Marvel Comics artist Paolo Rivera gives a tour of his work studio, showing off all the tools and set up he uses to create both his painted covers and interior drawings. For more comic book lore go to thecomicarchive.com
The drawing board is very simple. The trick is the board isn't actually clipped to the table. A pair of right angle shelf brackets are clipped to the back with small binder clips. These are what prop the board up. A pair of small binder clips are near the bottom of the board. These don't actually clip onto anything. Rather, the handles of the clips sit inside the jaws of the larger clips. With the two larger clips butted up against the board it makes it impossible for the board to drop down. In the past Rivera had several sets of clips on the board which let him quickly change the angle. Very handy.
Thank you for showing your setup, trying to make my home studio a workable space and the tips you have talked about in your guided tour of your studio's has helped a lot.
So, months later I did se him again and he vaguely remembered me. I said, put my sketchbook on top.I came back a short while later and he did a nice Punisher, but when I went to pay him, he said don't worry and I was surprised. I still had expected to pay, but damn, that was awfully nice of him. No good deed goes unrewarded.
It looks like he's attached shelf brackets on the back with the binder clips. I can't tell exactly how he's got it attached to the edge of the table (the cameraman rather conveniently avoids any shots of that bit :p).
I got a stainless steel dry erase board from the Container Store and screwed two shelf brackets into the back. And to connect to the table I attached two little flat L brackets on the back so they stick out each side on the bottom, then clipped the L brackets to the table with binder clips. I have two L brackets on each side for two different tilt settings. Not as elegant as Mr. Rivera's setup, but it works.
Love the videos but the camera work on this is terrible. Your depth of focus is way too shallow, especially when you're constantly needing to focus in and out on small objects. Why not use a smaller aperture and use some additional lighting if needed? I get that you're trying to make the video look artsy with the bokeh but it's dizzying.
Great video Paolo. I was wondering if you could tell me a little more about your "Mini Eraser" the one that look's like a mechanical pencil, I've been searching the web for one with no luck finding one thats the right size/width. Any info would be of great help. I appreciate it, keep the videos coming. Thanks again.
Thats palet color is avaiable on any web page to buy?????, im so interested on that stuff, is awesome, it ll be so helpfull. thanks for posting this gem
Always like seeing these types od vids. However, When I saw the 11 point divider I instantly wanted 1. Could save so much time. So I looked it up. Why the hell are these things $200+?
good day sir... can i ask about the standards of the paper to be drawn? i am a bit confused whether to do the presentation on a large sketchpad and finalize it in A4.
There is just a stand that is attached to the drafting table and then the masonite goes on top of that if I remember correctly. I'll try to get Paolo to explain it better at some point.
I have to ask if you ever work digitally? Manga Stdio 5 has its own built-in perspective rulers, and is great for inking. And with the latest version, MS5 also has some excellent painting tools.
Hey Kevin. This isn't Paolo's account, he's on youtube at PaoloMRivera. I did do a pretty in depth breakdown of how he does things these days and the short answer is that he does a hybrid of photoshop and traditional. Here's the long answer: The Making of "The Twelve" Cover with Paolo Rivera (part 1 of 3)
A few years ago I was at a con in NYC and asked Paolo to do a Punisher head(all he was doing was heads-40 b&w, 60 for color).He takes the 40 upfront from me and I come back about 2 hours later.He was so busy still had not gotten to mine, but I said I was leaving.He gave me back 60 bucks and I returned the extra 20 to him, saying I asked for b&w.He thanked and I said next show look out for me.
I keep telling him he has to make a video just about how he sets up his art board. He swears it's just a few random bits and bobs held together with binder clips, which sort of helps.
It’s been a while since I interviewed Paolo, but if I remember correctly he used magnets to keep everything in place. The back of his board was metal and then he just put things in place with some strong magnets on top of that.
Hey there. I asked Paolo and he sent me this link where you can purchase the mini-eraser. jetpens.com/search?q=%22Tombow+Mono+Zero+Eraser+-+2.3+mm+-+Circle%22
I have to say this, whoever is holding the camera for these comic archive videos is horrible. There are so many times where the video is blurry or he's not getting the shot of what the artist is talking about, it's so annoying.