Paulo Zilberman

Animator and illustrator
55 11 99571-2050

Illustrating life

I always liked to draw, and during childhood, I was amazed that I didn't see anyone drawing around me. All the time, I hunched over some paper with a pencil in my hand, and even today, I believe nothing beats the challenge of a blank sheet of paper. Afterward, the practice of illustration brought me other issues, other materials, and techniques, but drawing remains the basis of my work.

On paper

Before computers and graphics programs appeared, the pencil, India ink and watercolor were our work materials, always on paper. Despite all the advantages of digital media in the production of visual content, when doing more delicate work such as creating characters, pencil and paper are the way to go.

Digital drawings

Even though drawing is the basis of my work, the graphics program + pen + graphics tablet set creates the magic (or the witchcraft). The speed and precision of the digital line make the digitizing pen and tablet the ideal tool for the job. In addition, the textures applied to the drawings go far beyond what would be possible with conventional techniques. All this, added to the composition resources, distortion, and duplication of images, filters, and graphic treatments provided by the graphic applications, results in a very creative and productive work environment.

Digital painting

Illustrations can be created without lines, based on graphic elements created by vector drawing programs. They create well-defined isolated areas that can be painted over with full control. It is possible because the digital pen also works as a brush or airbrush, creating volumes and textures. This technique is described here.

Digital animation

2D animations can be either created with lines or with graphic elements. Line animations are made frame by frame, in the same way as in classic paper animations. There is almost no interpolation, and the amount of drawings is very large. Graphic elements, on the other hand, can be animated by programs that calculate the intermediate frames, reducing the work required and the completion time.