538 - The Collection with Huck Gee - Part 15: Jesse Hernandez

Jesse Hernandez brings his urban aztec style to The Collection with Huck Gee and Mark Brickey. Jesse lets us inside his multi-faceted history touching on his involvement on everything from Run The Jewels, his own TV show called Vinyl Addiction, and the fingerprint he left on Farmville. With a career that varied Jesse has still managed to carve out a signature style that brings him clients like Rockstar and Gears Of War. Creativity is limitless with a couple late nights and a work ethic thats hard to match from a talented artists and father of four. Huck Gee unveils his process in developing the world his Dapper Little Scoundrels race through and pulls back the curtain on his work at the fun factory he has pieced together. Two masters at their craft open up and remind us all that their raw abilities are just the start of a long journey to produce truly memorable work.

Talking Points

A Robotech kick off with overdubbed storylines and the return of Voltron.
Rolling the dice with the Re:Blank and some variations to follow.
Birthdays, 5 Points Festivals, and Designer Toy Awards.
Fine tuning the roduction process and using Legos as a quick fix.
Parking your car in the urban Aztec space.
The feathered serpent that led Jesse to his signature space.
Making the artwork inside the artwork to keep it interesting from every angle.
Complexity balanced with contrast.
Drawing inspiration from pinstriping.
Fills with no lines to be your own Dunny.
Scale and process in Jesse's work and a mural tip from Tristan Eaton.
Using the form as a jumping off point for your art in environmental design.
Outworking the knock offs and doing it the hard way.
Putting in the work, discovering your style, and some real talk.
The Real Immigrants hiding behind Alt Right terminology.
Americas number one export and keeping things mixed up.
Jesse's three tones and discovering his color theory.
Client work you can't put your fingerprint on and landing Run The Jewels.
Jaguar Skulls, Ozomatli, and Jesse's future in toy design.
Why do so many deals fall apart in the toy industry?
Keeping it authentic when making culturally sensitive artwork.
Family life and balancing a career around it.
Hosting Vinyl Addiction, interviewing big names in the game, and making the most of an opportunity while it lasts.
Making time for your own stuff amidst client work.
Farmville, Blindspot, and flexing outside of your style.
Coping with the entertainment bug and putting the cart in front of the horse.
Perfectionism and an outsiders perspective of a project.
From a draftsman to an illustrator and learning through the process.
Going beyond the first step to make a booth you don't take home.
Waiting two years to develop the capabilities to make something intricate.
Streamlining your dream to make it affordable.
Research, variations, and the execution.
The schematics of producing dapper little scoundrels.
Balancing imagination and practicality.
Dreaming in pencil and blueprints in Illustrator.
Individualizing a series while staying smart about the form factor.
Picking Flynn and the level of anthropomorphic characteristics Huck incorporates.
Google image search and collecting inspiration in a folder.
Character proportions, 1:1 scale, and Outside The Artboards.
Flat paper dolls 3D modeling to resin sculpts.
Chassis, engine blocks, and giant wheels that all have to work.
Hidden surprises and happy accidents.
The strategy behind intricacy at home and mass production elsewhere.
Grounding your characters in reality form the beginning.
The cautionary tale of Superman and siding with suits or stoners.