The Sanctuary: History

Venom

I started drawing my own comic as a young teenager in the mid 90’s.

I started reading my eldest brothers Spider-man comics in an attempt to get to hang out with him more. I ended up getting into Venom more than Spidey himself and collected the comics during my later teen years.

I got into the X-Men through the 90's cartoon and the first issue of the comic I bought for myself with my pocket money was The Wedding Of Scott Summers & Jean Grey in WHSmith - I was 13 at the time.

The Wedding Of Scott Summers & Jean Grey.

Psylocke

I am heavily inspired and influenced by Marvel Comics and the X-Men being my main catalyst as I found myself identifying so much emotionally with the characters and felt deeply connected to them, especially the psychic ones, particularly Psylocke to start with who inspired (OK I originally outright stole them initially) my characters look and powers.

Anime has also been a huge influence in style and stories, 3x3 eyes I was introduced to by my other brother when I was 14 and one of my aunts bought me one of the VHS (videos) - even though it was an 18 at the time! I LOVED it and would watch the shit out of it.

Little did I know that I would have more in common with the characters I was drawn to in my later years than I could ever have dreamed of and I have a lot of real life psychic / “mystical” experiences to draw from (pun intended) as well as fuel for imagined stories too. ;) x

When I got involved in an abusive relationship I lost connection with my comic although I did attempt to pick it up, unfortunately I was distracted by the situation I was in. I left that relationship in 2009, and started playing around with ideas over the next couple of years but didn’t pick up the comic until 2016 when I discovered I could finger draw on my iPhone, after unsuccessfully trying to use a drawing tablet on the PC I had at the time which couldn’t handle what I needed it for.

In 2022 after 2 upgrades with other tablets I couldn’t get on with and not being able to finger draw due to joint pain and issues with a tremor, and weakness, I finally was in a position to buy an IPad Pro and could learn to draw with an Apple Pencil which for me was a game changer!

Whilst my health issues and disabilities have hampered my progress over the years, I do what I can when I can, and progress not perfection is my motto - I want to get the STORY out, the art doesn’t need to be perfect - only convey the feelings, the messages and the characters enough.