logo
livingroom

decorative bar

biographies


corner Last update of this page: September 18th 2004 corner
Eric James Shanower
(October 23, 1963 - living) U.S.A.

Eric Shanower

Artist

separator

Eric was born in Key West, Florida, to James Lowell Shanower and Karen Elizabeth Hietanen. The family soon moved to Hawaii, where they lived on the islands of Kauai and Oahu. The Shanower family subsequently lived in Monterey, CA; Laurel, MD; Norfolk, VA; Port Angeles, WA; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and Novato, CA.

Early in life Eric showed interest in drawing and in creating stories. At six years of age he discovered the series of Oz books by L. Frank Baum (and others) and decided to continue the Oz series with his own books. He began with amatuer efforts, producing several illustrated manuscripts during the next decade. After graduation from Novato (California) High School, he attended the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art in Dover, New Jersey. On the day after graduation, he received his first professional comics assignment, lettering an issue of the comic book Warp, published by First Comics.

His first major published works were the Oz graphic novels, released by First Comics and Dark Horse Comics between 1986 and 1992. They are collected in a single large volume titled Adventures in Oz, published by IDW.

In February 1991, Eric "conceived the idea to tell the story of the Trojan War in the comics medium," aiming to combine "the myriad versions of the Greek myth with the archaeological record" to showcase the tale in "authentic historical detail." This aim manifested in the ongoing comic book Age of Bronze, debuting in late 1998 from Image Comics. The books contain extensive bibliographies, for the story, the setting and historical Troy, drawing on the excavation work Heinrich Schliemann (et al.) and the publication Studia Troica.

He has also drawn a number of one shot comics, such as Ed Brubaker's Prez "Smells Like Teen President", An Accidental Death (also written by Brubaker) published by Fantagraphics in 1993. For Marvel's Epic line, he illustrated The Elsewhere Prince (1990), based on characters created by the French cartoonist Moebius. His work has appeared in magazines throughout the USA and Europe as well as in books and on TV.

Eric won Eisner Awards for best writer-artist in 2001 and 2003, won a Gran Guinigi for Best Serialized Comic in 2006, and was nominated for the Ignatz Award for outstanding artist in 1999, for his work on Age of Bronze.

Eric's activities, aside from drawing comics and illustrations, include reading, swimming, and ballet. He has performed in many theatrical productions over the years. Eric lives in San Diego, California with his partner David Maxine, who runs Hungry Tiger Press, a publisher of Oz books, Oz-related comics and compact discs, which the two started in 1994.

separator

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Website: http://www.ericshanower.com/

Click on the letter S to go back to the list of names

corner © Matt & Andrej Koymasky, 1997 - 2008 corner