03 Dec Stuart Sayger: Comic Book Nerd
The artistic superpowers of an Indy illustrator
Stuart Sayger heard the siren call of superheroes early. A professional illustrator and comic book creator based in Indianapolis, he has loved reading and drawing comics his entire life.
As you flip through the large portfolios of his art he brings to comic book conventions, you’ll find a drawing he made in first grade — a very muscular, stern Batman is dropping into view, his cape flaring behind him, with a unique version of the Batman logo in the background. The other pages of the portfolio are filled with grownup, professional versions of heroes, villains, monsters and machines.
“This is what I was trying to draw when I was 7 and it’s just taken me 25 years to get good enough to really do it,” says Sayger, pictured above with budding illustrator Noah Laramore.
When he was 13, Sayger typed up a resume and brought it to The Comic Carnival, his local comic book shop. They hired him on the spot to help bag, sort and file comics of all ages and genres. He worked at that shop all through high school and college and was able to examine and study hundreds of thousands of examples of comic books, comic art and graphic novels. The seeds were planted.
After receiving his degree in journalism from Indiana University, Sayger decided to take a year to try his hand at making his own comic book. He wrote, drew and produced the book Shiver in the Dark, and with the help of Diamond comic distributors sold the title around the world. The book received enough interest that Stuart quickly moved forward with issues No. 2 and No. 3 in quick succession.
By this time, he was making enough of an impression in the comic book world that LEGO hired him to draw its Bionicle comic book for two years. Since then he has accumulated clients such as Upper Deck Cards, Microsoft, IDW Comics, Marvel Comic, DC Comics, and Warner Brothers. He most recently has been hired by Legendary Studios to draw two books, Trick or Treat (released October 2015) and Krampas (coming out December 2015).
You are invited to a Comic Book Collector’s Christmas Party on Dec. 11, thrown by comic book artist Stuart Sayger as part of his Artist Showcase.
