10 Questions with Arturo Portillo

10 questions with a creator: Arturo Portillo by Steven Crowe.

1) What is your position with Urban Myth Studios and what does that entail?

I am a writer and also contribute to existing comics. I help in any which way I can to make original and exciting content.

2) Who are your favorite artists and where do you draw inspiration?

My favorite artists range from Ben Templesmith to John Romita, Jr. to Greg Capullo. My favorite writers are Stephen King, Charlie Kaufman, Quentin Tarantino, Garth Ennis, Stan Lee, Frank Miller and countless others I cannot keep listing. I draw inspiration from different sources ranging from real life stories, articles, movies and television.

3) What are your favorite comics?

The Preacher, The Walking Dead, Criminal Macabre... The darker comic books and some superhero comic books.

4) Where do you hope the studio is in 5 years?

I hope and I believe the studio will be at an actual building with teams assembled and creating comic books, whether it be our comic books or commissioned comic books.

5) If you could learn from any artist in any time who would it be and why?

If I were to choose an artist, I would have a hard time choosing. Each one has a story to tell and each one has a way of working things out. I'd start from the very beginning with Action Comics, Detective Comics and those horror comics fro Tales From the Crypt, etc. Those are the people I would talk to. Because they all range from different genres and different aspects of how they see stories and society sees them.

6) If you could assemble your perfect creative team to work on a comic book project (not produced by Urban Myth) who would they be and what would they work on?

That would be very hard for me to choose. There are so many talented artists and writers out there to choose from. Instead of naming names, I would rather choose talent suitable to the comic we're trying to make. Artists who can work with any genre they're given. Artists who know how to tell a story through a visual means and how to make it shine. Those would be my chosen team. It's not about how good it looks (although, it would be ideal) but how the story flows and piques readers' interests.

7) Outside of drawing what are you interests and hobbies?

I'm an actor, screenwriter and video editor. I also dabble in ghost investigations. I like anything creative and that catches my eye.

8) What is your favorite movie and why?

There are too many to list on here but I would range from Stand By Me to The Goonies to Pulp Fiction, John Carpenter's The Thing and They Live all the way to past films like Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times, Casablanca, Key Largo, The Searchers to Touch Of Evil. The reasons behind it is due to the way they were filmed; creatively, writing, lighting and well-crafted besides the amazing acting in it. If a story is well told visually, you've got me hooked.

9) Do you have any books being worked on at the moment?

I have several writings that I'm working on. Ted and Barry (comic), Kause of Death (comic), Red Bratva (comic), When Darkness Falls (limited comic), Unknown Organism (screenplay), Through the Mist of a Memory (screenplay) and Night of the Comet Remake (screenplay)

10) What’s the best part about creating your own comics?

The best part about creating my own comic book is that I'm making my own comic book. Things that I've written are coming alive on paper and seeing how amazing that is. It makes me feel like a mad scientist creating a monster come to life.

10 Questions with a Creator: Steven Crowe

1)          What is your position with Urban Myth Studios and what does that entail?

I’m the new editor of the studio. The position is really new and I’m still learning what it entails. Some of what I do goes along with formatting books coloring work for other members along with a slew of other things.

2)          Who are your favorite artists and where do you draw inspiration?

Awww I love puns! My influences are all over the board my number one artist is a dead tie between Joe Mad and Lesean Thomas. Both of those guys have such killer unique styles it’s hard to match. Other than that there are tons all over the board but a lot of what is catching my attention nowadays is animation. Some of my favorites are Afro Samurai, Samurai champloo, cowboy bebop, bersker, bastard, Avatar, and Casshern to name a few.  

3)          What are your favorite comics?

That’s a hard one because I think the monthly stuff gets pretty stale. Right now Batman is really unparalleled. My favorite characters though are Batman, Spider-man, and wolverine. I read a ton of trades though. Some really cool classic stuff like battle chasers, crimson, danger girl, to some of the newer stuff like Fairy quest, bubble gun, and pathfinder.

4)          Where do you hope the studio is in 5 years?

I hope we are to the point where day jobs are long gone and helping establish a new generation of up and coming artists just waiting for someone willing to take a chance on them.

5)          If you could learn from any artist in any time who would it be and why?

It would have to be Miyamoto Musashi he was a philosopher, samurai writer and artist his insight on life and the winning mindset in my opinion would be second to none.

6)          If you could assemble your perfect creative team to work on a comic book project (not produced by Urban Myth) who would they be and what would they work on?

 Scott Snyder for writing I’d like to see lesean Thomas as the penciler skip the inks and just have liquid on colors and top it off with some Richard Starkings on lettering.

7)          Outside of drawing what are your interests and hobbies?

I love music and listen to it all the time everywhere I go I have headphones and an ipod. Everything from Woodkid to Childish Gambino. I also really like MMA, football, skating, reading comics and watching anime/movies….. oh and hiking camping and motorcycle riding. I like stuff…

8)          What is your favorite movie and why?

The lord of the rings trilogy…..EXTENDED!

9)          Do you have any books being worked on at the moment?

I’m working on a few different projects. I’m prepping “Not Again Zeus!!!” for a run at kickstarter. I’m planning on doing one large trade as opposed to 4 issues. With “The War Forged” I have one script finished with another artist taking on the art direction and couldn’t be happier to see this thing in the works. Beyond that I’m laying the history out and should be back to drawing it sometime mid to late next year.  

10)       What’s the best part about creating your own comics?

My favorite part of creating comics is having nothing to tie me down beyond what I can draw or think up. A blank sheet of paper is the ultimate freedom for a guy with a pencil.