Hey guys! I thought I would take a little bit of time to talk about my interests and why it is I do what it is I do, ya dig? I have always been a nerdy kind of guy ever since I was a kid. Like most kids I loved Batman, Spider-man, aliens, Loony Toons, monsters, dinosaurs, Batman, Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles, Disney movies, Batman… all that stuff. I would look forward to Halloween every year so I could dress up as my favorite monster or superhero, (still do). I played pretend like nobody’s business. When it was my turn to be Godzilla on the playground, I was freaking Godzilla. I might have even hurt kids because of how much I owned the role.
Needless to say, I had a huge imagination, probably because of all the cartoons and movies I watched. Little side story; I was a HUGE fan of Batman. I remember watching Micheal Keaton’s Batman when I was probably like 6 or 7. I saw him flying around, kicking serious butt and fighting off Jack Nickelson‘s beautify portrayed Joker. I must have said something like, “Oh man! Batman is so cool! I wish I had super powers like him!” because I remember my parents telling me “oh, Batman actually doesn’t have any powers”. MIND=BLOWN. It didn’t make any sense! No powers!? My respect for Batman went up a ton that day. So naturally, I thought “then why the heck can’t I do that!?” All I needed was a cape and I could be the Batman I have always wanted to be. A couple billion dollars might have helped too of course. Unfortunately I didn’t have a cape, but I did have a pretty sweet dinosaur blanky that tied around my neck just fine. So I tied the blanky/bat-cape around my neck, carefully placed some pillows on my bedroom floor (ya know, for safety) and climbed to the top of my bunk bed. By this point I have probably seen the movie tons of times so I knew how it worked. I grabbed the ends of my cape, spread my arms to my side like a flippin’ eagle (or bat) and jumped. Well, long story not much shorter, I broke the growth plate in my wrist. My arm healed up just fine but that experience must have left a mark because I love Batman to this day, and superheroes in general.
Here’s an awesome clip from Batman (1989) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ30Qxv0vtI&list=PL6DFBA3986F57E55B&feature=iv&src_vid=RfvKvTlQHuw&annotation_id=annotation_970140
I guess I was always intrigued by the idea of these amazing but fictional beings that could do the impossible. These awesome characters that I loved and grew up with, and that were thought up by brilliant people, like Stan Lee, Walt Disney, Bod Cain, and a ton others, drove me to think bigger and try and invent some of my own. I made up weird little cartoon characters that I would put in goofy situations, kind of like Bugs Bunny or Wile E Coyote (my favorite cartoons). I remember making a sketch of a great white shark who was an elevator operator. I had no idea where I was going with that but I was convinced he would make it onto a Saturday morning cartoon slot one day. I did this for years. I would try to draw the characters I invented in my mind but my art skills could never keep up with my ideas. Despite constantly hearing from my friends and family, even teachers, that I was getting pretty dang good I still couldn’t translate my visions onto paper. That didn’t stop me though. You bet your butt I kept at it.
When I started to get into my teens I began to shift my interests from cartoons to movies. Movies like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and even Men in Black had opened my eyes to possibilities with my creativity. I had the thought that if I was going to have my ideas come to life then that would be how. Since then I had this thought of becoming a concept artist for movies so I could be a part of the film making process that I have become so fascinated with by doing what I loved. I would hear about a movie, like Spider-Man 3 for example, that was going to have Venom in it who was probably my favorite villain and I would create my own concepts for the character design like a year before the movie evencame out. As it turns out I was sorely disappointed with their portrayal of the character but that actually drove me even more to improve upon their designs and come up with my own. Unfortunately that mentality has made me kind of overly critical of a lot of designs I see in movies.
Here’s some awesome concept art from the movie ‘War of the Worlds’ which got me interested in the idea of working on films: http://ryanchurch.com/war-of-the-worlds/
As I got older, doubt started setting in, confidence started lacking, and I pretty much started to give up on my dreams. Basically life started becoming more real to me as I constantly discovered more and more of my limitations. It wasn’t until recently that I began to make sense of things in my life and that lead to me kind of re-thinking things. I started to self-medicate by working out frequently. I have discovered that it is a very good tool in learning self-mastery and dramatically boosting my self-esteem. As it turns out, my new passion of weightlifting had opened doors for me in my artwork as well as my overall health. I had decided to implement the knowledge of muscle structure and physical strength into my artwork.
Well, I really didn’t expect to kind of tell my life story to you guys but in all I hope it helps somebody in some way. Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope you guys can enjoy some of the artwork I cook up for ya.
-Nathan Cox
Batman VS Killer Croc
Artistic Beast Mode 