Introducing Livio Ramondelli--WildStorm's newest Gelatomettista

[jimlee]

In fine WildStorm Studios' fashion I introduce the latest addition to the artists and creators here at WildStorm proper in La Jolla, California. His name is Ramondelli, Livio Ramondelli (pronounced LEE-vee-oh RAH-man-deli) and he comes to us from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. In fact, he has a Masters from the AAUSF making him the holder of the highest degree amongst the artists unless you count JJ Kirby's Doctorate of Your Royal Badness. Fresh out of school, the young Livio (pictured far right of above photo) has actually been with the studio since this year's San Diego Comic Con but in holding with WildStorm tradition, we kept him in solitary, half submerged underwater Vronksy style, locked and chained to an iron desk, working on the DCU MMO letting him out to sunshine only to buff all our rides ("wipe on, wipe off") until he was hard and lean and mean enough to withstand the final challenge of the WildStorm Octagon.

Several Patron shots and Rum and Cokes later, Livio withstood the brutal assaults of the Octagon including but not limited to the High Hand of Hope, the Choi Chop Chop, and the Mad at It and powerleveled up (DING!) to Acolyte of Concept of Art. As such, Livio (pronounced LEE-vee-oh reminding you again cause you will mispronounce it LIV-ee-oh at least 5 or 6 times before it makes sense ) has been producing great stuff for the video game as a concept artist--none of which I can show you at this time and point but trust me, it's cool stuff! The man whose name is pronounced LEE-vee-oh is also a crazy movie buff and more importantly, a passionate comics fan, looking to bust loose and produce art for comics in the very near future.

It was also his birthday yesterday so wish him here a hearty welcome as he has gained posting rights. And btw, he received a Transformers calendar as one of his birthday gifts and was ecstatic about it even though it had absolutely no pictures of Megan Fox...the big buff robots were enough I guess...

And here he is with his own words and illustrations:

Hi everyone! It's definitely surreal to be writing for this blog, since as a comics fan I've been checking it on pretty much a daily basis for the last few years. I'm now working as a Concept Artist here at WildStorm, joining a very talented team of designers on the massive DC MMO game. I'm really excited to have become a part of this fine studio. As cool as I thought the notion of working here would be, the reality has been even better.

Before joining the ranks here, I recently finished a Masters degree at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. My focus was on illustration and conceptual design.To give you an idea what my work looks like, I posted a few pieces here. The first two images ( the "skull" and "ice" ones) are both digital paintings I created in Painter IX. These were two in a large series of environmental designs that I did.
Based on these three samples it's probably clear that I really enjoy science fiction and "widescreen" imagery.

And just to mix it up, the third image is a pencil drawing which was an idea I had for an ancient race of "monk"-like aliens. I'd like to give one last shout out to all the great artists and friends here, including Carlos, Oliver, J.J., Eddy, Mike, Joel, Rich, Sandra, and especially Jim. You guys have made me feel very welcome and I can honestly say I enjoy waking up in the morning when I know this studio is waiting for me!

-Livio