Featured Artist - Troy Tennard

Vol 4 Issue 1 of Snow Monkey featured the work of Troy Tennard. His statements appear below.

I grew up reading comic books; early on it was Archie Comics, however, as I grew older I moved on to Marvel Comics and to a lesser extent DC Comics. My love affair with comic book art formed early. Over the years I've been exposed to so many incredible artists: Steve Ditko, Sal and John Buscema, Jack Kirby, Pat Broderick, Keith Giffen, Mark Silvestri, Tim Sale, Dave Cockrum, George Perez, John Romita Jr., Frank Miller, Alex Ross, Neal Adams and John Byrne. Three with the biggest impact on me are Jack Kirby, Frank Miller and John Byrne.

As much as I loved comic books I never aspired to draw them for a living. Throughout high school and my early college years I was uncertain as to what I wanted to do with my career, though I knew it would involve art. At Kean University in Union, New Jersey, I discovered other influences and inspirations including Norman Rockwell, Burne Hogarth, Picasso, Maxfield Parrish, Caravaggio, Michelangelo; the styles of Art Deco and Art Nouveau. Thanks in part to the direction of two of my art teachers (Rose Gonella and Joe Jochnowitz) I set out to pursue a career in the field of Illustration. To-date my work has appeared in the following literary magazines, "Potpourri," "Shades of December" and "Ancient Paths."

At this early point in my career I aspire to work full time as a freelance illustrator. As my other passion is music, I hope to eventually move on to illustrating CD covers-that would be a nice marriage of the two.

Most of my work is black and white. I do dabble in color, incorporating watercolor and the computer. Working in color is enjoyable, however black and white has such a strong appeal to me, and black and white illustration, done properly, can have so much more power than color. It has taken me several years to arrive at a style that I feel is uniquely my own, though I expect my work to continue to grow and mature over time.

Art can be such a wonderful experience, can touch so many different people in so many different ways. I feel extremely blessed to have been given this wonderful ability, which basically is just putting lines on a piece of paper. I do hope I am able to similarly bless others--perhaps some will be inspired by my work to produce art of their own, that would be a wonderful thing.