Gareth Hinds

As a child

I grew up in small-town, liberal Vermont, a nerdy kid who drew all the time. I did well in school, read a lot, and was fascinated by martial arts. I did illustrations and comics for my high school newspaper, co-edited and illustrated the literary magazine, and painted a mural on the wall of one of the school hallways. I toyed briefly with being an engineer, but then decided to do the sensible thing and went to art school.

As an adult

I went to Parsons School of Design in New York, where I studied illustration. I started doing some freelancing during school, and when I graduated I took a job doing artwork for video games. In my spare time I worked on my graphic novels. After 10 years of that, I was able to quit my game job and pursue writing & drawing graphic novels full time.

As an artist

I love to adapt classic literature into the graphic novel format. My books include Beowulf, King Lear, The Merchant of Venice, and (coming in Autumn 2010) The Odyssey. I sketch the whole book out very roughly first, then I redraw each page with pencil or ink and colour it with paint or Photoshop.

Things you didn't know about Gareth Hinds

1. I have a black belt in a martial art called aikido.
2. I worked on more than a dozen video games.
3. My Dad read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings to me when I was very young.
4. I don’t usually eat sweets, but I have a weakness for ice cream.
5. I like to climb mountains (but only when the weather is nice).
6. I’m 6’3” tall.
7. I hate driving, especially in Boston traffic.
8. I like to dance.
9. One of my favourite things to do is draw animals, plants, or people from life.
10. My first stuffed animal was a bear named “Oodlyump”.

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