Howard Simpson

I am a storyteller. I usually use cartoons and editorial illustrations to tell my stories and other people’s stories. The other people are usually my clients. Who are generally, publishers, advertising agencies and studios. I found some comic books in the basement of the new house that we moved into as I was just about to start school. I decided then, that was what I wanted to do. “That” was a little ambiguous as I could barely write and didn't even know I could draw. In any case, this treasure I found set the course of the rest of my life. I have never concentrated on drawing in one particular style. I draw in the style I need to tell the story of the project or comic book I'm working on at the time. So my style is no style. This probably kept me from getting some jobs, as art directors are never sure what I'm going to do at the time. I consider my drawings invitation to the audience. I want them to bring something to the party, so they take away more than what I may have intended in the drawing. I'm inspired by the early pioneers of cartoon and comic strip art, Windsor McKay, George Herriman, Frank Frazetta, Wally Wood, Jack Davis, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Gil Kane, Alex Toth and many others. The great masters of the comicbook form, Neal Adams, Steranko, Bernie Wrightson, Michael Kaluta, Barry Windsor-Smith as well as the constant new crop of comicbook artists to emerge. I'm also inspired by Renaissance painters, Caravaggio, Palladio, Michelangelo, Rubens and da Vinci.