I am a talented artist, however it takes more than talent to
make a comic book artist. There is support and luck -- connecting
with the right people, getting in the right position at the right time.
One of the people who truly believed in me was Gerard Jones -- he would often
send me scripts and get me opportunities to try out with various
companies. One of the companies was Malibu. I am opinionated as a
creator. I have particular ideals about the art and storytelling.
Although the script might call for one thing, I might feel another is
better. For the first page it called for a yelling head, I felt that it
was better if the character was gesturing for the audience. From
Ultraforce One
Finding
the right people means finding the right teachers. The people who can say
the things that you need to hear to grow as a n artist. I never had that!
Few other artists were willing to spend the time showing me what I needed to
know, art teachers didn't want to teach what I wanted to learn (this was during
the death of Disney -- animation was dead), so I was mostly on my own looking
for books, copying other artists
Stylistically I pursue and duplicate artists who do something I like, I spend months drawing in a style not my own, trying to find what is interesting or unique about the style, trying to mine the art for what it can teach me.
The skills I learned about surface and technique were numerous. The artists I followed were multiple, so I probably drove the editors that were interested crazy, they would ask for samples and each time I was a different artist.
I had hoped that the editors would recognize what type of talent they were dealing with and guide me into becoming the artist that they wanted.
Through it all Gerard Jones was there. He left comics and went on to other things, but his kindnesses were appreciated. He is one of those people who keeps me drawing and learning without the art being my main income. Thank You Mr.Jones.
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