The Illustration Work of Alé Mercado

My visual language is rooted in Sequential Art: mostly Comics and Cinema. When it comes to process, traditional relief printing and digital come together to the point that they've become almost completely merged. See my website at www.alemercado.com

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Emily Wilson

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FallOut

Who is watching Fallout? I never played the game so I don't know how much they are sticking to the story or not. In any case I have a few observations around how normalised explicit violence has become. When Reservoir Dogs came out 32 years ago, I remember feeling something similar after the outrage it caused. But mainstream films now (from PG movies like all the Marvel ones), video games are way more explicit than anything directed to a wide audience done before. Even though they are rated for 12+ , they all seem to be directed to those eternal 18 years old who haven't grown out of it and cannot keep their attention in what they are watching unless blood and guts are thrown at them. Explicit violence has been a central element of sub-genres of every cultural expression (I am really into extreme metal for instance). I've always managed to fly over the violent bits and see them just as an aesthetic device (that, I have to admit, I tolerate less and less). But in the case of FallOut its explicit violence seems to be completely gratuitous in a really well produced and well written TV Show that would be much better without it. What do you think? ______________________ #illustration #videogames #publishing #digitalillustration #dark #ipadprocreate #drawing #graphite #graphitedrawing #ireland #irishartist #pattern #illustrator #creepy #eerie #characterdesign #lineart #instaart #instaartist #woodblock #traditional #horror #literature

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Ida Lupino

For the day it is today, I would like to pay homage to one of my favourite film directors: Ida Lupino.

She was best known as an actress in films like They Drive By Night, High Sierra or While the City Sleeps.

She was also an incredible director. Her film The Hitch-Hiker is a masterpiece of Film Noir. And so are other or her films like Outrage or The Bigamist.

#illustration #bookillustration #publishing #digitalillustration #dark #ipadprocreate #drawing #graphite #graphitedrawing #ireland #irishartist #pattern #illustrator #film #filmnoir #characterdesign #lineart #instaart #instaartist #woodblock #traditional #internationalwomensday #8thmarch

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Happy 2024

It is one of the few traditions I follow, to watch a movie when everyone is gone to bed in New Year’s Eve. The first film of the year. It is a bit of a ritual: sit down for the first hours of the year and immerse myself in a good story, great cinematography or great acting. Only a few movies make it to earn this accolade. They only have to fulfil a couple of requirements: it has to be a visual feast and it has to set me up to a great start of the year. Not too much to ask. This year’s honour falls on one of those movies that became a classic the moment it came out back in 1985. It is up there with The Searchers, The Wild Bunch, Bend of the River or My Darling Clementine. Pale Rider is the canonical version of the no-name hero that performs the miracle all oppressed people pray for. I love how Eastwood always manages to layer his films with meaning. I don’t know how much of it was intended but the film stays current by portraying strong female characters or denouncing the damage of industrial exploitation does to nature, to name two of its subplots. Some other of his films show a more controversial view on other social or political issues and it shows (in a very bad way) when you watch them again. Pale Rider stays non-preachy by sticking to the main plot and its subsequent actions. There are so many memorable moments, you easily find yourself reciting the lines as if you were in some sort of liturgy. So here it is: Pale Raider. Welcome 2024!

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Highly Commended

The winners of the World Illustration Awards were announced past 12th of September and The Masque of the Red Death was distinguished with a Highly Commended distinction in the Publishing Professional category.

It is an honour to be up there with the rest of the winners. I know it is a very topical thing to say but I believe the standard of the works this year was incredibly high. You could even tell at the Longlist stage of the competition which makes this award even more humbling.

The image was created more than a year ago. With that distance I can appreciate its merits although I can see its failings better. I am working on new, I hope, better illustrations now. But I will always be grateful to this image and the doors it opened.

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Orlando cancelled

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does often rhymes” is attributed to Mark Twain. This was my first thought when I heard the news that a recently elected far right municipal government in Spain decided to cancel a play based in Virginia Woolf’s Orlando for its homosexual content.

It’s funny that the motto of said party is “Freedom” (I kid you not). I don’t mind what the party says or defend. My worry is that it is estimated 20% of people in Spain might be voting for them. This shows a worrying turn in the society that does not look too different to that of Spain or Europe in the early 30s.

Add to it the pressure we are all going to feel from Climate Change and we have ALL the 80s apocalyptic movies being played at the same time in front of our very eyes.

Please just come to your senses and leave Virginia Woolf in peace.

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Maryam Mirzakhani

Maryam Mirzakhani (12 May 1977 - 14 July 2017) was the first Iranian matematician and the first of only two women to date to be honoured with the Fields Medal, the highest honour in the discipline.

She died of breast cancer at the age of 40.

The May 12 Initiative to celebrate women in Mathematics was created in her honour.

Find out more here and here.

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More Movies

Watching a movie is great. I can actually feel how I absorb colour palettes, camera angles, image compositions as it’s been played. But sometimes the movie is so good, you get overwhelmed with information. The way of coping with this overload has been carrying a sketchbook while watching the movie. With the years, the iPad has taken the place of the sketchbook.

With time, those exercises have evolved so I send up with one more or less final image. It’s not the purpose to finish watching the film with a polished poster but that is often the case. So much so that lately I wonder if I am watching the film at all.

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It’s Halloween!

It's the #halloween season! Time to revisit some favorite classics. This one is aging so well! #alternativemovieposter #sleepyhollow #timburton #fanart #Illustration #ipadpro #procreate #timburton #washingtonirving #gothic #gothichorror

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Colegio Aljarafe

My primary school is celebrating its 50th birthday today. It still is a very special place where education was understood in a very broad way. Here you can see the entrance to the school where the allotments were. Those train carriages are the library. The school has an amphitheatre and ample football and rubgy pitches. And the teachers were just amazing. We were so lucky. All this week has been mad with reconnecting with some of the oldest friends I have. Some of them I hadn't talked to for more than 35 years. It's incredible how different we all are now yet how little we have changed too.

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In the thick of it.

Working on a new book is so immersive, you sometimes loose sense of time or space. Timelines become blurred and you doubt where you belong... or even who you are.

For months now, it’s all about registering everything I can find; from fashion to mood, furnitures or environments.

Other literature relating to the text I am illustrating is as important as the source text. For instance, I’m finding myself deep into suddenly reading Hegel, Schiller and Hölderlin only because I found a small connection… It’s all a bit mad at the moment, but the idea is to keep the senses open and let everything in.

I feel scenes start to develop in my head. At first they are a couple of panels long but sometimes they are much more elaborate. This is where the next stage starts, even before a script it set. Camera movements and positions are some of the things that appear more clearly to me.

It is like pulling a thread. Everything follows in a sort of chaotic logical way.

So it is back to continue digging. Thanks for reading this and see you soon.

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Stray Lines: Call for Entries

There is a new Stray Lines anthology being planned and you can be part of it. Send your submission before May 1st.

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The Green Knight Movie

So I got to watch The Green Knight

I had mixed feelings coming to it. As you know, I had spent more than a year working on my own illustrations for that same text (alemercado.com). So I am biased by Simon Armitage’s version of it.

So first things first, the movie uses the text to build its own story. This means it departs a lot from the original text. And that’s OK. The movie really works for me. It keeps me interested and engaged. Visually it is stunning but I wonder if that A24 look will date in a few years time. It doesn’t matter now. While it wasn’t what I was expecting, it is a great interpretation of the story.

Have you watched it? What do you think of it?

#illustration #gouache #lightstudy #movie

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No Sudden Move

This week’s movie recommendation is the brand new No Sudden Move. An amazing thriller (I’m not going to call it Noir because it’s not in colour and it wasn’t made in the 50’s) that could have been written by Richard Stark or Raymond Chandler. Wonderfully casted, this is a relentless film that, filmed in a strange super wide angle, keeps you on your toes all the time. My favourite film of the year so far.

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The Puritan

El Torres, one of the most prolific Spanish comic authors today has been sharing some of the pages from his upcoming work, The Puritan, with comic artists Jaime Infante and Manoli Martínez. It looks amazing in its own right but I am particularly loving the notes of classic Warren Comics and that hint of Alex Toth they are managing to get in. You can check it out in their facebook feeds (link in their names).

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The Matrix Reheatings

Things to look forward to this winter

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Waterloo

Weekend film recommendation: Waterloo (Sergei Bondarchuk, 1970) In my opinion, one of the best war movies ever made. A momentous time in European history.