| Vance: Dan lets go back to the beginning, When did you start drawing?
Dan: Legend has it that I could draw before I could talk. I remember being about 4 or 5 years old… sitting in front of the TV..watching the 6p news when my Dad got home from work… upset that he turned off cartoons.. bored out of my mind…so I would draw the news anchors. Around the age of 4 or 5 I would draw images I would see in coloring books. Soon after that I quickly got bored with the options I had to color in your average coloring book so I would draw my own. Drawing has been a part of my life from the beginning.
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Vance: What was your favorite thing to draw as a kid?
Dan: When I was 5-7 years old it was Garfield. After that it was Voltron, then after that it was pretty much any comic book character you could think of.
Vance: Were you always into comic books heroes?
Dan: I always loved Spider-man. I remember being about 5 and taking a Spider-man coloring book with me to King’s Island in Cincinnati. I was more interested in coloring that book than being at King’s Island. My Dad and I used to watch the Incredible Hulk TV series together when I was very young. But my true love of comic books didn’t explode until I was 12 years old. I was deeply depressed after John Elway drove 98 yards in the 1987 AFC Championship game to knock the Browns out of the Super Bowl. The next day I was so depressed I stayed home from school. My mom took me with her to the pharmacy (probably to buy me anti-depressants) and I discovered the classic spinning comic book rack. Amazing Spider-man #298 saved my young life that day. I’ve been a comic-book junkie ever since.
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| Vance: Star Wars or Star Trek?
Dan: As a kid it was Star Wars. I hated Star Trek. It was too slow.. too dull.. too uninteresting. But as I get older I grow more and more attached to the Star Trek mythology and have grown to like Star Trek as much as Star Wars. I believe there is a place for both in everyone’s life. However, If I was told I could only have one to watch until the end of my days…I’d choose Star Wars.
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Vance: Did you always know you were going to be involved in art as an adult?
Dan: Yes. I knew I would become an Illustrator from day one. There has never been a doubt in my mind what I was put here to do.
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Vance: What was your worst job ever.
Dan: I don’t know if I’ve ever had a “worst job ever” because every job that I’ve had, that was not related to Illustration in some way, has been terrible for me. AND..every job I’ve ever had I believe is the worst one ever at the time I have it. I just hate not being able to create artwork 24-7. The fact that I am still at a point where I have to hold down a legitimate job is abhorrent to me, but you have to do what you have to do. I’m approaching a crossroads in my life where I will soon be forced to make a decision about which direction my life will take. I am getting to the point where, if I scale my life back to a certain point, I MIGHT be able to live off of my artwork and tell the desk job to go f&%k itself. My hope is that 5 years from now I am doing nothing but artwork… and never answering to anybody but myself..ever again.
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Vance: What is your favorite thing to draw?
Dan: I love to draw anything and everything. Even the most mundane objects, locations or people can be a lot of fun to draw. Once you sit down and begin the mental process of transposing what you see in 3 dimensions to recreating a 3 dimensional looking world in 2D on paper… even a rock can become very interesting and quite a challenge.
Vance: What has been your favorite art project.
Dan: Right now I am working with Gary Friedrich (Creator of Ghost Rider) and Robert Kraus (Creator of Chakan) on some new Ghost Rider stories which Gary is going to self-publish. I am contributing artwork to his new project and also doing some writing. It’s been a blast working on a character as well known and popular as Ghost Rider and I can’t wait for the books to be finished. They are going to be in a “Graphic Novella” format… more of a collection of Illustrated short stories rather than your classic comic book panel to panel format. This has been quite a lot of fun working with Gary and RAK and having the opportunity to play with a character like Ghost Rider. In addition to that I created about 100 original sketch cards for Breygent Marketing’s “Golden Age of Comics Super Heroes and Villains” collectible trading card set and their “Classic Sci-Fi/Horror Movie Poster” set. That was a lot of fun and I hope to continue to create original sketch card artwork for many other sets down the road.
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Vance: Going forward what kind of projects are you looking to accomplish.
Dan: Soon I will be finishing a 3 book series within a series for RAK graphics’ “Chakan: Journey of 100 Candles Saga”. This is another group of books done in the “Graphic Novella” format. I am working on a story called “The Balancing Act” which introduces a character I co-created with J. Alan Miller called “Balance.” Once these stories are done I will be writing and Illustrating my own books in the same format featuring Balance. I’m also hoping to do many more Ghost Rider books with RAK and Gary. In addition I am creating a series of ATC’s (Artist Trading Cards)called “FanToons” which you see me with at every convention I attend. I’m working on a sub-series within that series called “the Carnival of Crazy” which feature Illustrations of pop culture icons in twisted and insane scenarios. “Serial Killer Ronald McDonald”, “Hit man Mr. Clean” and “Welcome to Jonestown Kool-Aid Man” have been hugely popular for me. I have a bunch of new ideas for that series and I should be cranking those out in the coming year.
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Vance: What do you like to do other than art?
Dan: I am a huge Cleveland Sports fan and I watch Football religiously. I am in a couple Fantasy Football Leagues every year so I spend some time with that every fall. I love to attend conventions and talk to people about my work. I also hang out with a Ghost Hunt group called “Team SPECTRE” and attend the occasional overnight paranormal investigation. I have a wide range of interests so I keep myself busy.
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Vance: Where do you get your inspiration from?
Dan: Inspiration can strike at any moment. You never know when you are going to see something that triggers a thought or an idea and you know you have to try and get it down on paper. I would have to say that I get most of my inspiration looking at what other talented Illustrators are doing. When I see guys like Ken Kelly or Dave Dorman’s work I get highly motivated because they are just so damn good. While I have a different style than they do It still prods me forward to get better at what I do. Pretty much everything I see inspires me to some degree. Ideas are all over the place. I try and stay ready to catch one at all times!
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To Check out more of Dan Gorman and his work you can visit him at his website at www.dangormanart.com/.
You can also go see what he is up to on his facebook page Daniel P Gorman Studios.
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