Interview with Carlos and Marcelo

As part of the behind the scenes section of the site, I'm going to be interviewing each of the artists to get some insight into their process and their views of the project. Both Carlos and Marcelo hail from Argentina, and speak English as a second language, so excuse any grammatical deficiencies.

Marcelo Carmona: I suppose the thing that lead me to art was I thought that with art I wouldn't need to work. No, seriously, I think it´s a deep thing and not too easy to explain. Homero Manzi said that "Art was a torment that God put in our souls". I think that it has something to do with it. And in fact this torment is, in the end, a gift.

About my background, well, I studied with great master Alberto Salinas, and worked several years in the field of Cartoons. I worked at a studio in which we did projects for companies such as Hanna Barbera and Disney. I also worked for legendary Argentinian publisher Columba (now gone). I also did design work for films

Carlos Devizia: I was drawn to art, probably, because when I was a boy I was influenced by several things: Music, comics (specially those from French-Belgian style, such as Tintin, Asterix, Lucky Luke, Michel Vaillant, etc.), books and films. In fact, I work as artist and I earn my living drawing, but I do a bunch of different thing, I´m a musician and I wrote several stories, including two novels and another one which is nearly finished. Personally, I like to tell stories, no matter if it is through comic, through illustration, through music or whatever. The great European artist Herge, once said: "I was not JUST trying to tell a story, I was OVER ALL trying to tell a story". This is one of my motivations.

Stephen Nachtmanovitch, a renowned musician wrote something like this: "The sensation of creation could be similar to that produced by a drug, with the difference that creative activity gives you life instead of stealing it from you". This is totally true, when I'm involved in the creative process there is only the art and me. And that's really a great sensation.

About my professional activity before Division Shadow, I made different kind of things, but all of them related to drawing (puzzles and games designs, greeting cards, CD covers, etc).

PM: So, like the other artists, we met up through the Digital Webbing talent engine. Was there anything in particular that drew you to the project?

CD: I like that Division Shadow has characters that are "real", I mean, they have their own story behind them, they suffer and feel joy, like a real person. They are not just "heroes". The other thing that has an appeal for me is the criticism of US foreign policy involved in Division Shadow (by this, I mean the government and not the people of the USA). Probably I cannot stop war in Iraq or Afghanistan, but I can raise my voice against that. And Division Shadow gives me the opportunity to show my feelings.

What were you first impressions upon reading the script?

CD: It´s a very cinematic story. In fact, I was reading one of the scenes and I was imagining the images and the music for a film.

PM: How do you feel about having three different artists on the project. Has there been anything in the other parts that you'd really have like to have drawn?

CD: I agree, and it remains me the old Argentinian Magazines, that were featured several artists instead only one. The difference is that in those magazines each one told a different story, and now we are working on a project as a whole, with different parts and with different views, which is great.

PM: You work in an art team, but all the pages seem consistent stylistically. So, how do you divide the labor when it comes to doing a page?

MC: We know each other well, and we know our respective strengths and weaknesses, so we can complement each other. For example, I mainly take the drawing activity and Carlos the colouring, and we split the inking, though it depends on the project.

CD: Yes, we have some projects in which Marcelo draws and I ink, but in Division Shadow, we both do the drawing and the inking. I do the narration and backgrounds and Marcelo takes care mainly on the humans and living creatures. Then we ink over it. Usually, Marcelo puts his hands on what I have done and I do the same with the things he has done. In this way we highlights the other virtues and help with the other weaknesses. I think, that professionalism is also the reason for our good complementation. Both of us are capable of working in different areas, and we can adapt to each project.

PM: I love the layouts in your art, could you describe the process of creating a layout for the panels on the page? And then through to the completed art?

CD: It has no secrets, if the script is clear we have half of the work solved. We prioritize the fact that a comic should be understandable and easy to read and we work like that. The layout always must be at the service of the script and never to highlight personal egos. We prefer a less spectacular but understandable drawing than a virtuoso demonstration that nobody can read.

PM: In terms of inking, do you use a different approach for your own pages vs. someone else's? I've noticed you've referred to yours most recent pencilled pages as 'sketches.' So, are the pencils really just a rough draft for the inks?

MC: Totally, when we drew for someone else to ink, we must finish our pencils in a different way if we want the inker to understand the things we want to transmit. If we ink our own stuff, the pencils can be less finished as we will add things at the moment of inking.

Carlos: Also, if we are inking another artist´s work, as is the case of Shawn Decker´s pencils, we try to respect the other artist in the way we would like to be respected. If the other artist has a style and an artistic intention, he deserves that the inker preserve them. Sometimes a bad inker can destroy good pencils.

CD: We both agree that we hope that Division Shadow will give all the ones involved in it, many satisfactions, as all of us are putting our best effort on it. We're still on the first steps of the projects, but we feel that this could lead to something great.