iFanboy Upstarts: Victor Drujiniu

Comics has truly become a global phenomenon, and the American comic industry is pulling from all corners in terms of talent to put on its book. We’ve seen “invasions” of artists from England and South America, but today’s iFanboy Upstart comes from a surprising place: Romania.

Hailing from the region known as Transylvania, artist Victor Drujiniu got his start doing piecemeal work for the Brazilian artist’s stable Lynx Studio in the mid 00s, but quickly got the attention of Zenescope’s Raven Gregory who tapped him to do his first solo assignment, Tales From Wonderland: Alice. After working for the cheesecake-heavy Zenescope for two years, he did the memorable indie series The Waking at the publisher which showed a new take on the zombie myth with the zombies seeking revenge. That four issue series quickly found its way into the offices of Dark Horse, who roped the Romanian artist in to draw the comic adaptation to 2010’s Predator movie. After that the publisher quickly put him to work on its revamped series The Occultist, but not before the artist did a quick back-up story in Incredible Hulks #617 focused on Amadeus Cho. Drujiniu is currently finishing up his run on The Occultist and actively pursuing bigger titles both at Dark Horse and elsewhere.

As you can see from the art shown, Drujiniu carries a very shadowy art style reminiscent of the heavy blacks and rendering of David Finch or a more reined in Stephen Platt. He also shows an intense researcher’s eye with his ability to draw likenesses as seen in his Predators adaptation. Drujiniu’s art style has changed significantly in the four years he’s been a professional comics artist, so his next projects could show him to continue to refine his work as he grows in stature.