Artist Interview Artists 15 Jose Garcia audio by Anthony Andujar Jr 11/9/16
Interviewer: Anthony Andujar Jr. Interviewee: Jose Garcia
I had a very difficult time trying to upload the audio since I had to jumble with devices, editing, all that stuff etc, etc. Now unfortunately I do not have the rest of the interview typed since I want all my friends and viewers who are deaf (hearing impaired) to be able to read this interview, I'm gonna add the rest of the interview typed on here. Until then for the meantime, people can listen to the interview on youtube. Its 4 parts. ENjoy.
I had to divide the 50 min interview with Jose in 4 clips. Here is
Clip 1 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IqZZzzsMH8
Clip 2: https://youtu.be/AikpY-ZZbZE
Clip 3: https://youtu.be/8rt-WFvwOls
Clip 4 Final: https://youtu.be/MUTfqVJT9Ms
Note: aside from adding the transcribed text of the interview ( which is gonna take me a few days due to studying , HW assignments, comic book related projects, reviews et,) I'll also have a link for the full interview as one whole video instead of seperate clips.
Okay, I’m interviewing Jose Garcia, someone I’ve known for almost two to three years while attending Laguardia Community College?
Jose Garcia: Two years, three years.
Q1. Is Art always something that was a part of your family and life, or something you stumbled upon?
JG: Actually I’ve found out after I started doing art, that my family had a big line of artists. Fun fact i started drawing because my brother used to doodle. He never took it serious, so I used to copy him. But when he moved I started doing to preoccupy myself. after a couple of years doing that, people found that that I draw and would go “Oh man you draw, ? I draw too”. I found out that my grandfather , he was actually so good that he sat there , looked.himself for two hours and would do a self portrait perfectly. My uncles , my brothers etc.
Q. When did you take art seriously?
JG: I guess it would have to be right before he, I used to doodle and had a million black books. The real reason I started was because I didn't want to go to the zone school that I was going to, i wanted to go to a better school. So I had to figured that I wanted to do art, so.I had to take it seriously. Like, I never took.life drawing until High School, I was like, uncultured in the arts haha.
Q2. WHat are your influences? illustrative or music wise?
JG: I could easily say, musically, Coheed and Cambria. I've spoken to Claudio (lead singer), and told him this, and I was in cosplay when I told him this, but I don't think he took it as seriously as I meant it. I told him that I listened to Coheed and Cambria heavily, and it influenced my astral projection comic project , especially after listening to the album Afterman. Because his albums are based on his own graphic novels. Also, Marvel, when I was younger, geared towards the younger crowd, and then DC Comics, because they were more harsh. But Coheed and Cambria is like the one that influenced me.
Q3. If you could continue or remake a movie, or franchise, what would be your film of choice ?
JG: Movie.. Easily, easily, and I've already actually written a way to do it, but Avatar the Last Airbender. Its one if the worst adaptation to anything ever. Aside from being biased, I lovely that series, but the movie sucked. Also not being biased because M Night Shyamalan is a prick. I love for continuity errors when it comes to watching movies, I like to point out, “continuity error, continuity error”. But definitely that movie. Aside from that, but probably X-Men too, but you and I both know why but i'll stay away from that.
Ant A: sigh, I would do one movie, but i woukd try to do only one movie that caught the essence of X-Men. I just want to do one movie so people can say, ‘hey at least someone made a good X-Men film’, and then I'd leave it to someone else to do the next installment haha.
JG: Be like Tim Burton, haha. Came to Batman, and Batman Returns but was like, eh, fuck that I ain't coming back haha.
Ant A: Yeah , like Matthew Vaughn did for X-Men: First Class. Its not the most accurate X-Men adaption, but its a good X-Men film, and after he made that he was like ‘yeah I doing another one fam’ haha .
Q4. WHat is the most difficult part for you in terms of creating art?
JG: Um, well drawing, most difficult part for me is drawing figures. Its kinda a big thing for everybody. I mean its like drawing weird poses. Its like when you drawing poses that are in front of you and look like a weird big blob (foreshortening) . aside from that, colors is another challenge. I have so much black and white shit that I've drawn., like in have t shirt designs and I'll draw the outline, do it marker and it'll look boss as shit. But by the time I do coloring its like ‘fuck!’ I don't wanna ruin it and start over. So I make copies and do that color variations on the copies until i see which ones I like and throw the rest in the trash.
Q5. If you were to make a film, novel, or comic book based on an album, what album or artist would you pick?
JG: Based on a album, ooh.. Wow. That's a hard question. I would say, it might be Korn. Because they just recently released an album. They just released 4 songs and made videos for and they’re bad ass. I mean Korn has like 10 albums, and been out since they were fuckinh teenagers, since the early, mid 90s. It's crazy because I love their early albums , i love at least half their albums all the time. Their last two albums, I wasn't really feeling , I wasn't really feeling the dub step and then they tried to go a different way. I mean even the stuff that Jonathan Davis does outside of the band, like the Queen of the Damned soundtrack, that shit was FIRE. His style was awesome, with their new album, I'd like to do some photography and drawing stuff due to that.
Ant A: It's the same for me when i listen to Radiohead, or Deftones , I look for ideas that are atmospherically dark and stuff, especially when I listen to TOOL.
JG: Yeah, it seems like you listen to TOOL a lot when you draw.
Ant A: Ya know, oddly enough, there's something appealing to me. I get the idea of different characters talking to one another. Its like there is something severe happening to society that society doesn't want to admit to itself. When you hear stuff in a different perspective , like a comedian feeling you truths. There is an impending doom kind of feeling where anything can go. But there is also a freedom of being able to say what you want to say. It's like Doctor Strange, like in the movie where there is existential stuff about the universe, along with Alex Grey’s art. There is certain songs that talk about multiverses and universes etc, and I guess that stuff appeals to me in a way. Not to sound pretentious, but most groups today that try to sound hardcore, they don't sound that unique or different that leave a lasting effect.
JG: That's the thing about music, where you get addicted to certain songs that make you want to do stuff. I don't know if you listened to Korns recent stuff?
Ant A: I remember a music video where they had clips with Miley Cyrus in it.
JG: Yeah, Korn’s “Spike in my Veins”. There are parts in the song where the singer says lines repeatedly to make it seem like you're going insane, and I hope to emulate that in the comic that we’re working on.
Ant A: Yeah, it kinda reminded me of TOOL’s “Vicarious” where it's kind of the fact that it's like humanity, kinda doesn't want to change.
JG: I've been studying consciousness in one of my classes. I even had to watch a bunch of videos. and they talk about that, where the conscious mind needs to be punished in order to learn. It has to struggle to gain its knowledge. Its like people want their heroes to not be heroes, that way people can relate to them. Its why I like Slipknot. I mean I like Stonesour, but they got a lot of sappy stuff. Its like the lead singer Corey Taylor who says that he is one of you, that he was a piece of shit just like you (us). I'm one of you, we're all maggots.
Ant A: It makes them relatable. People look for characters that they can relate to. That's an important thing, like when you're writing stories that you find ways to write characters and humanize them enough that when people read those characters that they don't find them unrelatable like how most people feel about Superman.personally I love Superman, so I'm not hatin.
Q6. If you could speak to a deceased creator, who would it be? Why? And what would you hope to discuss?
JG: I'm not biggest at knowing who created what. The only person could think of to talk to because I only met him once , and sorta took for granted, it would be Jerry Robinson, the creator of the Joker. I met him at ComiCon. He was at a booth where one of the walkways are, and i saw this booth and i'm thinking he has to be somebody, and here is this old dude, and no one was paying attention to.the fact that he created the joker. I'd ask him about his thoughts on how the character has evolved in popularity.
Q7. If you could speak to any living creator, who would it be? What would you hope to collaborate with them on and why?
JG: I already met Stan Lee. But to be honest, whoever is handling , is Scott Snyder still writing Batman.
Ant A: No, he finished his run, he's currently working in All Star Batman with John Romita Jr drawing.
JG: I ask, because personally, Snyder's run on Batman was great. I felt that the way he was taking Batman, I thought about ideas that could have been done etc. Even Geoff Johns when he was working on green Lantern, there is so much stuff you can do with GL , and it's like, how do you siphon those ideas? Imagine being a room , which is why I wanted to establish that with other artists where we would be in a room hashing out ideas . those are the people that could be the next frank miller, the next legends .
Ant A: I feel like thata an important thing which is why I made the Facebook group, like it's not just there for no reason or just there to be there. If there's somebody who has something that they want to talk.about or play off or bounce off ideas with one another and make something on the spot if they want to or if they're comfortable with it. I mean, maybe it's a matter of time of when and where, but it shouldn't be that difficult if we have emails or google docs, it should not have to be that difficult.
JG: the problem is, this is why I don't do so much with a lot of people is because everyone is always worried about their own thing. You can't get your shit done without collaborating. I have no problem working on people's stuff, but at the same time if you're not putting in work for your own shit. When it's my shit
Ant A: they probably won't put effort to do the same.
JG: Yeah.
Q8. What advice would you advise to the next generation or to your past self?
JG:
Q9. If you could go back in time to speak to your younger self, what would you say?
JG: I'd say to keep the things you ever created. When you're a kid, you don't really think about things. I have old stuff that were on loose paper, doodles not finite, but in doodle form, is always better because it's in the moment. If I could look back to those stories that are now lost that I threw away and didn't care about, I would tell myself ‘here is a box’. Everything , Even if you think it's fuckng stupid, put the idea in there. Draw it out, it could be a penis, throw in there. Cause one day you'll wake up and be like ‘ya know would be a good idea, if I drew a penis, for this’ and then you could back track.
Ant A: Fun fact, I Have a friend named Gabriel Aguirre, and he created a character that is actually a penis. I won't say the name of the character because I want him to copyright and trademark the character before I say the name. But the character is a fusion of a shark and a penis and it's hilarious. Everywhere he goes, people laugh because it so funny that it's genius. But its funny because I have people who approach me and ask me ‘why don't you create your own character ‘ and it's not like I don't have a character, I've made tons of characters over the years, but before I put them out there, I want to copyright and trademark them. In this day and age, you have to be really careful.
JG: Yeah because people could make money off of someone else's shit like its no tomorrow.
Ant A: Yeah man, when I found out you could change 60% of someone's image, and then that 60% is enough just for that image that you made , to become someone's else's image and they'll take credit for it. Its like, what kind of BS is that?
JG: That's why I'm scared of going to big companies with my ideas and people are like ‘oh just take the chance’. But all it takes is for me to not have something that's needed for them to except me. They'll already hear the pitch. Let's say I don't have a script, they'll say I'll have to go back and refurbish ideas it's like Patton's. I know that usually it's for when you invent stuff, but there is a time period for those things.
For example,if you Patton something, you'll have 90 days to come up with something for that Patton before the time limit expires and someone swoops in to take your idea. Imagine, working your ass off to do it and someone is just waiting for the patton to expire just to steal your idea.
Q10. What era of your life would you write a book about?
JG: To be honest, I mean I've been through a lot. Not to put it out there, I mean I'm pretty open about talking about my life story. But if I had to pick any era, it would have to be high school to now. That's because before high school, I went through some stuff with my parents and everything, but all of that was out of my control. Right around high school, sophnore - junior year, that's when I realized, fuck what anyone else says, and I'm gonna do what I want for myself. That's when I started to actively trying to control my life, regardless of what anyone said. That lead me to graduating high school on my own, going to the military, and then now, I'm about to move to California. Within a two year gap, something crazy has happened, and its all my doing and my decision making. So I'd talk about that .
Q11. In terms of you as a person, do you feel your art, or writing or any of the arts that you feel best represents you?
JG: I guess my creativity on how income up with something. I don't have a specific style, I envy a lot of artists because they have a specific style that they can do all the time. I wish I could develop the whole DC roster in my own style. It's not that I don't have the creativity, it's just that taking that creativity from and translating it to paper it's not always the same. So in use reference since that's how I taught myself. But like ideas, if I could think of artwork and how to present them in a specific way , I'd feel my ideas would speak for themselves.
Q12. What fictional characters do you feel you relate to the most?
JG: that's a good question, I've never really thought about it. That's a really hard question.
Ant A: I know.
JG: Hahaha.
Ant A : I used to always ask that question since middle school and I'd ask them what character I reminded them of or in would think of characters that they remind me of. Its interesting what people think, and how you would think of other people as characters, and how you compare ways of thinking etc.
JG: That's what I'm trying to do, its really hard because when you see characters they're always on one side of the fence or the other, either light or dark. Even villains , I love villains that have good justification, when you see a villain that makes sense you say ‘ I agree with you’. You know its not okay to commit genocide but what that character is genociding for may make sense verbally. Maybe you may answer that, I'm kind of in the middle of like Batman V Superman Batfleck and 90s Spider-Man cartoon Peter Parker. That version is the best peter parker, but he went through a lot like when Mary Jane fell through a portal due to green goblin. You knew she wasn't dead, but you understood what it's like to lose someone in a instant. But at some degree Batfleck Batman, I understand at some degree that some times I'll have to beat the shit out of people, or metaphorically beat the shit out of something to move forward. I'm very realistic, there is no way that you can go through life pretending that everything will have a good outcome of that everything's fine. That we could all take a break and relax, until we have technology to the point that technology can take care of us. Even then the people who are fixing technology are gonna butch about the fact the people who aren't fixing get to live free and comfortable. I don't know I'll think about this a lil more.
Ant A: I'm surprised that I didn't hear Magneto at some point.
JG: I would say not Magneto, only because he's too extreme. I'm not at home plotting to ..
Ant A: ..do away with humanity! Haha
JG: Yeah haha.
Ant A: I'd say that Wolverine , not because of your military background but because when you gotta do what you have to do, its like you have to like it but you'll get things done. I'd say Deadpool too when we get wacky haha. But the 90s version of Peter Parker that was voiced by Daniel Barnes,
JG: Even Spider-Man and Wolverine both have opposite personalities but they go about things in a similar fashion mentally. Like spider-man is like “I'm not gonna fight you because you're a good guy, but I'll have to kick your ass”, and Wolverine is like “Fuck it, I'm a good guy, I'm gonna kick your ass”. They both come together and work perfectly because of that.
Q13. What Superpower would you want and why?
JG: For everyday life, Invincibility. Like Luke Cage or Colossus, or think of Juggernaut. I Would love to just walk around and have nothing bother me. But anything , no holds bars, I'd say, Phoenix Force.
Ant A: Woah, that's a different answer from anyone I know.
JG: yeah man, it's a entity with space powers , like some space ju just, that can amplify others powers like it did with the X-Men.
Ant A: I'd like Teleportation, or at least Aquaman’s powers. I mean the earth is mostly covered by water, he has control over ocean life, can breath underwater, he has a hot wife Mera, and is super strong and has a mystical trident, the power of poseidon, and he has magic infused abilities which helps him go toe to toe with Superman since superman has magic as one of his weaknesses aside from Kryptonite or being under the red sun.
JG: Flashpoint Paradox, that animated movie, Aquaman was whooping everyone's ass. Not many people really know the actual potential these characters have.
Ant A: His powers are practical for everyday life. You wouldn't worry about drowning. You know how many people die from drowning every day B? Haha
Q14. What are your artistic regrets?
JG: Not diving into colors sooner. I wish I got into color. There was a point where I completely stopped using pencils and used pens and ink learned how to go over mistakes etc. regardless of medium , i could see what people can do with color and I'm like fuck, I can't do that.
Q15. What do you draw on a daily basis?
JG: Most of time I'm just doodling. I literally scribble and if I have an idea I'll do it three or four times, and if I don't get an idea, I'll practice my graffiti tag.
Q16. Biggest Fear?
JG: In general ? Being alone. I can't stand being alone , because I've been like that most of life. Not like it's a hard fear, I mean if I'm living alone I can deal with it. But the idea to not have someone else to validate anything that i'm doing kinda sucks. I hate doing stuff and it becomes pointless. Pointless shit pisses me off, so if I'm doing anything for anybody, if they're not actively there telling me what they want. It's not like I need to the reassurance but I don't like the idea of failing people. I mean I can fail myself a million times over but failing, I'm scared of that, like that stuff sucks.
Closing Statement:
JG: For anybody who does any kind of art, just put it out there. I know we talked about stuff and being scared of what could be taken from you, but just get your knowledge up to par to knowing what you can and cannot do or what you can and cannot release, or who you can and cannot talk to about certain things. There are definitely enough people who are willing to pretend and really they're actually up against you. If anything, just be smart , if you need to be reserved to hold back, cool. But don't shy away from asking for help or for reference. Even you , when I ask you for a reference sketch, it's not a bad thing to need constructive criticism. Everybody always helps each other.
