David Mack

David Mack

* The first four paintings are from Daredevil, 2003, and are all mixed media. The next one is called "Swimming Kabuki" on a website and the next one is called "Swamp Thing." The one after that is called "Dreams" and is from Kabuki and the next one is from Alias. Everything else is from Kabuki graphic novels and are in mixed media, except for the two that are only pen and ink. The words were all added later with computer programs, but everything was done by hand with watercolor, acrylic, pen and ink, graphite pencil, and found objects. I was unable to locate dates for any of them, but most likely, they're all from the mid to late 1990s to the 2000s. The first four pictures are all scanned from a Daredevil comic and everything else was found on the World Famous Comics site below...*

*Unfortunately, most of his work, due to the nature of it, doesn't have titles or dates associated with them, but here are some sites where his work can be found:
http://www.davidmack.net/
http://www.worldfamouscomics.com/kabuki/

Biography

David Mack is an internationally-known comic book artist and graphic novelist whose work has earned him much acclaim and awards since his first graphic novel, Kabuki: Circle of Blood, was published when he was 21. He earned a full scholarship to NKU, where he got a major in graphic design/fine arts and a minor in English. While there, he studied Anatomy and Physiology and the Japanese language. Kabuki was turned in as his final thesis and was his calling card to a successful career. In 2000, Marvel Comics hired him to write and illustrate an installment of Daredevil comics and his interpretation of the characters inspired the 2003 movie starring Ben Affleck. He lives and works in his family home in Northern Kentucky and is working with Twentieth Century Fox on the feature film, Kabuki, based on his graphic novels.

*Mack resides nearby and uses mixed media in all of his work. He scans finished pages, which often consist of drawings, watercolors, acrylics, and found objects, into his computer and then adds the text and sends them to his publisher.

* He always loved comics and turned a dream of his into reality, right out of college…

*He uses a model for reference in his work and takes lots of pictures, but his knowledge of musculature is immaculate and, clearly, his studies of Human A & P is evident.

*Despite his acclaim, he’s an incredibly down-to-earth person and a wonderful speaker, always willing to offer advice to fellow artists.

*His novels are published in 7 languages and in 39 countries.

Theme and Style

His work is an amalgam of themes and styles. Some of it is almost photo-realistic and some is incredibly abstract and free-form, but always full of emotion and passion. His brushwork uses splatters and drips to great effect, seemingly making something beautiful out of what others may see as mistakes. His pen and ink drawings are done in the classic "comic book style" but he’ll blend these drawings with more classic paintings…a gaze into any of his graphic novels makes this evident as the style and layout varies with each page. In the back of Kabuki: Skin Deep, he cites Helen Frankenthaler, Piet Mondrian, David Hockney, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Gustav Klimt, Van Gogh, Dr. Suess, Peter Engal, William S. Burroughs, etc. as inspirations.

Analysis

For my analysis, I’m using a page from a chapter of Daredevil entitled Echo: Part 3 (Due to the odd way in which my computer "allowed" me to post pictures, it's the first one at the top of this page, far left, with the side view of a face and a full body underneath). It’s a page with watercolors of Maya, one of the characters, at a time when she’s searching for truth and looking back to her childhood. Traces of graphite can still be spotted underneath some of the paintings, filled with very earthy and warm tones of oranges, yellows, burnt sienna, red-orange, violets and blue-greens. Due to the nature of what it is, the layout itself is interesting. Graphic novel put aside and the word boxes ignored, the pen and ink boxes with triangular borders around parts of the head and, below, the full body, draw attention to certain areas and add more emotion to this piece, as well as simply to contrast the top head with the body more as most of the dark darks are in the hair. The figure studies themselves are exquisite: The shadows and lights are precisely identified and seemingly painted quickly and "in-the-moment" and make the head and figure resplendently volumetric and full of emotion. You quickly get a sense that Maya is looking for something and on a person, intense, even spiritual, journey. The use of leaves and found pieces of paper add a unique touch to the piece and are carefully placed to not detract from the paintings themselves, helping the eye move completely throughout the entire page. It’s clear that this artist loves complex layouts and really wants the viewer to actively participate with the story and be a part of it.

Personal Response

I had the privledge of meeting Mack when I was a senior in high school and, ever since, have been inspired by him. He made me interested in comic books and see the world in a different way as he truly is a person who had a dream and followed it and, inevitably, succeeded. He’s doing that which he loves and living a life full of passion. But, all that aside, his figural studies are incredible. It’s difficult in some respects to describe them because they leave me speechless. Paging through the Daredevil comic in my possession, he amazes me with his use of graphite drawings mixed with pen and ink, with bits of ribbon added for effect and watercolor on top of it all…blending things together that, for many, would quickly become muddied but, for him, are windows to a world of possibility. He conveys people in such a way that you can feel everything about them, it’s almost like you can see every chapter of their life just by looking at their faces and bodies and can see straight to their soul. I love the portrayal of an Indian Chief, full of wrinkles and wisdom, a face that reminds me of an old tree that’s seen the world change and yet he remains planted firmly, a link to the past and yet a guide to the future. Most of the drawings of him are done in graphite pencil, with seemingly quickly-shaded shadows and yet it’s perfect…Mack just amazes me with his wondrous abilities and attention to detail and incredible layouts. Not one drawing or page is similar to another. Though he may draw the same person over and over, the attention to detail and proportion and volume remains the same, whether they are completely painted or simply a line drawing. Like Daredevil, Mack truly is a "man without fear."