Jose Ivan Negron AKA Bad Attitude Ink is a cartoonist, currently
living in Brooklyn, N.Y with his lovely wife, Rebecca and their cat,
Shmucky. Jose has been drawing since he could pick up a pencil and
hasn’t stopped, except to indulge his addiction to video games and
movies. He studied art at The High School Of Art And Design, in N.Y.C
and graduated ultimately from Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn,
having won the Mark Rothko Art Scholarship that year, one of only ten
students in NYC high schools to receive the scholarship yearly. He also
took classes at the School Of Visual Arts and Parsons School Of Design
on weekends and summer vacations. His friends thought he was nuts for
going to school in the summer and on weekends, but quickly forgave him
when they learned he got to draw naked girls in his life drawing
classes. He now does work under the moniker Bad Attitude ink and still
draws naked girls every chance he gets!
I took a minute to find out more about Jose and his artwork.
• What do preferred to be called?
Jose is fine. My friends called me Joe and Red when I was growing up. I had red hair as a kid. It’s a little reddish gray now.
• When and where were you born?
I was born March 12, 1966 in a little town in Puerto Rico
called Aibonito. I moved to the states to live with my mom who had
remarried and moved to New York when I was 4 years old.
• Where do you currently live?
Brooklyn , New York. In the Brighton Beach area also known as
Little Odessa because of it’s large Russian Community. I really like
living in this neighborhood.
• What are your interests, hobbies or passions?
Well, there’s art, obviously. Has been my main passion since I
could remember. I was so passionate about art as a kid that I came home
crying one day because one of my classmates told me I couln’t draw. Made
me SO angry to be told that. I am also a serious video gamer and an
absolutely huge movie buff. I watch all kinds of films. Big budget, low
budget, Direct to video stuff. I love movies. I still love comic books
but don’t read them as much. They have gotten stagnant over the years
and just seem to be recycling the same stories over and over again. I
mean, really, how many times can you re-tell or re-interpret a
characters origin ? I do read a lot of trades and still follow the work
of some artists, though.
• Do you have a job other than producing your artwork?
Yeah, unfortunately, I have a “Day Job.” Not that I don’t count
myself grateful to have a job in this economy. I just wish I could draw
full time and not have to do something else. On the other hand, I work
for some very cool people who give me a lot of freedom, so I am very
lucky in that sense. Oh yeah, I work from home too, so that is a bonus !
• How long have you been an artist?
I think I was born an artist, so my whole life. Even as a kid,
before I knew what I was doing, I gravitated towards images that caught
my eye. Once I put pencil to paper, it was all over. That was all I ever
wanted to do. And let me tell ya, I did that at a very early age . LOL.
• What inspired you to become an artist?
Comic Books. In a nutshell. Which is why I still love the medium even though I don’t really read them anymore.
• Do you have formal art training or education? Where?
I have a scattershot type of formal art education. I studied
and took classes at various schools but never graduated from an art
school. I went to high school at The High School Of Art And Design in
NYC. I didn’t do so well there academically.
It was a very rigid environment. Not very conducive to being a
creative person. It really felt more like military school to me. Also, I
had a couple of teachers who were basically just collecting a check.
They would tell you that you were making mistakes but when you asked for
help, they would walk away. I got the feeling they were trying not to
share their “secrets of the trade”. I was really unhappy at that school.
I left there and basically dropped out for about a year or so and then
went back to school at Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn. I did
really well there, my head was in the right place and academically I did
very well. I had some great teachers who “got” me and motivated me in a
way that I never got from going to Art And Design. Through my whole
high school career, I still took weekend and summer art classes at
Parsons School Of Design and The School Of Visual Arts.
• What artists have influenced you?
Gil Kane. He did an issue of Spider-Man when I was a kid that
absolutely, positively floored me. It wa an issue where Spider-Man was
fighting Morbius, The Living Vampire and The Lizard both. Amazing work.
Just so much energy and the anatomy on the figures was insane. Gil Kane
just blew me away. Also, John Buscema, John Byrne, Frank Frazetta, Neal
Adams, Jack Kirby, whom I didn’t really learn to appreciate until I was
older. Nowadays, I love the work of Travis Charest, Frank Cho, Mike
Mignola, Alex Ross, Ryan Ottley and
Adam Hughes.
From the “real” art world, I absolutely love Mucha, Tiepolo and
Rockwell. Every artist who has done good work has inspired me at one
point or another. I really think you need to be open minded to
influences as a creative person. If you close yourself out to a variety
of work, I think you short change yourself and your art. I met Marshall
Rogers, who had made his name on some issues of Batman with Steve
Englehart, and althoug he didn’t influence me in the way that the other
artists I mentioned did, he influenced me by pointing me in the right
direction. I met him at an old Creation Con back in 1981 and he took my
sketchbook, full of scribbles with absolutely no direction and sat with
me for nearly two hours, telling me what I was doing wrong, what I
needed to learn and what books to use as resources. He didn’t ask for a
damn thing in return and I went home with a sketchbook full of Marsshall
Rogers’ sketches and roughs. It was one of the most helpful experiences
in my life and for that I will always be grateful. I heard he passed
away a couple of years ago. Well, for what it’s worth, he left a legacy.
Seriously, a great guy.
• What type of artwork do you create
Straightforward comic book art. I dabble around with digital painting and such but I stick to what I know and believe I do well.
• What is your preferred medium?
Paper, a 4h pencil lead and either Pitt Artist Pens or
Rapidographs. (Tech pens for those of you that don’t know what
Rapidographs are :D ) I color on my PC with Photoshop and a tablet. I’ve
dabbled with Corel Painter, which I think is awesome, but mostly use
Photoshop to color.
• Do you have a favorite subject matter?
Women in genre settings. Always strong female characters in
either a sc-fi, horror, sword and sorcery, fantasy or action type of
setting. I love drawing that tye of stuff. I love drawing women.
• Describe your artistic style:
I have a comic book, illustrative style with some graphic
design sense. It’s bold, with strong lines and a heavy graphic bent. I
always try to create the best design I can with a character as a central
focus. I guess that’s the best I can do to describe it. I think other
folks do a better job of describing it, actually.
• Is there something that makes your artwork special?
Visually, I can’t say. I don’t think it’s any more special than
work created by other artists but it is special to me in that people
like seeing it and have been supportive of me doing it. That makes it
really special for me.
• Who or what are your inspirations?
The artists I mentioned in response to an earlier question of
course. But movies, music, video games and books all influence me in the
way I work. I listen to movie soundtracks all the time while drawing,
and there are plenty of times where a game influences me to a point that
I need to pick up a pen and draw something I saw in the game.
• Can you describe your creation process and technique:
Yeah, definitely. I usually don’t do any layouts, because they
ruin the flow for me and make me bored with a project before I even get
halfway through it . LOL. I prefer to just go ahead and draw whatever
I’m supposed to be working on. It allows for more spontenaity and
freedom. I normally sketch out the image in 4h pencil lead, tighten it
up a wee bit with the same 4h lead and then whip out the inking
materials. I use Pitt Pens, Tech pens and a Pentel Artist Brush for
heavy black areas. That’s it. Oh yeah…I wear headphones and have Itunes
playing my music. That’s really a part of the process. Who knew Itunes
could be an art tool ?! LOL
• Was there one artwork or event that was a turning point in your career? Why?
Yeah. The issue of Spider-man I mentioned being drawn by Gil
Kane. Also, Buscema’s Conan and John Byrne on just about anything he did
in the 80′s. These guys were just the best at what they did. Seriously.
Other guys have come along who are doing terrific work now, LIke Jim
Lee for example, but when I was growing up, these guys were just awesome
to me.
• Have you received any awards, prizes or other fame for your work?
I actually graduated high school having won a Mark Rothko art
scholarship. It was an award that was given to 10 art students in NYC
high schools every year. The best part for me the year that I was a
recipient was that no one from The High School Of Art And Design won. I
kind of felt vindicated after having left that school in a miserable
state. Here was some kid from some local, neighborhood high school
winning the award and no one from the big, high falutin art high school
won.
Awesome. I know it sounds petty. Just let me have that one, okay ? LOL.
• Is there one of your own works that’s a personal favorite? Why?
Nah, not really. I have images that I like. But I always find
things wrong with my images after the fact and I just move on to the
next image. I just like drawing.
• Do you have any future plans or ideas you can tell us about?
Well, I am supposed to be doing some work for an adult oriented
web site, which if all goes to plan, I should be getting some script
pages for either today or within a day or so. I also have a friend on
Deviant Art that I work really well with, who is an amazing colorist and
I am working with him on a series of prints and some other things. We
have discussed doing a muscle girl inspired web comic and some other
ideas but something always keeps popping up. Fortunately, it is art
related so I can’t complain. I would like to establish myself enough so
that I could do some comic conventions and genre shows and just meet
fans and shoot the breeze with them. I would love to do everything from
Comic Con to the Chiller convention. I love all these genres and don’t
want to be or allow myself to be pigeon holed as just one type of
artist.
I’m doing a lot of muscle girl work. I sort of just fell into that. I
was hired by someone on Deviant Art to do some muscle girl commissions
and the rest is history. Next thing I knew, the visits to my Deviant Art
page started increasing and I started picking up a lot of Watchers who
were muscle girl fans. It’s been the best thing that has happened to my
work as far as exposure in years. The muscle girl fans have been the
most supportive and loyal fans I have met and they have been great for
my work. I am really grateful for that. The cool thing for me was that
when I was younger, I was a fan of female bodybuilders like Raye
Hollitt, Corey Everson, Rachel Mclish and Lisa Lyon. So these folks were
just bringing me back to something I enjoyed when I was a teenager. I
am definitely going to keep doing muscle girl related work.
• Anything else you would like to add?
Ummm….2 plus 2 equals 4 ? Oh wait…that’s not what you meant.
Sorry. Yeah, I just want to say Thanks to my wife, Rebecca. She’s been
the best thing that ever happened to me and the most supportive of my
work since I first met her. So yeah.. Thanks sweety :D
• Where can people find out more about you?
I pretty much just stick to my Deviant Art account, which is
badattitudeink.deviantart.com
I don’t have a Myspace or Facebook page as I already spend an
inordinate amount of time on Deviantart and would probably never get
anything done if I had pages on those other sites. I do have a blog at
badattitudecomics.net
