Tim Bradstreet on his Influences and Artistic Process – Part 2

By Richard Serrao and Jason Thibault

In part one of this interview Tim Bradstreet opened up his artistic tool box and went through it in detail. In part 2 we get a look inside his process and his artistic (and cultural) influences.

Tim, which artists or creators do you return to for a quick boost of inspiration? Who are YOUR masters of ink?

Great question as I am all about the influences, especially when I need to recharge the battery. Guys that get me all fucking girly are (in no specific order) -
Bernie Wrightson, Gary Gianni, Danijel Zezelj, Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson, Alex Nino, Jim Steranko, Mark Shultz, Richard Corben, Timothy Truman, Franklin Booth, Jim Daly, Darwyn Cooke, Serpieri, Quique Alcatena, Gene Day, Jean Giraud, William Stout, Mike Mignola, Dave Stevens, Michael Wm. Kaluta, George Pratt, Tom Yeates, Joe Kubert, Reed Crandall, Doug Wildey, Wow, God I love Doug Wildey’s work.

That’s the main list off the top of my head. I’m leaving important one’s off but you can never absolutely DEFINE the list. I discover artist’s work I love and appreciate all the time. With most all of the artists listed it’s based off the body of work, entire careers. There are also a lot of exciting and bold artists really happening in the now, a lot of folks who deserve a wider audience.

But the thing now too is that with digital there are so many really wonderful artists that work in multiple styles. That’s great, that kind of flexibility is amazing and I’m awed by it, but with varying styles it’s more difficult to define them. I’m drawn mostly to artists who’ve really defined themselves with that one-of-a-kind look, “It couldn’t possible be anyone else’s work but so and so . . .” etc.

A cover for SCALPED, an ongoing DC Vertigo series.

Once a client has handed off an illustration job to you, how do you first tackle the job. Could you give us a quick overview of your process?

Awww, c’mon, that’s boring! It’s sometimes different based off the job requirements but my normal M.O. begins by executing a photo rough or ‘key art’. Normally I start out focusing on the main figure (s), getting that right, the idea of it . . . what pose, what position, what props, how to present this character dynamically, iconically. All of that is an automatic flow that begins with the feeling/vibe I get from what the character is, what he/she does, what actions define them.

Then it’s all about composition, telling a story in a single frame, whether that’s a more ambiguous ‘mood’ shot where the tone defines the moment, or it’s an actual scene. Sometimes it’s a superdoodle with multiple iconic elements combining to create a pastiche. I try to get inside the character’s head and then step out and move my eye/camera around. That’s all in my head as I begin to form an idea of what I want to photograph.

Pencils for a BLADE cover

Sometimes I sketch it out, sometimes I go directly to the shoot and riff the idea. Sometimes I’m using reference that wasn’t originally intended for the job in hand – and that’s even more ambitious in many ways because you are creating the actual figure like a Frankenstein, pieces and parts, a bit from this a bit from that, a complete jam. Then it’s all about creating an environment that compliments the human element. It’s ALL composition.

When I complete that photorough to my or my client’s satisfaction then I take it to the light box and translate (over vellum). Once my pencils are finished I flip the vellum over (I print everything backwards) and dry transfer it to my Bristol board. That’s when the real fun begins. Ink, glorious ink.

The cover CRIMINAL MACABRE issue 1.

Then I work the color myself or indicate the color treatment I’d like for my colorist/partner, Grant Goleash, then sit back while he does his magic. Generally after Grant has done his bit I edit and tweak the color again and then deliver.

The cover for PUNISHER MAX issue 27.

What’s currently sitting in your mp3 / CD player / turntable?

It’s an iTunes DJ playlist taken from my (Scores Only) playlist. It just runs and runs and runs my favorite scores. I’ve got about a week’s worth of music in there with no repeats. It helps create a mood. I love working to film scores. Right now it’s Jerry Goldsmith – “Jerry in Japan“, a live recording of Goldsmith’s film music conducted by Charles Fox. As we speak I’m listening to a most bombastic kickass version of the Title Track from The Wind And The Lion. Next track up in the que is Merlin’s Spell, by Trevor Jones from the score to Excalibur. This is some sweet stuff.

A piece used for the animated Kuwait sequence in the PUNISHER film.

What’s hanging on your walls and what is your favorite piece of art that you own (not created by you)?

I actually don’t have a lot of art hanging in my studio because I lack the wall space. There is so much I’d LOVE to hang in here to inspire me but it’s all windows and bookshelves. I have Bernie Wrightson’s “Momentos“, hanging in my bar. To my left is a gorgeous black and white original by Jim Daly. It’s incredible, a neat as shit scene of a dragon rider, framed by a tunnel of darkness, part of some kind of twisted hulk of a structure. In the background are other riders off in the distance, flapping winged leather for some unknown destination. It’s so cool.

The cover for PUNISHER MAX issue 33.

Next to that I have an original Martin Emond page from the Heavy Metal story White Trash. Tom Jane got it framed for me for my birthday last year. It’s one of my prized possessions cause Martin traded me for it years ago. He tragically passed away a few years ago so this one is mighty special. In front of me hangs my 4 year old daughter’s artwork. She draws and paints like crazy. I’m fairly sure she’s going to be in the creative field when she grows up

In my Bar hangs a picture of Chief Dan George as Lone Watie from The Outlaw Josey Wales. I have no idea who the artist is, my dad bought it for me at an antique shop a few years back. It’s just damn cool. I’d really like to get my Doug Wildey page from Creepy hung up in here. I have a Paul Gulacy grey-toned page from a Black Widow story originally published in one of the old black and white Marvel mags . . . Bizarre Adventures maybe? Can’t remember. I’ve got a couple Wrightson’s, Lee Bermejo, Truman originals . . . Geez, there is just so much. I may have to brick over my windows.

The badass cover for PUNISHER MAX issue 45.

What’s the last novel you read and last movie that you saw that you’d recommend? Which movies and books do you always return to?

I just re-read Frank Herbert’s Dune for about the 6th or 7th time. It’s definitely my favorite sci-fi/fantasy novel if not my favorite all-around novel. I guess that also answers the last part of your question because I seem always to return to Dune, as well as the rest of the Dune series. Have to re-read them all every time.

Other books I rotate back to all the time are the Master And Commander series of books by Patrick O’Brian, The Name Of The Rose, by Umberto Eco, Conan, Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, and El Borak, all by Robert E. Howard. There are others too.

Tim Bradstreet’s character Manfred Gallows from his Red Sky Diaries saga.

Last movie I saw that I would recommend . . . Edge Of Darkness. I’m a HUGE fan of the 1985 original BBC mini-series starring Bob Peck (a tour de force performance) and directed by Martin Campbell. I was drawn to the film adaptation for two reasons, 1. Because Martin Campbell (Casino Royale) himself was back in the director’s chair remaking his own film! and 2. Because I’m a huge Mel Gibson fan. Whatever people think about his personal issues I don’t really have any problem putting that aside to watch the fucking Road Warrior when he’s back on the screen after a 5-6 year absence.

I thought it was condensed (the original was 6 hours) decently enough and enjoyed watching a film that wasn’t assaulting me with ridiculous, over-the-top action and flimsy dialogue. Ray Winstone too, is fun to watch as Jedburgh. There is a fun role reversal from the BBC version, the original is based in England so the Gibson character is English and Jedburgh is American. The character’s nationalities are flipped with the remake taking place in America. Also, just really love the story by Troy Kennedy-Martin.

The original pen and ink cover for the PUNISHER DVD comic.

Current and upcoming projects?

That’s always such a loaded question, primarily because at any given time I may be working on something that is a bit far down the road, like Red Sky Diary. I’m co-writing a novelization and in between working on other stuff I write, edit, work on this massive glossary of terms, do illustrations, etc.

But it’s still going to be a year before this thing comes out. I’m also working on a mondo cool personal project, a book of illustrations which are anything the fuck I feel like drawing. I’ll end up with 15 or so. They run the gambit from ambiguously interesting character pieces, to actual scenes, to montage stuff. Sci-fi, fantasy, horror, post apocalyptic, combinations of all of that. Each illustration will be handed off to a writer like Warren Ellis, Bruce Jones, or David J. Schow.

The cover for SCALPED issue 19

The writers will come from many different areas of expertise, comic writers, screenwriters, novelists, etc. They will get carte blanch to write about whatever they want to as long as it pertains to that image I hand to them. It’s the normal creative process in reverse. They will each be limited to around 3 to 4000 words. When they finish the story I’ll add a spot illustration or two in order to round things out. My plan is to print it oversized (like 9″ x 12″) and do it as a hardcover. All the illustrations will be in glorious black and white.

Aside from those “in the works” projects, I’m keeping busy working on a new comic series by Garth Ennis that Dynamic Forces is publishing. Also getting set to provide covers for a new Clive Barker series at Boom! I’m always busy with Rogue Angel, it’s a line of novels that I’ve been doing covers for over the last few years. Seriously I’m looking for something “regular” to do again like I did with Hellblazer and Punisher. I was LOVING doing Criminal Macabre with Steve Niles but it’s been on hiatus for like 8 months now.

The cover for PUNISHER NOIR Issue 2

I’m looking for a gig, someone help and old saddle bum out here! What I’m really looking forward to is production designing this awesome period western-style revenge film set in colonial New Zealand that my pal Andrew McKenzie wrote and will direct. It’s an incredible script. I brought it to Tom Jane and we’re co-producing as well. It’s very close to green light status. It’s called Sweetwater.

Read Part One of this Tim Bradstreet interview.

Come back on Monday, March 22nd for the third and final installment.

For more info you can visit Tim Bradstreet’s website or head on over to his company page for RAW Studios.

HELLBLAZER Issue 188 cover

Tim Bradstreet; A Master Class in Pen and Ink Realism

By Richard Serrao and Jason Thibault

*Note* this is part one of an epic 3-part interview. Here is part two.

Tim Bradstreet. What can I say about this awesome artist that hasn’t yet been said by people much more talented than myself? Quite a lot actually. There have been a lot of artists in my lifetime that have influenced me in so many ways BUT overall Mr. Bradstreet has been the single biggest influence on how I work and draw. The first time that I saw his work I was already heading in that same artistic direction. He just helped to take all of the other artists that I loved from my teenage years such as Paul Gulacy, Gene Day and Al Williamson and smack me in the face with the outright bodacity that he was incorporating into his work while still retaining the qualities that I had loved about these other artists but had forgotten.

I have heard from a lot of people that seeing his work for the first time is so powerful that words cannot it describe or do it justice. So, without further babbling on my part I’ll let HIS artwork and words seer into your brain like it did mine. He truly is a MASTER of INK.

Tim, what inspired you to first start drawing? Did you struggle in your formative years or did it come easy to you?

I’ve drawn as far back as I can remember, even pre-Kindergarten. I’m not exactly sure what inspired it or sparked it. I know that I loved to draw dinosaurs and cars, airplanes, battles, little stick-men wars with explosions – arms, heads, and legs flying every which way. You know, the kind of thing that today would likely result in your teacher calling in your parents to inform them they’re ‘concerned’ about you, heheh.

Concept art from The Punisher movie.

I loved to draw hovercraft and other things fantastic, very likely a result of watching Johnny Quest and Star Trek. I was 10 years old when Star Wars came out so at that point all bets were off. I was always a science fiction and horror fan although the horror stuff purely fascinated me at the time, I wasn’t permitted to watch much ’serious’ horror. But I did absorb a lot of it through magazines, Famous Monsters Of Filmland, Star Log, and then Fangoria. Comics too, inspired me but it wasn’t just superheroes. I used to pour over issues of Creepy Magazine on the news stands at the grocery store.

A sketch of actor Ron Perlman from the film Blade 2.

Heavy Metal Magazine blew me away, mostly Moebius and the “Incal” stories. I don’t know if drawing always came easy to me, I didn’t think about it too much until I got serious, around the time I was 14 or 15. Then it seemed very difficult because I was trying to emulate the work of all these fantastic illustrators from Jack Kirby to Frank Frazetta. I had no real concept of the tools these artists used. My choice of weapon was the “Tech Pen”. Talk about a brutal initiation. Obviously you can’t make thick to thin ‘feathered’ lines with a fucking tech pen, so I just drew the outline of the shape and filled it in.

A cover from the Criminal Macabre series

I wasn’t aware of an easier way. Bit by bit I figured it out. I believe I was maybe 19-20 years old before I retired my tech pens and picked up the brush. Wow, that was a whole new world. It was daunting at first. I didn’t feel like I could have the control that a tech pen gave me. But all you really need when using a new tool is a little bit of confidence, and that quickly followed because I drew ALL the time. Those muscles developed with some alacrity because I was using them on a daily basis. I wanted to get better, I made it my religion.

Concept art for a motion graphics sequence in The Punisher movie

What was your first professional work and maybe a quick story behind it?

First real professional work was two illustrations for Game Designers Workshop, a Role Playing Game company. The work appeared in Traveller’s Digest, a support supplement for GDW’s Traveller, sci-fi game system. The year was 1986, not long after I’d graduated from high school. The images were very Star Wars – like, vacuum cleaner droids on a starship, nothing spectacular trust me. They were done in a pencil style drawn on vellum, the same style I employed on the game Twilight 2000, which I became regular artist of on the heels of having done the Traveller tryout.

Cover for Hellblazer issue 211

I was basically taking over that job from an artist named Steve Venters, who had taken me under his wing. He was the interior artist on Twilight 2000 as well as the cover painter and he wanted to spend more time focusing on cover work. I did a few tryout pieces for him trying to clone his style. He was impressed enough to push me to GDW and my entire career began there . . . 24 years ago. It still seems like yesterday.

A ‘rejected’ Bad Planet cover

Were you self-taught or formally educated? Did you have a mentor?

Pretty much self-taught with a mixture of a mentor (namely Venters). I wasn’t really ready for college after high school. I partied like insanely and I blew off getting a portfolio put together to get accelerated courses in college. Subsequently I began in basic courses and was just re-doing stuff I’d already covered in high school. I was bored silly. Hanging out with friends, discovering my burgeoning individuality, and partying seemed much more important to me at the time.

Illustration of Lawrence of Arabia

I ended up dropping out of college not long after I’d hooked up with Venters. I was learning more from him in the course of months than I had in years of art classes. This was also my target field. I regret not having focused more on school but the I don’t regret the reason, it’s territory I had to walk. Growing as an individual, expanding my mind, and truly discovering and embracing pop culture for myself was a necessary evil. In a large way it gave me my edge.

Who’s to say I couldn’t have done both? But everyone has to follow their own path, and I had a helluva lot of fun and life experiences following the path that I did.

Punisher Vietnam cover

Tools of the trade: Taking a quick glance over at your pens, brushes etc…what tools have you mainly been using over the last few years?

About two-three years ago I stopped using a brush almost entirely. I NEVER thought I would, but they stopped making my fucking brush! I used a cheap little Loew-Cornell 5-ot liner brush since about 1988. I love that thing. I still have 3 of them and I protect them like they were my children. I break one out every now and then when I HAVE to, to get a required effect where I want it.

What took it’s place is a Hunt #102 – Crowquill nib. A tool I NEVER thought I’d become proficient at. I’d always shied away from pen nibs because I was never very good at controlling them, but again, all I needed was to develop a little confidence. Now I absolutely LOVE using it. I’ve always been a noodler, and you can noodle like a madman with a pen nib. In a way it’s like the tech pen, yet it has this incredible organic quality that technical pens will never posses because of the flexibility of the point, it’s ability to alter line weights with the right pressures applied.

A promotional poster for The Punisher featuring actor Thomas Jane as Frank Castle.

I also use a Raphael #1 from time to time, but it’s mostly the nib. One of my main weapons currently is a Niji Waterbrush. It’s a synthetic brush with a reservoir for ink built into the barrel. I never fill the thing, I dip it. It’s AMAZING as a tool to do dry-brush. You can really batter it and they don’t cost a ton, around $9. They clean easy and they can really last. They have a startlingly decent point on them too, so you can do some really fine work with them if you choose to.

Jim Daly turned me onto them, though they aren’t a whole lot different than the Pentel Color Brush, which was fairly popular in the early to mid 90’s. I remember Mark A. Nelson used to use them exclusively back in the day. I tried them then but it never really took. That’s about it except for a big chisel brush I use for big ink-swash backgrounds. That thing is evil-cool, such a diversity of line, bold as porn star.

Preliminary pencils for a cover

How has your toolbox evolved compared to when you first started out?

It’s basically the same. Different tools but very similar results. My style has evolved a great deal since the early days of professional work, but the vision is essentially the same, just more refined in places and more organic in others. The whole thing is a journey, you have to challenge yourself and not fall into the trap of thinking that you’ve attained some magical power where you no longer need to learn, experiment, or grow as an artist.

The minute you think you have learned it all and you become completely satisfied with your work you’re going to stagnate and become a dinosaur. The process never ends if you have your head in the right place. Resting on laurels of past glory is absolutely the worst thing you can do as an artist, regardless of your area of expertise. The same holds true for musicians, writers, you name it. Times change, people grow and move on, and if your work goes static, technically, compositionally, dynamically, etc . . . Then you’re just old news.

The Punisher

I don’t have to be the best artist, I don’t have to be the most popular artist. I don’t give a shit about that. I draw for myself first, and I love what I get to do for a living. Constant learning, experimenting, even re-inventing is what keeps me refreshed and excited about it. At the end of the day I just strive for my work to have relevance to me, if it does, then I gotta figure it’s finding an audience somewhere among the public. They are my benefactors, bless them every one. I guess that answer qualifies as getting off on a tangent

What’s your favorite brand of ink?

I like about any old brand of waterproof rapidograph ink for paper. I use that with the nibs cause it flows nice and smooth. When I black, I add a couple drops of Japanese Sumi ink to the well. That really charges the black to super black. I like for my originals to stand on their own, I never half-ass it when it comes to blacking.

A pen and ink illustration used as a cover for the French magazine Comic Box

What about papers?

I really love DC’s regular surface 2-ply Bristol (I believe it’s Strathmore). It’s got a touch of tooth and ink dries very quickly so smudging is less of a nuisance. I just flip it over and draw on the back, blue lines really annoy me. I use that when I can get a friendly editor to hook me up. I used to really love a Rising 3-ply Bristol with a regular finish but I can’t find it anywhere in San Diego. Right now I really dig this 3-ply Strathmore Bristol with a vellum finish. I thought ‘vellum’ would be too smooth but it’s more like a regular surface, just enough tooth to give it some guts, and just smooth enough so that my pen nib doesn’t betray me and get snagged. That does truly suck when it happens.

Cover for Marvel’s Luke Cage Noir

I purchase all of my non-comic company supplied paper in large sheet form and have it cut down to 11″ X 17″ boards. You can get 3 boards from a large sheet. I have no idea if it’s cheaper to do it that way, that doesn’t confront me. It’s just that I have never found a paper worth a shit in tablet form. Of course that’s mainly from a lack of searching to any great extent I don’t really populate message boards or confer with others about the subject too often unless I’m at a convention and talk turns professional with a peer. Regardless, I’m sure it seems obvious that I prefer a heavier paper. I’m not a fan of flimsy originals.

Read part two of this interview. Come back on Monday, March 22nd for the third and final installment.

For more info you can visit Tim Bradstreet’s website or head on over to his company page for RAW Studios.

This is How You Make a Comic Book Trailer

Sometimes something so awesome comes along that it makes me glad that I got out of bed. We’ve played around with making trailers for our books before but this one made me do a double take.

I caught wind of this video for Traditional Comics over on artist Nathan Fox’s blog. If ever there was a “Grindhouse” take on comic trailers this would be the one. Patrick Hosmer has made a truly awesome advertisement and Ben Marra’s art is pretty rad.

It got the point across and made me laugh my ass off. Have fun with your promotional material and your audience will as well. Glad to see other publishers doing black and white genre work. Consider us fans and kindred spirits.
-Jay

June Contest #1 Win an Original Pen and Ink Drawing

We`ve finally arrived at the first contest ever held at this website.
We’re pretty stoked around here about the impending release of Optimum Wound Volume One in early September. It hits the Previews catalog on June 24th.

So we’re celebrating by holding contests all month.
This will be the first of four held in June. Every Friday we`ll be offering up prizes of escalating coolness. This week features a 11″ by 12″ pen and ink drawing. You can win this artwork by following the rules below.

It’s a drawing of my main character Starkweather from Battles Without Living Witnesses. It’s 12 inches tall and 11 inches wide (30cm x 27.5cm), India ink on acid-free paper. AND IT”S YOURS TO WIN.

As an added bonus I’ll throw in a copy of Danijel Zezelj’s Rex in the package.

THE RULES

Just answer this question in the comments section.
What have you accomplished so far in 2009 that you’re most proud of?

1. Just leave a comment on this blog, that’s it.
2. You’re only allowed to post once. I read every comment so I’ll know.
3. Private messages or emails don’t count, it has to be posted on this blog.
4. You have to leave a comment before 11.59pm PST on Monday, June 8th, 2009 to be eligible. I’ll add up the number of comments and use a random number generator to select the winner. Then I’ll contact the winner by email and announce them publicly next Friday, June 12th on the Contest #2 blog.
5. This contest is open to ANYONE in the world. If I have to pay shipping to South Africa or New Zealand, that’s MY problem.

Good luck everyone.
-Jay

Five Reasons to Draw with Pen and Ink on Paper (and sometimes big)

by Jason Thibault

Now that computers and the internet have overtaken the world I sometimes fear that a lot of the traditional things that we take for granted will slowly begin to disappear. It may be an irrational fear as the internet has also brought to light amazing factions of creators in different pockets of the globe.

I’ve been noticing new practices taking hold in the comics, manga and illustration professions. Digital inking, Wacom tablets (yes they are cool) replacing pens, vectors overtaking hand-drawn artwork and a strong reliance on Illustrator and Photoshop. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a knock against utilizing those techniques. I have seen some amazing art created on Macs and PCs. I just don’t want it to get too carried away. I have never personally experimented with digital drawing suites like Manga Studio and I will one day when I get the time. For now I continue to love getting my hands dirty with ink and owning a growing collection of original pages and illustrations.

The main reasons to draw by hand

1. Permanence. If you create your pages with a half-decent ink on acid-free paper your artwork will survive for decades and perhaps centuries. Paper is still the most portable storage format. Digital works are stored on your hard drive, CDRom, DVD or back-up tape. But digital file types and storage mediums change each decade. We backed up files on tape in the 1980’s and part of the 90’s. Then we used zip cartridges. Then DVDRoms and portable hard drives. Meanwhile paper is still paper. My stack of originals is nicely filed away in a flat drawer. I still like to keep photocopies and high resolution digital backups though just in case.

2. Mastering techniques. I realize it takes years and a lot of artistic skill to render quality digital paintings and drawings but there’s just something more immediate about pen on paper or brush on canvas. Whether it’s spending years figuring out how to perfectly sharpen your pencil or the exact pressure needed when drawing lines with a dipping nib or technical pen. It could involve changing up your ink brand, paper type and size or finally investing in some high quality Windsor & Newton watercolor brushes. I’m sure we’ll arrive at a day where students will sit around a live model and sketch them with their wacoms into a laptop. I just hope that day doesn’t arrive too soon.

3. The monetary value of having an original. I realize most art out there isn’t worth much more than the paper or canvas that it was created on and that’s often not the point when creating it. But what about down the line? What if the creator strikes it big? Having a back catalog of originals could become quite lucrative in that case. The idea of parting with my originals pains me but my grandkids might not have the same issues. And although I know it’s happened, it’s not often that we visit a gallery to view a showing of digital print-outs.

4. Drawing Big. Once again I realize a computer screen can become an infinite canvas if you zoom in and out far enough. But the sheer power of wild brush strokes on a larger sheet of paper still captivates me. I was so used to crafting comic pages on 11″ x 17″ sheets that I thought I may be confined to those dimensions forever. Then I went to a few comic art exhibits. I saw original pages by Dan Clowes and Chris Ware which were much larger. It completely changed my mindset. And seeing that Paul Pope creates comics on pages as large as 19″ x 24″ was a revelation. And in the art world larger sized works often do command higher prices.

5. Having a completely portable skill set. If you can draw you can draw anywhere. If you’re well practiced with pen or pencil you can draw in your studio, at a cafe, park, bus station, prison etc… No need to boot up software or rely on electricity. Back in the 1990’s R. Crumb traded in a box of sketchbooks for a villa in France. You probably won’t be able to trade in your old laptops and digital printouts and get the same deal.

A Pen and Ink Love In
I wanted this particular blog post to be more of a celebration of the amazing array of hand-created artwork that’s out there and specifically works that are rendered in pencil, pen and ink. I’m hoping the next generation of art students and bedroom illustrators embrace the techniques of the past as they forge on ahead crafting new styles and merging the practical with the digital.

In this next part I’m going to focus on comic artists but I’ve mixed in a couple of poster artists and illustrators as well. I’ve kept the number down to around a dozen artists but I could have easily put 50 or 60 (or 500 or 600) more up here. Every artist listed below is one that I hold in high regard. Some have influenced me while others I simply stand in awe of to both their talent and dedication to their craft.

Florian Bertmer
Florian Bertmer is an incredible draftsman who’s taken influences such as Pushead but run with it into a darker direction. He’s a German artist who creates art for posters, t-shirts and album covers.

Paul Pope
Paul Pope is the perfect melding of European, Japanese and old-school American cartoonists. And he draws big. On his large-sized boards he deftly creates his comic book masterpieces. He’s one of the aforementioned artists that I simply stand in awe of. The good people at First Second books will be releasing his out of print series THB this fall. The Beguiling comic shop in Toronto has a lot of his art for sale.

Aaron Horkey
There’s no point in trying to ever draw more detailed than Aaron Horkey. His unique artwork adorns record covers, t-shirts and fast to sell-out prints. There’s nobody out there quite like him. His hand-lettering is elegant enough to make dozens of artists want to quit and change professions. His ink illustrations are so intricate that they actually blow the art up in size (rather than the standard procedure of reducing) before printing it. I’m the proud owner of several of his silk-screened prints which is the only affordable way to obtain his art. His originals fetch thousands of dollars when you can manage to find one for sale.

Jae Lee
I’ve been in love with the art of Jae Lee ever since first buying up all of the issues of Namor that he worked on in the early 90’s. Despite the murky coloring and poor-quality newsprint that Namor was printed on his edgey style cut through. He became a fan favourite while he was very young. He continually refined his style by at first taking a looser approach following after Bill Sienkiewicz, Barron Storrey and Kent Williams. After a hiatus he came back in the early 2000’s sporting a more realistic approach yet still with the jagged edges and razor thin lines that he was always known for. He must have gone through an oil tanker worth of black India ink throughout his career.
In 2006 it was announced that he would be providing art for the Marvel adaptation of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. He worked strictly in pencils for this project and colorist Richard Isanove darkened his grey tones to black in Photoshop and went to town with them. Check out his originals at the Albert Moy Gallery.

Lee Bermejo has risen to the cream of the crop of the comix industry. He came out of the gate around 10 years ago working for Wildstorm where his work looked like it had been created by a seasoned pro despite his young age. You don’t hear much from him on the interwebs. We snagged an interview with him recently but he has no website or much of a presence online. You can however find his gallery over at Splash Page Art. I’m guessing he’s too busy busting out insane amounts of detail on his artwork to bother much with the internet. His graphic novel Joker (written by Brian Azzarello) was and is a bestseller. It hit stores shortly after The Dark Knight was in theatres.
As amazing as he is with pen and ink it’s his recent style that he’s been developing over the last few years that has found him new fans. He creates textures and layers with pencil and then highlights and outlines the shapes with ink.

Brian Hitch made everyone in comics take notice of him and his art when he joined Warren Ellis for the first 12 issues of The Authority. The two of them helped to make famous the more cinematic “widescreen” approach of comics in the late 1990’s. But it was his five-year run with Mark Millar on Marvel’s Ultimates that sent his name soaring into the stratosphere. His masterful combination of exaggerated super-heroic realism pushed front and centre over painstakingly rendered backgrounds has won him hundreds of thousands of admirers. And artist Paul Neary must have the patience of a Buddhist monk to have inked a lot of those pages.
You can find a lot of Hitch and Neary original art over at The Art of Comics. And if you have a spare two or three grand sitting around you could commission an original.

Tim Bradstreet
It’s no secret to anyone who’s followed Optimum Wound for a while that we’re big fans of Tim Bradstreet’s artwork. When I happened upon his book Maximum Black I was immediately inspired to start experimenting with realism and photorealism and I haven’t looked back since. Tim’s style has also evolved over the years and his graphic design skills are razor sharp. He’s brought a movie poster and book jacket sensibility to comic covers and won himself a legion of fans in the process.
Tim Bradstreet’s art is always a source of inspiration around these parts.

Geoff Darrow
I was blown away by the art of Geoff Darrow from the first moment a friend showed me a copy Hard Boiled. I needed to see more. Unfortunately Geoff takes a long time to create his painstakingly detailed artwork. The originals (that I’ve seen listed on eBay) are massive in size. I believe the pencils are done on illustration paper and then the inks are drawn on a vellum overlay. He could have rested on his laurels after working on the production designs for the Matrix trilogy but he cut no corners when working on his most recent series, Shaolin Cowboy.

Sean Phillips
Sean Phillips is one of the most reliable artists current working in comics. Whether he was working on one of my favourite series of the past decade, Sleeper or earning a bigger paycheque on Marvel Zombies I am always inspired by the results. He described the look of his style on Criminal as Kent Williams inking Mike Mignola. He has a nice chunky realistic style and extremely intuitive design skills when it comes to laying out panels on a page. He’s also quite an accomplished painter. You can go to Splash Page Art to see Sean Phillip’s gallery of originals for sale.

Bill Sienkiewicz has always been one of my absolute favourite artists. I treasure my copies of Elektra Assassin. I feel he’s the artist mainly responsible for bringing the look of organized chaos to mainstream comics. Melding the bold illustration styles of the 1980’s with Neal Adams, Ralph Steadman and probably a million other influences Bill knocked us on our asses with his wild drawings and layouts. From his more realistic subject portrayals in his commercial art projects to his “far-out” experiments in series like Stray Toasters he has never let us become bored with him.
It’s his collaborations with Alan Moore on Big Numbers and Brought to Light that really did it for me and showed what could done with the comics medium.

And finally I’ll leave you with a piece called Lafourcade II by an art collective known as Anville. This is a 16″ x 40″ ink on bristol drawing. The detail is staggering on it.

And of course need we mention…
Jason Shawn Alexander

and Danijel Zezelj

So what compels you to keep drawing?

Photography Credits:

Both photos at the top were used under a Creative Commons License.
The History of Tape Storage, photo by Pargon
Photo of man sketching by sashafatcat

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