Lunch and Libre
This illustration was created using a dip pen and ink and depicts an out of shape Mexican wrestler.
Mexican Wrestling, or ‘Lucha Libre’ as its known, is a huge part of Mexican culture and is very different to the traditional American style wrestling. Not only is it much faster and flamboyant but more colourful too. This is particularly evident in the bright outfits and masks the athletes wear in the ring, eye catching costumes that reflect the wearer’s personality. The wrestler’s masks are especially important and have developed a great deal of significance both in and out of the ring.
This character was supposed to be the star in a picture book that told the tale of a promising young Lucha who loses his father’s mask in a street fight. Despite being overpowered by a large gang, he felt such shame for having and believed himself to have disgraced his family name. As a result, he vows to never wrestle again and places himself in a self imposed exile.
The rest of the story was a rip roaring adventure that told how our hero is drawn out of retirement in order to reclaim his mask, save his reputation and return honour to his family. It was a really epic story of justice and retribution and would have made for a fantastic story book!
This illustration depicts the protagonist when he is at his lowest point, just getting back in shape having not wrestled in years and improvising a mask until he can reclaim what is rightfully his…
Sadly, this project never quite came to fruition, but I did become rather attached to the character and I’m always on the look out for an opportunity to repurpose him or find him a new home. Maybe, I should draw a streamlined version of him complete with his mask and colourful fineries.
