This shouldn't work.

How is this possible?

His poses are gangly. The force lines in the fighting scenes are ridiculously convoluted. There's way too much attention to detail. And yet... it's a masterpiece. I quickly got enamored by this style in the first few panels of his steampunk story 'Captain Swing' of about 10 years ago or so.

The attention to detail serves a purpose. The 'mass' if you will of the people, objects, buildings, walls, trees etc. that Raulo is depicting carry equal importance. Within this mass the people behave in their environments with full emotional weight, they are both at home in this dark, deep cavernous wonderland and struggling within it. A Spanish artist, Raulo got his start in fanzines in the 1990s before moving on to Avatar Press in 2007.

Steampunk bullet.

A great example of this quirkiness working to your advantage as an artist is this panel showing a Steampunk bullet. Here we have a bullet that has a glass bulb payload. Something involving concentrated energy is obviously happening here. Raulo not only has adorned this in flight weapon/object with an affluence of motion lines, he also has included some engraving on the barrel! Lastly, the sparks of electricity all around convey something very powerful, and strangely ahead of its time (1890s I think).

He's still a young man, let's hope there's more from him coming in the next years.

Tim Larsen

12 Woodwardia Ave

Felton CA 95018

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