CG-Hub

 
We recenlty we caught up with the amazingly talented illustrator David Palumbo to find out about his new book, 'Quickie.'  David's client list includes Acclaim Entertainment, Black Library, Heavy Metal Magazine, Lucasfilm, Marvel Entertainment, Night Shade Books, Pyr Books, Riley Films, Roadrunner Records, Science Fiction Book Club, Solaris Books, Upper Deck Entertainment, VH1, and Wizards of the Coast.

What is Quickie about?  What can readers expect to find in your new book?

Quickie started as an experiment and grew way beyond any initial plans I had made.  The very first paintings that I ever did in my postcard series were just exercises really.  I was playing with more energetic brush strokes and testing some color ideas on a small format.  Doing little 5x7 oil studies, which is why I call them postcards.  I had been thinking about doing a series of nudes, and that seemed like as good a subject as any to test out some new techniques.  The more I did, the more I really got into it though.  I would occasionally do a larger piece, but most of them stayed at that 5x7 size and I found that I was having a lot of fun and really learning a lot by playing with this looser approach. 


 
As it became a series, I started refining the concept and to be honest I’m still figuring it out.  Right now I think of it as contemporary pin-up.  I want each piece to be sexy and suggestive, but without giving up beauty and honesty.  I want the girls to look like real girls and the situations and poses to relate to real life.  I want pin-ups which convey intimacy.  Last Summer I collected my favorites from the first year of this continued experiment and released it as a limited edition soft cover. 


 
This year I went one step further and partner with Brand Studio Press to put together this new volume.  I don’t look at it as a follow-up so much as the official release.  There are a few works repeated from the limited edition, but the bulk of the pieces included in the hardcover are new and I feel that all together it represents my clearest vision of the Quickie series.  It’s a nice big book too, 10”x10”, 96 pages, and no text at all ;)





You are mostly known for your work as an illustrator, though you also have a background in fine arts.  The paintings in Quickie certainly seem to fall more towards the sort of work one would find in a gallery than on a book cover.  Does this collection mark a shift in your career?

Actually, I began as a gallery artist here in Philadelphia.  I went to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art to study painting and I started showing while I was still in school.  It wasn’t until a couple years after I’d graduated that I began making the transition into full time illustration.  That was and still is the main focus for me ever since.  So I don’t know if I would say that these paintings mark a shift in my career, though I think they are a shift in my way of thinking as an artist.  One of the most interesting things has been taking the lessons that this series has taught me and then applying them to my illustration.  One is constantly informing the other.



What plans do you have from here?  Do you see this series continuing to evolve? 

I am still working on the series, though it’s impossible to predict where it will go.  I definitely feel that with this release, it’s turning a corner and opening into a new direction.  I‘d like to think that I‘m already working on volume two, though time will tell.  I’ve had the opportunity to show some of these pieces in several galleries since the series began and I’m hoping to take that further.  The tough part is just balancing personal work with my illustrations.  Though that’s kind of the fun part too, and it keeps me moving forward in both.
 


Relevant Links
Get your copy of Quickie today!
David Palumbo's CGHUB.com Profile
David Palumbo's CGHUB.com Sketchbook
David Palumbo's Blog
David Palumbo's Webpage