iFanboy Upstarts: John “Roc” Upchurch

There’s more than one way to draw Superman. Or anyone for that matter. And while other forms of illustration-based mass entertainment like animation force artists to adere to a house style, comics allow artists the latitude to be different. And this week’s iFanboy Upstarts.

Atlanta-based artist John “Roc” Upchurch has been working a half dozen years and is just now getting the chance to be one of those “overnight successes.” He looks to be doing that as artist of the upcoming Image series Rat Queens with writer Kurtis J. Weibe, which chronicles a quarter of whip-smart women in sword-and-sandals time in a quest for “gold, guts and grog.” It’s a story that makes the most of Upchurch’s rambunctious style that is sexy and seedy without going over the line.

Upchurch got his start at the young age of 3, aping the movements of his father, also an artist, beside him. In school he was “that guy,” the artist in the class everyone asked to draw them something. After graduating high school, Upchurch moved to Georgia to attend the Art Institute of Altanta for computer animation and later got a job working as a concept artist for a video game company in the area. But Upchurch had a passion for comic books, and took to doing small-press independdent books like Deep Blue for a company called Mythic Comics, and built up to get his first professional work drawing the Image series Vescell in 2011. Although that work didn’t grab fans by the throat, iIn 2011 while attending Comic-Con International: San Diego in promoting Vescell, he bumped into his future Rat Queens partner and they’ve been working on this 2013 debut ever since.

In addition to his upcoming comics work with Rat Queens, Upchurch is a very active illustrator offering commissions for fans. Here’s a sample of his various work, including his great commissions and sketches.