Hello friend!

My name is Jerry Hernandez, and I currently live in Los Angeles, California. "Jedzelex" is the surname that I use to sign my fanart. This surname is based on a cryptic word that I read on a book about the Maya.

I'm amazed that despite the lack of updates, this darn webpage still manages to register some sort of traffic. Honestly, thank you for spending some of your valuable time here. I mean, you could be looking up something a lot more interesting on the web at this very moment. And yet, you're here. Thanks again.

You must know that I made this webpage mainly as an excuse to develop and enhance my limited talent. What talent is that you ask? *COUGH!* drawing *COUGH!*... a modest talent discovered while sketching on some notepads in the classroom several years ago. While others took notes, I made the pen dance on paper. I have to admit that it was mostly dirty dancing. Woo-hooo!

My friends eventually noticed those sketches and they seemed very interested in them. Now THAT amazed me. That experience gave me the idea that perhaps I could draw.

I was told that this talent as limited as it is, needs to be constantly exercised in order to remain alive within me. But the truth is that I seldom use it. I just forget about it.

The weird thing is, if it wasn't for this very talent, I wouldn't exist in the minds of many people who ONLY know about me because of it.

Most of the people who know me on a superficial level, say to me: "You're the guy that draws, huh?". I get that all the time.

It appears that my talent is capable of placing me higher in the food chain. In the eyes of certain people, that is. So, If this talent can rank me among humans, then it must be worth keeping.

Thus I return to this site, to post a drawing whenever possible. To prevent that precious talent from giving up on me for good. Good thing that I still like drawing.

Hmmm... I've noticed that I experience a feeling of true happiness during and after the process of creating a drawing.

Think about it. If we humans are only happy when were creative and not when were destructive, then what the fudge! we have the answer to gaining world peace! Let's all start doing something creative. Write a book. Compose a song or poem. Draw or paint. Build a castle in the sand!

Ok, I'm getting a bit silly here. Enjoy your stay and thanks for visiting!

How do you draw?

I use a regular #2 pencil to draw on white bond 8.5" X 11" paper. Yep, the same kind of paper you can use on a printer. Once the drawing is tighten up, the inking process follows.

To ink I use a fine ball point pen. The same type you use at school or at work. After I apply the ink, I clean the drawing up using a white eraser. Finito.

As you can see, it's a cheap process that doesn't involve using fancy equipment. Anybody can do it.



Why don't you color your art? Your drawings would look a lot better.

My only prerogative at present, is learning how to draw. That's the talent I want to develop. This might sound incredible to you, but it takes a different type of talent to use colors efficiently. I'll try learning to color my drawings at a later time. But not now, sorry.


How long does it take you to finish a drawing?

Since drawing is more like a hobbie and not somethin' that I do for a living, most drawings can take quite some time to get finished. Because it all depends on how much "quality" time I have to spend on any drawing. I cannot draw anything if I'm being distracted. So I need peace and quiet to work on a drawing. And presently those ideal conditions (for me to sit down and draw) are VERY rare.

If need be, I can produce drawings in any conditions (with lots of noise, distractions, etc.). But to do that I have to be really motivated.

Presently, LIFE demands most of my attention...and I wouldn't have it any other way. I gots to have my priorities. And the sad truth is that my art is dead last in my things to do list.

In a perfect world, I would draw whenever I wanted. Not having to worry about earning a living and taking up responsabilities. But like I said before, I wouldn't have it any other way.



Did you learned how to draw in an art school?

Are you kiddin? No. I learned how to draw in a regular school. Instead of paying atention in class I would draw on a notebook. BTW, I don't recommend you doing the same. I'm paying the price today for doing that. Believe you me!

I did go to an art class for a while, but I got bored. I just didn't find it very estimulating to draw pottery and hampers made out of veggie rappers.

Well ok, it was very useful to learn about proportions and shading and overlapping. But learning to do "art" as in the classical sense of the word, didn't do it for me. At that time I was more into the comics/manga/animation type of art. But presently, I do love all types of art. I've become more open minded.

And here's a sample of my work from those classes.

:: Click to Enlarge ::

It's the only art piece that I actually kept since I would mostly give them away to my classmates. They were such an awesome bunch (my classmates, not my art!). And they were also the only reason I would go to art class. But I felt like I was holding them back, so I stopped going.



Do you draw original stuff, or do you just draw material that other people own (like Nintendo stuff)?

I do make drawings based on concepts that I've created. In fact, about 55% of the total drawings that I've made are "original" and came from my own imagination. But I won't ever make them public because those concepts are still in constant development inside of my head. And also because those concepts could mature into something that could make me go to a bank incredibly happy instead of sad and in tears. You never know.

I have also made some drawings as favours to close friends and relatives. They know I can draw so they often try to exploit my talent... which only makes me wish an anvil would fall on their fat heads. And they're not shy at all of spreading the word around that I can draw. So sometimes people I don't even know ask me to produce a doodle or two.

Like here's something a girl asked me do to for a school assigment she had. She asked me to do several drawings based on games that children like to play (like I would know!....I used to play Pinochle as a 'lil kid!)

:: Click to Enlarge ::

I barely invested any time on them since she needed them finished for the next morning. Don't you just love people askin' for favours and placing some killer deadline on top of it? Sheesh! Oh well, At least I got to practice.



What's your favorite Nintendo character to draw?

I don't have a favorite. I like 'em all! That's the beauty about Nintendo characters. They're so well designed that it's a real pleasure to draw them.

If Nintendo didn't exist, maybe I would draw Disney characters.



Did you made drawings using Mario Paint on the SNES?

Oh Joy! I spent many hours with that friggin cart. Making stamps for imaginary uses and animating a dead-eye Yoshi to perform wild stunts on t.v.

There was a tune in the game that made me as high as a hippie. It was a mystical tune that was used to enhance your precious work of "art". Man, that tune was awesome! It just made me sit back on my couch and make tiny bubbles with my mouth all day.

Lookie here! I actually have an image that depicts a drawing I made back in the days on Mario paint! It's based on the very first episode where Son Goku from Dragon Ball is seen fully grown!

:: Kame-Hame-Ha! ::

I even went to the trouble of animating it! And that was all possible 'cos I had the whole darn thing saved on a VHS tape (the only way you could truly save your Mario Paint manure for posterity). Hope you enjoyed this because I taped an episode of Futurama over it. Bye bye, Goku! Helloooo Bender!



Have you tried to make a comic book, just for kicks?

As a very young kid, I made a comic book based on the exciting "adventures" of my dad coming home from work. He would drive his old clunker into the sea and run over sharks and stuff. He would be attacked by soviet submarines (the cold war was in full effect back then). But the reds, they would back off once they noticed that my dad was driving a Ford Pinto. Remember those cars? the type that would blow up if you hit them just right on the back bumper? It was a yellow Pinto, so even more reason to be afraid of it.

The other comic book idea I've considered doing is the one based on the last movie of the old Star Wars trilogy: Return of the Jedi. The plot of my story is set immediatly after that movie ends. And I wrote it in 1997. When it was just anounced that George Lucas was working on a new trilogy. I had abandoned the idea but lately I've thought of using elements from the new trilogy to spice it up. And yet this little project is still mostly in the back of my mind. So who knows if it will go anywhere...

Anywhoo, here's a sample of a couple of pages. Take in mind that these drawings are entirely from 1997 and the pencil work was just meant to be a guide for the "ink treatment" that would come later on. So take it easy on me.

:: Star Wars VII Page 1 ::

:: Star Wars VII Page 4 ::

Who or what inspired the style you employ in your drawings?

Everybody who draws often, can develop over time a very unique style for their drawings. Mine is still in development since I don't really draw THAT often. But I've been told that I do have a style.

They are a few who say that my style is too manga-like but not quite. Like an artist from Spain who described my style as "a little bit japanese mixed with yankee comics" (in some parts of the world they will call "yankee" anything that comes from the USA, go figure).

Also, the way my art style looks to you, depends heavily on what genre you're most familiar with. If everything you know and like are comics, then my art style will look like it was influenced by comic books. The same thing happens if you grew up just on anime or manga. In that case, you will say my art is trying to be anime-ish or manga-ish but failing miserably at it.

But if you grew up on both of those genres, then you will be able to tell that my art style was actually influenced by both the comic and anime world. And perhaps, if you're really into art styles, you'll notice some influences that even I'm not conciously aware of.

But it's an ongoing thing. My style is still in development and who knows where it will take me next. For I'm still very open to any influence on my art. Because I'm still learning to draw, obviously. So I'm trying to read new comic books, watch more animation and even look at ancient art. Like the art relics that come from the old Minoan culture are absolutly amazing...I bet I lost you with that last comment, didn't I? No? Oh then, my mistake.

From the Comic Book world, my biggest influence ever was and is John Romita Sr. I love the way this guy draws, period. My father collected old Spider Man comic books. Most of them were from the late 60's and mid 70's. So that's how I was able to discover the work of Romita. I was extremely lucky to know his art at all.

Disney animation was a huge influence as well. With cartoons you usually see the characters doing crazy and wacky stuff. But I found it incredible that Disney was able to portray cartooney characters and tell dramatic stories with them. Like some of the earlier animations (Bambi and Snow White) were pretty melodramatic. And the Lion King is another example of that. These days, most animation movies like those done by Pixar, are heavy in the drama department.

So yes, Disney influenced my art style. That influence is the more apparent when I have to draw Super Mario drawings. Since Mario's art style is somewhat similar to that of Mickey Mouse's.

I always look everywhere for inspiration and input. In my late teens, I begun to look at alternative material for inspiration. European and Latin graphic novels were very useful. I became a fan of the work of Segura & Ortiz, Milo Manara, Vittorio Gardino, Miguel Angel Prado, The Hernandez Bros., Eleuteri Serpieri, Daniel Torres, among many other artists.

At the same time, I payed more atention to the anime genre. This because of Akira Toriyama's superb creation: Dragon Ball.

The reason Dragon Ball became so atractive to me, was mainly because it was showing cartoon-style animation (Akira's style was portrayed to be more cartooney than anime, in the original series) where the characters perform dramatic soap-opera themes and ultra-violent acts.

But to be honest, I never wanted to join the Anime bandwagon. I try to avoid using anime-ish elements in my own style. Yes, I'm aware that most videogame related fanart is based on japanese videogames, so the japanese influence cannot be avoided. But there has to be a balance. Indeed my style has anime/manga in it somewhere, but it is clear to me that the main influence comes from western comics and animation. So I never go all the way into the anime/manga art style.

I read that there are hundreds and hundreds of unemployed manga artists in Japan. So why even bother? At Comic conventions if you go around showing your anime filled portafolios, you'll get ignored. Because the market is literally crowded with anime/manga wannabe artists. Even some comic book artists are trying to imitate the manga style.

So I'm very happy trying to do my own thing... whatever that is.