He September 25, 2014 appeared in the ABC Museum from Madrid the exhibition Draw the Meninas that can be seen from September 26 to November 16. The exhibition coincides with the presentation of the comic Las Meninas, from the publisher Astiberri, which is the work of screenwriter Santiago García and illustrator Javier Olivares. Santiago lives in Baltimore so he made a presentation through a video and Javier was the absolute protagonist explaining many details of the construction of the book, which can be seen in the exhibition on the first floor of the fantastic ABC Museum and as we have presented in Peques and More often, is dedicated to illustration.
Listen to Javier It was fantastic because during the presentation I used a small camera connected to the table and on which he displayed his work: sketches, drawings, originals, pages with scribbles and that was projected simultaneously on the screen of the conference room. Javier explained many details of the creative process although the one who commented the most secrets was Santiago García who from Baltimore taught dozens of schemes, scripts, structure and ways of working. The objective, as Javier explained, was to make a book, a comic, as explained by our partners in Blank Paper, is probably the comic of the year. So when the talk of the presentation of the exhibition ended Javier signed copies to which we bought the comic, in the image dedicated to my daughter, and we will read at home delighted.
Javier's presentation served to learn many details of the creative process of the comic and also the content of the book. For example, the work tells how Velázquez, a painter craftsman, worked to become a member of the Order of Santiago and gain recognition among the nobles of the time. Got in a couple of years after paint Las Meninas. Why do court painter It was essential to get better privileges.
Javier commented that although the drawing is very important and can have many tweaks, probably as a painting can have it, however the book is an ultimate goal and it is impossible to retouch Once printed. Both Javier and Santiago feel very happy for him comic book recognition And they think it's a great job. Actually, he explained, the initial job was not to make a book but to respond to the requirement of a contest in 2008. Luckily they did not succeed in the contest and made the book because it is a fantastic job that they finally finished in 2013.
The book is full of images of the Santiago cross which Javier has also reproduced in a seal or buffer with the one that was marking us to those who signed the book to us and that seems to guide the objective of Velázquez to obtain recognition. There were also references to the creative process using technology. For example, Javier commented that his drawings are scanned and cleaned and retouched with the computer, although, he explained, as he works with many drawings he has proven that he is very clean by drawing and making the originals. Therefore, and although now technology does not require being so neat and delicate, however its way of working facilitates being meticulous and detailed. And is that Javier draws a lot and erases little. Save the works and see them again until you finally choose and reproduce the final design.
The comic has its language, its structure, its representation and Javier explained details of the color codes used, blue and yellow to set the stories of Velázquez and the presentation of other authors in other colors, for example, Picasso or Dalí They appear with soft tones. He also gave us some demonstration of how to paint Velázquez in less than a minute!, From behind as in the poster above, is the way he dedicated the works to which we bought the book.
Now I can only see in the ABC Museum The exhibition Draw Las Meninas which shows the creative process, and that was that the day of the presentation was going very fast and when I bought the comic I could only wait for Javier to sign the copy. So I hope to be able to visit the exhibition with the little one, although first we will immerse ourselves in the magic of the book.
