Craig Thompson was born in Traverse City, Michigan in 1975 and was raised outside a farming community in central Wisconsin. He has driven tractors, baled hay, fed caBle, harvested the roots and berries of ginseng, and picked rocks. Craig has also worked at McDonald's and the hardware secFon of a department store. At Fmes, he has scrounged for food. Craig’s transport of choice is a vintage bike and a skateboard with a skull drawn on the boBom of it. Craig’s car was bought from a friend who was an editor at Dark Horse Comics. He uses it mainly for driving to the coast and surfing. The skateboard is dusty and neglected in the closet.
In his youth, Craig and his brother Phil were preBy Fght. But as they grew up Craig got more and more into the ministry. Being in a small town in Michigan, the sky was the limit for Thompson. In High School, Craig was awarded by Tom Cruise an Art Award. Tom Cruise?
Blankets show’s a wide array of texture, line weight and very heavy set moods. If you felt a warm sensaFon, a goose‐bump or a gut wrenching jerk in your stomach aRer a scene, Thompson probably meant for you to feel that.
The Story of Blankets is one that most all of us can relate to. Raised in a ChrisFan home, Thompson knows the harsh feeling of being an outsider. Blankets delves into the fact that even in the most calm, innocent looking families, there are always dirty liBle secrets hidden behind the closet or in the basement. The story is a summary of Craig and his brother’s lives growing up. The story really starts moving along when Craig meets a girl at Church camp but ends with a surprising shock.
The ability to show an emoFon in a scene is what makes Blankets such a moving novel and awarded it as one of the top 100 graphic novels of all Fme.
Draw, draw, then draw some more. The life of an illustrator can be very hard. No fun, definitely no friends and very liBle Fme to regain sanity. So what do we all do when we want to feel normal again? Draw some more.
Tool talk has always been something we consider to be sacred. ARer all we are only as good as our secrets, right? Thompson chooses his brushes based on the quality of line he achieves. The bulk of his Graphic Novels consist of line quality and high contrast. There is no grey area.
When you are out with friends and family, you should never be without a sketchbook. PracFce, pracFce and then pracFce some more.. Then you can sell it to that friend. Who knows how much it will be worth one day?
Some of my favorite work is from trying to mimic Craig Thompson. This one on the right is probably one of my favorite line drawings. Can you possibly guess who that is? Anyways, the simplicity of Thompson’s line work has helped me to develop my own style.
These are some of the characters I did of some friends. This is about a year old but you can sFll see that I did them if you are familiar with my work. That is what we all hope for one day. RecogniFon.