Growing up in New York, Jusko attended the High School of Art and - TopicsExpress



          

Growing up in New York, Jusko attended the High School of Art and Design. During his career, Jusko has worked for almost every major comic book publisher, including DC Comics, Crusade Comics, Innovation Comics, Harris Comics, Wildstorm Comics, Top Cow Productions, Dynamite Comics, and Byron Preiss Visual Publications producing hundreds of images for both covers and interiors. In addition to his long stint as one of the main cover artists for The Savage Sword of Conan, Jusko has painted every major character that Marvel Comics has created, most notably the Hulk and the Punisher. He also created 125 paintings for the Art of Edgar Rice Burroughs trading cards set published by FPG. His work is instantly recognizable with powerful, muscular figures and vibrant intense colors. He is a consumate professional with a body of work spanning 30 years. His work is admired and enjoyed by Frazetta fans and fanatsy fans in general worldwide. Welcome to the Roundtable Joe! SEEING THAT THIS IS THE FRAZETTA ROUNDTABLE, WHEN DID YOU FIRST DISCOVER THE WORK OF FRANK FRAZETTA? I was in junior year at NYC’s High School of Art & Design when the first of the Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta books came out. I had been aware of his work from the early Warren magazines and several of the Conan paperbacks, but that book was my first full foray into the worlds of Frazetta. That book was a revelation to everyone in the school, and there was actually a black market of kids selling copies they lifted from the book stores around the school. It got to the point where the stores were keeping the books behind the counters as they kept disappearing from the shelves! IF YOU HAD TO LIMIT A LIST TO YOUR TOP THREE INFLUENCES, WHICH ARTISTS WOULD THEY BE? Wow, for someone who has been around as long as me a minimum of three is tough. My first, foremost and most prominent influence is John Buscema. I discovered his work when I bought a few second hand comics from a kid in a playground when I was 8 or 9 years old. Avengers #’s 57 and 58 (the first Vision stories) were in the pile and I was completely blown away by his art. He became my art god and I sought out everything I could find by him from then on. I copied his work constantly and essentially taught myself how to draw by doing so. Despite subsequent years of life drawing classes there is still so much of what I learned from him evident in my work, especially how I draw and pose figures and compose or crop scenes. He is still the standard I aspire to but know I’ll never reach. The second is Frank. Everyone from my generation was influenced by Frazetta, particularly if you were inclined to paint. I changed directions from comics to painting the summer I graduated high school. I realized I would never be fast enough to churn out a monthly book and wanted more control over my finished art. I also have an incredibly short attention span and working on single piece appealed to my sensibilities more than drawing the same things or characters over and over. I admire the guys who could do that but don’t understand the mindset. Hal Foster had no desire to draw anything but Prince Valiant for 50 years? That said, I never tried to copy Frazetta’s style, but culled his work for information on composition and drama. Frank’s technique and style is and always will be uniquely his, and while you may be able to replicate much of his drawing or painting style you will never be inside his head or have the ability to think or see as he did. It all ends up looking second rate. I think the only person I’ve seen who has successfully mastered incorporating much of Frank’s influence into his own work is Tom Grindberg. I just love what he’s been doing in recent years. It’s cheating a bit, but my third influence would be a mash up of several great wildlife artists, including John Seerey-Lester, Guy Coheleach, Simon Combes, etc. I’m a huge wildlife art fan and prefer painting animals and natural habitats as opposed to any kind of tech. That’s why I do so little Sci Fi. I find machinery and spaceships more of a technical exercise and get bored easily. As an addendum, I have to give Bob Larkin a great amount of credit for my growth as a painter. I started painting covers for Marvel when I was 18 and right out of high school. I had no idea what I was doing as I was teaching myself to paint with every job. Bob’s work was my ideal as to what professional cover work should look like and I learned so much from studying it. With his body of work and the consistent high quality I don’t understand how he never achieved what would be considered superstar status. THE ANATOMY AND POSING OF YOUR FIGURES IS FANTASTIC. YOU SEEM TO HAVE AN ENDLESS VARIETY OF POSES, HOW DO YOU COME UP WITH THEM? Well, once again this goes back to my early aspiration to become a comic book artist and my appreciation of John Buscema, John Romita, Neal Adams and all the Silver Age artists I grew up wanting to emulate. That early foundation has carried over to my painting and has helped my keep the movement in my figures and compositions. DO YOU MAINLY WORK IN ONE MEDIUM? During my first decade in the business I used a mixed media approach as I was self taught and trying to find my way. I finally settled on acrylics as my medium of choice as they appeal to my painterly impatience and dry rapidly so I can keep working. I paint with a brush in one hand and a hair dryer in the other! I’ve used acrylics exclusively for the past two decades. YOU’VE PRODUCED AN INCREDIBLE VOLUME OF WORK OVER THE YEARS BUT STILL MAINTAIN A CONSISTENTLY HIGH LEVEL OF QUALITY? HOW DO YOU DO IT? Aside from the speed that acrylics afford you, I’m a Virgo and a bit of a perfectionist (if you believe in that sort of thing). I’m also very professionally competitive, yet really insecure about my own work at the same time. I always feel it could be better and constantly try to grow and learn more about my craft. I absolutely love what I do and “working” isn’t work to me at all. I tend to be a bit of a compulsive personality and a workaholic, which is good for my profession but a detriment to my personal life at times. My wife is incredibly understanding and supportive, but she’s also taught me that work isn’t everything. IF YOU COULD HAVE A DREAM ASSIGNMENT WITH A BUDGET THAT ALLOWED YOU TO SPEND AS MUCH TIME AS YOU WANTED ON IT, AND TOTAL CREATIVE FREEDOM, WHAT WOULD IT BE? I have longed for the opportunity to illustrate the entire Edgar Rice Burroughs library in the same format as the great Greg Hildebrandt fairy tale and novel editions. Those books are cornucopia of illustrative visuals on every single page. I hope one day that is a tree of dreams that will bear fruit for me. My other dream would be to take several years to concentrate on big cat paintings. I’ve wanted to visit Africa for the longest time just to paint, but the timing just never seems right. Someday, hopefully. WHAT SORT OF VISUALS DO YOU FIND ENTERTAINING THESE DAYS? I don’t really read comics much anymore, but I’m a huge film fan. I’ll watch any movie, good or bad. I tend to miss large sections of dialogue at times as I find myself studying the lighting and scene compositions. So much to learn from film. I also buy most art magazines (the ones that thankfully are still in publication) and get lost in all the varied techniques, styles and subject matter. As I get older I tend to need more varied visual stimuli. I UNDERSTAND YOU WORKED IN ADVERTISING. WHAT SORT OF WORK DID YOU DO THERE? I did storyboards for a very short time in the early 80’s, but found them monotonous, though well paying. I’ve done advertising art for various products, but the most well know are probably the WWF posters I did in the early 90’s for Wrestlemania VII and two consecutive Royal Rumbles. DO YOU EVER DO ART FOR YOURSELF, FOR YOUR OWN PLEASURE? I wish I had more time to paint for myself, but I’ve been lucky in that I’ve constantly had commercial work over the years. I have an entire file of ideas for paintings but never seem to pull the trigger on any of them. WHAT SORT OF PROJECTS ARE YOU WORKING ON NOW? I’m currently on the tail end of a new 135 painting Marvel Masterpiece card set for Upper Deck. I’ve long wanted to revisit the property that I launched back in 1992 as I’ve always felt the quality of the work was compromised by the incredibly tight deadline. I’m now being afforded the chance to dedicated enough time to do the project justice, I think. WHAT DIRECTION DO YOU SEE YOURSELF GOING IN THE FUTURE? I really do want to concentrate more on fine art, whether figurative or wildlife. The commercial grind after 37 years is a bit taxing, but as a working freelance artist I’ve been taught to never turn a job down as you never know if it may be your last. Well thanks for taking the time to do this interview Joe! Thanks, Mike! I’m flattered to be asked for the interview! You can see more of Joe’s work on his DeviantArt page. or simple Google Joe Jusko Art. Joe, like Frazetta has contributed greatly to the visualization of Edgar Rice Burroughs creations, and if you haven’t seen the card set he did, you should definitely check it out. Having pros like Joe here on the Roundtable really enriches the experience for everyone. One of the beauties of the Roundtable is that artists of all levels of accomplishment can come together to discuss and share art and ideas. All members are encouraged to post their art because Frazetta’s appeal is broad and our diverse membership is introducing us to new artists from all over the world daily. Hope you enjoyed this interview. As always, send in your comments, critiques and ideas.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 03:39:53 +0000

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