Artist Corner: Marcio Takara

To keep true to my New Year’s promise of a new project to start on my precious “Temple Library Reviews” I am starting my very own ~Artist Corner~ feature that will air every Friday from now on until I run out of artists to annoy. The interrogation…uhm, I mean art discussions can be read on “Temple Library Reviews”, but since I am generous Theresa over at “Fantasy and Sci-fi Lovin’ Blog” will get them too. First to be snatched and interrogated is Marcio Takara, a comic book artist with a wide collection of pin-ups and also a man of few words, but well spoken and to the point.

Harry Markov: First of all thank you very much for agreeing to this interview. I find your art exceptionally interesting for the content and characters. But shall we begin right from the start. What attracted you to art? What can you say was the first encounter with the art form to inspire you to become an artist?

Marcio Takara: It was always comics for me. I started buying out of nowhere when I was 10 or 12 I don’t know… since then I was always drawing for fun :) good times…

HM: Which artist so far has had an exceptional influence on your work?

MT: Jim Lee, Mike Mignola, Scott Campbell, Adam Hughes, Frank Cho, Ryan Ottley, Chris Bachalo, Cheeks, Stuar Immonen… so many of them… probably more…

HM: I tried to do a little research about the person behind the art, but found no traces about him. It is almost like there is this talent that possesses drawing materials and finishes the pieces with magic. Can you reveal the mystery behind Marcio Takara, the man, which has left the Internet mute? Are you a freelance artist or maybe you have a day job or perhaps work for a comic company?

MT: I live in Toronto, Canada. But I am Brazilian. I am a freelance artist yes :) No mystery there see?

HM: After expecting your profile on DA I noticed the fascination with superheroes. Which was the first superhero that hooked you into drawing pinup, the one that defined your path as an artist so to say?

MT: Superman. Right when I saw the first movie. Best movie ever for me.

HM: Another interesting moment for me is the definition of your style. As far as I understand you do pinup art, but for the sake of people, who don’t know anything about art, but would like to, how does one explain pinup to people?

MT: Uh, now that’s a tricky one… I just call it pinup to name the kind of stuff I do. I’m pretty sure some of the things I call pinup aren’t real pinups :) Whenever I think about it I remember those 50’s pinup girls… there was usually something going on in one image, which sometimes is not the case on my “pinups”. I should start calling it something else…

HM: To continue the trail of thoughts what are the tools of the trade that you most frequently use and can you describe the process and the time it takes to complete a pinup?

MT: I sketch with a mech pencil, HB 0.5… then I send it for approvals… after that I ink it with pens and brushes… scan it… and use some Photoshop magic :)

HM: Which are the super hero characters you like most to draw? There has to be a top 10 rank list somewhere and with so many pieces completed, haven’t you had some ideas for original characters?

MT: Ok. My top 10 characters :) Supergirl, Batgirl, Rogue, Dazzler, Powergirl, Back Cat, Firestorm, Phoenix, WonderWoman, Aquaman :)

And yes, I have plans to create my own stuff. Just have to find some time to work on that.

HM: Now I am curious, when it comes to using already created and copyrighted characters as sources of income. Are there any legal issues or regulations one must take in account with the creators before?

MT: Yes. If you start a whole company with existing characters you’re in trouble. But as far as I am concerned, creators can sell one or too sketches or prints at the comic conventions…

HM: I also have to wonder what your current projects are. On your DA profile there is this huge wallpaper with small comic book characters and I definitely want the story behind that as well whether you have anything else in the makings.

MT: I’m working on “The Incredibles” comicbook, for Boom! Studios, with writer Mark Waid. I just wrapped the first issue. Pencils and inks. Not coloring it. Should be out in March 2009. I’m doing 4 books for them at least.

Those tiny characters were just for fun in between work. I’ve been sending them with my sketchbooks to whoever buys them…

HM: Since comic book heroes are all about the awesome superpowers [I know that people here would usually argue that it’s spandex] and superpowers are an element of fantasy haven’t you been tempted to try your hand at any another categories of fantasy?

MT: Yes. I could definitely work on other genres. But like you said, superheroes is my thing :)

HM: For that matter do you have ideas to try a different art style, technique, and tool or simply jump into another medium altogether such as animation perhaps?

MT: I’ve been trying to improve my inking. Using a little bit more brushes… so this is my main goal for now. But no, animation is out of the question. Unless it’s character designs for animation which I did a few in the past… animation is a different monster…

HM: I understand that you also do commission work. Do you get a lot of requests and how do you decide whether or not to take up a job? What are your criteria?

MT: As long as it’s not porn or something really weird I can do it.

HM: Last but not least I would like to talk about that sketchbook of yours. The Internet is pretty silent about that one too. Is it a self published product and what does it feature? Can you tell us more about how it came into being, the basic story behind it?

MT: It is self-published. I printed 50 of them and they are almost completely gone. That was my first attempt and I want to print one every year. It’ s a nice way for people to get some of my work for a fair price. I tried to put some of the art I post on the web and some other stuff with the sketch stage of them all, so it should be interesting for people to see. At least I like to see the whole process from the artist I like.

Cool? Thanks a lot for this. Keep drawing! And happy 09 everyone!

So there you have it. This has been the ~Artist Corner~ with your irreplaceable host me and as it seems I need to practice my interrogation techniques some more. Over and out.

© All the artwork is copyrighted. Please do not use the images without the permission of the artist or owner. The artwork in this post has been used according to the rules listed by the artist herself or at least I think I have.