Amanda Conner

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Amanda Conner

Conner in June 2011
Born Los Angeles, California
Nationality American
Area(s) Writer, Penciller, Inker
Notable works Power Girl
Gatecrasher
Official website

Amanda Conner is an Irish-American comic book artist and commercial art illustrator. She began her career in the late 1980s for Archie Comics and Marvel Comics, before moving on to contribute work for Claypool Comics' Soulsearchers and Company and Harris Comics' Vampirella in the 1990s. Her 2000s work includes Mad magazine, and such DC Comics characters as Power Girl and Atlee.

Her other published work includes illustrations for The New York Times and Revolver magazine, advertising work for products such as Arm & Hammer, Playskool, and design work for ABC's Nightline, commercials for A&E.'s Biography magazine.

Contents

[edit] Career

Gatecrasher: Ring Of Fire #4 (June 2000). Cover art by Amanda Conner (penciler), Jimmy Palmiotti (inker)

Conner began her career illustrating storyboards for the advertising industry and short comic book stories.[1] Among her earliest comics stories was a one starring the second Yellowjacket in Marvel Comics' Solo Avengers #12 (November 1988), Last Gasp (Strip AIDS U.S.A. in 1988), and Archie Comics (stories for Archie and Bayou Billy in 1989-90).

Eventually for Marvel she penciled issues of the company's licensed series based on the Mattel doll Barbie and on the Walt Disney Company animated television series Gargoyles. In the 1990s, she drew such series as Soulsearchers and Company for Claypool Comics, and Excalibur and writer Steve Gerber's one-shot Suburban Jersey Ninja She-Devils for Marvel. During this time, she worked with Marvel editor and artist Jimmy Palmiotti, who now frequently inks over Conner's pencils.

For Harris Comics' Vampirella, also known as Vampirella Monthly, Conner drafted some of the first issues, collaborating with writers Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, and Warren Ellis. In a similar vein, she illustrated the intercompany crossover Painkiller Jane vs. The Darkness (Event Comics / Top Cow) and went on to work on Painkiller Jane #0 (the origin story). She also wrote and illustrated a story for "Kid Death and Fluffy, and penciled stories for Topps Comics.

Other comic-book credits include Lois Lane, Codename: Knockout, and Birds of Prey for DC Comics as well as Two-Step with writer Warren Ellis for the Cliffhanger! imprint of WildStorm Comics (owned by DC Comics); X-Men Unlimited for Marvel; Gatecrasher, which she co-created for Black Bull Comics; and The Pro, a creator-owned book for Image Comics with Palmiotti and Garth Ennis. In 2005, she illustrated the origin of Power Girl in JSA Classified #1-4. She also penciled a Blade comic to go with the special DVD edition.

Conner signing a copy of The Pro at the 2011 New York Comic Convention.

Her art has appeared on ABC'S Nightline,[citation needed] and in The New York Times[volume & issue needed] and MAD magazine.[1] Conner has also done character designs for film and television, and is featured in a Biography magazine commercial on A&E.[citation needed] She has also done promotional artwork for the reality television series Who Wants to Be a Superhero? and the 2007 feature film Underdog. She does spot illustrations in Revolver magazine[1] each month. Her commercial art work includes illustrations for the New York City advertising agencies Kornhauser & Calene, and Kidvertisers, for such accounts as Arm & Hammer, Playskool, and Nickelodeon.[citation needed]

Conner did modeling/art reference work for the Marvel miniseries Elektra: Assassin in the 1980s, and for artist Joe Jusko's Punisher / Painkiller Jane in 2000. Conner was in the wedding party for writer Kurt Busiek.

Conner, Palmiotti, and writer Justin Gray work together via their multimedia entertainment company PaperFilms. They collaborated on the Terra miniseries, which premiered in November 2009, and the first 12 issues of the Power Girl ongoing series, which were published between 2009 and 2010, both of which Conner penciled.[2][3] Following her departure from Power Girl, Conner wrote and pencilled a story published in Wonder Woman #600, which featured a team-up between Power Girl, Wonder Woman, and Batgirl.

[edit] Technique and materials

Power Girl, from JSA Classified #1 (2005). Art by Amanda Conner.

While reading each page of a script, Conner does tiny thumbnail sketches with stick figures corresponding to the story indicated on each page, in order to help her design the page's layout. She then does a tighter, more elaborate sketch, though still fairly small compared with the finished artwork, and then blows that up on a photocopier to the proper original comic art size, which is 10 inches x 15 inches. She then uses "very tight pencils" to light-box it onto Bristol board, if she intends to have it inked by her husband and collaborator, Jimmy Palmiotti, but will do the pencils "lighter and looser" if she intends to ink it herself, as she already knows how she wants the artwork rendered. When working on one of her own projects, such as The Pro, she prefers to letter the art herself, before the inking stage, as she appreciates the handmade, organic look and feel of hand lettering, in contrast to the computer lettering with which most books are currently produced. As her artwork is open and lacks much shading, Conner feels that Paul Mounts is a compatible colorist for her work, as he achieves "the right amount of bounciness or moodiness, depending on what's needed." Conner has stated that her favorite things to draw are facial expressions and body language.[1]

[edit] Personal life

Conner has lived in Los Angeles, Jacksonville, Florida, and Connecticut.[1] Today she and her husband and frequent collaborator Jimmy Palmiotti[4][5] live in Brooklyn, New York.[1]

[edit] Bibliography

Interior comics art includes:

[edit] Archie

[edit] DC

[edit] Marvel

[edit] Others

  • Kid Death and Fluffy
  • Gatecrasher #1-6
  • Gatecrasher #1-4
  • Painkiller Jane #0
  • Painkiller Jane/Darkchylde #1
  • Painkiller Jane vs. The Darkness #1
  • The Pro
  • Vampirella 25th anniversary special (1996) (Warren Ellis story)
  • Vengeance of Vampirella (1996) Wizard #55 supplemental mini-comic
  • Vengeance of Vampirella (1996) #25
  • Vampirella Death and Destruction (1996) #1-3
  • Vampirella Lives (1996/1997) #1-3
  • Vampirella Monthly (1997) #1-3 ("Ascending Evil") and #7-9 ("Queen's Gambit," (with Billy Tucci's SHI)
  • Vampirella Halloween Trick & Treat (2004)

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f Judith Salavetz and Spencer Drate. Creating Comics!, 2010, Rockport Publishers, pages 34 and 35
  2. ^ "Amanda Conner: Putting the Pencil to Terra", Newsarama, November 4, 2008
  3. ^ Issue #259 (April 2010) of PREVIEWS, pp. 93.
  4. ^ Davis, Lauren. "WC10: Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti", Comic Book Resources, April 5, 2010.
  5. ^ Rogers, Vaneta. "Amanda Conner's POWER GIRL Girl Power", Newsarama, December 7, 2009

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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