To wrap up our American Vampire interviews (along with our talk with series writer Scott Snyder), today we talk with artist Rafael Albuquerque.
Albuquerque is one of my favorite artists in the business, as his work on Blue Beetle I found to be supremely underrated. He saw raves from critics for his work on the first issue of Vampire, and his upcoming graphic novel from Oni called Mondo Urbano (that he crafted with friends Mateus Santolouco and Eduardo Medeiros) is drawing in praise such as pundits calling it “the next Scott Pilgrim“ or the spiritual follow-up to Phonogram.
He’s a heck of a guy…check out our interview with him after the jump.
How did you get hooked up with American Vampire?
RA: I was in contact with the editor Will Dennis, since NYCC ‘09, and we were talking the possibility of working together at Vertigo, something I was looking for a while.
I was illustrating Superman/Batman when Will and Mark (Doyle) emailed me, saying they had a big thing at Vertigo that I should look at. They sent me the project, and it was really interesting, and I was about to say yes, they said “Ah, one more thing… Stephen King is co-writing, by the way”. At this point there was no way to say no anymore.
How does working with Scott and working with Stephen differ while preparing American Vampire?
RA: I think its all about the storytelling. Scott work is more modern, in a way. He is more used to the new narratives and Stephen tends to do more classic storytelling, with more panels and stuff. Both are really good and fun to work with and are a good exercise of narrative.
When you found out you were working with Stephen King, what was your response? Were you a fan of his work before?
RA: To be very frank, I didn’t know much of his work before. I have seen adaptations of course, and I’m specially a big fan of Kubrick’s “Shining” and Dark Tower comics. Now that we are working together I’m eager to read his books when I get a break with American Vampire.
The book takes place in two wildly different eras, yet both look very authentic. What kind of research did you have to do to create the environment Pearl Jones and the younger Skinner Sweet live in?
RA: That’s all Scott’s and Mark’s credit. They really got me a huge reference guide, and it helped a lot. Scott does his homework and mine too.
The look and feel of the book is invaluable at building a real sense of dread in the pages. What did you look to for tips on how to build the tension visually and boost the horror on the pages?
RA: Thank you very much. Basically all my storytelling comes from Argentinean and Italian comic books, and of course, movies.
Your art for Scott’s portion and for Stephen’s portion seem to have different variations of your art style. How did you develop them, and why?
RA: Since before I was invited to draw it, the editors were looking for someone who could draw the stories differently. My work in Mondo Urbano caught their attention, because it was really different from my super-hero work, and they thought I was the guy for the gig. The idea of using the washes for Stephen story came up later, when I was drawing the actual pages.
Dave McCaig is one of the industry’s best colorists and did a really amazing job at heightening the look of your pencils and inks. How was it working with him on this book?
RA: Yeah, Dave is probably the best on the business and since I have started to work at DC, I wanted to work with him. Thanks to our editor Mark, it has become possible and he just did a perfect style for my lines in both stories. I’m very happy with how it came up.
Do you have any idea of how long you’re on the book for?
Continued belowRA: The idea is staying as long they let me. 🙂 I’m set up to draw this and next arc. We are right now talking about schedules and stuff, especially considering I have other projects I’m working on at same time, but the idea is doing everything together as longer as we can.
Besides American Vampire, you also have Mondo Urbano coming out at Oni Press in May. What can you tell us about that book?
RA: Mondo Urbano is a owned-creator graphic-novel series that Mateus Santolouco, Eduardo Medeiros and myself we are doing. The idea is presenting an urban universe where we can tell any kind of story, and tie everything in, basically. Really challenging.
The storyline for five books are already defined, and first book is done already. Should come up in June.
You’re working with friends Mateus Santolouco and Eduardo Medeiros on this book. What has the development process been like on this book?
RA: It was crazy. For the first volume, we sat down to define the storyline of the stories and chapters. Than each one of us drew it, without an average script or dialogues, than after have the pages ready, we got together again to write the lines together. It was interesting but also, exhausting. For the 2nd volume, we will do a more regular kind of script.
In Brazil, where this series has already been released, how has the response been so far?
RA: It was incredibly good! Here in Brazil we have released it in a 4-issue mini series and it sold out. It was really impressive for indie comics in Brazil. We were really surprised with the reception of readers.
It’s a real labor of love for you and your compatriots. How does working on something like that differ from your work on something like American Vampire or Blue Beetle?
RA: Yeah, it’s very different. For me, Mondo Urbano is a complete creator experience since we have created the concept, stories, artwork, lettering, editing, sales… you know? It’s the book, in the actual way we wanted. American Vampire is different because, as much I have a lot of involvement, its a lot more a collaboration with the actual creator, who is Scott.
Are the three of you already developing another volume? How much of this series can we expect going forward?
RA: Yeah, we have set up the outline already, and now we are about to write the dialogues and start the artwork. We are really proud of this one. Vol 2 is probably my favorite Mondo Urbano story.
Brazil as a country has produced some extremely talented artists in recent years, with you, Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon taking the industry by storm. What is the artistic community like in Brazil? Why do you think there are so many brilliant artists coming out of your home country?
RA: I think Brazil has always had brilliant artists, but just now, got some maturity as comic industry. We now understand how to suit our ideas for any kind of market: Brazilian, American, European… whatever. So that’s why you can see that many different Brazilian creators around. Guys like Ivan Reis, Rafael Grampá, Bá, Moon, Greg Tochinni, Roger Cruz… There are many awesome artists in here that I’m sure they can impress anyone.
What else can we expect to see from you going forward? Anything else you want to share with our readers about your work?
RA: Just stay tuned in American Vampire and Mondo Urbano. I’m sure you won’t regret it!
