Greetings NERDs of all ages. I promised big things for the year 2013 and I am positive that I will not disappoint. I figured what better way to start the new year than with an interview with a very talented comic artist who has also done concept art for video games as well. DC Universe Online and Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters are some of the games he has worked on. His work in comics range from DC/Wildstorm with Jim Lee to currently being one of the full time artists for the Transformers titles over at IDW Publishing. I have been a fan of his for awhile and to be able to interview him was a dream come true. So enough of my rambling; here is my interview with Livio Ramondelli.
1. Who are you and where are you from?
Hello! I’m Livio Ramondelli, and I’m one of the full time Transformers artists currently working for IDW Publishing. I previously worked for artist Jim Lee doing design work on the DC Universe Online game. I also do a ton of other art for fun, including lots of Star Wars and comic book pieces.
2. I just love your style! When did you discover your art style?
Thankyou! I’m very influenced by a lot of movie directors..Ridley Scott and David Fincher in particular. I’m always trying to learn from them and study the way they use lighting and atmospherics.
3. I am a huge Transformers fan. One of my favorite comic covers is the cover for Autocracy 3. How did that idea develop?
Thanks! Soundwave is a huge favorite of mine, and I wanted to do a cover that showcased some of his coldness, in terms of having his chest reflect who he was facing with his unsympathetic face watching. Also, the idea of the Decepticon logo falling squarely over a young Optimus Prime here fit perfectly with our themes of having him faced with a lot of self doubt early on.
4. Do you have a favorite Transformers piece?
I’ve got a few favorites. I was pretty happy with how the Soundwave cover you mentioned came out, as well as the Optimus Prime cover I did for issue 30 of the previous TF ongoing series.
5. Where can my readers see your art?
I’ve drawn quite a few Transformers issues for IDW, as well as a lot of covers. Most notably Transformers: Autocracy, which is a series that focuses on the origins of Optimus Prime and Megatron.
Also, people can see a lot more of my work at www.livioramondelli.com/and my Deviant Art Page at
Also follow me on twitter at twitter.com/LivioRamondellias . I try to post art as often as I can!
6. Do you have anything you would like to promote right now?
The next major project I’m working on is called Transformers: Monstrosity, which is the sequel to Autocracy. It’s written by Blizzard creative director Chris Metzen and legendary TF writer Flint Dille, and will again focus on the beginnings of the war between the Autobots and Decepticons.
7. I also love the Star Wars piece you did titled, Clone War? How did that idea come about?
I really like gritty sci-fi art, and the Clone Wars fit that perfectly. For this piece, I wanted to show a sort of dirty and visceral war scene, hence the rain and mud. I’ve done a few CloneWar pieces, and I’m always trying to put these Troopers into suitably hellish war environments.
8. Out of all your paintings, do you have a favorite?
Possibly my “Vader on Hoth” painting. I was pretty happy with the way it came out.
9. What are your plans for the future?
Transformers: Monstrosity will be my next big project for the coming year, but there’s also some cool stuff on the horizon that I can’t quite talk about yet. But by all means, I encourage everyone to check out my work online and drop me a line what they think! I love hearing feedback from people.
I want to thank Livio Ramondelli for taking the time for the interview as well as being such a wonderful artist and person. Please go to his pages that he has mentioned in the interview to see all the wonderful art that he has done in his career. I will aslo post some samples of his work on my Derf’s Domain FB page.
