David Marquez was born in London and grew up in Houston, Texas. After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin with degrees in History and Government and a teaching certificate for high school history; David chose to take a risk to pursue his passion for illustration. He auditioned for an animation position on Warner Independent Pictures’ A SCANNER DARKLY, and was immediately hired. (from DavidMarquez.com)
BBM: What’s your name and tell me a little about what you do?
DM: My name is David Marquez and I’m a Marvel exclusive artist. Currently working on Ultimate comic Spider-Man and all new X-men
BBM: Very Cool! What was your first major experience with drawing comics and how did you know it was for you?
DM: Since I was a kid I wanted to draw comics. I’ve been reading comics since I was a kid around 7 years old. For a long I didn’t think of that as a carrier option. The thing that convinced me wasn’t comics, it was animation. When I was fresh out of college I got a job on a film called ‘Scanner Darkly’ here in Austin. About a year I had a paying job doing art, and that convinced me to break into comics. Took me about 6 more years I got published by a company called Archaia drawing a comic called ‘Syndrome’. From there I went to Marvel Comics ,I’ve been there about 2 years now.
BBM: Very nice. What did you do to get noticed by Marvel? That’s no small thing.DM: There’s a number of things, my fiancé and I have been together 6 years or so, she told me early on the importance and getting your work out for people to see. I started actively getting it online and going to conventions. Making sure my art was visible and as I kept practicing and improving. Going to conventions and meeting people, I started getting more and more nibbles of interest. A writer saw a drawing I posted online and we got together and I ended up with Syndrome.
BBM: I know you said your currently working on Ultimate Spider-Man.
DM: All I books I worked on are available at your local comic book shop. Ultimate Spider-Man comes out about every month. I’ve done about 9 issues, my most recent issue number 16 comes out at the end of October. You can find it in trade paper back and single issues at your comic shop. My new all X-Men run starts on issue number 6 and will come out next January.
BBM: How does it feel to be able to work on some of the comics you probably read growing up?DM: Very exciting to a certain degree it’s a little intimating these are books I’ve been reading since I was a kid and have been a fan of. Knowing that now I am contributing to mythology that is so much older then I am. It was around before I was and will be around long after I’m gone. It’s a good opportunity to do what I do and look at characters I love and try and do the best art I can.
BBM: I know you’ve mentioned a couple of different things you’ve worked on, what would you say is your passion?
DM: Comics certainly, and not just main stream comics. I love working for Spider-Man, X-Men and everything else. I still love working on personal questions ‘Joyners in 3d”which is a comic I’m doing at Archeria. It’s going to be a full length graphic novel all in 3D. Comes out next year later summer or fall.
BBM: Tell us a little about the story.
DM: Yeah, its really a character driven in depth series about the family of the future falling apart. It’s 60 years in the future. It’s kinda rifting on a certain degree the Jetsons. Its more of a cynical Dystopian look at the problems that technology and progress can’t necessarily solve. Which is humans are flawed where using 3D it kinda plays in the 1960’s kinda retro futuristic aesthetics where using for the art style. We want to take something that has often been used as a gimmick and try to explore how the 3D can be used to tell a story. It’s a technical and storytelling challenge but one of the ways I’m trying to stretch my self as an artist.
BBM: Definitely sounds like its going to be a must have graphic novel! Any other projects?
DM: For the most part, my Marvel work and Joyners in 3D are my two major projects. Down the road I want to do more creative work but for the time being my plate’s pretty full.
BBM: What’s your personal favorite hero?
DM: That’s a tough one. What always ends up happening, is whatever I’m working on becomes my favorite. I’ve been working on Miles Morales on Ultimate Spider-Man for the past year. I’ve really fallen in love with the character. I think not only he’s exciting but what he symbolizes is really important. Comics are moving in a way which is much more progressively represented as the readership alike. Not every single comic book reader is a nerdy white guy, you know? So working on a character who’s a half black – half latino kid from Brooklyn is a really good thing. It’s not working on a way that’s tokenism its telling a really compelling story. It’s a story a lot of readers can identify with in a way that couldn’t before.
BBM: What are some words of wisdom you would give a youth wanting to be a comic book artist?
DM: Perseverance is really important. There’s going to be a lot of ups and a lot of downs. Whenever things are not going the way you wish, you could go try and use every experience as a learning opportunity and growth opportunity. Never be content with the work you’ve done you can always do better. Last, get your work out there if no one has ever seen your work they can’t hire you.
BBM: How’s comic con been treating you, have you been here all 3 days?
DM: Been here all 3 days I’m pretty wiped out. A lot of my friends from out of town are here and I’ve met a lot of great fans. Local and from out of town.
BBM: Where can people find the latest news about you and get more information?
DM: One of the best places is www.davidmarquez.com Twitter Tumbler, Facebook, and Deviant Art Find all the links on my site.
BBM: Any last words anything you want to add?
DM: Just thanks for the interview and its been a blast here at Comic Con.
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