Here
you can find answers to frecuently asked questions.
Please, read this FAQ carefully
before to write me; if your answer is
found here, I will problably not write back.
The following answers don't have intention to
be offensives or harsh in any way,
I only tried to make things as clear as possible
so you don't have any doubts =).
F A Q
1.
How much time does it take to complete an artwork?
It depends of complexity, canvas size, inspiration
and other factors. Usually I spend around
two weeks (100-200 hours) working on an image,
but the time can change from a work to other.
A very simple work with small size can take
me about two hours, but a complex work with
big size, several characters, background and
a lot of details could take me even a month
or two.
2.
What are your techniques and style?
My usual technique is digital painting, but
I have a traditional background. I began to
work with traditional techniques (watercolor,
pastel, ink, oil, ….) and several times
my digital works have traditional parts too.
Most of my works began with a sketch in pencil
that later is scanned and painted using a
computer program such as Photoshop or Painter.
The process (for the people who are not familiarized
with digital art) is pretty similar to oil
or acrylic: you have to paint the same way,
stroke by stroke, only the tools are different.
My style varies depending of the kind of project
I’m working on. I have works in very
different styles, but my more personal images
are realistic style with fantasy and horror
themes.
3.
Digital art doesn’t have the same worth
than traditional art.
There’s a lot of myths around digital
painting, but that’s not new. All techniques
had the same problems at the beginning. Digital
technique is only a tool, such as watercolors,
oil, pastel… is not a program or a magic
button that does all the work, is the author
who have to paint everything from the beggining
to the end, painting exactly the same way
as with any other technique. A good painter
can do high quality works whatever the medium
is, it doesn’t matter if is on a table
napkin or a good quality canvas.
If you think digital painting doesn’t
have the same worth than traditional, I invite
you to try it. Try to paint an artwork from
the sketch with a digital program and you
will see that is the hand of the artist and
not the computer who does the task =).
4.
What size and resolution have your works?
Usually I work with canvas size 50x70 cm (19,6x27,5
inches) and 300 pixels of resolution.
5.
Which artists had an influence on your work?
There are too many artists, illustrators and
writers who I admire a lot; a list of them
could take me years to do. My great favourites
were always Luis Royo, Jonathon Earl Bowser,
Boris Vallejo or Julie Bell as illustrators,
the old masters of renaissance, barroc, victorian
and preraphaelism art, such as Waterhouse,
Millais, Boticcelli, Caravaggio, Gentileschi,
Goya, and a lot more, writers such as Oscar
Wilde, Poe, Mary Shelley, Alexandre Dumas,
Bécquer, Lovecraft, Neil Gaiman…
and also a lot of great digital artists of
today.
6.
Where do you get your inspirations from?
The inspiration comes to me when it wants;
sometimes it’s something that I see,
a landscape, a night, people… sometimes
it comes from the books I read or the movies
and art I see… but most of the time
it just comes when I’m working or when
I’m walking around. In that instant
I feel something and then I have an idea.
That’s the reason why I always bring
with me a pen and a notebook.
7.
How did you learn to paint?
Part self-taught and part with art studies.
As most of the authors around, I began to
work by myself when I was a child, but I didn’t
take it seriously. I wanted to study aeronautics
or astronomy, so drawing was only a hobby
for me. Years later I began to work in comics
and publish them on magazines. From that moment
on I focused my time on art and went to the
Art School of Valladolid, where I learned
a lot of things about illustration, photography
and design, techniques and ways to express
myself. When I finished my studies, I continued
to learn by myself, even now.
8.
Can you teach me to paint like you?
No, sorry =). I’m not a master and I
don’t have time to give private lessons.
You can find tutorials step by step of how
I usually work in the section tutorials.
The best way to learn to paint is practicing
a lot. You can find easily books and tutorials
around, but you will improve the most practicing
by yourself.
9.
Do you use models or references?
Everybody needs references from time to time.
The only way of work without any reference
is when you’re familiarized with the
subject and with a lot ot practice. All my
works are drawn from sketch, even when I use
references.
I use references for my paintings when I need
them. I prefer to use living models –friends
or familiars, or even myself in a mirror-
or real objects as visual help. When I can’t
use that kind of references, I search info
and tons of photographs and images, study
them and try to paint something that is a
mixture of all the things I saw on them when
the time makes it possible.
10.
Do you paint yourself in your artworks?
No, never. I know lately some people seems
to think that I’m similar to some of
my characters, but I never use myself as a
model for the faces (I saw my face everyday,
why paint it? ^__^), and I don’t think
I resemble any of them.
11.
Can you do a tutorial of this or that
artwork?
I don’t usually accept suggestions for
tutorials. You can find my available tutorials
on the section tutorials
of this website, or in magazines and books.
Making a tutorial needs a lot of time that
I don’t have in this moment.
12.
Can you do a video tutorial?
No, sorry. A video tutorial needs a lot of
time and control of the program, and I don’t
have spare time for it in this moment. Perhaps
in the future.
13.
Your style reminds me to this author.
It’s not difficult to find resemblances
in the work of two or several authors. Most
of the times is because both of them work
in the same styles or themes, have the same
inspiration or their favourite authors are
the same. Also, it’s easy to find common
elements in their artworks if they are both
in the same league. Every author has their
own style, their own personal touch that differs
his/her work from others. And sometimes there's
inspiration involved, since art inspires art.
14.
This character reminds me to this actor/actress,
model, singer, this novel, or my own
character.
If in an artwork I feel inspired by the work
of others, by a novel, a real person, or a
character, I will say so in the comment of
the image. Most of the times that resemblance
you find is not deliberate (and several times
I don’t even know about what or who
you’re talking about ^_^). For experience,
I found that the same artwork can remind you
different novels, films, singers or actors
if they’re the last fashion, even when
the work was done several years before.
15.
You always paint the same things.
That means you don’t know well all my
work =). For more than ten years I have been
working in several styles and subjects: design,
advertising, logos, conceptual art, art deco,
classical figures, children’s images,
web design, packaging, signal art, abstract
subjects, photomanipulation, animation, vexel
and vector art, landscapes, fashion, and a
lot more. The artworks you can see on my website
and galleries are personal projects or commissions
with the style I like the most: fantasy and
horror. Even then, I can only show around
10-20% of my works here.
16.
Why do you always paint women?
I don’t always paint women, but they’re
my most usual subject. If you take a good
look through my gallery you can find men,
animals, landscapes... The works you can see
on my website and galleries are only around
10-20% or my work.
Female form was always the image of beauty
and armony. If you check art from any culture
and time, you will always find the figure
of the woman on them. Women are also far better
to show feelings, mistery and worlds full
of magic. I enjoy a lot painting women and
will keep doing so, but I will keep doing
men and other subjects too.
17.
You always paint the same face.
I have to disagree on that =). The faces of
my characters have a lot of things in common,
that’s because I don’t use models
for them usually and because I have a very
defined style to paint faces. But the features,
appearance, and size of them change from one
character to other if you take a good look.
Also, the faces can be similar because you’re
looking to several paintings with the same
character on them.
18.
Do you do commissions? How can I ask for a commission?
Yes, I do commissions, but it depends of kind
of work and the time I have in the moment.
If you want to ask for a commission, you can
contact me
and tell me all about the work: full description,
what uses –private and commercial- will
you do of the work, and deadline for the project.
You can find more info about commissions here.
19.
How much do you charge for a commission?
It depends of kind of work, size, complexity
and how and where you will use it. You can
ask for an estimate if you contact me
and send a full description of the work and
what kind of use the art will have.
20.
Can you do an artwork for free?
No, under no circumstance. I’m sorry,
but this is what I do for a living, it’s
not a hobby, and I have to pay my bills =).
The same way you will not ask a doctor to
operate you for free, or a mechanic to fix
your car without any payment, you can’t
ask an artist to make you an artwork for free.
Each image takes me at least two weeks of
hard work, I’m sure you will not like
if your boss ask you to work for free for
two weeks ;).
21.
I’m an author and want your collaboration
on my project, will you do the work for free?
No, sorry. I refer to the earlier question,
an artwork is a service and you have to pay
for it. I’m sure your project is very
cool and very important for you, but if you
can’t pay an artist I highly recommend
you to don’t use images on it, or seach
for somebody who’s willing to do it
for free.
Any kind of advertising, give credits or telling
others is not payment for an artist, is their
right as authors.
22.
Can I use your images/poems on my website, group,
forum…?
You can if you respect my copyright and follow
this terms of use:
If
you follow this rules, you can use my works
without the need to write me asking for
permission. I WILL NOT ANSWER TO ANY MAIL
ASKING FOR PERMISSION, sorry but I don't
have time anymore to reply them. Just follow
the TOU and there will be no problem :).
23.
Can I use your images for my book, comic, project…?
At first, no. You can’t use my work
for any kind of commercial use, even when
the artworks are already done. If you have
a commercial project and you want to use any
of my works, you can contact me
or my agent
to ask for a price.
If your project is non-commercial and for
personal use and you will not use my works
as advertising (a school project, for example),
you can contact me
and we will talk.
24.
Can I use your image for a non-lucrative project?
It depends of case and kind of project. Contact
me
and explain your project.
25.
Use of images in games, RPG and such and advertising.
It’s totally forbidden to use my works
in any kind of game or RPG, free or commercial,
and in any kind of advertising, it doesn’t
matter if it’s personal, for a company,
for games or for websites.
26.
Licensing of artworks.
If you’re interested in licensing my
work, you can contact me and I will send you
all info you need. There are several artworks
available for licensing that are not shown
on the website, you can ask for a sample sheet
to check them out.
27.
Where can I find your books, posters, merchandising…?
Most of my books and products are available
on comic stores and online shops. You can
find all the info in the section publications
and also some links to online stores that
have the product for sale.
If you can’t find the product or book
in your local store, most of the times you
can order it directly to their employees.
If the links I have on my website don’t
work or they don’t have the product
anymore, it’s easy to find them with
google
if you put my name or the name of the product.
28.
Do you have posters or prints for sale with
your artworks?
Yes. Several of my artworks are available
as posters or high quality prints. You can
find all the images availables in the section
posters, with
info about sizes and kind of papers and links
to online stores. It the image you’re
looking for is not there, that means that
there’s no print or poster available
in this moment. In the future I will also
make available for sale original artworks
and signed prints.
29.
Can I buy from you your book, poster or product?
No, sorry. I don’t have books or products
for sale on my hands, that’s the work
on my publishers and distributors. There’s
no way I can send you any of my products.
30.
Will your book be for sale in my country? When?
I don’t have a lot of info about this.
If I know dates or countries where my work
is gonna be published, I will say so on my
blog or my website. If there’s no info
about it, it’s because I don’t
know. If you want to ask for info, you can
contact Norma
Editorial.
31.
Are you going to be in this event or
convention?
All events, conventions and signing sessions
in which I will be present can be found on
section Agenda.
That section is updated frecuently so you
can have all the info. Anyway, there could
be changes of plans, dates or timetables,
that I will let you know whenever I can.
32.
When will you finish the project in which you’re
working right now?
There’s no way to know that =). Usually
I work in several projects at a time, or I
have other commissions and deadlines. Each
project needs a lot of time and is impossible
to know when it will be over. If I can, I
will let you know how the work is going on
in my website or blog.
33.
Why don’t you answer my mails/messages?
I’m afraid I have very few spare time
to answer all the mails and messages I receive
weekly. I answer all my messages personally
and my work needs almost all my time, so is
very likely that you have to wait a lot for
an answer.
Nowadays, if you wrote me and you didn’t
receive an answer from me in a month or more,
I recommend you to write again. Sometimes
I don’r receive your mail or my spyware
blocks it, or there could be another problem.
If you’re gonna write me, check this
FAQ carefully first, you can find your answer
here.
34.
Why don’t you answer in this
gallery, facebook, twitter…?
Once again, I don’t have a lot of spare
time to answer all messages. I will answer
whenever I can, but I can’t guarantee
it, sorry.
35.
Why don’t you update more your websites
or upload more artworks?
My websites and galleries are updated if I
have something new to share and enough time
to do it. I usually update more my blog with
quick news.
The artworks that I can upload are between
a 10-20% of my actual work, so that’s
why I can’t upload a lot of them.
36.
Links exchange.
Right now I don’t accept anymore link
exchange, with a very few exceptions.
If you want to put a link to my site in your
web or blog, you can find banners and info
in links section; there’s no need to
ask for permission.
