Dion Hamill Illustrations

Image from webcomic Jim Reel Paranormal Investigator  Picture this. You’ve opened your web browser and gone to Google or Pinterest for inspiration for your next illustration. You eagerly type into the search: pictures of cats riding surfboards , to find references for your next idea. Suddenly, you see something that catches your eye.   It’s a drawing of a cat riding a surf board shooting a pistol at fish. Very similar to your own idea.   But executed to perfection by some random 12 year old artist who only uses coloured salt on animal hide.   The cat’s fur looks so realistic you want to pet it. The chrome reflecting the sunshine off the pistol, bathes you in a warm glow that reminds you of your childhood summers. And those eyes, those beautiful green cat eyes.   So, sooooo cute. You wonder “how can I possibly create something better than this?” Immediately you close the laptop and walk away to forget any idea of drawing that day and proceed to binge watch The Ma...

My love of making comics has been with me a long time.  The earliest  comic  I ever made was when I was about 7 years old. Egg-Man was his name. When I was a kid, where I grew up there were only 2 TV channels (something I try to remind my 4 year old daughter about constantly as she asks me to change the Youtube video multiple times in one minute).  So choices were pretty limited for entertainment for kids on TV. But every weekday in the afternoon there would be a few cartoons that would come on right before the news. A few of the names were,  Roger Ramjet ,  Banana man , Apple man,  Henry’s Cat ,  Bangers and Mash .  They were usually American or British but they were fun. So one afternoon, inspired by these cartoons, my best friend Gavin and I decided to make our own characters and make some short comic book stories with them. All we had at our disposal for supplies and materials at the time were some black pens my Dad had swiped from his st...