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| Detail from 'For What It's Worth' by C M Burgos & J Ramirez |
Let's continue with the story behind the recent collaboration between myself and digital artist Jonathan Ramirez. Having approached Jonathan with the idea of him adding colour and continuing to develop my ink drawings, he said yes and our work began.
We communicated mainly by Facebook and email. He was in Dallas and I was in London, so time differences were a big factor, getting to know when we were free to discuss things etc.
I scanned the drawings and sent him the files by email. I had decided I was going to trust his artistic vision and as a first time experiment was not going to say much about what to do, I wanted the piece to develop naturally. I would just tell him what I had in mind when making the drawing. I left my art work in his hands as to what he was going to do with them, the only thing I mentioned was the importance of the lyrics remaining visible. I was excited and nervous at the same time as this was my first collaboration with another artist.
Jonathan worked very hard on the drawings I sent him. It was now his turn to use his digital brushes and palette.
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| J Ramirez and his artistic tools |
Jonathan:
"What i did on the drawings was use textures, also I'm into using colors but in a dark way, lots of vintage effects, make them creepy. I used Photoshop CS5 and Adobe Illustrator CS5 plus an Adesso CTZ12A Cybertablet 10x6" Widescreen Ultra Slim Graphics Tablet".
"I painted some by hand others by using tools like brushes and effects. Im a big fan of the 'Image Vibrance' tool, it brings life to my art, I use a high saturation on most of my artwork".
When collaborating with another artist it's strange seeing the results as you know and recognize your own art work but it's somewhat different now. It's interesting seeing how both styles fit and can complement each other creating a completely different image. Jonathan would send me each piece as soon as he finished it, I would take a couple of days looking at it, taking it in and getting used to this new style. We were both very pleased with our work and the results.
This was really my first collaboration, but i believe you have to respect each others work, methods and where its coming from. We had very different methods of working, Jonathan works digitally and I take a traditional approach, our styles differ. But I felt there were things we connected on. I think you have to have a plan of action, how will the work take shape, in what order etc. In our case I had created hand drawn art work and I decided I trusted in his artistic vision and gave him the freedom to then re-interpret the drawing his own way. Our common ground was our love for the same kind of music, so we were drawing inspiration from the same sources.
Jonathan: "Trust in the art of the artist you are collaborating with, Just think you are doing a collaboration where both artists enjoy each others art work. Never think of selling for a client or making it big into mainstream".
I had been a bit worried about the distance thing, but Jonathan is a great guy, sincere in everything he does. I trust his abilities and that to me is rare. Where you can trust and share your own artistic visions with another artist. We didnt talk much about what we were going to do, over thinking things, we just poured ourselves into our art.
Jonathan: "This is my first collaboration with an artist, and I'm glad it was Carlos, you have to believe in someone or something to be part of it, and Carlos believed in my talent and art, I think I enjoyed the fact that we are both far away. I mean collaborations don't have to be in the same room at the same time, in the same city under the same sky. We try to bring art together no matter what part of the world you are in, it all becomes one".
We created five pieces of work, each of which are available as a limited edition Giclee print of five. Printed on high quality 100% cotton museum grade Canson Aquarelle paper.
