–Dedication–
Dedicated to two people. First in memory of my older cousin, Johnny Vasquez, who is my earliest memory of inspiration. Everyone has that cool older cousin or sibling that grabs their attention just by virtue of their being, well he was that to me. Whenever he’d visit, he’d take the time to sit and draw. He never made me feel like it was an imposition. We were just two guysdrawing hot rods and dragsters. The second person I must dedicate this book to is Monica Huante, my wife, my muse. Something must be said about a spouse who allows their mate to indulge themselves in their chosen vocation without complaint, without restraint. She is my inspiration, without whom my life would be a dark hallway with no doors.
The Artwork of Carlos Huante
Contact Info
128Copyright © 2004 by Design Studio Press All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, xerography, and videography recording without written permission from the publisher, Design Studio Press. All illustrations in this book are copyright © 2004 by Carlos Huante. Published by Design Studio Press8577 Higuera Street Culver City, CA 90232 http://www.designstudiopress.com E-mail: [email protected] Printed in Hong Kong First Edition, February 2004 Library of Congress Control Number: Softcover ISBN 0-9726676-2-8 Hardcover ISBN 0-9726676-3-6
Biography
Introduction
Some of my earliest memories are of drawing. I remember my cousin, Johnny Vasquez from Phoenix, Arizona, who wouldvisit us in the summer sometimes. He was at least 13 years older than I, and I remember us sitting on the tile floor of the entryway to my house in East Los Angeles, with red pencils in hand and a stack of paper. We would draw hot rods, dragsters or anything with half the engine sticking out of the hood and the exhaust pipes peeking out in front of the back tires. Man, that was some good fun. Ithought his drawings were magic. They had strong shadows and sharp highlights, mind-blowing to a four-year-old kid. All I knew was that I had to draw better than him the next time he visited. I knew it was ambitious but I was determined, and though I never had the chance to show him what he inspired in me, and that I actually make a living drawing, I know he’d get a kick out of the things I’m doingnow. Besides chilaquiles and Yerba Buena (mint tea), I grew up on “stop-motion” monster movies. As everything is new when you’re a child, I don’t remember which one I saw first. I do believe King Kong was the first, then Mighty Joe Young and all the Sindbad movies, including Jason and the Argonaunts and Mysterious Island. Obviously Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney and Lon Chaney, Jr. had agreat deal to do with my early memories of film, but Ray Harryhausen was the embodiment of cool for me as a child. As an adult I can see clearly that his work is still the mark to measure by. A lot of people get caught up in celebrating the technical achievements in special effects, and forget about personality, life. I don’t know if the hyper-realism being achieved in CG for spaceships and mattepaintings is the solution for characters. There are few who have given personality and life to fully CG characters. I thought Go-Motion, which was used in Dragon Slayer for the dragon, was a perfect combination of computer, camera and puppetry work. Unfortunately I also heard that the cost was not so perfect, but man did that thing look good! All this being said, I’m no “special effects guy”. I’mjust an illustrator who has worked in the film industry for the last 10 years and have seen its changes, some of which are not necessarily good. All I’ve got to say is, “Where are the monster movies!?” There are none. There are lots of action-adventure movies, some superhero movies, but really no monster movies. It’s a dead genre. Unfortunately, the people with the money tell us things must be…
