Tintero: A Festival of Arts and Comics - PART TWO

by Little Leia

INTERVIEW WITH FRANCHY MORALES, CREATOR OF "EL ISLEÑO":

LL: Hi! How did you start making comic books?

FM: I started out relatively late, when I finished college actually! People kept saying that I was a kid at heart, and I liked making comics with my friends.

LL: How many years have you been making comic books?

FM: I've been making comics since a looong time ago. I just turned 46 now, so I've been making them for about 20-25 years.

LL: What do you think about Tintero?

FM: I think it was an excellent idea to host all of these artists, both well recognized and independent, under the same roof. I've been looking forward to something like this for a long time.

LL: What do you think about the art that the indie artists are presenting here?

FM: I think their artwork was incredible! It was great to see some idea of what might be coming up for comics and art in Puerto Rico. I think the future of art in Puerto Rico is in good hands.

LL: What have been your influences as an artist?

FM: I have so many of them, a few of them include Frank Miller, John Byrne, and Jack Kirby. Those are some of the ones that influence me the most. I also was influenced by the comic strips in the newspaper, I read them so much as a kid.

LL: Thanks for the interview!

FM: No problem! Thanks to you!

INTERVIEW WITH ALANNA MARIE:

LL: Hi! How did you start out with art in general?

AM: My mother is an artist, she had art supplies all over the house, so she'd let me borrow them almost all the time and I started drawing with them because I had basically nothing else to do.

LL: How many years have you been drawing?

AM: I just turned 17, and I've been drawing since I was 6 maybe? I can't do the math right now.

LL: What do you think about your fellow indie artists in Tintero?

AM: I think they're great! I love all the artwork here.

LL: What do you think about Tintero?

AM: I think it's awesome! I actually didn't know there were more indie artists like me in Puerto Rico.

LL: What are your influences?

AM: I'm influenced heavily by basically everything in Cartoon Network (The Regular Show, Adventure Time, etc.), and I'm also influenced by Jay Howard, the guy that created Sanjay and Craig on Nickelodeon.

LL: How do you feel being the youngest artist in Tintero?

AM: Well, I really don't know what to say, I don't know how to explain it!

LL: Thanks for the interview!

AM: You’re welcome! 

All in all, it was an awesome event! I loved it! There was something for everybody. There was stuff for kids (Jibarito Samurai, Cupcake Graffiti), tweens (El Isleño, Días), teens (Paracosm, Semblance), and adults. I think it was a great idea for unknown indie artists to showcase what they can do. Can't wait for next year's edition!

Tintero: A Festival of Arts and Comics - PART ONE

Tintero: Festival de Arte y Comics

by Lil' Leia

Hi! Tintero is a new festival where more than 45 independent and well-known artists present their prints, zines, comic books, minicomics, and more. This year’s inaugural edition held in Casa Cultura Ruth Hernández Torres, located in Río Piedras. Its organizers were Rosa Colón and Carla Rodríguez from Soda Pop Comics.

There was live music performed by indie artists Las Acevedo, Furry Vowels, Dino Analog Orchestra, and Dead Hands. The first floor hosted an exhibition about the history of comics in Puerto Rico, curated by LJ Lacourt from F3 Comics, while the artists themselves occupied the second floor.

The first edition of the Tintero Awards was also held at the event, which included distinctions such as Best Zine (won by Supakid), Best MiniComic (won by José Vélez), and Best Comic (won by Dias Comic and Supakid). I also interviewed the organizers (Soda Pop Comics), artist Franchy Morales, and a new indie artist, Alanna Marie.

INTERVIEW WITH SODA POP COMICS, CREATORS OF CUPCAKE GRAFFITI AND PARACOSM:

LIL' LEIA: Hi! How did you come up with the idea for Tintero?

SODA POP COMICS: We came up with the idea when we were in a meeting and we were talking about how people who love comics have to have another place besides the PRCC to unite, and also give a chance to indie artists who don't usually get that much exposure to showcase their artwork.

LL: Have all the artists published comic books or zines?

SPC: Not all of them, because some of them are just starting to showcase their art and have yet to publish something, but since we were promoting the idea of publishing something and then have it up for sale at Tintero, most of them made a zine or minicomic just for Tintero.

LL: Has Tintero met your expectations, in terms of attendance?

SPC: It has extremely exceeded our expectations, it's been full capacity since we opened! We are more than satisfied about how it's turned out.

LL: Are you guys going to do it again next year?

SPC: Definitely! But we have to get a bigger place for it so we can have more artists and host more people.

LL: Was there any criteria to be showcased in Tintero?

SPC: The only criteria was that everything that you wanted to present and/or sell had to be original art, no fan art, whether it was prints, comics, original art, pins, t-shirts, etc.

LL: Is this the first time an event of its kind has happened in Puerto Rico?

SPC: Yes, this is the first time an event like this has ever happened here.

LL: Thanks for letting me interview you guys!

SPC: Thanks to you!

Web Comic Recomendation: Fisheye Placebo by Yuumei

By. Dalai Dama

I always love reading original web comics, and today I present to you Fisheye Placebo by Yuumei. I found this amazing artist in deviantART and immediately fell in love with her  digital artwork, the colors, themes of each art it's so unique it's just exquisite. 

After some time I noticed she started writing some stories like: Rumination this was an experimental work for her class, The story plays out like a choose your own adventure book, but no matter what you choose, it all leads to the same ending.

In spring 2009, she made her first major project, 1000 WORDS, a one-shot web Flash comic inspired by her parents' divorce and how her life was afterwards. It was originally a painting, called "Tape it Back Together", but after one of her followers commented on the similarity of the situations, she decided to make it into a story of its own. This work is available online at her deviantART and in print. 

Then came Knite, a story of how a group, also called Knite, wants to bring stars back into the sky because of the horrible pollution of China. This title is available online in her deviantART, or you can get it in print!

  

And now for my favorite work so far Fisheye Placebo. The comic is a work of fiction that mixes a few genres, like cyberpunk, science fiction, and psychological themes as well. The story is great, with stunning artwork to match it.  Fisheye Placebo is about Vance, who just wanted to make the most out of his college experience under a totalitarian regime. The last thing he expected was to be dragged into a crazy conspiracy to overthrow the government by his most-definitely-not-female roommate. College was meant to be exciting, but not this dramatic. Between dates that end in flops, failed grades, and successful hacks, Vance will slowly begin to question the morality of his actions and the true price of freedom. 

The comic is a slow work-in-progress since she draws each scene herself, but it's worth the wait! If you are interested in this great artist, you can find her at deviantART, as well as read her work at her Tapastic.

Digital Coloring Part 1

By. Silent J

  Greetings grasshoppers. This tutorial is going to be a little long so I’ll divide it in two parts. This one will show you how to prepare your Photoshop file. It doesn’t sound very exiting, but it’s a very important step before you get to work. I hope you saved the drawing from the last tutorial, because you’ll be using it in these two tutorials. Things that you will need today:

1.      A computer (PC or Mac, your choice)

2.      A scanner

3.      And a Wacom tablet.

  There are different kinds of Wacom tablets you can use, each with different features and prices. If you can spare the change, the Cintiq is available for around $2,499. If your change consists more of pennies, you can get a Bamboo from about $85 to $100. (The link is a bit higher than that price range but it’s not difficult to scour eBay for a good deal.) If you’re out of pennies, then you can use a regular mouse but bear in mind that the same results won’t be the same.

4.      Oh, and Adobe Photoshop.

 

Step one: Scan your work

   

  Make sure to scan your art at a resolution of at least 300 dpi. I can’t really go to detail on how to scan cause all scanners are different, so you’ll have to play with it on your own to find out how it works.

Step two: Make a new file

  For those not too familiar with Photoshop, go to File>New. Next, put the size that you want. I personally use 11”x17”, the standard size for comic books. The resolution, as always, should be 300 dpi. If you're going to print it, the color mode should be CMYK, but, if you just want to keep it digital or to upload on a website like deviantArt, go for RGB.

 

  After that, place your art on the file by clicking File>Place and choose your art.

Once you’re done with that, place the art however you want. The art might not look dark enough, so to fix that, go to Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast. There, play with the sliding bars until you make it as dark as you want.. If you need to clean up the art, use the brush tool with white.

Step Three: Separate line art from background

  It’s easier said than done. But first, merge down the line art layer with the background layer just to make sure that the art is the same size as the file. To merge the layers, right click (Control+click on PC, Command+click on Mac) on the art layer, and click the merge down option.

 Next, double click the background layer, and when the window appears press Okay to unlock it. The padlock icon on the layer disappears and the layer changes to "Layer 0".

  Next, go to Select>All, then Edit>Cut. Then go to the Channel window and make a new layer (the layer should look black). In this channel layer, click Edit>Paste to put the art.

  Here comes the tricky part though, because we want to select only the line art but it won't work by clicking Select. What you’ll have to do is put the cursor on top of the channel thumbnail (small square on the layer that looks like the art), then push and hold control (command on Mac). The cursor should change to a hand with a square on top . 

 Without letting go of control or command click the channel thumbnail. If done right you selected all the space around the line art. 

  With this selection, we then go back to the layer window and make a new layer. Go to Select>Inverse, then using the color black, go to Edit>Fill. When the window pops out click Okay, and you should have your line art background free. Make sure to fill layer 0 with white.

  Finally, be sure to save this file because in part 2 we get started with the fun part.

Pin-up Tutorial: Pencil Line Art

By Silent Jay

Greetings little grasshoppers. When I'm not working in the 10th circle of hell, (yes, there is a 10th circle, Dante missed that one), I like to spend my time drawing. Hopefully I'll be able to share some of my knowledge today. Like it says on the title, only pencil line art, we will work on shadows and colors another time.

First thing, materials, need the right tools for the job:

Materials 

   1. Bristol Paper = It comes in smooth and vellum. l recommend smooth,  it is better, especially if you want to ink your work later. Vellum tends to get dirty real easy. Use any size you want, If you're a beginner I recommend 11''x14''. For this I'll be using 9''x12'', because I’m broke and can't afford bigger size right now :(.

   2. HB Lead Pencils = you can use regular or mechanical pencils, I like to use both, regular for guide lines and mechanical to finish the job. HB lead to me is the best type of lead, not too soft and not to hard, right in the middle. 

   3. Plastic Eraser = your choice but I recommend non latex plastic erasers.If your not careful, erasers with latex can actually make your work dirty.

  4. References = To make this clear, as long as you're not ligth-boxing the pic, NO, THIS IS NOT CHEATING! Even professional artists need to use references from time to time. You may know how the human figure looks like or the form of any object, but having a reference makes the difference between amateur and high quality work. 

If you have a friend that is willing to model for you and any camera, use them. Capture your model doing different poses and in different angles until you find something that you like or get tired. 


If you don't have access to a model and/or camera or you're too lazy to do it, you can always google pictures of models or use magazines. To avoid legal problems for using a random picture of the internet, I asked the very beautiful and talented Loki for her help and she agreed to let me use her pic for this tutorial. 

Additionally, it is always good to have an anatomy book or pictures of muscles of the human body.



If your still awake after all that, now we'll start drawing. 

Step One: Guide Lines

Nothing complicated here, just a couple of lines to guide you. Using the pencil, real gently, do the first line using the shape of the models spinal column. This may be hard to see cause of the angle and the pose, but you can still imagine how the bended spine looks from that angle. 

Then do a circle for the head. After that a line below the head, around the clavicle area. 

A couple of lines for the arms and legs with small circles to indicate where the joints are (shoulders, elbows, knees etc.). After that some curved lines around the guide lines, start giving some shape of the body. 

At this moment it doesn't matter if it looks right or not, is just a guide. Go as crazy as you want, just remember to use the pencil gently because you're going to erase this lines at the end.

Step Two: Shaping this mess of lines

Most of the artists that I know, start giving shape to the body by starting with the torso. That’s because the torso is the part that actually "controls" the movement of the body. How you draw the torso can be the difference between drawing a body in action or just drawing something that looks like a stiff doll. 

But in my case I start with the head, cause I’m a rebel and I don't follow the rules, and because the head is the part that is closest to the foreground. 

After shaping the head, I realized that the head is out of proportion with the rest of the body. It’s a good thing that I did those guide lines gently so I can fix it.

Still using my reference picture I keep giving form to the body. You can see now that the drawing is starting to look more like a female body and less like the mess of lines that I had before. 

At this point I’m getting close to how I want the final product to come out  so I start pressing the pencil a little harder and erase some of the guide lines.

Step Three: Details - I’ll do what I want

Details, it is up to you how much you want to use, it all depends how you want your drawing to look.

In my case, I use a couple of short lines in the arms to show a little muscle, I want to keep the body type close to the original picture. But If I wanted it to look like a body builder, I would have to make those short lines longer and emphasize the muscle. 

If you're not sure how to draw the shape of a muscle or how many muscles are in that part of the body? Thats why you should have a anatomy book. You don't have to draw every single muscle or bone in the body, but, in my opinion, it is good to indicate a couple of them, which ones are up to you. 

   I see that the gluteus maximus (that would be the muscles in your butt) is on the right side of the figure, so to give some balance to the drawing, I decide to step away from the reference and have the hair blowing in the wind on the left side. Like I said before, the picture is just a reference, you don't have to do a photocopy if you don't want to. You can draw it however you want. So whatever, I’ll do what I want!

Step Four: Finish it

This is the part when you press hard on your pencil to trace the final lines. I prefer to use the mechanical pencil to finish the drawing. I also make some little details like eye lashes, a couple of line on the knees and the sternocleidomastoid (the muscles on the neck).

   Erase any dirt and guide lines left and you're done. If it didn't come out like you wanted it, don't worry, the key word is practice. Practice everyday and with time you will see that you will get better. And if you one day you achieve the level of skill you wanted, it doesn’t matter you will keep drawing.

   Hope I taught you something today or at least not bored you to death. Any questions or opinions you can email me at geekwhale@gmail.com. I want to give special thanks to the model Loki, photographer Wilfredo Miranda and Cyanide Nation agency for their help in this project. Please go to the links below and give some support to these talented people. Until next time, even if your hand is bleeding DONT STOP, KEEP DRAWING!

https://www.facebook.com/OfficialLokiKypo

https://www.facebook.com/lokiradicalbeautyservice

https://www.facebook.com/WMirandaPhotography

           https://www.facebook.com/cyanidenationhq?hc_location=stream