Duncan Fegredo: Hellboy Artist

DUNCAN FEGREDO was born in Leicester, in the East Midlands of England. He is currently entertaining readers as the artist on the best-selling Hellboy comics.

Hellboy appeals to comic book fans, movie buffs, horror aficionados, and followers of fantasy. What is more, thanks to its silver screen successes, Hellboy is well known to the mainstream public so therefore just as accessible as a comic book to the bloke on the street

"It's a good time to be a Hellboy fan - Mike Mignola is shepherding an array of new Hellboy related titles onto comic book shelves across the land." Duncan previously commented to me. However, while the accolades reaped over the years are a testament to the work that creator American Mike Mignola has achieved, it cannot be denied that the British comic purchasing public voted Hellboy: Darkness Calls its 2007 Favourite Colour Comic book - American Eagle Award to both Mignola and Fegredo as the creative team.

After completing art studies and briefly contributing to the independent comic Blaam! Duncan broke into British mainstream comics by becoming a regular contributor to Fleetway, initially within its Crisis anthology and then for 2000AD.

One of the original cache of artists chosen to represent the Vertigo imprint, with Enigma, for DC Comics in America, he has also worked for them on books such as Face, Kid Eternity, and as cover artist for Lucifer and Shade, The Changing Man.

Elsewhere, he has contributed interior work to Marvel books, included Spider-Man: Tangled Web, for Oni Press he illustrated film director Kevin Smith's Jay and Silent Bob and Clerks, plus produced cover art on Star Wars and Grendel interiors for Dark Horse, who are the publishers for whom Fegredo is now illustrating Hellboy.

With Helllboy: Darkness Calls having proved a success, and Hellboy II: The Golden Army having played out across the world's cinemas, Mignola and his British artist are now giving us Hellboy: The Wild Hunt.

It's a tale of treacherous huntsmen, mystic visions, newly awakened bands of vicious giants, and a talking bird as Hellboy continues his journey across the rolling hills of England, even as his enemies attempt to resurrect the Queen of Blood.

Duncan spoke enthusiastically of his creative relationship with Hellboy's creator.

"As both a fan of Mike's work and a professional artist I couldn't be happier. I hesitate to gush overly as it'd embarrass Mike! I get to play in Hellboy's rich and textured world and even to expand it to areas we haven't visited yet, meet old friends and enemies, and make new ones too. As a fan that's exciting, as a pro it's enriching.

"Whilst Mike has a very definite idea of his creation and how he wishes the tale to be told he is open to anything I can bring to it, which is great. What is even better is that should Mike want something handling differently he only has to ask and I'll do my utmost to achieve his vision. These aren't abstract editorial changes that have no real bearing on events but actual meaningful changes that affect the emotion and atmosphere of the way the story is told.

"I really feel my work is evolving on Hellboy and that is incredibly satisfying. I think it's down to the deceptively simple manifesto of 'living up to Hellboy', I want Mike to be happy with the book.

"I figure if Mike is happy then the fans will be happy."

And they certainly appear to be. Meanwhile, those looking for more work from Duncan wouldn't go far wrong than to check out both Intersections and Stuff.

"Intersections is my arty book with Sean Phillips. You can order it from Amazon.

"If that whets your whistle for more you could do worse than to check out my book Stuff, literally stuffed full of drawings culled from years of sketchbooks. You can see a sampling at my website, or if you are the impulsive sort buy, buy, buy!"

Amusingly, the artist has no need to go for the hard sell, as he happily let slip, and thus announced, his own plans for the foreseeable future, saying: "I aim to be working with Mike on Hellboy for more series. I think that'll keep me going for some time yet."

For more information on Duncan Fegredo visit: www.fegredo.com and www.cafepress.com/fegredo

To purchase original art by Duncan Fegredo visit: www.splashpageart.com

For more information on Hellboy visit: www.Hellboy.com