ARTIST SPOTLIGHT - Malo - Comic Book Fiend Club

This week, we welcome Malo to the CBFC Artist Spotlight!

Q. Where did you grow up at?

A. I grew up in South Florida. I was in Hialeah when I was younger then moved to Miami Lakes and In high school I moved to Pembroke Pines.

Q. How long have you been drawing?

A. I can’t remember a time I wasn’t drawing really (I did pretty much stop drawing through my late 20’s to mid 30’s but that’s another story). Earliest memory I have of what I wanted to do for a living was probably 6 or 7. It fluctuated from Disney animator to comic book artists.

Q. Who was the artist you idolized while growing up?

A. When I was young Don Bluth, and for comics I was all in with Spider-man and X-Men so Steve Ditko and John Romita were the first versions of Spider-Man comics I saw and owned. I’d pour over those again and again. For X-Men books it was definitely John Byrne, Arthur Adam’s. However like most people everything changed for me when McFarlane took over Spider-Man and Jim Lee took X-Men and Whilce Portico took X-Factor. Also I must mention I loved Todd’s Spider-Man but for me the money was Larsen’s ASM run. I need to mention Rob Liefeld. Truthfully no other artist from my youth had a bigger initial impact in how I saw comic art than he did. I had never seen an artist make a static pin up style pose have so much energy in it. Also the panel layouts and just page energy. That was it for me.

Q. What character is your favorite to draw and why?

A. Hmmmm so looking at my portfolio you probably have to say Spider-Man. I have something for a real dynamic Spider-Man. I draw him a lot mostly because I keep trying to achieve what I love about him but fall short. I tend to find the thing that I sick at and go in hard to try to suck less.

Q. A character that is on your “To Draw” list?

A. So this last month or so my to do list is draw characters I have never drawn or have shied away from for whatever reason. So for example this last month or so I did Ghost Rider, Super Girl (I hate capes) , and Dark Phoenix. Though currently I’m doing a Venom and Spidey piece.

Q. Could you please provide some tips on how to overcome artist’s block?

A. #1 I’ll do something physical (which is the key for me in life really). Something totally unrelated to art. So for me it’s working out, Jiu Jitsu, Wing Chun, boxing, Muay Thai etc. Something that quiets the doubt in my head. Then go on art searches and look at old work from favorites and look for new guys. I have tons of saved Pinterest boards for this.

Q. What artist would you love or would have loved to collaborate with?

A. With my own work I’d live to be inked by Victor Olazaba and colored by Edgar Delgado. As a straight up art collab it would be Humberto Ramos, Jorge Jimenez, Enid Balam, and because he was legit my fav in my teens Rob Liefeld.

Q. What advice do you have for new artists or people who want to become artists?

A. So advice… as I mentioned above I stopped drawing. For around 10 years. When I leaned stopped I mean stopped drawing with intention. You always doodle if it’s in you. I’m 45, 46 this year I really just started working at this really hard the last 5 or 6 years. Why? Confidence. So my advice would be obviously keep drawing, do studies and copy some of your favorite artists. It helps you visualize how they made certain choices etc. But for me the most important is get uncomfortable. Draw things you suck at. Post your art. Show everyone. There will be people that hate your stuff and people that love it. Take both but don’t take it personal. A lot of times we just think oh if only I had this pen or this brush, or once I get this then I’ll be able to do that. Nope. Pencil and paper and go. That’s all you need.