Caio Reis

Penciller

Where were you born? Where did you grow up?
I was born at Fortaleza city, a warm beautiful city in the northern coast of Brazil

Schooling? Art training?
After graduating i n Law School I decided to pursue my inner desires to become a comic book artist, even though I had no idea how to get there. I had some skills but obviously needed some guidance. So I took classes at Daniel Brandao’s studio for about a year before starting to get professional jobs. Daniel had a pretty good background and even studied at Joe Kubert School so he helped me a lot to understand the whole process of sequential art. The classes were mainly storytelling techniques and the general drawing basics: anatomy, perspective, textures and such. But mostly I’m a self taught professional.

How long have you been working professionally in comics?
I got my first job about a year ago for a small independent publisher. Ever since I’ve been working in various projects for both US and Brazilian market.

What things — both in art and otherwise — have you worked on besides comics? Are comics a full-time gig for you or part-time?
I’ve worked in several fields before moving on to comics. I’ve been a real state broker, english teacher, lawyer and other stuff. But I always wanted to draw for a living so all those other jobs never really interested me.
I’m now working full time with comics and illustrations and I can’t see someone working part-time in this. You really have to love it to bear all those long ours on the desk.
Talk about how you broke into the business –was it easy? Hard? Ups? Downs? Any interesting anecdotes? When you held your first published work in your hands, how did you feel?
I’m not quite where I want to be in my career. Far from it, I’m still struggling to find my place in the market. It can be very frustrating at times because for the most of it you’re working to please other people. You’re always being turned down and heavily criticized in the beginning so it’s hard to keep up.
But at the same time, it’s a wonderful job to tell stories and it’s a pleasant view to see your work being published and read by thousands of people.

Did you work as an assistant to any other artists? If so, please talk a bit about those experiences.
Not exactly as an assistant but we’re four in a studio: Me and other three guys each working on their own projects. But eventually, when one of us is having issues with deadline, a very common problem in the business we kind of gather together to help each other out. Sometimes I do the layouts and other guy comes in with the background scenario as the main artist works on the human figures and vice versa.
In some levels this is a very interesting experience because there’s always something to learn from a colleague.
How did your parents take to the idea of working in comics?
Not very well. After investing a few thousand bucks in law school they probably got very disappointed when they found out what I kind of job I was going for. But at the end all parents want to see their kids happy so I guess they took it in and left me alone.

How would you describe your workspace? Is it part of your home,
or do you go “to the studio”?

Although I work at home sometimes where I have a drawing table and all the necessary resources I like the idea of having a work place, you know, getting up early and share a common space with other people. Drawing comics can be a very lonely profession and some times we have good ideas coming out of ordinary conversations with friends.

What job are you the proudest of? What’s your most embarrassing?
I never got to the point of looking over to what I’ve done so far but I’m pretty sure I’ll see some of my early works at some point in my career and wish I had never done it. But after all it is part of your learning process and one can only learn from your mistakes.

What are you currently drawing? Comments on that project?
I’m working on some submission projects and stuff for the Brazilian market.

What projects do you hope to work on in the future?
I certainly want to work for the big two at some point in the near future. Right now my focus is to learn as much as possible about the market  and the independent publishers are the best place for it.

Where do you see yourself in five years? Ten years?
Still working a lot.

What is the interest in comics where you live? Do friends and neighbors know you draw comics for a living? How do they react?
Most of my close friends have some idea of what I do for a living but they don’t quite understand how it works and I really don’t spend much time explaining. Not a lot of people are into comics where I live so they don’t care about it.

What’s 1 thing you’ll always find in your refrigerator?
Water.

What’s your favorite food?
Pizza, Pizza, Pizza!

What are your favorite interests –Movies? Music? TV? Any hobbies? Sports?
Mostly movies and books. And comic books of course! I watch some TV shows, but don’t spend much time on TV.

Have you ever thought of writing your own stories?
I have some personal projects I’d like to see published some time but my focus at this point is to settle in a style and perfect my drawing skills.

Ever been in a gang?
I admit I’ve worked with a bunch of lawyers in the past.

What’s an average day in your life like? Walk us through a typical day.
My basic routine is get up early, go to the studio. I work form 9 to 10 hours a day but try to find some time to exercise. So usually I work from 8:00am to 4:00pm; take a break go swimming; come back at 6:00pm and work until 8:00 or 9:00 pm; go home, see family, read or watch something and sleep.

Do you have any great, unsold projects in your files that nobody’s gotten to see published?
I’ve worked on several projects throughout the year that I’m not sure what happened to them. I don’t know what the writers did to them but they never got back to me. As for my personal projects I still have a lot to work on before they actually become a printable material.
If you weren’t a comic-book artist today, what would you be?
Probably stealing, lying and cheating for a living, you know, doing the usual lawyer stuff. Just kidding!!! I’d probably be spending a lot of time in courtrooms, though.

Have you taught comic-book art or had any assistants? If so, talk about that.
Never had the experience of teaching sequential art although I gave some classes for drawing basics for kids a while ago. It was fun but wasn’t really for me.

The single thing you’d most like to be remembered for in your life is…?
I’ve been a good and honest man.

Chosen Graphic Novel (132 pages) for FOOM STUDIOS (2008)
Comic Buyer’s Guide #1662 (Cover) (F&W Publishing)
Silverwolf (Galaxy Graphix)

Gallery

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