It is one of the more promising of sequencial artist in Portugal and recently illustrated the life of a hero of the republic. A work that does not deplete his talent little known in our country.
How did your passion for comics begin?
The beginnings were even in high school, where I met one of my best friends, who already drew frequently. But never very seriously, or even that there were professions that use the design. And I saw him draw, I had an epiphany when I saw that in comics there were people behind it, and them it felt right and I realized that if I draw up and continues to train, I could draw like that boy. And so it was.
And in terms of career?
That was much later and do not know if I can say that I created a name in comics. The opportunities have been very few. I have training in graphic design and comics emerged more as an afterthought, from a certain point. And when there are projects I draw. I'm switching. Sequencial art came in college when I attended a workshop with a renowned artist, José Carlos Fernandes, and then he showed interest in my talent. And offered me a challenge, he had a set of stories in the drawer that he intended to deliver the other designers to do something different. He proposed me to draw a story, I illustrated, he liked and then decided to do a book of 72 pages. Belongs to a collection entitled, "the black book histories." The volume one was publish with another designer and mine is the second volume (unpublish), which have the subtitle "Sea of Heraldo".
Guide us through the process of creating a comic book.
Jose Carlos writes short stories and screenplays and the designer haves the freedom to interpret them as you wish. The designer constructs the image sequence, a storyboard, decides wich words of the texts that must be represented by images, then the words make no sense, some are cuts in the text so there is no redundancy with what is being imagined and his is basically it. That is, we create the sequential images.
And what was your biggest challenge? And the most difficult?
The last book I drew was the life of José Mendes Cabeçadas Junior, an indomitable spirit. It was about the life of a historical figure and had to condense a life full of important facts in 40 pages. And that was a challenge. And the deadlines are not extended, an is a big responsibility, had to have a final appearance with quality and tell the story well. It was commissioned by the Municipality of Loulé and they wanted Jose Carlos to draw it, but he had too much work and could not. So I decided to base myself in his style, adding my own, and creating a symbiosis with my particularyties and his, than used it in his comics. And so was born this unique book, with a minor influence of Jose Carlos and my design.
What are your main reference in DB? Besides Jose Carlos Fernandez ?
It's always an ungrateful question and we always commit injustices. At the national level is Miguel Rocha, he has an extraordinary drawing, I was also influence by japonese Manga. My design had a lot of Japanese influences that were lost over time. I was an avid viewer of dragon ball. My friend is what led me to explore this type of comics, because he had a remarkable collection. But then with Jose Carlos and I met other designers and started to create my own style.
For the Future?
I just finish three comic strips for a contest. It is an adaptation of a text by Nicola Tersla that I created for the cartoon. I'm no writer, I'm just the illustrator. I'm good at imagining how to tell a story through images, or a literary text. I'm not good writing. And therefore, I prefer to keep up with people who can write.
What is the scenario of sequencial art in Portugal?
I'm not a good source on the subject. What I notice is that over time has been deteriorating. In terms of authors, to get publish, it has many steps, and they simply crash, it is impossible to reach the end and print 2000 copies. And the potencial readers to know who went to the market and rising interest in their reading.
But there is an audience in our country?
The publishers have great difficulty in surviving and have his hands full. Try to make money with as much as possible, and sometimes there is an issue that saves seven or eight that profited nothing. So they’re always with the rope in their neck. There is also a gap, which is lack of advertising. In the world of cinema, the success of a film depends on how disclosure is made. And the same happens in comics, we also have to invest in this instance, it isn’t just enougth to put the books on the shelves of the Fnac and be expect that people will buy the book, because with so much competition we have to meet the people to learn about our work. Make a national bookstore tour. I think there is a future in the digital output for this new platform. The traditional model does not seem to be working.
www.robertogomes.carbonmade.com
www.blackboxsyndicate.blogspot.com
www.kaztorama.deviantart.com
