Who am I?

I am an artist/writer living in New York City.

Like many local aspiring artists, I attended High School of Art & Design. From there, a Disney Scholarship landed me in California Institute of the Arts. After two years, I returned to NYC to pursue animating commercials, but began at a time when the industry was going bust and business was being farmed out to the eastern hemisphere. I decided to move on to commercial art and comics.

Running a zine from the mid-1980's into the early 1990's forced me into becoming a writer, thus adding an additional means of self-expression to my repertoire. In 1995, I created my first website with the aid of a software program. It was abysmal. Since then, all my websites have been composed in plain editors such as Notepad or Pico - this page included.

Influences in my drawing style come from two sides of the world. The first and most lasting inspirations are Japanese manga from the early 1970's: Ishimori Shotaro and Go Nagai. Yes, I collected Manga long before it was trendy - or even known to more than perhaps five Americans at the time. Some of the best Japanese comic series were produced then, among them "What's Michael?", a visual account of the author's cats, and "Ash'ta no Joe," an epic about a poor young boxer who makes the bigtime. Also of note are Ishimori Shotaro's adaptations of Sentai series "Kamen Rider" (the first one) and "Kikaida". They just don't make 'em like that anymore. It was truly the Silver Age of Japanese comics.

HS of A&D was Marvel crazy in the mid-1970's, and I snapped up some classic Silver Age titles to fill in my then-fledgeling collection. You can still catch a bit of John Romita Sr. and Gene Colan in my work. I also enjoy the work of Milo Manara, John Bolland, Dave Stevens, Steve Rude, and Mike Allred. For painted comics, no one can touch Alex Ross.

I thought I'd finally take The Big Step and put myself out there. I mean here, in cyberspace. I've drawn professionally for many years, and still there's nothing more fulfilling than making someone's day when you give them a drawing. I'm hoping that I can revive my practices at conventions from way back when, and draw pictures for people again.

In addition to privately commissioned work, you'll notice I'm also selling off some pre-existing pieces. In fact, part of the proceeds from the sale of images made for a recent website will be going to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation. So if you like what you see, consider an original and make a difference.

Special thanks to fellow artist Ayperi Silverwolf, Dr Jekyl, Robert Albert, Seven0fNine, and Dad.

Thanks for coming to see my gallery. Enjoy your visit!

D. David