NYCC 08: THE RESULTS OF CHESTERQUEST

[MattBrady]

by Vaneta Rogers

Marvel is getting an influx of new artists thanks to the worldwide travels of C.B. Cebulski.

At San Diego Comic Con last year, Cebulski announced “ChesterQuest”, a worldwide comic book talent search for 12 artists who would get the opportunity to work at Marvel Comics. Today at New York Comic Con, Cebulski announced that the dozen new artists found through ChesterQuest have been chosen, and Marvel decided to hire more than just the 12 artists originally planned.

"We hit a bunch of different conventions in a bunch of different cities in a bunch of different countries," Cebulski said, naming everything from Europe to Australia.

"The original plan was to launch a four-issue anthology with three artists in each issue," he said. "What happened was we found a lot more talent than we expected."

The anthology will still happen, but Cebulski said Marvel editors were so impressed with the quality of the artwork that was received through ChesterQuest that the company has hired more than 20 pencilers and four cover artists as a result of the talent search.

"A lot of editors had books that they needed talent immediately," he said. "So a lot of the artists started getting jobs based on the strength of their samples."

Some of the artists found by Cebulski through the talent search have actually already been announced. Those include:

- Italian artist Marco Turini was the first finalist and was immediately hired as the penciler for the new Squadron Supreme series.

- Scott Wegener of Atomic Robo fame talked to Cebulski in Baltimore and is the new artist on Punisher War Journal.

- David Lafuente of Spain was an artist Cebulski found during his stop in Dublin and has been announced as the artist for X-Men Divided We Stand and Hellcat.

The new announced artists and the comic books on which they'll be working:

- Matteo Lolli of Italy, Marvel Adventures Iron Man.
- Antonio Fuso of Italy, X-Force Special.
- Andre Coehlo from Brazil, Ms. Marvel.
- Daniel Maia of Portugal, Ms. Marvel Special.
- Jon Landry of the U.S.A., Marvel Adventures.
- Jacopo Camagni of Italy, Marvel Adventures.
- Vincenzo Cucca of G.G. Studio in Italy on She-Hulk.
- Marco Castiello of G.G. Studio in Italy, Secret Invasion Front Line.

Cebulski also announced that a new artist anthology will be called House of Ideas and will be published later this year. The anthology will include:

- Thomas Labourot - France
- Matteo Scalera - Italy
- Shaun “artchild” Turnbull - Canada
- Serena Ficca - Italy
- Joe Suitor - USA
- Damon Hendricks - USA
- Christian Nauck - Germany
- Stephen Thompson - Ireland
- Michele Bertilorenzi - Italy
- Sara Pichelli - Italy
- Paul Davidson - England
- Tomas Bennato - Italy

Cover artists for the issues will include:

- Olivier Vatine – France
- Joy Ang - Canada
- Piotr Cieslinski - Poland
- Matteo De Longis – Italy

Cebulski said that those artist who submitted artwork but were not named on this list shouldn't be discouraged because ChesterQuest submissions are on file, and there may be more artists announced down the line. He also encouraged anyone who did not participate in ChesterQuest to submit artwork at any time

As for Marvel doing another worldwide search for artists, Cebulski said it's possible.

"Marvel's actually asked me to do it again," Cebulski said, "but I'm exhausted. So it will have to be somebody else from Marvel. I won't be doing it anytime soon."

When asked about a similar talent search for writers, Cebulski suggested that writers utilize the submission form at http://www.marvel.com/submissions and send it to mhorwitz@marvel.com. After that form is on file, editors can look at work if writers want to submit it. He then said that there will be some new initiatives to find writers that they're announcing, probably toward the end of the year, that will be similar to ChesterQuest.

Return to the New York Comic Con 2008 mini-site...

[Lanowar]

- Scott Wegener of Atomic Robo fame talked to Cebulski in Baltimore and is the new artist on

On what?

Also thats a cool Deadpool image I have to say glad there looking further afield for new comic talent.

EDIT- Ah Punisher War Journal thats cool!

[Chris Noeth]

Congrats to all finalists!

Best,

Chris

[Absalom]

Olivier Vatine isn't new, it's been years since this talented guy is on the market. he worked (among many series) for Dark horse on Star Wars and did an amazing work on it (interior art and cover).
it's great to finally see him at Marvel, even if it's "just" as cover-artist. I really hope to see more of his art on interior pages, his art is crazy !

[maniacmatt]

The writer submission link doesn't work.

[Mundungus]

Daniel Maia. Welcome to being my new favorite artist.

[Kolimar]

Tres cool. Good luck, guys.

[Kolimar]

Excellent additions for my Europeans, Asians and Latin Americans in Marvel and DC

[spidertour02]

Originally Posted by Kolimar

Excellent additions for my Europeans, Asians and Latin Americans in Marvel and DC

One thing's for sure -- they didn't hire many Americans. You can interpret that however you please.