Marko Djurdjevic finally visited the esteemed SiDEBAR mics and it was all that with leftovers. Of course, like anything else worth having, it was not without a cost. Let us back up...
When we started this show over a year ago, the very first podcast we made, praised and extolled the virtues of The Dreaded Marko (mispronouncing his last name, of course). We also used one of his X-Men First Class covers for the blog entry featuring his daring re-designs. I've (Swain) been enamored with the guy's style since he started doing covers exclusively for Marvel. Dwight's been a fan since he met him at the Concept Art Workshop in San Francisco back in 2005—wearing a beautiful hand-painted Elektra jacket, no less.
The super abbreviated version of Marko's path is this: he was born in Germany, started drawing, got work at 17, posted on Concept Art.Org in his early twenties, and took the world by storm minutes later. With a few...umm, embellishments on our part, that pretty much sums it up.
Check out the guy's handiwork and you'll be convinced like we were. Blade, Daredevil, Super Villain Team-Up, Marvel Illustrated, Wolverine Origins, Thunderbolts, Mystic Arcana, What If—the list literally goes on and on. Plus, tons of design stuff on Concept Art and they're all badass and all immaculately rendered by Mr. Djurdjevic. This man is the truth and YOU know it.
He recently made the excursion into doing interior pencils for the new Thor series written by J. Michael Straczynski and the book is a solid hit. He was filling in for the talented Olivier Coipel and just knocked it out.
OK, back to the cost. We tried several times in the past to reach the man, but to no avail. And all jokes aside, it wasn't him, it was us, going through the wrong channels (duuhh). Finally, after getting the accurate contact info straight from the source at the NY Comic Con (all thanks to the FANTASTICALLY TALENTED AND GRACIOUS, PAOLO RIVERA—PAINTER EXTRAORDINAIRE HIMSELF), we made it happen.
Throw in three calling cards, six redials and bad sound coming out of Dwight's microphone, and you've got yourself one nice little Marko Djurdjevic interview. And we loved every minute of it!
**For this episode with Marko, we played a small portion of Depeche Mode's I Feel You, because we do!
Click here to download the show.
Wow! 10 days to do an issue. Wow. Just Wow.
Inspiring interview. I completely get his comment on fear of the outcome and making it harder for yourself. I remember when those X-men designs hit, and I loved them at the time. After that, reading a long post he wrote about how he creates art and paying attention to things. Very cool guy, and a very cool interview.
Peace,
3!LL
Posted by: William Blankenship | May 18, 2008 at 05:37 AM
Makes perfect sense. I can look back and recall the best drawings i ever did, and they were all when i wasnt thinking about what i was doing...i let myself go and thought nothing of fear or anything. Zen, as he say's, is the way to go.
Posted by: mike christopher | May 18, 2008 at 11:33 AM
Damn... one of your most depressing interviews yet. I was listening to Marko expound on the reasons for doing covers in one sitting while I painted the same square inch of paper for an hour.
Great interview... glad I could help. Thanks for giving me an excuse for introducing myself to him.
Posted by: Paolo Rivera | May 18, 2008 at 12:19 PM
There is no way that MotherF@&k$! started painting 18 months ago, lol ( I only kid). What else can i say fellas top notch interview.
Posted by: Chris Hatfield | June 04, 2008 at 01:37 PM