1. What initially drew you to comics?
Like most of us, I had some handouts from my elder brother. I have a clear memory of devouring time and again John Byrne's Man of Steel #1 (my mum had to made me a red cape) and also some others by the same man(one where Supes was fighting against some little super-action figures made by Toyman and another where he was mind-controlled to believe he was Darkseid's son). I was already obsessed over Donner's Superman movies, so this was kind of what did me in. These, and also when I discovered Dragon Ball on the TV and later they started publishing it in Spain. So, Byrne and Toriyama, not bad art heroes to have, IMO.
I was (and still am) an avid reader of books as a kid, and also loved movies. Heck, it was the 80s, when they knew what they were doing, if you ask me. So, to me, comics were the perfect synthesis of both mediums, and I had a lot of fun drawing, so I started copying figures from these comics. There was also the Asterix & Obelix books, some Spanish comics I really digged, especially the Superman parody called Super López... I don't know, I guess I've always been attracted to storytelling, no matter the medium or style, and comics were something that I fell in love with pretty easily and wanted to make on my own.
2. You have worked on so many wonderful titles, from Batman to Midnighter — is there an especially rewarding experience you’d like to share about?
See, the thing is I don't consider myself the better suited to work on superhero books. Mind you, I have all the respect for them, as I have for any other genre. I don't read them all, nor I'm the savviest in the matter, but I enjoy certain characters and titles as much as any other fan. But when I look at my dabbling in that field, I don't consider them my best or most inspired jobs; I'll always be thankful for the chances I've been given there, and if any other comes along I'll try my 200% to make it right, you know?
Anyway, among all them, Midnighter stands out above the rest for personal reasons. I had to leave the field for some years due to a family issue and when I was taking up again the pencils and brushes and trying to make my way again in the field, my good friend Álex (ACO) asked me to give him a hand as an inking assistant, which helped me not only to make a living again out of my passion, but also to work alongside a guy who I consider a true genius of this art form.
And other than that, there's this new book that's coming out soon, on August 9th, called Fraternity and published by Humanoids. This, I consider my best job so far, leagues above anything else I've done both in art and storytelling. It's written by Jon Ellis, a young man that contacted me a couple of years ago with this proposal to make a comic together and has since become a good friend. This has been my best experience ever, personally and professionally, since we were so lucky as to have the best editor I've ever worked with, Rob Levin, who helped us shape this book in its finest form possible, always on point, suggesting changes and pointing flaws that needed fixing. And he's such a nice guy!
3. Please tell us about your creative process.
My creative process is not much different from any other artist. I read the script a couple of times while I play the action in my head as a sort of movie. I research any possible reference material I might need or even do some 3D models that will help me to craft a grounded and believable world for the story. Then, I do layouts for every page, including text balloons in the composition as another visual element; in this stage, I try my best to balance things well enough to make a good reading of the actions and emotions of the characters (I care a lot about their acting) and the purely artistic element of the page, but my goal is always to present things in the most readable and clear way to the reader.
At this point, there's usually some back and forth with the rest of the time, editor and writer, and once we are all on the same page (no pun intended), then I proceed to properly pencil and ink it all. Again, there'll be some feedback with the team to polish any possible flaws and after that, on to the colorist, letterer, etc.
4. Where can we find more information about your work?
I have an online portfolio at https://hugopetrus.wixsite.com/petrusportfolio where you can find a (more or less complete) checklist of my work, some galleries with samples of my work and such.
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