Kent Williams (artist)

American painter and graphic novel artist

Kent Williams

Born| Kent Robert Williams
1962
New Bern, North Carolina
Nationality| American
Area(s)| Artist

Notable works

| Blood: A Tale
Hellblazer
Kent Williams: Drawings & Monotypes
Koan: Paintings by Jon J Muth & Kent Williams
Kent Williams, Amalgam: Paintings & Drawings, 1992-2007
Awards| Yellow Kid Award
kentwilliams.com

Kent Robert Williams (born 1962)[1] is an American painter and graphic novel artist.

Williams, a draftsman and painter, has realized his work through various other artistic channels as well; that of the illustrated word and the graphic novel (including The Fountain with filmmaker Darren Aronofsky), printmaking, photography, design, architecture, and film. A selection of his works on paper, Kent Williams: Drawings & Monotypes, was published in 1991, and Koan: Paintings by Jon J Muth & Kent Williams, was published in 2001. His monograph, Kent Williams, Amalgam: Paintings & Drawings, 1992-2007, with text by Edward Lucie-Smith and Julia Morton, is the most comprehensive collection of Williams' work to date.

## Early life

[edit]

Williams was born in New Bern, North Carolina.[2] He attended the Pratt Institute in New York City[3] and graduated in 1984.[2]

## Comics

[edit]

From 1983 to 1985, Kent Williams was a regular contributor to Marvel Comics' Epic Illustrated. He collaborated with writer J. M. DeMatteis on Blood: A Tale in 1987 and with writers Walt and Louise Simonson and co-artist Jon J Muth on Havok and Wolverine: Meltdown the following year.[1] The latter series was a result of Williams and Muth's desire to work on a project together.[4] Williams was the regular cover artist for DC Comics' Hellblazer in 1990–1991.[5] Comics historian Les Daniels noted that Williams' "impressionistic painting style is an example of the new look that DC's Vertigo line brought to comics."[6] Williams drew the "Fear of Falling" short story for Vertigo Preview #1 (1993) which featured the Sandman and was written by Neil Gaiman.[7] In 2006 he illustrated a graphic novel adaptation of The Fountain from the script by filmmaker Darren Aronofsky.[8]

## Teaching

[edit]

Kent Williams was a visiting instructor at the Pratt Institute, and has taught at the California College of the Arts, San Francisco; East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, and the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), Valencia, California. Williams lives in Los Angeles and teaches painting at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. In addition, he is an MFA mentor faculty at the Laguna College of Art and Design.

## Personal life

[edit]

He is currently living and working in Los Angeles with his partner Soey Milk.

## Exhibitions

[edit]

His work has been the subject of a number of solo exhibitions including shows in New York City; San Francisco; Sundance, Utah; the Nasher Museum of Art, Durham, North Carolina;[9] in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he is represented by Evoke Contemporary Gallery;[10] and in Los Angeles, where he is represented by The Merry Karnowsky Gallery.[11] His painting Trace Double-Portrait was exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., as part of the Outwin Boochever 2006 Portrait Exhibition.[12]

## Awards

[edit]

Williams is the recipient of a number of awards for his work, including the Yellow Kid Award, Lucca, Italy's comics award.[13] In 2001, he was invited to be a fellow at the Sundance Filmmakers Lab in Sundance, Utah.[14]

## Comics bibliography

[edit]

### Byron Preiss Visual Publications

[edit]

* The Ray Bradbury Chronicles #1 (1992)

### Darkstorm Productions

[edit]

* Darkstorm #1, 2 (1982)

### DC Comics

[edit]

* Batman Black and White #2 (1996)
* Sandman Special #1 (one page) (1991)
* Tell Me, Dark GN (1992)

#### Paradox Press

[edit]

* The Big Book Of Urban Legends (1994)

#### Piranha Press

[edit]

* Prince: Alter Ego #1 (1991)

#### Vertigo

[edit]

* Death Gallery #1 (one page) (1994)
* Destiny: A Chronicle of Deaths Foretold #1–3 (1996)
* Fight for Tomorrow #1–6 (2002–2003)
* Flinch #4 (1999)
* The Fountain GN (2005)
* Shade, the Changing Man vol. 2 #50 (one page) (1994)
* Vertigo Preview #1 (1993)
* Vertigo: Winter's Edge #2 (1999)

### Eclipse Comics

[edit]

* Eclipse Magazine #3, 7 (1981–1982)
* Sabre #7, 8 (1983)

### Last Gasp

[edit]

* Strip AIDS U.S.A. (1988)

### Marvel Comics

[edit]

* The Brotherhood #1–3, 7–9 (2001–2002)
* Marvel Fanfare #40 (one page) (1988)
* Uncanny X-Men #252 (1989)
* Wolverine: Killing (1993)

#### Epic Comics

[edit]

* A1 vol. 2 #3 (1992)
* Blood: A Tale #1–4 (1987)
* Clive Barker's Book of the Damned: A Hellraiser Companion #4 (1993)
* Clive Barker's Hellraiser #1, 4 (1989–1990)
* Epic Illustrated #19, 29, 33 (1983–1985)
* Havok & Wolverine \- Meltdown #1–4 (1988–1989)
* Shadowline Saga: Critical Mass #3 (1990)

### New Media Publishing

[edit]

* The Comic Times, Media Showcase #7 (1981)

### Pacific Comics

[edit]

* Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers #12 (backup story) (1983)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Bails, Jerry; Ware, Hames. "Williams, Kent". Who's Who of American Comic Books 1928-1999. Archived from the original on November 22, 2013. Retrieved November 21, 2013.
2. ^ a b "Interview with Kent Williams". BAK. 2010. Archived from the original on May 10, 2013. Retrieved November 21, 2013.
3. ^ "Kent Williams". Lambiek Comiclopedia. 2013. Archived from the original on May 6, 2012. Retrieved November 21, 2013.
4. ^ "The many faces of comics world's Kent Williams". GMA News Online. November 1, 2012. Archived from the original on August 8, 2018. "The 1988 four-parter Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown came about because Williams wanted to work with Jon J. Muth, and they developed the story with the writers. Williams worked on the Wolverine art while Muth did the Havoc art."
5. ^ Irvine, Alex (2008), "John Constantine Hellblazer", in Dougall, Alastair (ed.), The Vertigo Encyclopedia, London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley, pp. 102–111, ISBN 978-0-7566-4122-1, OCLC 213309015102-111&rft.pub=Dorling+Kindersley&rft.date=2008&rft_id=info:oclcnum/213309015&rft.isbn=978-0-7566-4122-1&rft.aulast=Irvine&rft.aufirst=Alex&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Kent+Williams+(artist)" class="Z3988">
6. ^ Daniels, Les (1995). DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes. New York, New York: Bulfinch Press. p. 226\. ISBN 0821220764.
7. ^ Bender, Hy (1999). The Sandman Companion. New York, New York: DC Comics. p. 270\. ISBN 978-1563894657.
8. ^ Cowsill, Alan; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "2000s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 327\. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. `{{cite book}}`: `|first2=` has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
9. ^ "Kent Williams". Allen Spiegel Fine Arts. n.d. Archived from the original on November 22, 2013. Retrieved November 21, 2013.
10. ^ "Kent Williams: Ophthalm". Santa Fe Gallery Association. 2013. Archived from the original on November 22, 2013. Retrieved November 21, 2013.
11. ^ "Press". Los Angeles, California: The Merry Karnowsky Gallery. n.d. Archived from the original on May 14, 2013. Retrieved November 21, 2013.
12. ^ "Exhibition Finalists". Washington, D.C.: National Portrait Gallery. 2006. Archived from the original on June 22, 2013. Retrieved November 21, 2013.
13. ^ "Kent Williams: figure drawings and paintings". Figurativepainters.com. 2013. Archived from the original on November 22, 2013. Retrieved November 21, 2013.
14. ^ "Kokoro". Sundance.org. 2001. Archived from the original on November 22, 2013. Retrieved November 21, 2013.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website
* Kent Williams at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
* Kent Williams at the Grand Comics Database
* Kent Williams at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
* Kent Williams at Library of Congress, with 8 library catalog records

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* FAST
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* United States
* Czech Republic
* Korea
* Poland

Artists|

* ULAN

Other|

* IdRef