CBR's Timothy Callahan sits down to talk with penciller Jorge Molina:
Tim Callahan: Let's start off with a bit of background - you've done a bit of comic book work here and there, and you've been working at Marvel for a little while, but where did you get your start? What was your first comics work? Where do you think your best work has shown up so far?
Jorge Molina: Well, after high school I was leaning toward studying graphic design here in Mexico and planning to stay here. I always had a passion for drawing comic characters and creating ones of my own, but I never thought I could make a living out of it. Then my mom - yes, I'm a mama's boy - found some universities more related to my comic love. I went to visit the Joe Kubert art school, but I wasn't very convinced of the whole place, and I thought New Jersey was kind of depressing for me. So after that, I jumped to Canada and visited a couple of colleges where they had animation courses. Finally I ended on Seneca College to study 2D and 3D animation.
It wasn't specifically comics, but it was definitely closer to comics compared to lame graphic design (not that graphic designers are lame, it just wasn't for me). And I thought "what's the harm, the more I know the better," so I got to keep my passion of making comics but adding influences from what I was learning from animation.
Then, as a result of my career, along those years I got surrounded by very talented people, classmates, roommates, teachers, everyone was somewhat related to the industry. So they showed me this thing called "networking." At first it started as a hobby, all my classmates had pages on Deviantart, CG society, etc., so I decided to open my own too and share my work. At this point, I really had no idea this would open job opportunities in the future. After some time, I started to get freelance work by these websites. I remember my first gig was coloring a book for Joe Kelly and drawn by Ben Roman. I was thrilled - I was working with one of the greatest writers on the comic book industry! After that, one of my teachers hooked me into working with Udon comics, so then I started to get various freelance jobs.
Then I relocated to sunny Mexico and I got to work with DC for a short time, and do some videogames concepts on the side. Then I jumped into Top Cow, where I worked on a pilot named "Urban Myths," which was one of the most exiting tittles I worked on. Jay Faeber, the writer, created this beautiful idea and characters, and I got so much artistic freedom, because not only did I design the characters myself, but also did all the artwork from pencils, inks, and colors. From there I got a short story with Image and right after that, the big event: Comic-Con! There I got interviewed by Marvel, and that's how I got started with them. Now it's been a year with them and it has really been a great experience. I've had the luck of working with very talented people.
I just wish I had more arms and the day had more hours to take on more projects - don't you wish the day had, like, 48 hours instead of 24?
Read the full interview here.
Source: CBR
