What is a Narrative Drawing?

Used in page spreads during the 1960s era of comic book illustration, a Narrative Drawing focuses on a singular character with surrounding pictorial elements to symbolize some aspect or stage within a narrative or particular story. These panels were typically - and most impactfully - without written text.

Jack Kirby is a big influencer in my life, notably for his distinct aesthetic, narrative drawing style, and marvelous character designs (like Galactus pictured to the right). His unique method of block-shading, high value contrast, and mark-making is what inspired me at an early age to create an urban and contemporary version of his style, but in my visage.

Jack Kirby's aesthetic is an overstuffed, decorative idea of outer space, which is alive with closely packed stars, planets, and fizzing energy. These illustrative marks are full of disparity, like buzzing static or kinetic power. This frenetic energy is what gives the entire composition life.

"Overstuffed" is a descriptive word that I liken to my style: zoomed-in, tight compositions, with eradicated expanses of pattern-work, nonsensical doodles, and mark-making. Using an array of mixed media, I am able to flow and play. These layers synthesize together into an amalgamation of chaotic and wild energy - a feeling that emanates in all my works, from my sketchbook pages to my recent thesis, The Pantheon. 

Take a look at my post-graduate Narrative Drawings with my urban tribal aesthetic. 

What are they saying to you?