It’s not every day that I come across a creator who works hard to fight against the stereotypes that have been presented to us in comics, movies, television and other pop cultures. So when I do find creators who have characters that represent such breakthroughs, I tend to gravitate more towards their work. Isaac is one of these creators, so I’ve asked him to put together a bit of a blog to showcase his work and why he has chosen to create such a strong and self-empowering character and continues to break stereotypes with his other works. Enjoy! – Michael

“I’ve always been surrounded by pop culture and strong female figures across a range of media and in every day life. I was always drawn to Xena and how self-empowering she made me feel and it trickled down to Sydney Bristow from Alias. My sister introduced me to Buffy and yet again I was faced with a self-empowering character who broke the stereo-typical blonde damsel in distress dying first in a horror show. When I started reading comics, my first was Xena but I moved on from there to Wonder Woman. Both continued to showcase an empowering female figure. My illustrations and designs are greatly informed by Pop Culture as seen in the designs choices I make. My graphics and layouts for clients and self-commissioned projects fit easily into the mainstream.

I’m currently working on a project called “Bronwyn and the Blood Crown” along with Vivian Jones and Avalon, which explores my connection to popular culture, illustration and the graphic novel form. Bronwyn was a vehicle for me to explore my Irish heritage and play around with the myths and legends. She’s also a vehicle for me to convey those self-empowering characters I grew up admiring. She’s not perfect. She’s not a damsel in distress. She addresses and starts the conversation about how women are represented in comics.

What’s also unique about this project is that it crosses over with Matt Kyme’s The Wrath of the Curse and becomes canon to Bronwyn. It started off with a cross cover promotion but I felt the characters really worked well together.

Call me a traditionalist but I’m a tactile person and I like to have the final page to hold so my work is hand drawn illustrations that are translated into vector graphics (digitised) for printing, editorial and storytelling purposes. My greatest influence with creators is Nicola Scott, who broke into the comic world at the age of thirty in a mostly male dominated industry. She is an inspiration and her art is very raw. You can tell she loves doing it. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her in real life and she is approachable and will talk to you and give you advice. I’ve had the luxury of meeting her three times and it won’t be the last, hopefully. Keep doing shows, Nicola!

You can, also, find more of my work on Instagram.” – Isaac George