Turns out a galaxy far, far away is much closer to home than you might have thought.
Okotoks-based comic book illustrator Dario Carrasco Jr. has plenty of prestigious titles on his resume — Star Wars, Marvel Comics, the list goes on — and he isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
A draftsman by profession, Carrasco has had a lifelong passion for drawing.
“It started when I was young, at age six, when I watched a Batman cartoon on my neighbour's TV,” he says. “It got me hooked right away and I started drawing.”
His hometown in the Philippines didn’t have a comic book shop, but that didn’t stop his imagination from taking off.
“From elementary school to high school, I always drew in my notebook, fantasizing about comic characters and stories,” he says.
Carrasco’s passion continued when he started his post-secondary studies in Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, where he pulled together whatever money he could to buy comic books starring his favourite characters.
“Titles like Batman, Conan, Sgt. Rock and Phantom Stranger to name a few of the staple titles I've grown to love and collect,” he says.
When Carrasco and his family moved to Canada in 1989, he found himself more immersed in the world of comics than ever before.
“I frequently visited local comics shops, and through there I showed some of my sample pages for critique and suggestions from owners and customers,” says Carrasco, who lived in B.C. before moving to Okotoks in 2002.
Having gained plenty of experience drawing through his work as a draftsman in Saudi Arabia and Egypt before immigrating to Canada, Carrasco’s artwork was a hit with fellow comic book enthusiasts in Canada.
“I got all good feedback and reviews,” he says. "They encouraged me to pursue becoming a comic book artist.”
MARVEL BREAKTHROUGH
Fuelled by that encouragement, he began submitting samples to editors by getting their names from the title credits of comic books, with his work eventually catching the eye of prominent Marvel editors Rob Tokar and David Wohl in 1991.
“Rob gave me the Alpha Flight series as a starter and David asked me to do the Pinhead series for Epic Comics, a sister company of Marvel Comics at the time. These two projects kickstarted my career in comics,” he says.
Now part of arguably the biggest comic book company in the world, Carrasco was eager to continue his work.
He worked with Marvel on titles starring everybody from Captain America to Canadian superhero squad Alpha Flight, friendlier counterparts to the Avengers south of the border and longtime allies of Wolverine, Canada’s most famous superhero.
He enjoyed plenty of success with Marvel before his career in comics hit a bump in the road in 1994.
“Marvel Comics filed insolvency at the time and I was one of the artists that were let go,” he says, adding that the layoff meant his ongoing work on the Night Thrasher series was unfortunately cut short at the time.
Carrasco was quick to get back on his feet, landing a gig with Dark Horse Comics after meeting chief editor Diana Schultz at a convention in Vancouver.
Dark Horse Comics, while smaller than Marvel, was and still is renowned for its comic book adaptations of iconic film franchises such as Alien, Predator and Star Wars.
From 1994 to 1998, Carrasco penciled four volumes of the beloved Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi series, including The Golden Age of the Sith, The Fall of the Sith Empire and The Sith War.
Dark Horse Comics, renowned for the creative liberties given to writers and artists, even gave Carrasco the opportunity to design his own original characters and starships, leading to his creation of the Basilisk Droid and Starbreaker 12.
“I have got to draw some of the characters of the movie franchise like Luke and Leia Skywalker, Darth Vader and R2-D2 in the Jedi Academy series,” he says. “I am proud to say that I put in the very best work of my career.”
GIVING BACK
Today, Carrasco is committed to making a difference through his work.
In 2007, he launched Comics for a Cause, a non-profit organization that started as a fundraising campaign to support his best friend, who fought and unfortunately lost a battle with cancer.
Through Comics for a Cause, Carrasco sells his own artwork and comics, as well as that of fellow artists in the Calgary area, to raise funds for charitable initiatives. Right now, money raised will go to wildfire relief across Canada.
He also aims to inspire the next generation of artists by hosting workshops across Alberta.
“If I could show the youth these days how simple it is to do art by imagination and the beauty of creativity, maybe it could help broaden their perception and appreciation of the beautiful things that surround us,” he says.
Comic book art has come a long way since he first started, explains Carrasco.
“It's a big change nowadays because of the advent of digital platforms,” he says. “Back then I would stand outside, look at a building and use that for my background. Nowadays, you can Google. It's a lot easier.”
While modern-day comic book illustrating is much more convenient and less time-consuming due to breakthroughs in digital art, it’s still incredibly challenging, especially if you approach it the old-fashioned way.
“For me, comics is more like drawing from imagination,” he says. “Some people can copy from pictures, it’s still art, but it’s not comics for me.”
Carrasco’s advice for young artists looking to get into the comic industry is practice, practice and more practice.
“Polish your craft,” he says.
Being involved with everything from internationally-regarded publications to his own independent work in support of a good cause has given Carrasco a great deal of appreciation for the world of comics.
“Art is a form of expression and comic book art is a part of it,” he says. “Art in comics is a great get-away from reality, talking from my experience. Appreciating art is one thing, doing the art is the next level.”
