Monstruo The Art of Carlos Huante.pdf

Dedication

Table of Contents

Dedicated to two people. First in memory of my older cousin,

Johnny Vasquez, who is my earliest memory of inspiration.

Everyone has that cool older cousin or sibling that grabs their

attention just by virtue of their being, well he was that to me.

Whenever he’d visit, he’d take the time to sit and draw. He

never made me feel like it was an imposition. We were just

two guys drawing hot rods and dragsters.

Introduction by Carlos Huante

Biography

The Artwork of Carlos Huante

The second person I must dedicate this book to is Monica

Huante, my wife, my muse. Something must be said about a

spouse who allows their mate to indulge themselves in their

chosen vocation without complaint, without restraint. She is

my inspiration, without whom my life would be a dark hall-

way with no doors.

Afterword

122

Contact Info

128

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, xerography,

and videography recording without written permission from the publisher, Design Studio Press.

Printed in Hong Kong

First Edition, February 2004

Published by Design Studio Press

8577 Higuera Street

Culver City, CA 90232

http://www.designstudiopress.com

E-mail: Info@designstudiopress.com

Library of Congress Control Number:

Softcover ISBN 0-9726676-2-8

Hardcover ISBN 0-9726676-3-6

Biography

Carlos Huante was born in East L.A. in 1965 to Carlos, Sr. and

Amada Huante, the third of four children. From the very get out

of the womb, the arts were in him. Both his parents were from

creative families, one conservative and predominantly musical,

the other eccentric and intuitively creative in everything from

drawing to music to costume - making. With his father keeping

Carlos’ interests in the sciences and the real world, his mother

enjoyed the fantastic, which included monster movies.

layout. More importantly he discovered there was a department

devoted exclusively to designing characters, called the Models

department, and that every animation company has one.

Introduction

He left Filmation and started work as an assistant layout artist at

the sister company to Hanna-Barbera, Ruby and Spears. There

he worked under Cosmo Anzolotti and learned all about layout

for animation. But Carlos still hadn’t found what he was looking

for. The next season Carlos landed a job as a character designer

on the Ghostbusters animated series, a dream job. Carlos consid-

ers this the true beginning of his career.

Some of my earliest memories are of drawing. I remember my

cousin, Johnny Vasquez from Phoenix, Arizona, who would visit

us in the summer sometimes. He was at least 13 years older than

I, and I remember us sitting on the tile floor of the entryway to

my house in East Los Angeles, with red pencils in hand and a

stack of paper. We would draw hot rods, dragsters or anything

with half the engine sticking out of the hood and the exhaust

pipes peeking out in front of the back tires. Man, that was some

good fun. I thought his drawings were magic. They had strong

shadows and sharp highlights, mind-blowing to a four-year-old

kid. All I knew was that I had to draw better than him the next

time he visited. I knew it was ambitious but I was determined,

and though I never had the chance to show him what he inspired

in me, and that I actually make a living drawing, I know he’d

get a kick out of the things I’m doing now.

camera and puppetry work. Unfortunately I also heard that the

cost was not so perfect, but man did that thing look good! All

this being said, I’m no “special effects guy”. I’m just an illustra-

tor who has worked in the film industry for the last 10 years and

have seen its changes, some of which are not necessarily good.

Carlos’ first grade class was given a course in Mexican mask -

making. This first experience with clay was all it took for Carlos

to realize how much he liked it, and how much other people

enjoyed him doing it. They photographed him and his first

sculpt for the local East Los Angeles paper.

After two years in the animation industry, Carlos realized that

being an artist required more than just good drawing skills. The

politics of the job were almost more than he could handle and

after the Ghostbusters job ended he stopped pursuing art jobs

and nearly quit the industry. Carlos held odd jobs off and on,

more off than on, but never stopped drawing. Two years into

what would become a three-year hiatus, Carlos met the love of

his life, Monica Martinez. Carlos and Monica were wed a year

later on June 2, 1989 and have been happily married ever since.

Also in that time, Carlos’ faith in Christ matured and he decided

to commit his life, and has been a believer ever since. In the

month of March of 1989, Carlos, inspired by the fact that he was

about to be married, decided to give the animation industry

another try, and ended right back on the Ghostbusters animated

series. From that time forward he has worked incessantly, all

over the animation and film industry. He’s worked for Rick

Baker, Rob Bottin, Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, Guillermo

Del Torro and the very significant Chiodo Bros. who, through

his new friend at the time (in 1992) Miles Tevez, gave Carlos

his first live-action job.

All I’ve got to say is, “Where are the monster movies!?” There

are none. There are lots of action-adventure movies, some super-

hero movies, but really no monster movies. It’s a dead genre.

Unfortunately, the people with the money tell us things must be

this way. Blockbuster “B” movies are all the rage in Hollywood

these days — bad movies with big budgets. Part of the reason, I

think, is that audiences have been starved for so long for some-

thing fresh and original, that they’ll flock to see any hyped-up

big budget film...at least the first weekend.

His interest in music grew side-by-side with his interest in art.

He received awards for music and art during his grade-school

years, so his focus on a career as an artist (illustrator) did not

become completely clear till he was faced with having to decide

whether to go to a 5-year tech private high school or to a public

high school where he could study what he pleased. He decided

to attend the tech private school to study architecture, but as the

school would have the final say as to which profession would

best suit him, they decided to make Carlos a printer. After only

one year he decided that this school was not for him.

Besides chilaquiles and Yerba Buena (mint tea), I grew up on

“stop-motion” monster movies. As everything is new when

you’re a child, I don’t remember which one I saw first. I do

believe King Kong was the first, then Mighty Joe Young and all

the Sindbad movies, including Jason and the Argonaunts and

Mysterious Island . Obviously Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lon

Chaney and Lon Chaney, Jr. had a great deal to do with my

early memories of film, but Ray Harryhausen was the embodi-

ment of cool for me as a child. As an adult I can see clearly that

his work is still the mark to measure by.

What does all this have to do with monster movies? Well, it

means that Hollywood won’t be changing its tune anytime soon.

Formulaic films will rule as long as they are making money, and

innovative, inspired science-fiction stories with great monsters

will take a back seat, (actually they’re not even in the car yet).

I’m hopeful that the day will come when Hollywood stops giv-

ing into fear, and allows some talented director to make another

great monster movie like the first or second Alien , American

Werewolf in London, The Thing, Predator , or any of the classics

I mentioned earlier. Until they do I’ll just continue drawing,

painting and sculpting for myself, and sharing the art with you

in books like this.

His sophomore year Carlos enrolled at Schurr High School in

Montebello, California, where he involoved himself with music.

It wasn’t until his junior year, when he saw the school’s annual

art show and noticed how serious some of the art students were

about their art, that he decided to finally enter the school’s art

program. He received trophies and honorable mentions during his

two years in the program, and some of his drawings were pur-

chased by the school. He graduated from high school in 1983.

Carlos’ professional career in animation lasted for 8 years before

he decided to jump with both legs into the film industry. Today

Carlos works for Lucas Digital and is part of the creature

development team.

A lot of people get caught up in celebrating the technical

achievements in special effects, and forget about personality,

life. I don’t know if the hyper-realism being achieved in CG for

spaceships and matte paintings is the solution for characters.

There are few who have given personality and life to fully CG

characters. I thought Go-Motion, which was used in Dragon

Slayer for the dragon, was a perfect combination of computer,

Carlos attended East Los Angeles College for a year. While taking

night classes in life drawing at Art Center College of Design in

Pasadena, he met Mike Spooner, a successful illustrator and great

draftsman, who worked at Filmation, an animation company. It

was there, thanks to Mike Spooner, that Carlos started his career.

Like most young artists, he started off as a runner...running lots of

errands. A year later he was working as an artist in the Layout

department, where he learned a lot about politics and a little about

Carlos Huante

Autumn 2003

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