Bernie Wrightson

Born: October 27th 1948, Passed March 18th 2017

Education: correspondence courses from the Famous Artists School

In 1966, Wrightson began working for The Baltimore Sun newspaper as an illustrator. The following year, after meeting artist Frank Frazetta at a comic-book convention in New York City, he was inspired to produce his own stories. He continued to work on a variety of mystery and anthology titles for both DC and, a few years later, its principal rival, Marvel Comics. It was for Marvel's Chamber of Darkness and Tower of Shadows titles where he was first encouraged to slightly simplify his intricate pen-and-ink drawing, and where his lush brushwork, a hallmark of his comics inking in the 1970s, was first evidenced.

n 1975, Wrightson joined with fellow artists Jeffrey Catherine Jones, Michael Kaluta, and Barry Windsor-Smith to form The Studio, a shared loft in Manhattan where the group would pursue creative products outside the constraints of comic book commercialism. Though he continued to produce sequential art, Wrightson at this time began producing artwork for numerous posters, prints, calendars, and even a highly detailed coloring book. He also drew sporadic comics stories and single illustrations for National Lampoon magazine from 1973 to 1983.

Also from 1976 through 1982, Wrightson spent seven years completing what most consider his masterpiece work… approximately 50 detailed pen-and-ink illustrations to accompany an edition of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein.

Concept Art: Heavy Metal, Ghost Busters, Creepshow, The Mist, Galaxy Quest,

Awards:

Wrightson was co-recipient of the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award for 1986, along with Jim Starlin, for his work on Heroes for Hope.

Received the H.P. Lovecraft Award (also known as the "Howie") at the 2007 H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland, Oregon

He received the National Cartoonists Society's award in the category Comic Books for 2012 for Frankenstein Alive, Alive!

He was awarded the Inkwell Award Special Recognition Award in 2015 for his 45-plus years of work, including co-creating DC Comic's Swamp Thing and Frankenstein.

website: http://berniewrightson.com/

Bernie Wrightson History of American Illustration