David bezzina
illustration
Mythology, adventure, fantastic tales of magic, sci fi and pulp fantasy are the subjects which most inspire me. I luckily came across a book called Beowulf by Rosemary Sutcliff when I was about 8 yrs old, soon I was drawing viking warriors along with the dinosaurs, star ships and superheroes all fans of the fantastic love to draw.
Coincidentally Marvel comics opened my eyes to the magical world of Sword and sorcery at about this time when they began publishing Conan the Barbarian in the early 70's. Drawn by my boyhood hero Barry Windsor Smith (an East London export to the wellspring of comic book creation, New York) and adapted by the under-appreciated Roy Thomas. Based on the heroic tales of R.E Howard. I was hooked, apart from wanting to illustrate books on mythology I also wanted to paint book covers and draw comics as well. I admire many art styles and artists, from the legendary Jack Kirby to illustrators like Edmund Dulac, Will Pogany, Arthur Rackham, William Russell Flint and Henry Justice Ford. There are so many artists I would like to name that this list would go on for pages.
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I began reading British weekly humour comics like Knockout and Whizzer & Chips, Buster and Cor, later science fiction and adventure ( 2000AD, StarLord, Action, Battle ) and any comic by DC, Marvel and Charlton .
Films ( Jason & the Argonauts ) and TV ( Robin of Sherwood ) were a massive source of inspiration, every type of genre. but the double bills of Sci Fi and Horror films on the BBC were fantastic too, Imagine seeing '''Night of the Demon' or the Universal & Hammer Horror films at an impressionable age!. brilliant
Paperback cover Illustrators like Chris Foss, Rodney Matthews, Chris Achilleos, Bruce Pennington, Peter Andrew Jones, Melvyn Jones, Alan Lee, Jeffrey Jones & Frazetta are big influences. I like the work of painters Mucha, Corot, Sargent, Repin, Klimt and especially JMW Turner to name a few.
Thank you so much for taking the time to look at my art.
all the best
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David
