Interview: Zé Nuno Fraga

Illustrating Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius

Zé is the illustrator of Verissimus: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius. He won best newcomer (“Revelation Award”) at the 30th annual National Comics Awards, in Portugal, organized by Festival Amadora BD in 2020. You can follow him on Instagram or Patreon.

How does this project compare to ones you’ve worked on before?

My previous comic was about an ancient Greek play, the Assemblywomen of Aristophanes. So although that one was a comedy, I didn’t have to change style very much. The main difference from Assemblywomen is that the facial expressions were exaggerated whereas now I have Stoic and philosophical characters doing deep sage expressions all the time.

Cover of Assemblywomen, reproduced by permission of the author

What medium and methods are you using while illustrating?

I do the sketch and ‘inks’ in pencil and then I scan it and paint it digitally.

Can you tell us a little about your art influences?

My work strays from all of the mainstream superhero comic genre and even sword-and-sorcery. It’s actually the toga-and-sandals genre! As to influences, the names I’ll say are too good to…