Jan Duursema

Jan Duursema is well known for her artwork which appears in numerous comic book series including Dark Horse Comics’ Star Wars Comics, and Marvel Comics. Some of her more famous characters include The Incredible Hulk, Spider Man, Wolverine, X-Factor as well as in DC Comics’ Hawkman, Wonder Woman and others. She was the creator of Denin and Vila from Naldar, the Twi'lek Jedi Aayla Secura and the Kiffar Jedi Quinlan Vos. She often works with John Ostrander.

In an interview with Silver Bullet Comic Books Interviewer, Mike Jozic, Jan said,

“One of my favorite things is looking for background flora and fauna I can put into the panels. Throwaway stuff, I suppose, as it isn't necessary to include it to tell the story - but I think it adds to the overall texture and imparts a visual richness to the places being shown. As with other work I've done - whether it was X-Men, Hawkman or AD&D, I throw my creative energies totally into the lives of the characters and try to understand what motivates them - how they walk, gesture - when they smile - what makes them angry or sad. I try to give each character their own visual personality and identity in the way they move and react. When I'm done with a story, I want to feel like I made these characters come alive for the reader.”

CSLP is very pleased to have Jan Duursema for this year’s Metamorphosis teen summer reading theme. Jan lives in Mt. Freedom, New Jersey and is married to artist Tom Mandrake, both of whom did the art for Marvel Star Wars 92: The Dream.

For more information on Jan, see her website.

 

Harry Bliss

Well known to adults as a regular cartoonist for the New Yorker magazine, Harry Bliss grew up in upstate New York amidst a family of successful painters and illustrators. Mr. Bliss went on to study painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, illustration at the University of the Arts and Syracuse University. Mr. Bliss has illustrated numerous children's books, among them Doreen Cronin's Diary of a Worm, Marc Gellman's And God Cried, Too: A Kid's Book of Healing and Hope, Alison McGhee's Countdown to Kindergarten, and Which Would You Rather Be?, by award-winning children's author William Steig. A Publishers Weekly reviewer commented that the "droll watercolor illustrations" Bliss contributed to Diary of a Worm "are a marvel" because the artist "gives each worm an individual character with a few deft lines." He began his career as a freelance artist for magazines while he was still in college earning his undergraduate degree in illustration. His first book-illustration project, Sharon Creech's A Fine, Fine School, was an instant success, marking what a Publishers Weekly contributor dubbed an "impressive debut" for the cartoonist.

Visit the Harry Bliss website for more information.