This week, we welcome Uko Smith to the CBFC Artist Spotlight!
Q. Where are you from?
A. Washington, DC
Q. How long you’ve been drawing?
A. Since about the age of 4. Got my first pro gig at 22.
Q. What materials do you prefer to do your art with?
A. Nowadays it’s a mixed media. I don’t do as much graphite work as I used to. From ink, inkwash, acrylics, watercolors, gouache, copic markers, airbrush are now my mediums.
Q. Character you love to draw?
A. I’ve always been drawn to female characters the most.
Q. Character that you want to draw that you haven’t drawn yet?
A. Probably Soundwave from the Transformers. For some reason I loved his character from the cartoon that I grew up on. I have a few of the toys, but have yet to do anything with him.
Q. What artist inspires you the most and why?
A. Artists from Larry Stroman, Frank Frazetta, John Byrne, Bill Sienkiewicz, Eric Canete, Syd Meade, Sorayama, Michelangelo, Robert McGinnis, Patrick Nagel. They each have their own sensibilities that I admire, but the one thing that I see with all is an energy that I work to capture with my work.
Q. What was your first published work?
A. It was a manga published book through CPM Manga. It was edited by CB Cebulski
Q. Which artist would you love to do a collaboration piece with?
A. There’s quite a few, but one that comes to mind is John Beatty. I enjoy the work he has done over the years and even recently. We have become good friends over the last few yrs and and have had some good conversations.
Thank Uko Smith for taking the time to answer a few of our questions! Be sure to give him follow!
Don’t forget to check back next week for our next Artist Spotlight! If you’re an artist and are looking to be featured on our page, please hit me up here. I’d love to hear from you.
-Chris
East Coast Member, Comic Book Fiend Club
Personal quest, search every dollarbin in Philly!