| AnimeIowa - Panels - Robert
DeJesus |
 What began
as fun evolved into an art career for Robert DeJesus. "It started as a
hobby and it turned into a big commercial job," said the popular artist
whose best-known work has come for magazine covers and video games. "I
liked just doing comic stuff as a hobby. I didn't like the deadlines, though."
What DeJesus has learned is that some of the most important assignments
come as rush work, where a publisher or art director calls and desperately
needs an item as soon as possible, if not sooner. |
 The deadline
pressure takes some of the fun out of an art career for DeJesus, who isn't
a slow worker as much as someone who would rather take his time on his
art. His personal Ai Candy collection that he sells at conventions is filled
with works that he created at his own pace. "There are some people out
there who just speed along. I'm not one of them. I'm a quality over quantity
kind of guy," he said. |
 Those rush
jobs pay the bills, and that's important for someone in the real world,
as well as an artist who plans to get married. And those rush jobs test
an artist's creative powers in a fashion that a more leisurely pace does
not. Still, there's some nostalgia for DeJesus when he thinks back to his
days as just another fan, waiting for the new comics to show up at the
local store in the middle of each week. "When you start learning all the
tricks and shortcuts, it doesn't seem as magical as it did before," he
said. |
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