Down the Tubes Links: Comics Artists S




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Steve Sampson
Official: www.sampsonart.com

Steve did some brilliant covers for me on the UK comic Overkill in the 1990s and went on to grace the pages of several UK titles. His web site is packed with some stunning graphics, including his work for Judge Dredd: The Megazine which have to be seen to be believed.
His old web page -- included on a site shared with Jason Brashill and Jim Murray -- includes those Overkill covers I coommissioned, plus some stunning imagery of Judge Dredd and Judge Anderson.

Alberto Saichann
Additional info welcome!
Alberto was one of the artists on DC Thomson's Starblazer.

Alf Saporito
Alf Saporito is possibly best known for drawing Gus the Gorilla for IPC's humour title Cor!! from #2 onwards, but his credits also include the British edition of Mad Magazine – he drew a parody of Space: 1999 in 1975, which, according to Mad writer David Robinson was written by Hitch Hitchings.
Robinson, who also wrote and occasionally drew for British Mad (including writing and drawing a EastEnders spoof circa 1986, cover is by Harry North), notes that Saporito's Rollerball front cover is one of the better British-only Mad covers.
Saporito's other Mad Magazine credits can be found in this message on the Mad Mumblings site.
Saporito also drew Gums for Monster Fun, which continued in Buster.

Scott Christian Sava
Official: www.bluedreamstudios.com

Artist for Astonish Comics The Lab and the computer-generated Quality of Life series from Marvel, starring Spider-Man.

Olivia Schanzer
Official: www.metromonster.com

Schanzer was a recipient of the Xeric grant for her book Fragile Honeymoon. She is currently working on a novel. Karen Sneider is a stand-up comic who draws comics. Her work has been in Jest Magazine, the World of Fear Anthology, and The Door Magazine.

Vicente Segrelles
Official: www.segrelles.com

Geoff Senior
Official: www.geoffsenior.com
Geoff continues to draw comics, including Transformers, but these days is better known as a visualising and storyboarding artist based in Soho, London.

Declan Shalvey
Official: www.risecreatives.ie/declanshalvey/
Blog: dshalv.blogspot.com
deviantart: declanshalvey.deviantart.com

Declan's credits include Tim Skinner for Moonface Press, Judge Dredd: The Megazine, the Frankenstein Graphic Novel for Classical Comics and more. His first professional work, Hero Killers, received an Eagle award for Favourite British Black and White Comicbook of 2006.

Liam McCormack-Sharp
The Art of Liam Sharp: www.liam-sharp.ch.vu

The artist behind Death's Head II, artist on Swamp Thing, Spawn, the Hulk and more. Liam has launched a new web site, Mam Tor, and is one of the team behind the Event Horizon anthology.

David Shenton
Official: www.davidshenton.com

Guardian readers should need no introduction to David's work - he's one of the cartoonists who supply strips to the UK national newspaper when Steve Bell's on holiday. He's been illustrating books and drawing comics for some 25 years, for both US and UK clients. He also has an allotment.

Dave Shelton
Official web site: www.daveshelton.com
Official Blog: daveshelton.blogspot.com

Artist on Good Dog, Bad Dog, which appears in The DFC. Dave, a member of the Association of Illustrators who lives in Cambridge, has been drawing and colouring in professionally since 1990 and, as yet, has not starved to death as a result. According to his official web site he believes that there is no time of the day or night when it is inappropriate to take a bath or to eat breakfast. Do not, under any circumstances, allow him to talk to you about pens.

Steve Simmons
Official: www.airworksart.com

Steve studied fine art at Liverpool Art College before embarking on a long and varied career. He has turned his talents to everything from book illustration and computer game covers to murals and portraits. In the world of fantasy art he is perhaps best remembered for his illustrations for the Enchantica books. Some of his well known clients include Core Design, Danbury Mint, Psygnosis software, Holland Studio Craft and the Liverpool Playhouse.

SMS
Offiical: www.smuzz.org.uk
SMS "lives in Lancashire in a house that is bigger on the inside than on the outside."
He illustrates for a number of science fiction magazines, most notably Interzone, where he has topped the reader's poll as favourite artist many times. He also won the 1997 British Science Fiction Award for best artwork.
Work on comic strips includes ABC Warriors for 2000AD, an adaptation of the Clive Barker Hellraiser story 'Original Sin', and architectural backgrounds for Bryan Talbot's graphic novel Heart of Empire.
One day, he may even draw downthetubes, but that's really dependent on John Freeman writing it and being able to afford his much in demand talents...
See also the Dragonfly Gallery, the original home of the SMS gallery as well as artist Jim Porter. Some SMS art is also on sale on mugs and cards etc via www.cafepress.com/downthetubes

Jamie Smart
Link: www.sixtyfootmonkey.com
Creator of Bear, the indie title published by US publisher Slave Labor Graphics.

Smudge Pencil
Web Link: www.smudgepencil.com

Illustration/Storyboards/Visuals: artists include Colin Andrew, Geoff Senior and Martin Geraghty.

Oli Smith
Official: www.idlechild.co.uk

Comics writer and illustrator who claims that he flirts with danger and laughs in the face of fear on a daily basis. Work includes Hazy Thursday and I Dream of Life, both available from his web site.

Stu Smith
Official: www.gravitoncreations.com
Stu, offers a dedicated, honest, quick, friendly, fun service of creative input for your project. "Mostly it is illustration, but also web design, banner design, flash animation, you know the score, there's millions of us. I'm one of the silly ones.... I'm open to anything." Parental advisory site.

Matthew Soffe
Official: mygrimmbrother.blogspot.com

Artist, writer, contributor to British small press publications such as Dogbreath, Back From The Depths, Starscape, Paragon, The End is Nigh and Zarjaz. Also a contributor to ongoing webcomic Fratcal Friction.

Bishakh Som
Official: www.hi-horse.com

Som lives and draws in Brooklyn, NY. His Xeric-winning collection Angel will be out in early 2004. His apartment abounds with plaintive cats. Along with Joan, Andrice and Howard he is a founding member of Hi-Horse Publishing.

Zack Soto
Official: www.studygroup12.com

Soto is a printmaker, cartoonist, illustrator and editor of the anthology Studygroup12. His comics and illustrations have appeared in various publications including Kramers Ergot, All About F***in', Kitchen Sink Magazine, Project: Telstar, the website Serializer.net and his own series, The Secret Voice.

Mark Stafford
Link: http://bugpowder.com/stafford/
Uncompromising cartoonist - some great stuff here, well worth checking out.

Dave Stevens
Official: Go
Note: Some of the pages contain artistic nudity, and are not intended for access or viewing by minors. If you are under legal age, or if you find nudity to be offensive or objectionable, or if you are prohibited or restricted from viewing such material, please do not visit this site.

Best known for his "good girl" art - particularly of 1940s model Bettie Page, the subject of a book with James Silke, Queen of Hearts, published in 1995 - and The Rocketeer, first published by Comico, Dave Stevens was born 29 July 1955 in Lynwood, California but sadly died in March 2008.

As soon as he became known in comics fandom comics and animation writer Mark Evanier says "his skills as an artist were instantly evident to all, and he was encouraged by darn near every professional artist who attended the early cons, but especially by Jack Kirby and Russ Manning."

His first work was for Manning when he began editing a line of Tarzan comic books in 1975 which were published in Europe, working on those comics and also assisting Russ with the Tarzan newspaper strip. Soon after, he worked on a few projects for Marvel (including the Star Wars comic, later working on the newspaper strip with Russ), followed by work as a storyboard and layout artist for Hanna-Barbera in 1977, working with another brilliant comics artist veteran artist and brilliant animator Doug Wildey producer of the Godzilla series.

It was around this time that he became briefly involved in a relationship with Laura Molina, for whom he became something of an obsession and the subject of a controversial art project, Naked Dave, to which he strenuously objected to the point of taking legal action. The controversial work has become the focus of much critical study.

In 1982, Dave created The Rocketeer, later a Disney film, the hero Cliff Secord based on himself and his sidekick, Peevy, on photos of Wildey. The comic first appeared as a back up strip in SF title Starslayer in 1981, centering on an aviator, Secord, who becomes a masked hero after stumbling upon a top-secret rocket backpack. Four ensuing solo comics later, The Rocketeer became an underground sensation, considered a hiply square update of old action serials.

The book was stunning but as Evanier acknowledges, Dave was "almost obsessively meticulous" and his many redrafts surely crippled the book's production, even though the final product was a diamond. Dave served as a co-producer on The Rocketeer film but its lack of real commercial success put paid to continuing the character on celluloid or in comics.

Since then Stevens continued to worked on what his official site modestly describes as "miscellaneous cover art and illustrations", as he had since 1985, many of which remain classics to his fans, such as this one, left, for DNAgents in 1986.

His credits also include storyboarding Raiders of the Lost Ark and working with Michael Jackson and director John Landis on the Thriller video.

"Dave was truly one of the nicest people I have ever met in my life," says Evanier, "and was certainly among the most gifted... Most of the time, what emerged from his drawing board or easel was a deeply personal effort.

Jim Starlin
Official: www.starlin.com

Jim Starlin was an artist whose art and writing I followed religiously for several years, from his Warlock saga and Captain Marvel.
His characterisation of the Marvel arch-villain Thanos remains, for me, one of the most chilling comics characters ever. Unfortunately when first visited (July 2003) his site doesn't seem to work well on Macs and the Kid Cosmos site doesn't open either without a plug in my Mac can't seem to identify. Curses!

Lew Stringer
Official: lewcomix.tripod.com
Official Brickman Site: http://brickmancomics.tripod.com
E-mail: lew.stringer@BTinternet.com

The brilliant creator of Tom Thug and Combat Colin (among other characters) Lew has been a professional freelance comic artist & writer since 1984. During that time he's worked for many popular titles, including Viz, Buster, Sonic the Comic and Transformers and UK national newspapers the Daily Star and the Sunday Sport.
As of June 2004 he's currently working on Team Toxic (in the every-three-weekly UK Toxic mag) about a group of monsters in the good old Ken Reid fashion; and script/art on Suburban Satanists (in the 8 times a year Herman Hedning comic published in Norway and Sweden) which is about a family of Satanists. Hopefully that will see publication in the UK or English at some point, because it looks fantastic.

• Buy Brickman Begins! from Amazon.com: Go
• Buy Brickman Begins! from Amazon.co.uk: Go

More Lew Stringer on the Web:
• Read a 2005 interview with Lew: Read More on CWN "Comics and Crumpets"
• Combat Colin fan page: Go

Tony Suleri
ComicSpace: www.comicspace.com/pucky
Independent artist Tony Suleri has a strong European style evocative of Moebius and others. Highly detailed work provides a unique storytelling style. He draws the independent title Bloodlines, written by A R. Grose.

Lee Sullivan
Official: www.leesullivan.co.uk
Probably the definitive Dalek artist, Lee's credits include Doctor Who, Robocop, Transformers, Thunderbirds and many more stunning strips. Always dependable to deliver work on time -- a consummate professional

Lee is, today, the longest-serving semi-regular Doctor Who comic-strip artist across the widest range of titles and media. His Doctor Who career spans Doctor Who Magazine (from 1988), Virgin novel cover for Paul Cornell's Love & War, the Eighth Doctor Radio Times strip written by Gary Russell, the 'Robot' 'N'th Doctor strip (unpublished), BBCi Webcast animation illustrations, Death Comes To Time CD box art,
BBC Website illustrations for The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances, the Doctor Who – Battles in Time strip, colouring on one episode of Doctor Who Adventures and 'Flashback' art for the part work Doctor Who DVD Files.

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