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Biography
| For as long as John Floyd can remember, he loved to draw. As a child he drew superheroes, monsters, machines and dragons. He started collecting comics when he was around 6 years old and the Fantastic Four was his favorite. Jack Kirby was and still is his idol. When he was 9 he wrote to Marvel saying that what he wanted most for his tenth birthday was an original drawing by Jack, and even though he didn’t work there anymore they forwarded the letter on to California. When John received a drawing from Jack in the mail, it “changed my life forever. From then on I was determined to become a comic book artist.” At age 11, John began publishing a comic book which ran for 5 issues. He went on to study art at North Carolina School of the Arts, East Carolina University, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and graduated from The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art in New Jersey.
John’s comic book career started with a brief stint as a blue line colorist for Marvel and Continuity. Then he became Joe Sinnott’s assistant, inking his backgrounds on Thor. Joe had always been John’s favorite inker since childhood and it was a privilege to get to work with him. Next he assisted Dan Panosian on Green Lantern Mosaic and other titles. He was personally chosen by Barry Windsor-Smith to be his inker and received art training from him at his studio. He did inking and finished art with Barry on Rune, Archer and Armstrong, Eternal Warrior, and Wildstorm Rising. For five years he inked various Batman titles for DC: Batman, Detective Comics, Shadow of the Bat, Legends of the Dark Knight, and Batman Chronicles, and was the regular inker on Batman: Gotham Knights from the first issue through issue 49. Other inking credits include Conan and Silver Surfer for Marvel and Eternal Warriors for Acclaim, working with such artists as Denys Cowan, Rafael Kayanan, Doug Wheatley and Dale Eaglesham. In 2007, John returned to one of his favorite characters with the six-part "Origin of the Joker" storyline in Batman Confidential which will be collected in hardcover. John's film career began when he moved to Wilmington, NC, to pursue work as a storyboard artist. Though he had no prior experience, within six months he landed his first film. Director Martha Coolidge recognized his talent and hired him to work on "Rambling Rose," which was nominated for 2 academy awards - for best actress (Laura Dern) and best supporting actress (Diane Ladd). John's storyboards can be seen on the "Rambling Rose" special edition DVD and the laser disk. Next he did the storyboards for "Hellraiser III" which he enjoyed, having been a fan of the first two films. A Kung Fu movie, "Bloodmoon," followed, as did the network television sci-fi flick, "Target Earth," and the yet to be produced "The Cowboy and The Cossack." His latest film work includes drawing the storyboards for "Tristyn's Trumphet" and painting the poster/DVD cover and designing the crew t-shirt for the horror film, "The Mill." John's areas of expertise are comic book penciling and inking, pen and ink illustration, airbrush and watercolor painting, portraiture, and storyboards. He lists his influences as Jack Kirby, Barry Windsor-Smith, Steranko, Gil Kane, Joe Sinnott, Joe Kubert , Jim Lee, P. Craig Russell, Neal Adams, Bernie Wrightson, Paul Gulacy, Jim Starlin, Rich Corben, Moebius, H.R. Giger, and Salvador Dali. His future plans are to pursue more illustration work and to finally get around to writing and drawing the adventures of the comic book characters he has created over the years. To contact John about rates and availability or to comment on his work, John states: “There’s nothing I enjoy more than artwork!” He is happiest when he is in his studio surrounded by his art.
All artwork on this site is shown purely as examples of John Floyd’s art. A special word of thanks to the editors who have hired me and the artists who have hired or recommended me to ink their work in comics. And thanks to the film directors, art directors, screenwriters, and producers I’ve collaborated with in films. It was a pleasure to work with all of you. John |
