Hola y bienvenido. Our dark art theme continues to grow. Following M Wayne Miller‘s great contribution, another first for greydogtales – an exclusive, fully-illustrated interview with the talented Sebastian Cabrol. Sí, es nuestro primer artículo de terror Sudamericana.

If you didn’t already know, there’s a whole South American scene for fantastic dark art and literature, with linguistic links to horror in Spain and Portugal as well. We’re quite excited about these new connections of ours, because we love to poke around in other people’s weird backyards.

Sebastian Cabrol is an Argentinian artist who has produced many fine, moody pieces of weird art and who deserves wider recognition, especially outside the Spanish-speaking world. Not only that, but Diego Arandojo, another gifted Argentinian creative, has written a short article for us on working with Sebastian, which provides further insights.

Aquí es Sebastian…

greydog: You’re not totally new to greydogtales, Sebastian – we featured some of your work during our William Hope Hodgson festival in October, particularly your striking illustrations for The Night Land and The House on the Borderland. So we want to start by asking you about your other work in the past. Can you give us an example of an earlier project which you enjoyed, something which we might not know over here?

sebastian: Although I’m not new in the artistic field either, somehow I haven’t published a lot of things, in fact my favourite project is still unedited. It’s an illustrated version of William Hope Hodgson’s “Demons of the Sea”. I think it will be released in 2016. Of course I strongly recommend the illustrated Spanish version of “The House on the Borderland” which was released just a month ago!

greydog: And we’ve seen inside it, great examples of your style. Is there any one illustrator or painter who inspired you at the start?

sebastian: A lot of people inspired me as a kid, from Argentinian artists such as Lucho Olivera, or Alberto Breccia, to foreign ones as Moebius, Enki Bilal, Berni Wrightson and Brian Bolland. Movies like David Lynch´s Dune and Alien were a great source of influence too.

greydog:  We’re reading Breccia comic strips at the moment, and we were mad for Bilal when we were younger. Looking at your own portfolio, many of your pictures have muted, sometimes monochrome, tones. Is this done for the disturbing effect, or do you prefer to work in these tones rather than full colour?

sebastian: I enjoy full coloured illustrations, I really do, but I don’t feel confident enough to use a great variety of tones as I colour my work. One part of me thinks that a limited palette adds more atmosphere and mood, and another part just give this advice: you’re not an expert on handling colours, so have some restraint! In my defence I must say that I’ve always focused more on lighting and composition rather than colour.

greydog: As mentioned, we first came across your work when we were looking at horror books around the world, through your work for Hermida Editores. Do you work with other publishers in Spain and elsewhere, or is most of your art for Argentinian markets?

sebastian: I’ve worked mainly for Argentina and Spain for now, but I hope that will change in the near future.

greydog: It should do – publishers take note!  So, we’re asking two or three other book illustrators about creative freedom. Do you find that you get strict instructions from the publishers, or do they allow you the freedom to select images and interpretations?

sebastian: I guess I’ve been very lucky since in every project done as an illustrator I’ve enjoyed true freedom to do the things that please me (in the comic field usually there’s more control from the writer or the editor) I really can’t complain at all.

greydog: We admit we don’t know much about the Argentinian weird and horror scene. On the horror film side we hear interesting things about film writer/director Adrián García Bogliano and his brother Ramirez. Many people will have read a lot of Jorge Luis Borges‘ magical-realism, which includes some weird twists. And there’s you and Diego, of course. Is there anyone we should all be reading/watching?

sebastian: Oh, I’m not an expert nor have I read everything produced in South America to be honest, but you definitely should check the work of Alberto Breccia (Uruguayan master of horror and chiaroscuro, often imitated, but never matched), as we said above, plus Horacio Lalia, Oscar Chichoni and the exquisite work of Quique Alcatena, perhaps the best living illustrator from Argentina. Perhaps they sound familiar, since all of them worked for UK publishers Thompson on 2000AD.

Talking about literature, you already mentioned Borges, and I would like to add Julio Cortázar, Leopoldo Lugones, Adolfo Bioy Casares, Horacio Quiroga, Jacobo Bajarlía, Mario Levrero and Antonio Di Benedetto. Sadly I don´t know a lot of modern writers (with the exception of Diego Arandojo) but they surely continue the path of those Latin American masters.

greydog: There are some fantastic names there, which we’d like to follow up in a later article. But back to you – you’ve also been an inker, for example your work for Caliban by Garth Ennis and Facundo Percio. Is it easier, or more frustrating, to ink someone else’s work?

sebastian: I find it easier to ink over someone else’s pencils, I don´t struggle at all. I know that in the beginning it can be hard to face that responsibility of finishing the pages, and it’s a bit stressful, but as the pages flow you become more sure. I enjoy it, actually.

greydog: Which writer(s) would you most like to illustrate if you had the chance?

sebastian: I would like to work with the authors I love, the previous mentioned and I would add one of my favourites: Arthur Machen. Of course I would be happy to do something based on the work of RL Stevenson, A Blackwood, Sheridan Le Fanu, M R James, Clark Ashton Smith, Ambrose Bierce, Clive Barker, etc. Basically my main group of favourite authors since my teenage years.

greydog: And finally, greydogtales would love to see more of your work. Do you have any other new projects that you can share with us?

sebastian: Right now I’ve just finished my part in a comic anthology called “H.O.U.N.D.S” based on supernatural detectives such as Jules de Grandin, Carnacki or John Silence. Writer Rodolfo Santullo and I adapted “Secret Worship” and I think it´s one of the best work I’ve done so far. I’m very proud of it.

greydog: And as a bonus, readers can see some of the “Secret Worship” panels throughout this article. Gracias, Sebastian Cabrol.

sebastian: Thanks very much to you, John.

Sebastian’s own website, with many other illos, is here:

cabrol art

If you read Spanish, below is the link to the William Hope Hodgson works which Sebastian has illustrated for Hermida Editores.

hermida editores – william hope hodgson

####

Our second guest, Diego Arandojo, has published stories and plays, is a film director, a comic writer and is trained in graphic design and illustration. He has recently edited Lovecraft en Argentina by Carlos Abraham, containing essays on H P Lovecraft‘s status and influence in Argentinian writing. While we were chatting to him about the Abraham book, he offered this reflection on Sebastian, which was perfect for today. For the original Spanish text, click the next link:

memorias de la oscuridad espanol

Y aquí es Diego…

MEMORIES OF THE DARKNESS – My journey with Sebastian Cabrol

Throughout my years as a writer and screenwriter, few times have I felt so impressed by the work of a cartoonist. One of these artists, possessed of a deep and very personal way of working, was Sebastián Cabrol.

We started working together in 2007. I did a free adaptation to comic of the story by Robert Bloch “The Feast in the Abbey”. Editor Matías Timarchi (who currently runs the Argentinian publishers OVNI Press) appointed Cabrol to draw my script. The result was stunning. The pages were full of darkness, of coldness; Cabrol’s style works in a mystic way with an incredible density.

Three years later, in 2010, our adaptation “The Feast in the Abbey” was published in the book “Relatos de No Muertos” (Tales of the Undead) (OVNI Press).

From this first collaboration onwards I was interested in continuing to work with Sebastian. In 2009 (before the publication of Bloch’s story) we did the comic “Trapped in Sleiggh”, much in the style of the BBC’s horror series. This comic was published in 2015 in the digital magazine “Lafarium”, in a special edition of horror stories in English.

Returning to the year 2010, I asked Sebastian permission to include his illustration of the Blason de Cthulhu in the CD tribute to H. P. Lovecraft issued by the Spanish label, GH RECORDS.

At the same time, Cabrol did illustrations for a book of mine (as yet unpublished) called “Disposable Kids”, and illustrated the cover of a play (also unpublished) called “The Four Messengers”, based on the film “Las 77 Páginas” (The 77 Pages), which I did together with Mauro Savarino, produced on DVD, also by GH RECORDS of Spain.

With the release of the DVD of “The 77 Pages”, Cabrol drew a comic based on this film (not yet unpublished).

In 2014 Cabrol drew the cover of my book “Lafarium”, a collection of esoteric essays and short stories from my magazine of the same name. In this book, there is also an illustration of Sebastian based on my short story “Knonix”.

In 2015 I published in the online edition of “Lafarium” an eBook entitled “Suspira de Lobos” (Sigh of Wolves), with art by Cabrol, that tells a story about the Genesis of the Bible, and the birth of the fight against the werewolves and vampires. There were originally two chapter titles drawn by him, which formed part of an unfinished project that I undertook together Matías Timarchi many years ago, called “Wolfmaiden”. Cabrol drew the opening titles of each chapter and Facundo Percio did the rest of the work. “Wolfmaiden” was never published.

We currently have many ideas for working on various comic strips. For me it is an honour to work with an artist like Sebastián Cabrol, who, in addition to his talent is an excellent human being. In 2014, I was able travel to meet him in person, after so many years of working at long distance. On that occasion I took the opportunity to make a short film about him.

I admire and respect him.

Have a look at Diego’s Lafarium site, which has the special September 2015 Horror edition on it. Check the link below the image.

lafarium

We should add that vital translational expertise was provided by our good friend Sarah Mooring from Alicante, who deserves praise for the bits we got right. Any mistakes are ours. As usual.

####

We hope to have Diego and Sebastian back again in the New Year to tell us more about what they’ve been up to, and it would be foolish of us not to pursue more of the writers, artists and projects raised in the above pieces, so Argentina will return to greydogtales. Or the other way round. Much reading and research is called for. Más de terror Sudamericana y Española en el futuro.

We wanted something audiovisual to end with, so we picked a short Argentinian horror film by Andres Borghi, with English sub-titles. Be warned, it’s a little unsettling.

Now go walk the dog, and stay off the computer for a while. You’ll feel better soon…

Coming next week: classic supernatural fiction, an interview with artist Raphael Ordonez, and some lurchers in there somewhere…