A little bird told me

As long as the music lasts nobody leaves the bar. Some more digital painting with Procreate on the IPad. My attempt at Andrew Bird.
So play it again and again!

Si no cortan la música la gente no se va del bar nunca. Un poco más de pintura digital en Procreate en el IPad. Esta vez le ha tocado a Andrew Bird.
¡Qué suene otra vez y otra y otra!

- Raúl

Life lessons

Why choose a technique and stick with it when you can fool around all you want. What the hell? Let's have some fun while we are still young. Why make your process rigid and mechanic?
Anyway you like it, but just go for it. I love working from life and for years I have neglected it for it adds many extra tasks to doing your work as an illustrator. But those additional steps give the process and the end result an extra dimension and always have a direct impact on your persona.
Casting your characters, finding ways around your period clothing, risking your life with crazy light set ups, directing and staging your models to play like your sketches and having them bring something unexpected to the project, are all things I used to do and that slowly as the work load increased I started dropping.
I miss those things, even the life threatening situations. And while not every illustration job allows for that kind of process it is good to bring them back every now and then. And like my friend Byuck said, who does not want to have naked models in your studio all day long...
Whatever drives you, bring it back to the table.

¿De dónde viene esa necesidad de elegir una técnica y mantenerte fiel cuando puedes tontear todo lo que quieras?
¿Qué tiene eso de divertido? Hay que jugar y divertirse.
¿Por qué hay que hacer del proceso algo estricto y rígido?
Lo que sea que te guste, vete a por ello.

Me encanta trabajar del natural y durante años lo he dejado a un lado por la carga extra que añade durante el proceso de elaborar ilustraciones. Pero todos esos pasos adicionales tienen su recompensa y aunque no siempre se aprecian directamente en el trabajo, siempre son enriquecedores para el proceso y a nivel personal.
Elegir a tus actores, buscarse la vida para recrear trajes de época, arriesgar la vida con arreglos imposibles de luces, dirigir a tus modelos para recrear tus bocetos y encontrarte con las particularidades que cada uno de ellos aporta al proyecto. Esas son algunas de las cosas que he ido dejando de hacer según la carga de trabajo se volvía más exigente.
Las echo de menos, incluso las situaciones de peligro de muerte.
Es cierto que no siempre es posible hacer un proceso de este tipo para cada trabajo de ilustración, pero está bien recuperarlas de vez en cuando.
Y como dijo mi amigo Byuck, quien no quiere tener el estudio lleno de gente desnuda todo el día.
Sea lo que sea que te motive, tenlo cerca.


- Raúl

Jack is back

I just got my copy of the Spanish edition of Rolling Stone from this month.
It is great to see in print one of the portraits of what I just recently started doing just for fun.
Working as an illustrator is a joy because you get to do what you love everyday and get paid for it. But sometimes it becomes too much like a regular job if you don't allow yourself to play.
Some commissions have a wider range to play than others whether it is a matter of time constraints or heavy art direction. Whatever the case might be it is as easy as creating time for you to make playful pieces. So that is what I did when I started painting on the Ipad, I turn it on and let the fun start.
I have always loved traditional painting and portraits, but having to set up and clean for me becomes a burden when I just want a quick session of painting as a break from actual work. I don't find that problem working digitally and the advantage of the Ipad is I can be literally anywhere.
In combination with a good stylus you can work for hours without your finger falling off. I don't get commissions, but if you like painting on the Ipad, get a Sensu brush. You won't regret it.