“If art is therapy,
if art is to inspire,
if art is a weapon,
if it is medicine used to heal soul wounds,
or if it makes one not feel alone in his or her visions,
or if it serves as transportation to a higher self,
then that is where I aspire to live everyday.”

- Rudy Gutierrez

You can't deny that some people just seem to be destined to do what it is they do. Call it providence, call it serendipity—what have you. Rudy, with all of his training and self-determination, is very much one of those people.

I (Dwight) have been a fan of his work for a long time, having been made aware of his skills as a Illustrator by a mutual friend, Jim Hamilton. Jim and I worked together years ago and he would talk about his days as an Art Director in NYC working with his talented friend, Rudy Gutierrez. So much so, it seems completely fortuitous that I finally got to meet him through this podcast!

Rudy's career and body of work commands much respect. Book covers, album covers, CD art, illustrations for periodicals and children's books. His paintings have appeared in galleries and shows, nationally and abroad. He's done 'performance art' in front of live audiences, Art on a Grand Scale and received awards from The Society of Illustrators. He's spent time as a teacher at schools like Parsons and his own Alma Mater, Pratt.

As a matter of fact, in his own brand of fortuitousness (is that a word?), he was commissioned to paint the cover to Santana's platinum selling Shaman CD, back in 2002. While the disc is only seven years old, the path to Rudy getting the opportunity to collaborate with one of his musical idols, started in his childhood (listen to the interview, you'll love the story).

The Shaman image ended up being featured not only on the CD, but later, several stories high on a billboard in Times Square. It was also displayed on a huge backdrop behind Carlos Santana himself during his performance at the '02 Super Bowl. It's one of Rudy's most noted contributions, as a painter, to the pop culture landscape.

We had the best time chatting with this man about life, love, spirit and art.

In the interview, he talks about his early days growing up in The Bronx, his first experience with art on a sidewalk scale (snicker...sorry) and working on staff in a commercial art studio before going freelance.

He also discusses the backstory behind him getting the Santana gig, his relationship with his agent, Richard Solomon and why he stays true to himself...always.

**For this episode, we played snippets of Santana's Black Magic Woman and Sideways ft. Citizen Cope, plus John Coltrane's A Love Supreme. I know, right? We have excellent taste!

Also, go here and here to buy two children's books recently illustrated by Rudy and click here to see a gallery of his amazing paintings.

You gotta give Michael Lark and Ed Brubaker credit where credit is due. They picked up their run on Dardevil right after Bendis and Maleev, and have done a stellar job over the last three years. Most creative teams don't stay on a book longer than six issues these days, let alone years. Kudos to these two gents and the Editors at Marvel for consistency and excellence. Daredevil's been in very capable hands...

Me (Swain), being the art hound that I am, I was aware of Michael long before he started appearing in the pages of DD (this is one of few times I can make that claim, so I'll revel in it). The guy has done some really great work, folks:

Scene of a Crime through Vertigo, his first effort with Brubaker.

A wonderful 'Elseworld' story called Batman Nine Lives written by Dean Motter.

The intense cop drama, Gotham Central—this one had Brubaker and Greg Rucka teaming up on the stories.

The Pulse over at Marvel with Brian Michael Bendis.

And let us not forget his awesome flashback sequences in Captain America (once again, with Ed).

As a penciler, this dude has impeccable storytelling chops and he creates some of the most accurate settings in comics. Go back and take a look at how authentic his WWII pages were in Cap. Or the grittiness of his Hell's Kitchen in Daredevil. It's all dead on! 

With his run on DD sadly coming to an end, the interview covers what his plans are for the future, cool past projects, tools of the trade and more.

I've wanted to get Lark on SiDEBAR for a long time now, so this was very cool for me. Hope you dig!

SiDEBAR has gotten to know both of these guys pretty well over the last year or so. Rico, the colorist half of the duo, wrote us a complimentary note about the podcast and he and I (Swain) have been emailing each other ever since. We finally met in person and became buds at the 2008 Heroes Con.

Chris, we later found out, is a SCAD grad and the penciler/inker of the two. The images start with him, for the most part, and Rico's the guy who comes in and swoosh—puts the icing on the cake (or hangs the fuzzy dice on the mirror of Brunner's tricked out whip, as he puts it).

If you aren't familiar with these fellas already, consider this an introduction. One you'll appreciate.

Renzi is the regular color guy on The Perhapanauts, a book by Todd Dezago and Craig Rousseau, pubbed by Image. He also put it down on Killing Girl with Toby Cypress and did some hot stuff over Nathan Fox recently for WIRED magazine.

Chris drew a killerrr run on Legends of The Dark Knight that I'll swear by, right here. He also penciled an incredible short story in a one-shot issue of The Ride series called Language Barrier. If you haven't read it, go get it now.

Seriously, I'm not kidding—now! It's that good!

Ron Marz wrote it, Rico did the 'zip effects'—and it's the sh*t! So much so, that the Kids feel like they have to outdo it with their upcoming creator-owned project, Loose Ends.

Loose Ends is a crime fiction tale penned by their friend, writer and artist Jason Latour, and it takes place in none other than the Dirty South. From what I can tell, it's full of Southern slang, guns, drugs, Daisy dukes and red clay (and maybe a mullet or two).

I have an ashcan demo of the book I got from them and it looks really sweet. Ends will be out from 12 Gauge Comics some time next year.

We stole Chris and Rico away from their tables at this year's Heroes Con and chopped it up in one of the convention center rooms. It was a lotta fun, not to mention, way over due. They both have been really supportive of the show and we've been fans of their's from the gate.

Look for Loose Ends when it hits, grab anything else you can find by the 'Kids' and thank us later. We promise you will.

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