First Comics News: What was the first comic book that published your art?
Xavier Tarrega: My first comic was commissioned by a medical association to raise awareness about strokes. But my first comic for sale was years later, the Hirukoa publishing house published “We’ll Return to Paris” and at the end of 2020, Edicions deldespropòsit has published “Les cròniques de Nyur Nyur”.
1st: How does your art show Tommy’s personality?
Xavier: The personalities were already well defined by Liezl Buenaventura, the scriptwriter. I just tried to mix the personality of his parents in a tiny body because I think Tommy also mixes their personalities. He is an empathetic boy like Martha, capable of worrying about the alien in his backyard, or the boy who bullies him at school and at the same time willing to take risks by doing what he thinks is right as Nick. I like to think that those eyebrows that he shares with his father and the curls of his mother mark that temperament …
1st: What characteristics do you give to the otherworldly creature?
Xavier: Lizz and Chris Sanchez (the editor) were already very clear about the character they wanted. I just had to follow the script. Orion is as adorable as a puppy, headstrong and mischievous, yet intelligent at the same time, and confident enough to make decisions without a flutter when needed. In a way to me, he is a character similar to Tommy. They must grow up and decide if following the life that they have marked is a responsibility or an imposition.
1st: Did you come up with the design for the space ship?
Xavier: I imagined the queen’s big ship that drops tiny ships through its belly like a seahorse. There was a design more like “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” or more recent movies, but in the end, we all decided on this design. Together with Liezl and Chris, we decided to give the spacecraft and alien technology a retro touch. Big domes and bubbles are a timeless classic!
1st: What part of a character’s face do you find easiest and hardest to draw?
Xavier: The most difficult for me are the eyes, I think that the look is where the character comes to life. If the eyes are able to speak, the rest of the face follows. So I guess the “easiest” would be … the mouth?
1st: Do you prefer doing sequential’s or covers more?
Xavier: As an illustrator, I would tell you that I like both but as a storyteller, I think the sequences give you more space to explain more details of what you are trying to convey. They are two different tempos.
1st: When drawing an alien how do you decide how they look?
Xavier: Depending on the kind of alien the creative team decides it is. In this series, they have a doggy appearance. I tried to associate the personalities of the characters to the types of dog breeds with similar behavior, to make their way of acting more credible. At the same time, they are space travelers, so they wear their spacesuits with their own technology. In this case, they are quite similar to what we could develop on earth from a retro-futuristic perspective.
1st: Will you be drawing more than one type of alien in “They Fell From the Sky?”
Xavier: Well, not of a different race, but of different factions. As in all civilizations, there are always the “good guys” and the “bad guys.” I don’t think I’m spoiling anything, am I?
1st: How did you come to work at Mad Cave Studios?
Xavier: Thanks to winning the 2019 Talent Search they did. I saw their search on a Facebook group and I submitted some test pages to the contest.
1st: How did you find drawing “We’ll Return to Paris”?
Xavier: Well, in every project I do, depending on what the story needs, I look for new things. I’m still looking for a style of my own, but it was a very fun project in which I also acted as a colorist. It was a shame not to have continued with the story that was programmed, I’m sure it would have evolved into something more interesting.
1st: Which artists do you admire?
Xavier: Too many! I couldn’t tell you. From classical art painters to illustrators, European comic artists, manga, American, even film directors, concept artists … Although lately, I try not to take anyone into account, in today’s world there are so many people who have done and keep doing so many interesting things that one runs the risk of believing that what he does is worth nothing.
1st: If you could work on any comic from Marvel or DC which one would it be and why?
Xavier: Mmm … I suppose any of the great ones, but I think for sentimental reasons I would choose Lobo. And I would expect the scripts to be as politically incorrect, gory, and fun as they were in the 90s!
1st: How do you think you would react to meeting an alien?
Xavier: In times of covid, I would greet it from two meters away and with a mask, haha!
1st: Any words for all the fans of your art?
Xavier: Sincerely thank everyone who likes something of what I do! Thanks to them, I hope to offer even better things to everyone in the future!
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