Born and raised in New York, James Rodriguez fell in love with drawing at the tender age of 4 after watching a televised “How to draw” show on PBS. After that, he was introduced to comics haphazardly by his father when he accompanied him to get a hair cut. James picked up an X-Men book in the magazine pile and after that he was hooked. He went on to the High School of Art & Design and graduated in the top 10 percentile of his class.
Rodriguez continued his studies at the prestigious School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, NY where his instructors included the comic book legends Walter Simonson, Klaus Janson and Joe Orlando. Among his graduating classmates were Jamal Igle (Firestorm), Chris Batista (JLA, Legion of Super-Heroes, Hawkman), and Phil Jimenez (Wonder Woman, Infinite Crisis). He also later hung out at Bill (Shi) Tucci’s Crusade Entertainment’s studio, learning the finer points of putting a comic book together. Over the course of 15 years he has worked as a freelance illustrator on several projects in print, and his second love film, as a storyboard artist, production designer and art director. Rodriguez co-produced the Latin comedy troupe, “SAL SOUL” at the famed Caroline’s Comedy Club in New York City.
Rodriguez joined the networking group, the Comic Art Guild founded by Keith Murphey. It was through CAG that he met Philip Clark, creator of Quantum, Rock of the Ages. Opportunity knocked, and Rodriguez took over the artist duties on Quantum: Rock of Ages with the third issue. “I have found my experience on QUANTUM to be a very fulfilling experience as an artist and creator. I get the chance to collaborate with Philip on the look of the book, as well as figure out the pacing which has always been a major concern for me on any comic project. I want to bring to comics a very cinematic feel and sense of movement that one finds in film.”
An avid film critic, Rodriguez has studied the cinematic flow of film as well as the composition of an image. He hopes to bring that to comics as well as influences from other media. His main artistic influences come from a diverse array of talents. Among them are classical painters Velazquez, Norman Rockwell and Frank Frazetta to comic artists like Jim Lee, John Byrne, Alex Ross, Arthur Adams and Frank Cho. Rodriguez counts several production designers among his influences including: Ron Cobb, Syd Mead and even filmmakers James Cameron, Ridley Scott and Stanley Kubrick.
James Rodriguez currently lives in Queens, New York where aside from his work on Quantum he freelances as a graphic designer. At present he is at work on several projects. The most current of which is his creator-owned project entitled “The Chronicles of Sara,” which he describes as a mix between “My So Called Life” and and the comic series Green Lantern.
Date of Birth: July 2nd, 1971
Website: http://quantumcomic.net
MySpace: www.myspace.com/NovaStarStudios
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