iFanboy Upstarts: Michael Komarck

In the past, all of our iFanboy Upstarts have only attained their level of talent by working for years in comics. But in this week’s edition, we find an artist whose comics debut showed him already amongst the major leagues. Currently doing covers for Marvel’s The Incredible Hulk and Ultimate Comics The Ultimates, digital painter Michael Komarck  worked for almost two decades outside of comics before he made this debut in in 2010.

Michigan-based Michael Komarck had risen through the ranks in commercial art. A self-professed college dropout, Komarck started out as a graphic designer and children’s book illustrator under his own company. After spending years doing covers for more docile books like business and self-help books, in 2003 Komarck got noticed by fantasy prose publishers and jumped into the industry in a big way doing covers for George R.R. Martin’s A Game Of Thrones. With that, his new career as a fantasy illustrator blossomed, doing covers for various publishers and also being pulled into doing illustrations for RPG books and card games like Magic: The Gathering. After years of doing that work, comics publisher Dark Horse took notice and put him to work doing covers for their relaunch of the Gold Key comics line flagship Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom. Although that series ultimately withered short of a dozen issues, Marvel quickly took notice and offered Komarck lower tier cover work like the Marvel Zombies Supreme and Skaar: King of the Savage Land. Using his expertise at fantasy illustration combined with the kinetic world of comics, Komarck fit in nicely and Marvel recently pushed the artist into doing covers for The Incredible  Hulk and Ultimate Comics The Ultimates beginning this summer.

Although he’s not an interior comics artist (yet), Komarck’s work fits well in the pantheon of painters to do work in comics like Alex Ross and Clayton Crain. His work is hyper-realistic without being stuffy or in-animate the way some painters’ work tends to veer, and seems like an ideal candidate to have years of comics work ahead of him.

 

Comments

  1. Some of those images are for the upcoming issues of The Ultimates, a much better cover artist than Kaare Andrews!

  2. That is the coolest I’ve ever seen Captain America. Man I love that pic.

  3. Holy crap, these are awesome. Thanks for posting his stuff…I will definitely be looking out for his work now.

  4. Underwater Hulk is a nice image.

  5. This stuff is gorgeous…

  6. That hulk in the water is impressive.

  7. wow, really good stuff!

  8. Guys f@#kn’ amazing, anyone know if he paints then photoshops? Cause this stuff is beautiful.

  9. I have his A Song of Ice and Fire calendar hanging in my office, and it’s GORGEOUS. http://www.amazon.com/Song-Ice-Fire-2012-Calendar/dp/0345525426/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1338362234&sr=8-2 If you click on the cover, you can see some of the interior art.