Miles Thompson
Saturday, 9 February 2008
Comics changed my life several times. When I was eight my mother took me to town and while we had to wait for a train, I had my first comic encounter in a bookstand. It was Twee Pistolen Kid and I was so excited about it that I refused to move before my mother bought it for me. I loved the comic more than anything else that I had seen so far. It opened up a world for me that I never even dreamed to exist. Apart from the cowboy stories, there was a bonus story in the magazine. In Holland we don’t publish the ad pages, that American comics have, and the empty pages are filled with short stories that have nothing to do with the rest of the comic. In this case it was a mystery story about a man who used a phone booth and discovered he could call up people that were dead. (More about all this later!) This was the beginning of two of my main interests: comics and mysteries. ( Music came later.)
All my life I have been reading, collecting, lettering and even making comics. But my interest started fading away ten years ago or so, and I no longer follow what is being made at this moment. I am more interested in illustrations nowadays than in comics. But I prefer illustrations that are done in a sort of comic style.
Ruud Verkerk gave me the URL of the site of one of his favourite artists: Miles Thompson. I visited the Gallery and liked it very much, but didn’t feel the adrenaline run through my veins. It all looked very much like the work of other artists to me. But then I started reading his blog and couldn’t stop till I had read and seen everything Miles Thompson had published.
Miles Thompson may not be one of the utmost talented artist in the field that he likes to work in, but when I saw all the sketches of female models, his many little side steps and his paintings, I was hooked. He is sure one of the most passionate artist in this area! And talent is often only a small part of the receipt for great art anyway.
Here are some of the drawings that I downloaded from his site, including a self portrait. There is a lot for sale, so for the more fortunate readers of this blog: go take a look!
And here is a video by the Russian band Los Banditos with a song that sort of fits today’s story: