. It's not confortable.

Best shot of this morning.

Michael C Lorah did a very nice review of De:TALES here at the Best Shots article of the week, at Newsarama. It's nice to see the book still finding it's way into people hands, and to find a review even in the middle of a bunch of mainstream comics (and next to a Neil Gaiman reviewed book).

And, down on the comments section, a reader also chips in his two cents about the book.

Thanks for the numbers.

HERE, we see that Casanova is now climbing it's way on the top 300 comics of the month, going from the 200th spot of issue 3 to the 175th spot with issue 4. Thanks for all the Casanova readers for supporting the book, and enjoy the last three issues of this season, as Ba is drawing like crazy and he's doing it just so you have fun.

Too much to think about.

When you put all your books side by side and realize they're pilling up, you need to start taking yourself more seriously.

I always think about "What have I already done?" when I'm coming up with a new story. Also, I think "What haven't I done yet?".

"Am I saying something different with this new story, or it's just more of the same?"

"Am I saying anything at all?"

Maybe I think too much about comics and worry too much about what the story is about, and maybe that's why I'm not the perfect candidate to only draw other people's comics.

I had fun drawing the stories others have written, I've learned a lot, and i drew stuff I would probably never have drawn in my own stories.

I'm a better artist because of these stories.

But are the stories better?

Do they say anything I can believe and relate?

I think too much, I guess.

And that's not a bad thing.

Tipical.

I often start a story like this: an idea, a sentence, an image. More of an attitude than a specific look.

Happy birthday.

birthday card I made for my mother today at three in the morning, after I finish inking a page.

In-between.

I've been looking for something to write about. From the distance, I thought I had nothing new to say, but it's when, slowly, I got a closer look at my current life that I realized what a joy it is to create comics.

I'll write about that.

It's wonderful to create a sequence of panels and make them work together. Alone, each panel can be a nice image, but it's when they work together that you see the story that happens in-between them.

Characters think from one panel to the next.

We zoom in.

We build up the tension.

What will happen next?

This are tools used in comics that can enhance the reading experience, but if they also enhance the drawing experience, bringing to the artist the same joy they bring to the reader, that's when this artists feels he's in the right track.

That's when we are reminded of the kid in us, that little shy boy (or girl) who sat for hours reading comics trying to guess what would happen next.



I miss the world, being at the drawing board every day (and night). No one to talk to, no strange things to see. Well, if you count the city light poles fighting late at night, and the explosions they cause in result, you might get something interesting to talk about later. But still, I miss the world.

I hope the world misses me too.

Rest in peace.

strip by Gabriel Ba.

kidnapped by the workload.

illustration for brazilian newspaper.


illustration for brazilian newspaper.

Rod Reis.

Rod Reis is a brazilian colorist, currently coloring Supergirl for DC. I did this sketch friday while listening to him talk at a comics school here in Sao Paulo.

Fast.

illustration for a brazilian newspaper.

I had an hour to do this illustration and five others for a piece about the latest corruption news in Brazil for a brazilian newspaper. This kind of work is good because it makes you learn how to think fast, it sure makes you draw faster and it puts into perspective how much detail is necessary to convey what you want with your art.

Back to making comics look better.

Two from 1997

Old cover images from our fanzine in 1997. This is what it was like in 1997 and the entire reason we started telling our own stories.

We were lost on the road, no entirely sure what we would do.

Things didn't look good.

But they sure looked pretty.

fragile things.

Jen Wang's Home Portrait was the beautiful find of the day.

Also, I've been drooling over Bengal's work. Such a delicate line work, specially on his girls.

here, an old sketch:

this week's numbers.

According to this site, Casanova 2 held the 196th spot at the top 300 comics of July. Now, according to this other site, we can see Casanova 3 at the 200th spot.

If steady wins the race, until when we get to issue 4 and 5 and the numbers start increasing (because they are increasing).

A monthly book is a completely different beast from all our previous work on graphic novels. The good side is the constant feedback, and the downside is this uncertainty about the numbers.

So far, the numbers have been good, but should we really be that obsessed by them? we should know they're there and hope for the best, but sometimes I think knowing all that about "who sold what" and "that's selling more than this" is not good for the creative mind.

The ideas should come to tell the story, and sometimes they don't come if you're just thinking about something else, like numbers and money.

Numbers.

I'm on page 12 of the Graphic Novel. If all goes well, I should hit page 20 before next week.

Ba's on page 10 of the current issue of Casanova he's doing.

I did 2 submission pages.

Those are the numbers I rather talk about.

Casanova 4

Nice words about Casanova 4 on the Factual Opinion.