Three For Three : Manuel Tavares out of the shadows !
In the footsteps of masters of the western with Manuel Tavares,
one of the new pionneers of digital comics ! He’s on Art Of Webcomics.
Hi Manuel, welcome !
– Where do you come from ?
I hail from Dighton, Massachusetts, but then I moved to North Carolina when I was around eleven with my mother and sister. Haven’t left since!
– How old are you ?
23
– Influences ?
Daniel Warren Johnson, Jason Brubaker, Brahm Revel, Frank Miller, Sergio Leone, Quentin Tarantino, Nathan Fowkes, Bobby Chiu, Jonathan Hardesty….this list can go on.
– Art school or not ?
Currently attending Appalachian State University to earn a BFA. I’ll also take some classes on Schoolism.com if I want to learn more on digital painting or brush up on my fundamentals.
– Favorite digital art software ?
Photoshop.
– Your working method ? 
I work traditionally with pencil and ink, but when it comes to coloring and lettering I use photoshop.
– What your webcomic is about, in a symbolic way, the hidden sense ?
It’s about a Rancher who is on a quest of revenge. He has nothing left, but an itchy trigger finger and his horse. While on this quest for vengeance will he find peace or will it bring him to his grave?
– Tell us more about your main character, the hero !
The main character is a Rancher who lost everything and barely know anything about him besides that he’s a stranger to most people. I want the reader to follow the main character throughout the story and start piecing together who he is. The story is from his point of view and I’m hoping that the end will make you think a bit and want to read it again.
– How do you see your future ?
Well, I have no idea what the future holds for me, but I do hope that I’ll have the chance to work in an animation or gaming studio with other creators and soak up artistic knowledge doing visual development and/or story-boarding. After a few decades of experience in the art entertainment world I think I might go back to school and get my Masters to become an art professor. Though, there’s always a possibility that I’ll just stick around in the art industry and stay there forever, who knows!
– Your next goal ?
While working towards my Bachelor’s Degree in the Fine Arts I want to bust out at least one more comic before graduation. I have a few buddies of mine that want to work on a few graphic novels with me, so I’m pretty excited to get into more projects.
– Advices for beginners ?
Learn to love the process not the final product. I look back at the first issue of my comic and I cringe. I had to stop myself from redoing it for the third time, but then I heard Jake Parker say “finished not perfect.” So now I’m trying to live by that when it comes to creating my first comic. Also seek out knowledge and advice while you can. Study human anatomy, animal anatomy, perspective, values, color, just everything! When I ask professional artists “what would they do differently if they went back in time?” Most answer with “draw all time, fill up sketchbooks, and study your favorite artists because later on in life you won’t have as much time to do that when you’re out of school.”
– Your technical secret trick ?
What I found extremely helpful was taking my small thumbnail sketches of my page layouts then inking over them. First I scan my thumbnail sketches from my sketchbook and enlarge them in photoshop. Then I print them out with blue or red line work and ink over them with a brush pen. It usually cuts out the penciling stage for me so I can get multiple pages inked in a day.
– Your social links and website ?
I’m still working on my website but so far this is what I got !
mptavaresiii.wixsite.com/tavaresart
You can also find me on Instagram :
Twitter : twitter.com/sirmanifer
and Facebook : facebook.com/manuel.tavares.754570
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Thanks to Manuel Tavares ! Discover right now Three for Three on Tapas and Webtoon. Narration, storyboard and lighting are excellent.
