Inspirations: Comics

Incase you couldn't tell by all the chibi drawings I've done, comics play a big part in my life. The stories have kept me sane, the artwork has kept stunned and both combined have always inspired me.

The Amazing Spider-Man #568

 I have been reading comics for as long as I can remember and I've never got sick of them. When I was a kid I bought them just for the images and drool over how good they were as I never really cared for the stories. That soon changed though after I was given a Spider-Man annual featuring the story "The Sins of My Father". I started reading it as it featured the Hobgoblin and I was curious about who this evil looking villian actually was. As it featured the Osborns, Mary-Jane and various other key elements in the Spider-Man universe it made me go back and actually read the stories. So for my family and friends you find it annoying when I start reading and become antisocial, you can blame my nan for buying me the 1994 Spider-Man annual.

Most of my Chibis.

Random Batman sketch.

I started my collection 'Sonic the Hedgehog' comics (don't judge), but soon I developed some sense I started buying Spider-Man (Marvel) and Batman (DC) comics. They originally were the only characters that had any appeal to me, which looking back at it seems odd as you couldn't get two more different characters. One is a teenager with the powers of a spider who sets out to use them with responsiblity and looking to inspire others, is shy and with practically no social life in the beginning (think I just figured out why I was drawn to him). While the other is a dark, disturbing character who is out to strike fear to the corrupt and unlawful in the world.

Hobgoblin Chibi

McFarlane's Spider-Man #1 cover. (Second printing black and gold edition)

Looking at my collection of old stuff, I seemed to have been drawn to Todd McFarlane's work a lot when I was younger, with my first encounter being the cover above which is still to this day my favourate comicbook cover of all time. McFarlane was also one of the people who created Spawn (Dark Horse), which I fell in love with when I was in my teens. The story, the way it's drawn and the characters are so screwed up that I do wonder what they were on when they created it. I had never seen anything like it before and after a few reads I was hooked.

Another random Batman drawing.

This is actually a tattoo design I did.

Comics have always given me fantastic ideas over the years. And with artists and writers pushing the bounderies of what can be done, I'm sure they will keep inspiring me for many years to come.