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1/30/2020 10:39 am  #1


Gus Vazquez here!

Historical text from Comixfan:

Django

Apr 21, 2011, 12:31 am


Hi, everybody!

Gus Vazquez here. One of the guys who posts here told me about this forum, and said I should drop by, and that you'd appreciate it if I came to post and visit. So, here I am!

I read what you people said about me, and you should be ashamed of yourselves! I kid, I kid...

I'm actually glad to see you're enjoying what I'm putting out there for you. I see that you, as I also did, felt that in the beginning it was a little shaky as I was trying to figure out what to do with all these characters being thrown my way. I like to think, though, that as I've gone along I've been able to give each character their own personality. Hopefully, too, they don't all look like the same person wearing a different outfit.

When I get the instructions of who I'm gonna be drawing, I look each one up and do as much research as I can so I can try and make each one their own person...or creature! Sometimes, there's not a lot to work from, but I can't control that. I hope, however, that in the end it shows that I love doing these. I hope to keep doing them as long as they'll let me!

Thanks for all the positive comments, too! I'm glad you're enjoying these books as much as I enjoy helping make them for you. Your positive feedback, I'm sure, has helped keep me employed doing something I love, so thanks for that. Some of us aren't so lucky to have the work so regularly.

It makes it a lot easier that I never know what I'm going to get, so it's always exciting, and that sometimes I get to draw some of my favorite heroes. For instance, I really enjoyed drawing the Thor update book. Especially that I got to draw the God of Thunder, himself! I hope you like it, too!

Please feel free to let me know what you're thinking out there. I've been doing this comic thing a long time, and I'm glad I could settle in to doing something I enjoy, and you enjoy looking at. Hopefully, we'll see a lot more of these together. Thanks again.

Humbly yours,

Gus
:wave::wave::wave:




captainswift

Apr 21, 2011, 02:16 am


Gus, ya old so-and-so, it's good to see you. I've been liking your art more and more with each volume, and I can't wait to see what's coming up.




Andy E. Nystrom

Apr 21, 2011, 06:41 am


Welcome aboard, Gus. You'll probably provide a fresh perspective since the fans and writers are well represented but I think you're the first artist to have worked on any Handbook to post here. And you've now done enough characters that I've come to associate you with with Handbook characters the way I've come to associate Eliot R. Brown with the Handbooks' technical art, and that's not bad company to keep.




PaxHouse

Apr 21, 2011, 10:33 am


Welcome, Gus.....And thank you for your incredible work within the current (and various) Marvel Handbooks.

Just a simply question though.......any chance you might/will do a Marvel Comic soon....?!? :chin:




Eduardo M.

Apr 21, 2011, 11:16 am


Welcome to the party Gus. Looking forward to seeing more of your work in the Thor Handbook




Roger Ott

Apr 21, 2011, 11:35 am

Awesome! Each book that comes out, I look forward to seeing which characters get new art by you. My only wish is that you'd been around during the bulk of the Hardcover series, as there were many profiles that definitely needed new art!

You should post a link to your DeviantArt page!




William Keogh

Apr 21, 2011, 12:18 pm


Hello, Gus! Welcome to the site! :cheers:




Phoenixx9

Apr 21, 2011, 12:28 pm


Welcome Gus!!

I Hope you will enjoy the site and post regularly as your schedule permits.

I have loved all your work in the OHOTMU.

One quality I love about your work (besides the art being gorgeous) is that while I can tell it is your work, all of the characters are distinct and very individualized. They have a fresh, new look to them. I know that can be very hard to achieve, especially in comics, but you have done it! Bravo! :clap:




bigvis497

Apr 21, 2011, 01:05 pm

Django wrote:

For instance, I really enjoyed drawing the Thor update book. Especially that I got to draw the God of Thunder, himself! I hope you like it, too!

Spolier tags please! I didn't know Thor was gonna be in the Thor handbook!

Kidding  ;)

Love your stuff!




captainswift
Apr 21, 2011, 01:10 pm

bigvis497 wrote:

Spolier tags please! I didn't know Thor was gonna be in the Thor handbook!

Kidding  ;)

Love your stuff!

I have it on good authority that Captain America will be in the Captain America handbook, too. Meanwhile, for IP reasons, the upcoming Micronauts handbook will contain no Micronauts characters whatsoever.




William Keogh

Apr 21, 2011, 03:11 pm


Just as long as there's no Howard the Duck in the upcoming Howard the Duck handbook.




bigvis497

Apr 21, 2011, 03:24 pm

William Keogh wrote:

Just as long as there's no Howard the Duck in the upcoming Howard the Duck handbook.

Not even a one page update???  




William Keogh

Apr 21, 2011, 03:46 pm

bigvis497 wrote:

Not even a one page update???  

As long as the one page consists of Gus drawing a full splash page of Howard's horribly mutilated corpse, sure.




Sidney Osinga

Apr 21, 2011, 05:06 pm


Welcome, to Comixfan, Gus. I'm Pathetic Virgin on DeviantArt, so I'm probably the one you're talking about at the beginning of your post.




William Keogh

Apr 21, 2011, 06:31 pm


I'll be going through the recent handbooks to have a fresh look at your work, Gus.




Andy E. Nystrom

Apr 21, 2011, 06:57 pm

William Keogh wrote:

Just as long as there's no Howard the Duck in the upcoming Howard the Duck handbook.

Agreed. His supporting cast and enemies need the space for that 64 page book that will undoubtedly include a 5-page Beverley entry and 3 pages each for Wanda and the Winky-Man. And of course there would need to be a 2-page map of Howard's Cleveland in there plus another map of Bagmom and though Steve might not approve, one for Duckworld (with additional pages of text for each location of course). And no less than a page each for his various enemies.

Okay, writers, William's on board for the Howard book as long as he doesn't get his own entry. That makes the request pretty much unanimous for these boards.




Django

Apr 21, 2011, 11:06 pm


I will try to answer all of you if I can.

@CaptSwift: Thanks! Glad to be here and oblige.

@Andy: Thanks! That's definitely a compliment in my book!

@Pax: I've done Marvel books in the past. Been doing this 20 years this year, in fact. My first solo book was called Sunfire and Big Hero Six, back in 1998, I believe. My last two were the What If's for Civil War and Spider-Man:Back in Black. I'm working on other things, but if Marvel wants to give me a shot at something else, I'd love to do it. Maybe a little letter or two from a fan or two here might help... (Wink, wink)

@Eduardo: Thank you!

@CyRog: Thanks! I wish I was, too. Alas, they re-discovered me too late for that. Hopefully these things will keep selling and I can keep bringing them to you. As for my deviant art page, I thought I did, but I will try it again. In the meantime, I will add it at the bottom for you, and anyone else, to check out.

@William: Thanks!

@Phoenix: Thank you! I try to achieve that in anything I do. I'm glad it's working!

@BigVis: Haha! Right. Is your name a WWE reference? And thank you.

@Sidney: Yes. You were the one I was referring to. I didn't know your name here, which is why I didn't credit you to begin with. Didn't know if you wanted the Pathetic Virgin name going around...

@William: Great! Hope you like!

Well, I think I got everyone that addressed me personally. I'm glad, once again, that you all enjoy the work I'm putting into these characters and handbooks. I really do enjoy doing them, and I'm happy that it's good enough for all of you. I mean it when I say I'm humbled at the compliments you give me. Sometimes, we artists (and I mean that in the broad sense of the word, because all of us who do comics are creating art of some sort, be it in writing form, or inking, or color, lettering, etc.), well, we often wonder how our work is being received, and how long we're going to be working, too.

It's also not often you get to connect directly with the fans unless you go to shows, and even then only if they're looking for you, specifically. And if you've ever seen me at a show, you know I'll talk to anyone and everyone if I can.

I love this business, and I love that you allow me to do what I love to do. Heck, if I ever need an acceptance speech for anything, I'll just copy, paste and repeat! That was cheeseball!

Anyway, thanks again. I will stop by often. As often as I can, anyway.

Here's the addy to my deviantart page if anyone's curious. www.uncle-gus.deviantart.com

Thanks again, and see you soon,

Gus




Django

Apr 21, 2011, 11:39 pm


By the way. I have a lot of the b&W versions of the handbook pages on my deviantart page, if you're interested in seeing them without color. I have some of the color ones there, too. These are only for the books that have been released, of course. I'm missing a few, as I haven't had the time to post all of them, but I will be doing so in the near future.

I have some of the art for purchase, too, if anyone is interested.

Just putting it out there.

GV

In terms of sketches, I'm way behind, and owe some people for a long time now, so I won't be taking any requests for a bit. If I owe you a sketch, I had some art stolen from me (not yours, Sidney), and I need to redo them. I can't apologize enough for the delay. It's been a crazy year.




bigvis497

Apr 22, 2011, 09:01 am

Django wrote:

@BigVis: Haha! Right. Is your name a WWE reference? And thank you.

Why yes, it is. And I can't believe you got that. I think I like your work even more now!




Django

Apr 23, 2011, 04:03 am


I'm also a big WWE fan. I couldn't imagine where else you would get Big Vis from except Viscera. Been watching WWE since I was a little kid, but became a follower when Hulk Hogan won his first championship on my birthday against the Iron Sheik, January 23, 1984!

But, this is not that kind of thread, so I'll end my wrestling talk now.

If anyone's in the CA area, I'll be walking around at the one day con in Long Beach tomorrow.




Sidney Osinga

Apr 23, 2011, 04:14 am

Django wrote:

In terms of sketches, I'm way behind, and owe some people for a long time now, so I won't be taking any requests for a bit. If I owe you a sketch, I had some art stolen from me (not yours, Sidney), and I need to redo them. I can't apologize enough for the delay. It's been a crazy year.

That's good to know. And I don't mind my DA handle being mentioned.




Eduardo M.

Apr 23, 2011, 01:15 pm

Django wrote:

If anyone's in the CA area, I'll be walking around at the one day con in Long Beach tomorrow.

Damm. I'm in Florida. Let me know if you're ever at a Con down here




Sidney Osinga

Apr 23, 2011, 06:49 pm

Sidney Osinga wrote:

That's good to know. And I don't mind my DA handle being mentioned.

I mean it's good that the one you're doing for me wasn't stolen, not the theft. That's awful.




Django

May 3, 2011, 12:09 am

Django wrote:

Ergh! I was just about to post art on my deviantart page of the X:men update book, but I realized it's not out yet!

I'll post some of the Thor b&w's instead.

Gotta find them, I had the X:men one handy.

Eduardo M.

May 3, 2011, 01:05 am


Ergh! I was just about to post art on my deviantart page of the X:men update book, but I realized it's not out yet!

I'll post some of the Thor b&w's instead.

Gotta find them, I had the X:men one handy.
So I'm guessing sneak previews are a no-no?




Django

May 3, 2011, 07:21 am

Honestly, I'm not sure, but I'm not gonna take the chance. I enjoy my job, and don't want to piss anyone off and jeopardize losing it.

So, no.




Eduardo M.

May 3, 2011, 08:43 am

Django wrote:

Honestly, I'm not sure, but I'm not gonna take the chance. I enjoy my job, and don't want to piss anyone off and jeopardize losing it.

So, no.

Wise choice. I will admit I wouldve loved a sneak peek at the art, but I don't want the price to be losing your ability to supply said art.




Roger Ott

May 3, 2011, 10:09 am


And hey, if you run across anything from last year's Update series, I'd love to see more of those! The last I remember seeing you post was from the second issue.




slevin87

May 3, 2011, 10:28 am

Glad to have you here, Gus! I've really been enjoying your work on the handbooks. Keep it up, dude!




Phoenixx9

May 3, 2011, 01:42 pm

Django wrote:

Ergh! I was just about to post art on my deviantart page of the X:men update book, but I realized it's not out yet!

I'll post some of the Thor b&w's instead.

Gotta find them, I had the X:men one handy.

Awww, that's such a tease!

But, I don't want you to get in trouble, so I am glad that you did not post X-Men. (But, I would really have loved to have seen the art and not told nobody. :whistle




Django

May 3, 2011, 04:49 pm

Roger Ott wrote:

And hey, if you run across anything from last year's Update series, I'd love to see more of those! The last I remember seeing you post was from the second issue.

Any specific ones?

I had some of the pages in other galleries, but except for some color versions, the b&w's are all in one folder for all to see!

Also, on a side note, if there are any trading card collectors out there, I still have Iron Man II artist proofs for sale. If you're interested, PM me. I didn't know where to put this otherwise, so I apologize if I'm stepping out of line. If so, let me know and I'll delete this part of the post.




Roger Ott

May 3, 2011, 06:48 pm

Django wrote:

Any specific ones?

Nothing too specific, but I don't remember seeing anything posted after the Phoenix Force Handbook came out. I believe there were a couple of the Update books that came out afterwards.

Now that I think about it, one particular character I remember wanting to see was Hellsgard, because part of the image got chopped off on the left side for space in the finished book. The intricate design work on that one was incredible.




DeadpoolRP

May 16, 2011, 02:58 am


Hey, Gus, thanks for all of your great work for the handbooks! If you haven't posted it already, I'd love to see work you did that appeared in the recent X-Men Legacy: Collision hardcover: Magneto, Loa, Indra, etc.

Thanks again!




Django

Aug 19, 2011, 08:13 am


Hey everyone.

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm back to my regular schedule, and back to drawing your favorite characters (and those you don't know), as long as they keep me working.

To explain my absence; On May 28th, my wonderful and supportive Mom passed away suddenly at the age of 75. It was quite sudden and not expected in any way, as my Mother was a very lively woman who had no signs of illness. She was not sick that forever memorable morning, she literally just died. Growing up without a father in my life, she was my world. Needless to say, she was my world, and that world came crumbling down that day.

It's taken a lot of work to get myself back into a normal semblance of reality, as well as getting back to work. I almost gave up drawing entirely. I lost a good portion of myself when my Mom passed away, and for a while, I fell into a world of deep depression and introspection, and it took a lot for me to make the decision to continue with this career. I am back, however, for as long as Marvel keeps me employed, and as long as you, my fans, enjoy what I am producing for you.

I'm glad to be back, and I hope I can continue to produce new artwork, and work on making it exciting and fresh every month (or whatever the schedule is for these books!).

Thanks for the support so far. It makes it easier for me to continue doing this when I see the comments you folks make on the work I'm putting out. Thanks so much.

Hopefully we can continue sharing this experience.

Always grateful,

Gus Vazquez




Django

Aug 19, 2011, 08:24 am


Also, I'm trying to raise money to buy a Cintiq, so I've got a lot of originals for these characters for sale if anyone's interested. I have almost everything except the Golden Age characters. I still have a few sketches to do, as I stopped producing anything after my Mom's passing. I will get to those next week, after I finish art for the new handbook, which I don't think I can mention yet.

If anyone wants any originals, just ask. Most of the characters are drawn two to three per page, and there's waaaay to many to list, but if you're interested in them, they go for approx $75 to $150 per page, depending on the characters, and the number of characters on the page. Teams are drawn on separate pages for photoshop reasons (it's easier to adjust heights and positions of characters without having to redraw the whole image when I get several corrections), so I will just charge per character in that case.

In the case of someone buying a lot of pages (10+), I will reduce the price depending on how many you get. I did this for one buyer who bought almost a complete issue's worth of characters! I gave him a very fair price.

Anyway, this is getting lengthy, so if you are interested in originals from the OHOTMU's or an original sketch, please PM me.

Virgin, I know I still owe you a sketch. I apologize greatly for the delay, but I hope you understand why it took this long. I promise you a kick-@$$ sketch!

Thanks in advance,

Gus




Roger Ott

Aug 19, 2011, 09:50 am


Sincere condolences on your loss, Gus.

Glad to have you back.




Phoenixx9

Aug 19, 2011, 03:31 pm

Django wrote:

Hey everyone.

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm back to my regular schedule, and back to drawing your favorite characters (and those you don't know), as long as they keep me working.

I'm glad to be back, and I hope I can continue to produce new artwork, and work on making it exciting and fresh every month (or whatever the schedule is for these books!).

Always grateful,

Gus Vazquez

Hi Gus. :wave:

So sorry to hear about your loss. All loss can be most painful, especially when it is someone so dear. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Glad that you are back and that Marvel continues to give you work for my favorite of all comics, the OHOTMU.

You have such great artistic skill I am glad that you are sharing it with all of us! I am looking forward to whatever HBs are still forthcoming.

Be well.




Sidney Osinga

Aug 20, 2011, 02:11 am

Django wrote:

Virgin, I know I still owe you a sketch. I apologize greatly for the delay, but I hope you understand why it took this long. I promise you a kick-@$$ sketch!

Thanks in advance,

Gus

I was wondering about it, but never got around to sending you a PM on DeviantArt. I understand the delay, and look forwards to seeing the picture.




Blue_Shield

Aug 20, 2011, 11:46 am


Gus, sorry to hear about your loss, and I'm glad your doing better now.

I've been a big fan of the Handbooks since I started reading comics back in '86.
I love your work in the current books, and I'm always looking forward to see which characters you've drawn.

Have a good day.:wave:


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