STGCC 2013: Sitting Down With Adi Granov (SGCollect Exclusive!)

During last weekend's STGCC, Red Dot Diva was really busy assisting David Mack with his schedule and very HOT booth! (You might have spotted her!)

So, she was not able to make it for the allocated interview slot with comic artist Adi Granov. She did however, manage to snag a few questions with him on Sunday afternoon. And a separate article will soon be published relating to that.

In the meantime, here is Article "KOPE" #4, courtesy from Agent W, who was able to attend the media interview with Adi Granov on behalf of our Glamouring Bloggers' Alliance.

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Iron Man conve... I mean STGCC 

Adi Granov walked into the interview room looking extremely relaxed and like any convention goer, but upon a little hindsight, I dare say, he is probably the reason why this year’s convention is almost entirely Iron Man centric, (as noted by Ed & Diva). With a little exposition, the whole iron Man phenomenon was probably due to this man! (I can hear Diva asking; not RDJ??) More on that later…

With a calm smile, he tells us he started reading comics when he was young, and went into University to be an illustrator. He began building his portfolio, showing it around until he got a little comic work, and, you know what they say, the rest is history. Marvel saw his work and invited him in and Iron Man! Happened.

On how he achieved success at drawing, well, Adi “knew exactly what he wanted to do and set about doing it”, which was being the best illustrator there was, honing his art to be on par with the best artists that was present, and not competing with his immediate peers. His advice to budding artists or illustrators, “Just figure out what you want to do, and do the best you can…”

Iron Man illustrations for the movie

The topic moved to how things have changed in recent times. Adi noted that the world is so small today, very unlike when he started out in then Yugoslavia, reading Silver Surfer, Batman and European comics. He notes today, everyone’s connected once you log in online, and he worked closely with Ryan (Meinerding) on all three Iron Man movies and the Avengers, via phone and email from Yorkshire to LA.

On being asked about the translation of the Extremis armor to Iron Man 3, Adi replied, with a smile in his eyes, “there was no translation of the Extremis armor” to guffaws in the interview, and said that the design was based on the Extremis armor but the concept of it being stored in Tony Stark wasn’t carried through.

Iron Man Extremis#1 cover

Regarding Adi’s realistic art and the mistake that people seem to think that they’re almost always fully digitally rendered, he said that he still prefers using, pencil and gouache (water colour), and if he had 4 days, he would use entirely traditional methods of rendering and, if less like 2 days, he would do the line work and then digital rendering. Adi’s fans would be glad to know that he still loves using traditional ways to draw an image and to hold it in his hands, often finding inspiration and putting nuances of the people around him into his art.

When asked about what’s next in store for him, Adi said he will be working on a large connected cover for a book, some designs for an animated series and designing album covers for Tool - his favourite rock band. (I forgot to mention Adi played bass in his younger burgeoning rock star days!)

Back to the topic of his involvement with the popularity of Iron Man, well …. his iconic painted covers and designs for the "Invincible Iron Man" comic led to him drawing the Extremis series with writer Warren Ellis, which inspired the look for the original Iron Man movie, so much so that they asked him on board to be an art consultant on all 3 movies as well as that small team movie called "The Avengers"… so I dare say, he is the reason why Iron Man is a household name today and the character has taken over this year’s STGCC (& not RDJ). (Red Dot Diva: *sulk*)

Pretty good world domination plan for a rusty rock bass player, isn’t it?

Adi and Agent W!

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Article by Agent W's (writing for SGCollect.com)
with edits by Red Dot Diva
Click here for original article link

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Adi Granov's website - http://www.adigranov.net
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Adi-Granov-Illustration/244587123597
Twitter - https://twitter.com/Adi_Granov