Meeting the Extraordinary -- Interview With Amin Amat

I've been blessed to have a life filled with having met and having the privilege of knowing some extraordinary people from all walks of life. One of them, Amin Amat, is an example of a highly talented artist in today's times, that no one should overlook or under estimate. It is a fact, that Amin is considered one of the top ten comic book artists in the industry today.

I've often found that those who stand behind the visual portion of stories and bring life to both literature of all kinds, including and especially comic books, are really unique individuals, such as I know Amin to be.

Having watched Amin at work, I know that professionally his job is like many creative jobs, a sometimes very solitary pursuit, easily conducted behind the closed doors of a home office or studio. While artistically this is a very enticing and rewarding life, it can be especially tough for those first starting out. It's a very competitive market that is fraught with bright-eyed eager freelancers, who are more than willing to work for bargain basement rates, to get their own feet in the door of success.

Amin is someone who has paid his dues, and his hard work has paid off. He's an example of a skilled artistic creator, who had a mind of his own and a path, that he had the guts to follow. He easily could have worked for some big name corporation or studio, yet chose to strike out on his own. He's a shining example of what vision, perseverance, and focused talent can achieve.

Let's Learn More About This Talented Comic Book Artist!

I’m an alumni of SVA (School of Visual Arts) in New York City. After graduating, I was still adjusting to post college life, and I started a book called Second Soul with Scott Brown. That was my first graphic novel experience. It was quite a learning curve for me in terms of the work I had to put in, the frustrations of time vs. what I wanted to draw. I finished it, but I know it could have been better. Which is what I did for a few years afterwards.

It wasn’t until 2004 or so, that I started doing work that I was happier with it. That work ended up being in Peace Party #4 from Bluecorn Comics. Working with Rob Schmidt was also a learning experience and a great one! He’s a good guy! After Peace Party, I took a 2 year sabbatical to get things in perspective and late 2006 dove back in comics again.

My first gig at that moment was drawing Buckaroo Banzai for Moonstone Books in Chicago. Since then I’ve been working with them. A great crew!

I’ll speak from a personal standpoint, since everyone’s experience differs. My hurdles became various aspects of just being hard on myself, and not taking it day-by-day. I would draw a page, then see what the ‘true’ pros were doing, come back home and rip the page into shreds, to then start again. That drove my wife nuts!

However, when I just went back to my roots and started drawing more and more, every little thing and every object -- until I felt a stronger connection between what was in my head and how my hand recreated it. Funny thing is, self-critiquing myself, I took that harder than any critique from an editor or fellow artist.

I do enjoy critiques, since people do see other items that I either overlooked or just missed. However, if I look at my work and think it’s not up to par, I’ll just chuck it and start again. Outside of that, of course, there are the other usual hurdles; financial, peer acceptance, editorial acceptance, etc.. It’s all part of the game as they say.

One of the best things I did, was having taken that two year sabbatical, which has helped me in anchoring a more down-to-earth and day-to-day attitude. It’s worked!

Right now, I’m art directing/overseeing the final stages of production on Kolchak: The Night Strangler, for Moonstone. Both Dan Vozzo (Colorist) and Bernie Lee (Letterer) are doing a great job. In the meantime, I waiting for the next project to start at Moonstone, as well as working on a few creator-owned properties and a few other ‘things’.

A good friend and writer, David Gallaher, introduced me to Moonstone. We met while interning at Marvel and kept in touch afterwards. He knew the Moonstone crew and introduced me to Joe Gentile and Dave Ulanski. They liked my work and I did a few back end stories and pinups.

After that, I went into my sabbatical. When I returned I sent over a few pages I was working on, and that led to Buckaroo Banzai and Kolchak. Since then, we’ve been working well together and I enjoy it.

The main item of difference would be in the juxtapositional relationship the images have with one another, and making that relationship have not just have continuity, but for it to also make sense. You can’t just pop in something without setting it up earlier in your storytelling. That's not to say that animation or illustration don’t use storytelling in their forms, but with the constant introduction of new images in the comic book format, you have to work harder for it to make sense and entertaining at the same time.

Also, drawing comic books are like being the bridge between moving images and the static images iconery that illustration is. (Well for me anyways.) It also forces you to do a lot of conceptual spatial thought, since mentally you moving a camera while keeping track of where objects are located while visualizing light sources, textures, etc. It can be a lot at first, but I find that the more I do it, the easier it gets.

Then, of course, the artistic styles you can see in comicbooks is pretty vast. There are styles that would be a pain to adapt to animation and some that would adapt easily. It’s always good to see the mix mash of influences.

My main influences I’d say would be Klaus Janson, John Romita Jr., Walt Simonson, John Singer Sergent, Charles Dana Gibson, Amedeo Modigliani, and Tiepolo, to name a few.

Klaus Janson, since he was my instructor/mentor, and has taught me a lot of what I know today, so he definitely gets all the credit. I still go back to his teaching on a daily basis and it has helped in getting me to where I am today.

I like John Romita Jr. for his simplicity in drawing, yet powerful effectiveness in storytelling; Walt Simonson and Dana Gibson inspire me for their dynamic line work; and Modigliani and Tiepolo for aesthetics and composition.

On any given day, while I draw I pull up work from them to refer to, or learn more about, and this is just a small sample.

You can contact me at aminamat@yahoo.com , or visit either my website, or on my Facebook page, Either way, stop by and say hi!