Melvin Ylagan’s journey from amateur artist to pro artist began at the age of 22 after meeting Joe Quesada during his in-store signing at Chameleon Comics while promoting his new company Event Comics. Melvin was soon hired to draw some backgrounds for Ash.. Melvin then pursued his art education at the School of Visual Arts under a partial scholarship (thanks to Joe’s letter of recommendation). After graduating; Melvin entered the real world to get work on his own and landed small illustration jobs including textile designs, archival restorations, spot illustration for a fishing magazine near Boston, independent comic shorts, RPG game illustrations. He also became an assistant to Robert l. Benney (Master Illustrator, war correspondent artist, and a good friend of Norman Rockwell and J.C Lyendecker). Most important of all, Melvin launched his creator-owned comic entitled Gothis.
Frustrated by the art field in general; Melvin decided to try out his skills in advertising by approaching Neal Adams and was soon hired as a commercial artist for Adam’s Continuity Studios. There, he learned the craft of advertising, which still influences his art today. Several years after working with Neal, Melvin was hired as a full-time artist by Mary Nitollo (president of The Studio). Five years after working for The Studio, Melvin decided to go back to Neal Adams because of the freedom to do both advertising and comics. Since then, Melvin has done several covers for the Comic Artist’s Guild including their fifth anthology (CAG #5), and several covers due out this year. Melvin is currently working in the ad field while working on the last issue of Gothis, and recently released a new 64-page graphic novel featuring his other characters Jaz N Hip with his co-publisher Ray Felix (creator of O.D)..Melvin and Ray will be at the Pavilion Hotel this weekend which is the 19th and 20th to promote their new book. Check out www.melvinylagan.com to see more of his art.