Reference makes all the difference

I rely heavily on reference as an artist. I study skulls, taxidermy forms, muscle charts, life sketches, photos I take, and photos I collect.

One of my earliest and most enduring inspirations is wildlife photographer Michael “Nick” Nichols—dubbed the Indiana Jones of photography. His tiger images are raw, wild, and full of truth.

While sketching the scene of Amba pinned by the NKVD beneath railroad ties, I struggled with the expression. The first drafts were too proud, too strong. Then I remembered one of Nick’s haunting images from a 1997 National Geographic piece: Making Room for Wild Tigers.

It had exactly what I was searching for—desperation and defiance. That photo became the reference I needed for the tiger’s expression.

Make it your own:

As artists, we have to reach beyond our own experience. Use reference. Study the world, but always make it your own.

If you haven’t seen Nick Nichols’ work, I highly recommend his book A Wild Life:

If you haven’t seen Nick Nichol’s work, I highly recommend his book A Wild Life: a visual biography of photographer Michael Nichols

New pages every Monday and Thursday at www.ghostofthegulag.com

I’m back and so is the comic!

Thank you for patiently waiting for Ghost of the Gulag to return. I never wanted to stop creating pages but ultimately my role as a director at Disney Animation on Moana 2 demanded too much time and effort. I hope you all saw and enjoyed the film it was almost 4 years of work. But in the dark recesses of my brain I kept mulling over the story of Gulag and how I would finish Volume 3. This violent and dramatic story has always been an odd form of therapy. I see myself as both the wolf and the tiger. It’s a project I’ve made for myself and not for any studio. Every ink line, dialogue line and brush stroke are done solely by me.

To reset my brain and return creatively to the Taiga I went to one of my favorite places in the world to watch wild wolves: Yellowstone National Park.

This will be the final Volume and I have it mapped out and mostly written. It will be action packed, gory, emotional and hopefully cathartic. I will try and deliver one to two pages a week dropping on Mondays.

This is a passion project but you can support the work by spreading the word or purchasing the print versions of Vol.1 and Vol.2 on my Etsy store. https://davidderrickjr.etsy.com