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Ricardo Delgado grew up obsessed with monsters and has turned his childhood love into a career. He\u2019s worked as a conceptual artist in Hollywood, published The Age of Reptiles <\/em>graphic novel series, and is coming out with books on Dracula. After the success of his illustrated novel Dracula of Transylvania<\/em>, his The Art of Dracula of Transylvania <\/em>was put on Kickstarter<\/a> where it quickly earned its goal. The Kickstarter continues until November 9, and Delgado spoke to Cemetery Dance <\/em>about his early interests, his career in conceptual art and graphic novels, and why Dracula has obsessed him for so long.<\/p>\n (Interview conducted by Danica Davidson<\/a> )<\/p>\n CEMETERY DANCE: Congratulations on making your Kickstarter campaign already!<\/strong><\/p>\n RICARDO DELGADO: Thank you! It\u2019s gone very well and I\u2019m delighted. It\u2019s certainly validating when you have a belief in a project. I described it to people like The Art of Star Wars <\/em>meets \u2019Salem\u2019s Lot<\/em>. Publishers were like, \u201cOkay. Well, we see one or the other.\u201d So it\u2019s cool to see it come together as well as it has.<\/p>\n Now that you\u2019ve made the amount for Kickstarter, will there be extra benefits and more printings as people continue to give money?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes, there will be extra benefits. Some of the extra benefits have been announced, and I think some are in the works. I think it\u2019s a really cool additive to the publishing experience these days. It\u2019s a reward for people\u2019s faith and belief in the project.<\/p>\n Have far back has your interest in Dracula gone?<\/strong><\/p>\n Since I was a little kid, honestly. I\u2019d watch the Universal Monsters on TV. You could only see the Universal Monsters on television during Halloween here in Los Angeles where I grew up. Regardless of whether it was October or not, I would scan the TV Guide <\/em>every week to see if I could find any. I would circle all the monster movies that were coming up, if any. I was a big Famous Monsters of Filmland <\/em>buff. I got that magazine every month. I enjoyed the Aurora Monster Model Kits as well. One could say I was kind of obsessed. And Dracula . . . he\u2019s kind of different from the other Universal Monsters if you will. Frankenstein is kind of a bunch of people thrown together in an extraordinary situation. Larry Talbot\u2019s like, \u201cHey, I was bit by this dog and now I\u2019m a werewolf.\u201d But Dracula! Dracula\u2019s the one where, hey, I want to actually be the bad guy. \u201cI\u2019m the king of the vampires and I want to conquer all of them and I want to break into your house and drink your blood at night.\u201d He stuck out to me as a villain. Also, the great Tomb of Dracula <\/em>Marvel comics. They were a big influence on me. The Tomb of Dracula\u2019s <\/em>Dracula is kind of this malevolent Dracula, kind of like the Christopher Lee version of Dracula. That\u2019s the version I lean to as I go into this project.<\/p>\n With your work on movies, it\u2019s a lot of science fiction and horror. These are really your childhood loves, right?<\/strong><\/p>\n They really are. I\u2019ve been pretty lucky in that way. I grew up in what I\u2019d say is a middle class neighborhood in Los Angeles, and to be able to end up doing that stuff for a living and have that transpose itself onto my publishing career is something I\u2019m really excited about. There are illustrations, but there\u2019s the idea of taking conceptual design from film and weaving it into a published manuscript. It\u2019s not just what I\u2019ve written, but what I thought it could be. With visual effects for a film, you\u2019re kind of limited with what you can do. That\u2019s why a lot of the bats in those old movies . . . don\u2019t look at those very closely because they\u2019re not very believable. Although I was watching House of Dracula <\/em>the other night, and that Dracula vampire bat was pretty good. For me, I can design a version of the Dracula bat, but it\u2019s as big as a sabretooth. When it crawls into the room, you\u2019re like, \u201cOh my God, that thing is going to rip my head off.\u201d\u00a0 You\u2019re not limited by budget. I remember I storyboarded the launch of Apollo 13 <\/em>early in my career, and there were a bunch of effects shots cut after the launch. I said, \u201cHey.\u201d They\u2019re like, \u201cWell, we can\u2019t afford it.\u201d On a format like this, if you can write it, or you can draw it, or in this case both, you can visualize it.<\/p>\n How much creative control do you have in these Dracula <\/em>books compared to working on movies or TV?<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, that\u2019s the fun part. I have complete control. The story is mine. I can guide it and do as I want or need. For example, in this new Art of Dracula <\/em>book, I have a few more designs on the inside of Dracula\u2019s Castle. There\u2019s a bunch of witches I designed. I tried to make witches that we haven\u2019t seen before. I tried to make Dracula\u2019s Castle that was familiar but conceptually looked really, really foreboding and interesting. The castle is just kind of a representation of Dracula the Conqueror and his ability to go all over the world and just take different pieces of architecture that he\u2019s raided and taken back to the castle and just sort of put stuff together — Frankensteined together, if you\u2019ll pardon the pun.<\/p>\n Can you tell us how you got started as a professional artist?<\/strong><\/p>\n I was in community college here in Los Angeles, and then went to ArtCollege of Design in Pasadena. I graduated from there and I started working in TV animation. I think my first job was in the 1990s animated series The Real Ghost Busters<\/em>. And from there, I worked in animation for a stretch as a background designer. But I wanted to work in film. My first big break was Star Trek: Deep Space Nine<\/em>, and I spent about two years working on that. But I wanted to work in movies.\u00a0 That was my thing, I grew up loving concept art and learning the artists who did it. I admired people like Bernie Wrightson. And I wanted to do that. So, I left Deep Space Nine<\/em>, and I worked for my heroes: James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, John Landis. And all they ever talked about was the story, and they were not the originators of the story, but they controlled how the stories were told. And all these years later, I decided I wanted to create my own stories kind of like I saw all my heroes do early in my career. And so this story is the first of a few different books that are going to come out and hopefully explain all my childhood dreams in stories that I love, and hopefully everyone else will love too.<\/p>\n How much has an influence has the novel Dracula <\/em>had? Or is it more the movies and the comics?<\/strong><\/p>\n No, it\u2019s definitely based on the novel. I just took the novel and expanded it in the sense of the supernatural world that surrounds Dracula<\/em>. Many times he\u2019s kind of alluded to as the King of the Vampires, and I created that kind of story architecture to surround specifically his journey back to Castle Dracula. I always thought it was kind of weird how the brides stayed behind and Dracula went to England. So, in this case I created brides that had back stories, motivations and had a complicated relationship with this conqueror. And Dracula in this story is all about himself and they are making their move into their own sense of independence. And on one hand they are ferocious creatures of the night but on the other hand they are strong, independent female characters and I am very, very proud of that. So, they go to England with Dracula and do what they do. But as the story goes on, their relationship grows more fragmented and complicated. It\u2019s very cool.<\/p>\n Can you tell us about your history in working with graphic novels?<\/strong><\/p>\n I started off working in film design. And back then you could look in The Hollywood Reporter <\/em>and see all the upcoming movies that were in development. And I noticed that there was a listing for Dark Horse Comics\u2019 Alien vs. Predator<\/em>. I thought, Aw man, I\u2019d love to work on an Alien vs. Predator <\/em>movie. So back then you could call that office and fax them your r\u00e9sum\u00e9. I would fax my r\u00e9sum\u00e9 and about ten drawing and say, \u201cHey, I would love to work on your picture.\u201d That\u2019s how it all kind of worked back then. I called them to ask if they got my fax, and the kid who answered the phone said, \u201cYes, we\u2019re not going to do the movie, but would you like to do comics?\u201d And it all just started from there. I came in and I met with Mike Richardson and showed him the pitch I had for this comic book about dinosaurs with no dialogue in it and it all just worked out.<\/p>\n Can you tell us about your previous book with Clover Press on Dracula <\/em>and how it lead to this new one?<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, essentially, the way that I have learned to work in film is to create a bunch of concepts for a project. The public really doesn\u2019t know how much artwork is generated for a particular film. I think the public only sees less than 5% of all concept art generated. So, I generated dozens of pieces of artwork for the illustrated novel, and then Clover was like, \u201cWell, we can use twenty of them.\u201d I was like, \u201cOkay, I wish we could use all them, but that\u2019s how the cookie crumbles.\u201d As a concept artist, you\u2019re used to most of your ideas not being used. But then the novel did really well, and Clover came back to me and said, \u201cHey, we\u2019d like to actually put all the artwork together that wasn\u2019t used and put it out as a companion piece.\u201d I was like, \u201cCool, sounds great. Let\u2019s kind of model it after my original pitch, in a sense that I love those Art of Star Wars <\/em>books as a kid and loved the way they were annotated.\u201d So, I annotated each of the images with experiences, techniques, anecdotes, memories of what went into designing each of those images. I ended up basically making sure everyone understood where I was coming from with each of the pieces, and it\u2019s come together very nicely, I must say.<\/p>\n Where can people find your work?<\/strong><\/p>\n You can go the Kickstarter<\/a>, you can go to Clover Press<\/a>. The original illustrated novel is on Amazon<\/a>. I\u2019m supposed to do a bunch of original drawings as part of the Kickstarter. That\u2019s one of the goodies. Clover was like, \u201cCan you do twenty-five to fifty original drawings?\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cI can do about twenty to twenty-five.\u201d I start on those pretty soon. It\u2019s all been terrific. I feel like we\u2019re over delivering. We\u2019re giving the public, the readers, more than they are bargaining for. I even put a list in the back of the book of my favorite horror novels, vampire movies, and a brief bio.<\/p>\n Can you share some of your favorites with us?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes. As a little boy I loved Ray Bradbury. I was just in love with Halloween Tree<\/em>. I\u2019m a big fan of those LAIKA stop-motion films, and it would be really cool if LAIKA and Ray Bradbury\u2019s work could come together to make one of those movies one day. And then as I got older I discovered Stephen King. \u2019Salem\u2019s Lot <\/em>is still the real deal in my opinion. It\u2019s kind of interesting because the TV version of \u2019Salem\u2019s Lot<\/em>, that vampire that is based on Nosferatu is super terrifying, but the book is much more complete and interesting and thoughtful. I was really taken by Cycle of the Werewolf<\/em>. The Cycle of the Werewolf <\/em>influences Dracula of Transylvania <\/em>today. In my teenage years I started finding out about H.P. Lovecraft, and his amazing, macabre world. He was kind of like, \u201cEh, vampires, werewolves, they\u2019re cool, but let me give you this.\u201d And it is so astonishing, the breadth of his work. M.R. James, I\u2019m a big fan of his stuff. My Renfield in my Dracula <\/em>story is name Montague Rhodes Renfield, and after M.R. James. I just love his stories. They feel very scholarly, and there\u2019s a skeleton that comes running into the library that says boo and runs off, but they are very charming and I love them a lot. So, those are the big influences. Movie-wise, I\u2019m a big fan of the Frank Langella Dracula in addition to the Lugosi\/Lee films. I think that the Night Stalker <\/em>film by Dan Curtis is pretty amazing, even today. And I think the Coppola Dracula <\/em>is the moving zoetrope of fine art that tells this Dracula <\/em>story. So, there you go.<\/p>\n Is there anything else you would like to talk about?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, I just want to reinforce that there is a new avenue for publishing in the sense that you can take these two worlds of concept art and a manuscript and mash them together into something I think can be a little different. It has certainly been done before. I just brought up Cycle of the Werewolf <\/em>and James Gurney\u2019s Dinotopia <\/em>novels as well but I really am excited about the possibilities that lay ahead of us with this format. I have two or three projects that are nearing completion and I think that as proud as I am of Dracula of Transylvania<\/em>, I look forward to seeing how the public reacts to my future publishing endeavors.<\/p>\n![\"cover](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/artofdracula_cover.jpg?resize=680%2C951&ssl=1\")
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