Jalen Vasquez Illustration/Design Portfolio

CV

OBJECTIVE
My ultimate goal would be to illustrate comic books for a major company. I want to extend my talents by
exploring concept design work and I also want to expand my skills in photoshop since there is always more to
learn.

EDUCATION
University of Edinburgh 2010-2013
BA Architecture - 2:2
American International School in Cyprus (AISC) 2006-2010
Graduated Valedictorian - G.P.A. 3.93
International Baccalaureate Diploma – May 2010-Total score- 33; 7 in HL Art
High School Art Award 2009
Amelia Earhart Award (Willingness to Learn and Assume Responsibility) 2010

PROJECTS/EXHIBITIONS
Microcosm- IB Art Exhibition, April 2010
Student Art Director- Beauty and the Beast- 2010
Graduation Programe Cover, May 2010
Designed Senior Hoodies, 2010
Student Newspaper Football Club Emblem, 2013

WORK EXPERIENCE
Andreas Constantinou Architects & Associates, Cyprus Summer 2012
Assisted architects in CAD drawings, creating computer models for residential development and problem solv-
ing with regards to building design.
The Student Newspaper (University of Edinburgh)
Head of Illustration- 2012-2013
Awarded Best Illustration first semester of 2012-2013 academic year

SKILLS PASSIONS
Adobe Creative Suite Fine Art
Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign Cartoons
Autodesk Comics
Autocad Cinema
Google SketchUp
IB Art Higher Level/ High School

Over the two-year course of IB art, I have created a series that revolves around
my theme “Elements of the Nerd”. My series uses many aspects that relate to
a nerd, which include many of my own interests such as comic books, science,
math, technology and much more. Some of these pieces can convey different
messages that nerds embrace such as social issues, nerd culture, or even just
making art “smart”. These social aspects can be about the dangers or desires
of a nerd, how technology can affect the future or even just creating art that is
humorous.

I have used a wide range of media from drawings to paintings, both acrylic
and oil, to plaster and clay sculptures. As an artist I have grown through my
use of colors and trying new things that give my pieces a different perspective.
Through the process of creating different pieces, I have applied different scienc-
es and other research to create my pieces. Some artists that I consider to be
nerds like Leonardo DaVinci, Nam June Pike or Paul Granjon, use their talents
and their intellect to create art, as I do myself.

The pieces that define what my series is about are “Root of Pi”, and the Nerdy
Pin Ups. These pieces incorporate different nerd aspects fusing them togeth-
er with art to create pieces that can make the viewer think in depth. What is
different about my art is that everyone can enjoy it, especially other nerds or
pop-culture junkies. For some of my pieces, only other nerds can understand
the true meaning behind them or see any hidden ‘easter eggs’.
The Root of Pi (√π)

Jalen Vasquez IB Art PDF Illustration Portfolio

 The Vision

This piece was a reflection on how it’s

not the winner’s who change the world,
it’s the intelligent. It does not signify if
it is a beneficial or malicious result.

Jalen Vasquez IB Art PDF Illustration Portfolio

 The Ferox Wolf

With my passion for comic books, I took the task to try and create one myself, with a whole
backstory and list of powers and weaknesses. The process of creating a new superhero is a
difficult one especially, creating something that has not been done before.

The Ferox Wolf was created by using an animal totem, that is traditional in comics (Spider-man,
Batman, Hawkman, Cheetah, the list goes on). I always loved wolves as animals and wanted to
create something around this. In the case of Ferox, he has two spirit wolves where he draws
his strength and wisdom from.

The tite/name was created by searching for adjectives to describe wolves. The word “Ferox” is
Latin for fierce, strong, ferotious and strongwilled.

The cover I designed (left) was intentional for an origins issue, if I ever ironed out the story. I
have made a rough outline for the story but still need to create supporting characters.

Jalen Vasquez IB Art PDF Illustration Portfolio

 Imperial Invasion Series

The Imperial Invasion Series started with

the piece “The New Age” (top right).
The piece is meant to depict the impact
pop culture has on society in association
with technology. In the world we live in
today, with social media, pop culture is
all around us and is almost impossible to
escape.

The piece expanded into a series by hav-

ing the Storm Trooper in different loca-
tions of the globe to satirize to a greater
extent that pop culture exists in unpopu-
lated areas.

Jalen Vasquez IB Art PDF Illustration Portfolio

 Nerdy Pin Up Series

Pin ups have always been one of my favorite styles of art. One of the
most famous, of course is Gil Elvgren. His work greatly influenced the pin
up style and extended it to the tattoo world and to even themed pin ups.
Pin ups can depict sexual fantasies in a tasteful, less provocative way.

I wanted to have a series of nerdy pin ups to encompass the different

areas of nerdom. The first one made was a recreation of the poster for
the movie Jennifer’s Body (Top left) starring Megan Fox. At the time Me-
gan Fox was the actress with sex appeal for nerds from the Transformers
movie.

The second pin up created in relation to science. (Top Right) It focused

on a very exposed chemist, but still tasteful and it’s not too revealing.

The third in the series is for superheroines. (Bottom left) The most recog-
nizable super heroine is of course, Wonder Woman. Fans have always had
the fantasy since the television show starring Lynda Carter.

The final one created in the series is the gamer. (Bottom Right) This de-
picts a woman in a Kiss shirt and denim skirt rocking out to guitar hero on
a Playstation 3.

Jalen Vasquez IB Art PDF Illustration Portfolio

 Graduation Program

For our graduation ceremony programes, my graduating class asked me to create a form
of characatures or cartoonize them. The image on the left is the final graduation pro-
gramme and the right is the graduating class.

Jalen Vasquez High School PDF Illustration Portfolio

My third year of university, I worked at The Student, Edinburgh
University’s oldest newspaper as Head of Illustration.

My job would entail being given all the illustrations by the oth-
er editors on a weekly basis. I have a team of illustrators who
I would give some of these tasks to but if none of the tasks are
picked up by the other illustrators, I would have to pick up the
rest myself and finish within only around a 3 day span.

Working with a team, we would always help each other if there

was something we did not know how to draw or if we simply
just needed an idea to do the illustration. When I recieve work
from other illustrators, I will sometimes have to edit the con-
trast and colors so it comes out better in newsprint.

The first semester of the 2012-2013 academic year, I was

awarded the Best Illustration Award, chosen by the other edi-
tors and writers. The piece that won was the Star Wars/Disney
take over.
 Inked Cartoons

These illustrations done for the paper to reflect on

various subjects in a humorous way.

“Ed Milibama” (Top left)- This piece was for the Ctom-
ment section on how Ed Miliband was adapting cam-
paigning tactics in the of style of Barack Obama.

“Playtime” (Far Right)- This illustration depicts the

Belarussian President, Alexander Lukashenko, having
a fun time playing chess with his members of parlia-
ment.

“Scotish Tears” (Bottom Left)- Sports section asked to

draw a depiction of head Scotish Rugby coach, Andy
Robinson. Due to Scotland’s inability to win, he’s
drowning his sorrows in whiskey.

Jalen Vasquez The Student PDF Illustration Portfolio

 The Battle of senkaku

This illustration was for the conflict between China and Japan over the
ownership of the Senkaku islands. I imagined this illustration to be of
an epic battle. When I asked the editor for his opinion, he liked the idea
if I made it to the style of a fighting game. China is represented as a
dragon, while Japan is represented by Godzilla.

Jalen Vasquez The Student t PDF Illustration Portfolio

 Edinburgh Apocalypse

Jalen Vasquez The Student PDF Illustration Portfolio

 Electric Cigarette

Jalen Vasquez The Student PDF Illustration Portfolio

 Gun Control

Jalen Vasquez The Student PDF Illustration Portfolio

 Star Wars/Disney Merger

Jalen Vasquez The Student PDF Illustration Portfolio

Personal Projects
 The Ballerina

For one of my close friends, I painted a picture of her for her eigh-
teenth birthday. Since she has been doing dance since an early age, I
figured painting her as a ballerina would be ideal.

The challenge was getting her likeness in such a small area. The pho-
to above was taken as a reference to get the right 3/4 view.

Jalen Vasquez Personal Projects PDF Illustration Portfolio

 Comic Pin Ups

These are just a select few of my pin ups I continued on colored

paper. I was influenced by the work of comic book artist, J. Scott
Campbell.

His work is just on another level and I wanted to try to keep color to
a minimum and just focus on accentuated highlights.

Some projects were more difficult than others like Catwoman (bot-
tom, center) since it was coloring the highlights instead of coloring
the shadows.

I still continue to make these during my spare time and hope to

bind them all in a book.

Jalen Vasquez Personal Projects PDF Illustration Portfolio

 Personal Paintings

Jalen Vasquez Personal Projects PDF Illustration Portfolio

 About

Jalen Vasquez studied architecture at the University of Edinburgh,

but has a greater passion for illustration and graphic design. He
creates illustrations for articles, poster paintings and occassional-
ly logos. His style consists of using pop culture icons with a comic
book/cartoon style. Jalen takes pride in all his work and loves what
he does.

CONTACT
Home Address Term Address

6A Agiou Andronikou Street 5 Teviot Place 2F1
2405 Archangelos EH1 2QZ
Nicosia, Cyprus
+ 357 97664008 + 44 (0)7736945789
jalenv515@yahoo.com

Jalen Vasquez PDF Illustration Portfolio