DC Collectibles: How did you get your start as a professional illustrator and what inspired you to become one?
Ant Lucia: Believe it or not, I've been a major DC fan all my life and my favorite heroes are what inspired me to be an illustrator. In fact, my parents left the mural I painted in my old bedroom of all my favorite characters I did as a teenager. I went to school for fine arts and design, class of '98. I started like many young artists doing small jobs for family and friends to doing wall murals. I then started my internship at a state revitalization program until I found my first job in design. I developed my own brand of illustration around 2008 with the Spookshow Pinups line and that is what really got the ball rolling.
DC Collectibles: Where do you pull much of your pin-up inspiration? Do you have a favorite pin-up artist?
Ant Lucia: I'm a big fan of vintage pin-up illustrations. Whenever I brainstorm a piece, I always fall back to some of my favorites for inspiration. I'd have to say my favorite is George Petty. His illustrations have such great movement and expression. The pose, expressions, and composition have an "exaggeration" to them that appeals to me. All of your illustrations are created as vector artwork.
DC Collectibles: Why did you decide to choose digital as your medium?
Ant Lucia: I create all my illustrations in Adobe Illustrator. As a designer, it is a program that I use on a daily basis to create graphics and logos, etc., so I've become very familiar with it and I think it gives the illustration such a sharp, polished look that I couldn't get with my hand-drawn stuff. I'm also a nut when it comes to details, so it allows me to zoom in and go crazy on the smallest of details the viewer may not even notice...but I know it's there!
DC Collectibles: What are the advantages and disadvantages of generating digital artwork?
Ant Lucia: Advantage: I like having the flexibility to apply my illustrations to different mediums whether it be a 4' Canvas or a 3" sticker. Also, client changes are much easier. Not to mention my file sizes are much more manageable working in a vector format vs. pixels. Disadvantage: Working vector probably takes twice or three times as long to create blends and shading.
DC Collectibles: Do you have a favorite DC Comics character and what DC Comics characters would you like to see appear in the bombshell line?
Ant Lucia: My all-time favorite character has always been Batman but I don't think he'll be showing up in the bombshell line. ;)We've already done a lot of my favorite "Gotham girlies" but I'm excited to see what we could do with Catwoman!
DC Collectibles: What’s special about the DC Comics Bombshells line?
Ant Lucia: That I get to be involved! Seriously, I think this line is so unique. I love the fact that we are taking these characters and showing them in a light that they have never been seen before. As an artist, I love re-imagining little details of their costumes and tweaking their personas a bit to make them feel familiar in an unfamiliar way. Not to mention the thought process behind each and the intense collaboration with DC Collectibles team has really added to the richness of detail and character that they each have.
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