Meet the Artist :: Cris de Lara

#1

Hey there!

CGSociety relaunches the ever-popular Meet the Artist thread with an invitation to all of you to speak to an artist specializing in a genre that never quite tires.

Cris Delara - digital character illustrator.

After graduating from university in 1995, Cris Delara ran her own graphic design company. Then in 1997 she changed her approach to work, bringing it closer to her illustration and digital painting skills. “By 2002, I started as a freelance illustrator, painter and comic colorist. In 2006 I decided to work with something more attractive to the audience, a beautiful and special product that could be recognized as unique. I started to producing my real passion… my pinups,” she says.

Cris Delara soon moved from Brazil to Toronto in Canada to work as an Art teacher at Niagara College. She opened her own illustration studio, with the main product coming from the business being her biggest passion. Pinups and posters.

In a CGWorkshop just opened for students, Cris Delara presents an eight week, online digital art CGWorkshop, Cris introduces the history of what she calls “Pinupology” - the art of creating attractive, appealing pin-ups and “cheesecake girls”. Click the graphic below for details.

The Meet the Artist thread is now open for any questions you want to ask Cris about her work, her history, training and what her secrets are for capturing the very essence of the character art she has built her career on to date. Please make her welcome and post your questions.

This Meet the Artist thread will be open for one week from today, followed by many, many others.

#2

I was wondering about your experience starting a studio. What are the challenges involved? How did you go about finding your first client?

Thank you so much for participating in meet the artist!

#3

I am curious to know how you decided to start a studio and to create the style of art you are doing.

#4

Welcome Cris.
We are all wondering about the magic buttons you push to make your wonderful art :slight_smile:

#5

Hello superhomosapien97!

To open my own studio was a big challenge since I really had not experience. On that time, without internet was much more complicated to catch the clients or expose our portfolio. I started creating many logos and designs for brochures and flyers for local small business at my city and step by step the number of clients and projects ( specially about graphic design) grew and we have had a regular number of clients.
Nowadays, however I think that a great portfolio inside a nice website can do a lot and open great doors to the artists that want starts their own studio.

Thank you very much for your question!

#6

Hello Spaceland!

To create my own studio was my main choice because I always wanted freedom to create my work ( even working as graphic designer or illustrator/painter). To have meetings with the clients and discuss how to develop their projects always was a super important and exciting part of my creation’s process.
My style, I started to develop it when I decided to work much more with illustrations than graphic design. I always had great interesting in detailed/realistic paintings and I’ve started to develop how to adapt or include this approach on my digital work. And when I started to work as comic colorist all these ideas received even more different kind of new informations and intensity.
So, my pinups got a lot of these influences and the most exciting thing to me is that I am still developing and improving it, creating more and more new ways to make my Pinups better and better.

Thank you very much for your question!

#7

Hi all,

Cris will be running a live web session tomorrow (Thurs 15th Aug) at 3pm LA time. Here is a time zone converter, and log in here to watch Cris work and ask questions!

#8

Hi Kanga,

What a great question! Ohhh Buttons!
I really LOVE to create customized buttons, it’s a really fun experience and extremely useful to the painting process. Buttons can enrich the image a lot and improve the number of details we can add on each element painted and I am not only talking about textures. This such level of detail is what can make the big diference at the end of the job besides to open a big range of new possibilities to our imagination.

Thank you very much for your question,

Cris

#9

I haven’t read about how you create your paintings yet. Do you draw figures from life, photos, other inspiring art? How do you start the process of making a painting and what things inspire you to make them?

#10

My question is how many people did you manage in your studio? or was it a one-person studio?

Thanks

#11

Hi Kanga,

Music, Movies, People at streets, Coffee Shop behind my house, Pictures from Magazines and Internet, Chats with friends and fans of my work… Everything around me has potential to give me ideas for a great new Pinup Girl. And I am always paying attention in what can be used and how.
My next step after get the idea/inspiration, is put it faster as I can on a piece of paper or sketch book that I have with me all the time.
Back to my studio, I am used to have a small ritual to keep me connected to the main idea about this new pinup approach. Well… I do a small search of musics that can gives me the same feeling that I had when the inspiration came at first time ( at street, or coffee shop or watching a movie…). This playlist is super important to me, during all creation process and will be played a lot all the time.

With my playlist of songs playing on a loop , I start to looking for images related with the Pinup theme that I am thinking to create. I collect several images ( from magazines I use to buy and from Internet) that can give me even more inspirations or help me to build the Pinup girl’s " look"( colours, clothes, hair style, make up…) and attitude ( body language, expressions, gestures…).
These pictures are my " inspiration board" and guide me all the time during my continuos creation’s process.

The next step is in fact ,work in several sketches to find the correct pose and composition.
Although staying always very eager to start the painting process, I learned that " repetition" works as a big tool for me on my creation process and spend more time on the sketch step, is super positive and worth a lot at the end.

After found the correct layout , it’s time to define the sketch with a better line Art and transfer it to the computer to receive the colours, textures and all visual effects necessary, if the image will be done digitally. Or I go to my easel with the Art piece to apply the paintings on Traditional medias.

Well…at this time… I usually switch to my earplugs, the playlist of songs that is playing on a loop… to protect the “sanity” of people around me at studio. For sure , they are already getting crazy about have to hear the same songs for hours. He he he… :slight_smile:

#12

Hello Jassar,

I work with more 3 people at my studio.

#13

Thank you for the anwser, i did browse your gallery and i can see all the improvements doen over the years. Since you are painting, I am little bit curious about the tools you use to achieve that. The hardware, how many hours you work on average by pin up girls and since you have a staff, do they have each there specific zone of work? (or should I say expertise).

Regards

#14

Thanks for your answer Cris.

What helps you decide to use digital tools or traditional ones?

#15

Cris is a legend in Brazil.
Many guys know her work here.

#16

Enjoy!

http://ballistic.adobeconnect.com/p7t4mycgl4s/

#17

Hi Spaceland,

At my studio, usually we share the tasks of Reference’s searching and flat colours at digital painting, when we are working with the pinup projects. And a pinup project can spend up to 12 hours, depending of the project’s complexity.
Thank you for your question.

#18

Kanga,

It depends of the Clients project most part of time.
To my personal gallery I usually like to do both styles and what helps me to decide it are my schedule and deadlines.

#19

MCunha98,

Thank you very much for your comment!
I really appreciate your words!
Wow!
Thank you. :applause:

#20

Thanks to all.

The plan was to have this Meet the Artist thread open for a couple of weeks and we’ve stretched it to a month, and it’s time to close this one. I am sure you all will appreciate Cris’ time, and I thank her for being so attentive for the audience in our first Meet the Artist thread for many years.

They are now being opened weekly, so look on the thread and watch for promos. If you have anyone in mind you’d like to Meet, post on the Suggestions thread or send me an email.

   Thanks again Cris!