So, because this is the very first shiny new blog, I decided to discuss a topic that comes up often as far as art is concerned - inspiration.
Ever since I was a small child I've had a fascination with monsters. Whether they were dragons, dinosaurs, aliens, werewolves or vampires, I loved every
single one of them.
I grew up a quiet kid with not many others my own age anywhere around - which when combined with an intense and vibrant imagination, a love of comic books
and old monster movies is pretty much a natural bubble to grow an artist in. I remember my mom bringing coloring books home to me from the drugstore and I
immediately flipped the inside cover open and started drawing my own picture. Even at an early age, I had more independence and faith in my own
creativity. It wasn't a strange occurance to flip one of my coloring books open to find a vividly colored depiction of a dragon in a cave filled with gold being
attacked by trolls, defending his treasure, and starkly illustrated untouched pages of nothing until the inside back cover where you would more than likely find
an army of werewolves converging on vampires.
As I got older, my parents (always supportive of my art) would allow me to sit in my room with a stack of old issues of 'Famous Monsters of Filmland',
'Creepy', 'Tales From the Crypt', and of course,'Mad.' I was so taken by the work of Bernie Wrightson, Jack Davis, Don Martin, Basil Gogos, Frank Frazetta, and so on,
that it gave me hope at a young age that there were talented people out there doing exactly what I already had an intense love of doing.
This was some of my earliest inspiration. Though I didn't fully understand it at the time, creativity breeds creativity.
Poring over issues of these fantastic gems, I would identify the work of my favorite artists, and try and emulate certain bits and pieces of their various
styles - the whole time I was blissfully and innocently developing my own style and look. The intense, dramatic work of Wrightson, the beautiful use of
color of Gogos, the realistic textures of Frazetta, and a hint of the goofiness of Mad Magazine.
In the coming weeks and months I will discuss various other aspects of inspiration including how film has helped in life and work, but this is how it all started.
My biggest influences will always be the pen, paint, and paper heroes of my childhood, and the hope and dream of my adulthood is to be a hero to a future artist
that has an imagination like mine.
So to all parents - make sure your child always has crayons and paper.