The Walking Dead: Fan artist Oscar Rodriguez catches the eye of cast

Some of The Walking Dead cast members have started to seek out popular fan artist Oscar Rodriguez III to put his comic spin on their television characters.

Oscar Rodriguez has been drawing comic characters from The Walking Dead for quite some time now. Part of what he has challenged himself to do as an artist is take the characters from the show and give them The Walking Dead comic treatment.

He has a beautiful piece with MIchonne and Rick together and that never happens in the comics. He has a comic Denise with her television death, but with a different expression.

Recently, Oscar’s art has started to take off in a bit of a different direction and brought him some unexpected challenges and inspiration as an artist. Some of the cast has taken notice of his art and Oscar has started to collaborate with them business-wise, offering the cast members unique opportunities to have art as part of their offerings at conventions and on their websites.

Oscar offered Justin Kucsulain that option last fall at the Monroe Comic Con near his home and in Justin’s home town area of Detroit, Michigan. Oscar’s framed Ethan comic drawing sparked the idea of art prints for Justin to sign at future cons for his fans. Fans would get a double treat. An original Oscar comic piece and a signature from the actor who played Ethan on the show!

Xander Berkeley took it a step further and talked with Oscar on the phone to discuss having Oscar create some pieces to capture the blend of the comic Gregory and Xander’s comical coward that we love on the screen.

Elizabeth Ludlow, Arat the badass Savior woman,  is in love with Oscar’s art. She has it featured on her website. Oscar is creating several more Arats presently. Oscar also is working with Peter Zimmerman, Eduardo from Hilltop. More and more opportunities are emerging.

Something else happened to Oscar’s art in the process that Oscar never anticipated. These new relationships and opportunities have pushed him as an artist. Oscar has always had a certain comic book style. He never considered himself a sketch artist.

He has been doing some sketch art of the television characters that are absolutely incredible. I think they are surprising even Oscar himself. Check out some of his newest art above and on his website. His Negan and Governor are especially note-worthy.

Next: Oscar Rodriguez puts the fan in fan artist

Melding the television actors’ real faces into the comic characters has inspired him to go in this different direction and develop a new signature style. I’ve noticed the addition of more color and some interesting color blocking.

Check out Oscar on Twitter and at oscarsredhat.com. Oscar will be at Fan Fest Chicago with Xander Berkeley in March.