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When I first started the site, my goal was to have variety of artists to showcase their talent and at the same time present the opportunity for these same artists to meet, share their ideas, skills and make new friends. With Chris, seen here with his lovely wife Jacqueline, I’ve achieved all of that. Chris has become a friend and has taught me a thing or two along the way. I can’t say enough about his awesome art! From his Spiderman paintings to his Batman samples for DC, all are top notch! Keep an eye out for this guy; pretty soon he’ll be working on your favorite comics! Taking a break from one of our long chats about everything from our favorite artists to 80’s metal, Chris was nice enough to take the time for me to give him a quick interview. Proceed with caution! |
Mr. Scary: How long have you been painting/drawing?
MS:What's the process you go through from start to finish, for completing a piece?
MS: What's the medium that you feel most comfortable with?
MS: Do you have any kind of school training? MS: Who’s you favorite super hero? MS: Any advice for other artists? MS: Who is your favorite professional artist? MS: Do you do any other type of art other than super heroes?
MS: Batman Vs. Daredevil, who gets his ass kicked? MS: Who's your favorite artist on the Super Hero Fan Art website?
Chris: I’ve been drawing super heroes since about age 3, painting in watercolors for 8 or 9 years, I painted in oils as a child, learning from my grandmother. In reality, I was a product of alien abduction gone array....
( Twilight Zone music here)
Chris:
First, I get the chickens claw and the bowl of blood...oops, well, I select a character, then the scenario, (whether its dictated to me via commission or a painting for my portfolio.) Be it an action painting, a page, portrait, etc, then I will sketch out the basic composition, this could take awhile to get right, its the most important part! Then, I gather reference, of backgrounds, anatomy, lighting, take photos if need be, build costume parts if need be. Then I do the drawing, fully rendered and shaded onto illustration board, paint it with just water to make the pencil permanent (kind of.) then I use just black gouache (watercolors that aren’t transparent.) and go through and paint in all the areas that will be black, and if there are any little bits of black, I’ll paint those also. Then I go in with colors, watercolor, gouache, colored pencil, airbrush, anything to get the desired effect. Stopping every few hours to take a breather to get a fresh look, make sure nothing in going askew of the original vision. Then, I finish the piece and seriously just stare at it for probably half an hour looking for things, and then I sign it, and mail it off.
Chris:
Pencil, watercolor and gouache. Pencil mostly, but painting makes it complete for me. My pencils are much better than my paintings.
Chris: I studied art in high school with a great teacher. (Roberta Nelson.) Then went to the academy of art in San Francisco, California for 1 semester, (Labash rules!) learned a million new things, and dropped out due to finances. Now I just devour books on all subject matters and artists, learning though the printed page as opposed to a teacher. I did take a watercolor course for 6 classes from an amazing teacher in my area, named Cheyl Stein. She is amazing.
Chris:Grew up on Spidey and the super friends, so Spidey/Batman/Superman, but love elf quest (cutter and sky wise in particular..)
Chris:
PRACTICE DAMMIT!! Draw until you can't see anymore, until your fingers hurt and you cant believe its 4 a.m.
Chris: TOP 5
1-Alex Ross-my first real inspiration, he’s a god among men.
2-Brian Bolland-the master penciller/inker behind the "killing joke" no one is better than him. No one!
3-Wendy Pini- the artist/co-creator behind elf quest. The best series I’ve ever read. Ever, ever ever.
4-Miles Teves-this guy is a master conceptual artist/sculptor/painter/artist. He designed "Darkness" from the movie Legend, it gets no cooler than that! (Go to milesteves.com!)
5-Derek Riggs- the guy who painted all the good Iron Maiden album covers with the mascot Eddie, that inspired me as a kid. This guy hates Eddie and iron maiden now, but he is still a favorite of mine.
Chris: I do portraits professionally, I have a mural painting company based out of New York State, with a partner, (website coming soon!) and I do anything else from pencil drawing, to funky/weird/expressionist looking oil paintings of my wife buck-naked!
Chris:
Hmmmmm...well, Daredevil, because he’s FREAKING BLIND!! And Batman can’t be beat. Bane who? Yeah right! DD would hand Batman his ass! MS~
Chris: Wow, go for the throat Scary! Everyone has cool stuff. I like Scary’s charcoal stuff because its unique, I like nosebleed girls stuff because of her definitive line work, very confident. I like everybody’s stuff, well, actually we are all hacks, get a life! (just kidding!) See, that's why I like Chris, he has great taste! MS~
For more info on Christopher Deal, or if anybody has any questions, comments, feedback, hatemail, anything, just check out his personal page, He loves to correspond!
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