Illustrating dreams since 1992
Once Upon a Time on Mars - Fantasy Comics
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ABOUT THIS FANTASY STORY
I always wanted to create a fantasy story around forbidden archaeology themes, especially since I´ve been following the Cydonia/Mars controversy for decades now; but I was never able to imagine an original setting to put my ideas into.
I did not want to create the typical serious hard-core sci-fi exploration cliché plot and so when I discovered the Art Bell talk radio show and particularly the work of Richard Hoagland on those subjects ,that was like the key to unlock what was inside my imagination and the answer to what type of imaginative story I wanted to tell.
I already knew I was going to do a fantasy with no human characters, and it was going to be a funny, light adventure.
The ancient aliens angle became the piece that was missing and arrived just at the right time for me to put my Once Upon a Time Mars comics project together.
Up until a couple years ago all my illustration work was done in traditional mediums and now that I´m mostly doing digital work, this latest current version of “Once Upon a Time on Mars” remains probably the last thing I ever did as a hobby in traditional materials, with real water and real paints., and it was
This book was done over a period of five years entirely in traditional techniques, like watercolour, colour pencils, acrylics and ink and it was my night hobby as during the day I was heavily involved in boring and serious professional graphic design projects as I was a software designer by day, martian artist by night. Hiker on weekends.
As I said before, I used this project mainly to test some new skills, learn some others at the time and so I want to create a definitive new version for this in the future.
Original Pencil Sketches - circa 2004/2009
This project had many versions; from the original I did when I was a kid, when these characters were first created around 1987, (when I was 17), to subsequent others that I´ve been working on over the years and which matured the idea as time went by, and I created each new version.
30 YEARS IN THE MAKING…
and still not done…
This work has another thing that I think makes its origin stand out from the rest of the fantasy offers out there.
It was not planned. And with this, I want to say that I have a chaotic way of creating stories. I never plan anything. I don´t do many test sketches either. I have an idea, I imagine everything in my head and then when I have all the visuals in my mind, I go to the canvas and draw everything as the final version. So what you see in my images is really what you get. I´m definitely not one of those comic authors who plan each page, create hundreds of planning sketches and think every detail to the last. I don´t even know what´s going to happen in the next scene on the page, or on the next page.
I have no clue!
The way I do my stories (and my artwork) is, I have an idea of where to begin, I know generally what happens in the middle, and I have more or less figured out what happens in the end. But nothing else.
Once I imagine a story, and I have it completed inside my mind I don´t even bother to put it on paper, as for me that is like repeating an already completed piece.
What I like to do is get inspired, and then see where each pic or each comic story takes me second by second.
I absolutely do not like to plan my art or my stories, and every time I try to do that I get so frustrated and bored that the result is always substandard.
So this “Once Upon a Time on Mars” was no different.
I already had a template from what I did in the old versions, but once the Art Bell and the popular, Ancient Aliens type stuff entered the picture, my imagination took total control and, I totally let go to see where I would end up.
Fortunately it worked once again and, I ended up with a story.
Originally, I wanted to create a 48 page graphic-novel to print as a typical European hardcover book but, instead, when I stopped and completed the comics, I already had 180 pages of illustrations done in pencil! The ones you see on this page.
But it was fun. And I had to stop.
In fact, I still have material stored in my imagination for at least two new sequels to this first adventure, and if I wanted, I could have drawn the original story for a couple of years without stopping.
But I had to stop and so I ended up with the fantasy adventure you can now read and hopefully enjoy.
So I hope you enjoy this current version of my fantasy martian graphic novel, comics, ("banda-desenhada" in Portugal), or whatever you call it in your country.
If you spend a couple of hours with my characters and have fun with my imaginary worlds i´ll be very happy.
Do you want to have your own Children´s Book Illustrated?
CONTACT ME TODAY WITH YOUR PROJECT!
(and I´ll get you a free storyboard
+ a free test pic just for saying HI!)