Bill Sienkiewicz

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Bill Sienkiewicz

Sienkiewicz at the Big Apple Con, November 15, 2008.
Born Boleslav William Felix Robert Sienkiewicz[1]
May 3, 1958 (1958-05-03) (age 51)
Blakely, Pennsylvania
Nationality American
Area(s) Writer, Penciller, Inker
Notable works Stray Toasters
Elektra: Assassin
New Mutants
Awards full list
Official website

Boleslav Felix Robert "Bill" Sienkiewicz [pronounced sin-KEV-itch][2] (born May 3, 1958,[1][3]) is an Eisner Award-winning American artist best known for his comic book work, primarily for Marvel Comics' The New Mutants and Elektra: Assassin. Sienkiewicz often utilizes oil painting, collage, mimeograph and other forms generally uncommon in comic books.

Contents

[edit] Early life and career

Sienkiewicz was born May 3, 1958 in Blakely, Pennsylvania.[1] He moved with his family to Hainesville, New Jersey, when he was five years old.[4] There he attended elementary and secondary school. He later attended the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts in Newark, New Jersey.[1]

Sienkiewicz began drawing "when [he] was about four or five",[4] and continued doing and learning about art throughout his childhood. His early comic-book influences include artist Curt Swan Superman comics, and artist Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four.[4] After art school, Sienkiewicz brought a portfolio of his work to DC Comics' art director Vince Colletta. The artist recalled in 1985...

“ They didn't have any work for me, but that didn't bother me. I just figured that if comics didn't work out I'd have done advertising or illustration. Vinnie called [renowned comics and advertising artist] Neal Adams, who put me in touch with [Marvel Comics editor-in-chief] Jim Shooter. Soon after that I was drawing Moon Knight (in The Hulk [black-and-white comics] magazine".[4] ”

Sienkiewicz broke into the comics business at age 19[5] with an art style heavily influenced by Neal Adams' work.

[edit] Later career

Stray Toasters #3. Front and back covers by Sienkiewicz.

Sienkiewicz continued as artist of the Moon Knight color comics series, starting with the first issue (November 1980). Four years later, after a stint as artist on the Fantastic Four, he became the artist on Marvel's X-Men spin-off New Mutants, beginning with issue #18 (August 1984), producing cover paintings and character designs. From this period on, Sienkiewicz's art evolved into a much more expressionistic style, and he began experimenting with paint, collage, and mixed media. He illustrated New Mutants from 1984–1985.

Sienkiewicz produced covers for a range of Marvel titles, including Rom, Dazzler, The Mighty Thor, Return of the Jedi and The Transformers, and drew the comic adaptation of Dune.

Sienkiewicz's own first writing credit was for the painted story "Slow Dancer" in Epic Illustrated magazine in 1986. Sienkiewicz both wrote and illustrated the 1988 miniseries Stray Toasters, an idiosyncratic work published by Epic about a criminal psychologist investigating a series of murders.

He illustrated the 1986-87 eight-issue miniseries Elektra: Assassin written by Frank Miller. After which, he collaborated with writer Andrew Helfer on the first six issues of DC Comics The Shadow series. In 1988, he contributed to the Brought to Light graphic novel with writer Alan Moore. In 1990, Sienkiewicz and Moore published the first two issues of the uncompleted series Big Numbers. Sienkiewicz painted the Classics Illustrated adaptation of the novel Moby-Dick.

In 2007, he pencilled 30 Days of Night: Beyond Barrow. In 2008, Sienkiewicz illustrated a story for The Nightmare Factory - Volume 2 graphic novel.

[edit] Other work

In addition to his work in comics, Sienkiewicz has also worked in numerous other media. In 1995, he illustrated the Martin I. Green biography of Jimi Hendrix, Voodoo Child: The Illustrated Legend of Jimi Hendrix. The following year he provided the artwork for the Bruce Cockburn album The Charity of Night, and went on to provide album covers for RZA's Bobby Digital in Stereo (1998) and EPMD's Business as Usual (1990).

He once again collaborated with Green in 1998, to produce a children's book, Santa, My Life & Times". His artwork has been published in magazines including Entertainment Weekly and Spin Magazine.

In 1989, Sienkiewicz painted the art for the "Friendly Dictators" card set published by Eclipse Comics which portrayed various foreign leaders such as Mobutu Sese Seko, Ferdinand Marcos, and Anastasio Somoza.

In 2004, Sienkiewicz contributed to card art for VS System, a collectible card game published by Upper Deck Entertainment.

In 2006, Sienkiewicz designed the layout and art for The Venture Bros. season one DVD set. He also designed the cover art for the season three DVD and Blu-ray set. Still in 2006, Sienkiewicz teamed with Neal Adams to create art for former Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters. Their artwork was utilized as video projections for live performances of Waters' "Leaving Beirut."

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] DC Comics

[edit] Covers only

[edit] Marvel Comics

[edit] Covers only

[edit] Other publishers

[edit] Other work

[edit] Media

[edit] Trading Cards

  • VS System, various sets
  • Big Budget Circus (Eclipse Enterprises)
  • Friendly Dictators (Eclipse Enterprises)
  • Coup D’Etat (Eclipse Enterprises)
  • Rock Bottom Awards (Eclipse Enterprises)
  • Marvel Masterpieces, Series 2 and Series 3, assorted cards

[edit] Awards

Sienkiewicz was twice nominated for an Emmy Award, in 1995 and 1996, for his production and character design on Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?.[citation needed]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Sienkiewicz bio at Lambiek.net's Comiclopedia.
  2. ^ Letters page, Fantastic Four #227 (February 1981).
  3. ^ Comics Buyer's Guide #1485; May 3, 2002; Page 29
  4. ^ a b c d Marvel Age' #53 (July 1985): "The Marvel Age Interview: Bill Sienkiewicz", pp. 20-22
  5. ^ Shooter, Jim. "Introduction," Moon Knight Special Edition Vol. 1, No. 1 (November 1983).
  6. ^ a b c d e f g wordsandpictures.org. "Bill Sienkiewicz-Awards, Exhibits". http://www.wordsandpictures.org/Elektra/elektra19.html. 
  7. ^ a b Immagine-Centro Studi Iconografici. "17° SALONE, 1986" (in Italian). http://www.immaginecentrostudi.org/saloni/salone17.asp. 

[edit] External links

Preceded by
John Byrne		 Fantastic Four artist
1980–1981		 Succeeded by
John Byrne
Preceded by
Sal Buscema		 New Mutants artist
1984–1985		 Succeeded by
Steve Leialoha
Preceded by
Scott Hanna		 Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man inker
1995		 Succeeded by
Al Milgrom
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Sienkiewicz"