My First Inspiration

Note: I'd never throw a bunch of comic books into a pile. I'm not an animal.

If I were ever put on the spot, asked the exact reason I started to pursue art, the first thing that inspired me to put pencil to paper, the answer would most definitely be comic books.

My dad raised my brothers and I on them. An avid collector with tens of thousands of books already packed away in our basement, my dad would come home every Wednesday with a new stack of books. I would marvel at the art on the covers as he sorted and placed them in their respective bags with boards. He loved to describe the stories if I ever asked, but he would always preface each retelling with the name of the writer and more importantly the name of the artists. My dad loved comic book art and could identify all of his favorite artists by the style and design choices of the book cover and could go on for hours about how the best artists could deliver a story through their imagery alone, and that was what made comic books so special.

My first few goes at drawing were attempts to impress my dad and get the same praise these artists did. But as I grew older his words about visual storytelling began to make more an more sense. The visual element adds a whole new layer to a story that words alone can't translate. The concept of telling whole stories through my art work alone was a fascinating one. This became my motivator to keep practicing and keep getting better.