Character-driven storytelling is endlessly fascinating to me. Questions of whether a person’s morality is unwavering and definite, or fluid and unreliable, is one of the reasons that comic book storytelling is so compelling.

Since before even Jekyll and Hyde, the idea of a character split good / evil has been turned into stories.

TwoFace in Batman is one of the most visual examples of this concept, whereas Walter White, in Breaking Bad, demonstrates an internal conflict that might not be immediately externally obvious.

Eventually, like Dr Jekyll, Walter White creates his own named dark persona in Heisenberg. This idea is similarly reflected in spinoff series, Better Call Saul, when Jimmy McGill creates Saul Goodman.

These characters inspire me to recreate them in black and white graphic drawings that heighten the contrast that exists within them.

Japanese horror, both graphic novels and film, heavily influence my black and white drawings too. Charlie Adlard’s artwork for The Walking Dead comics and Junji Ito’s manga artwork, in books such as Uzumaki, emphasise granular texture and freakish detail. I also admire Ryan Ottley’s work in the Invincible comics and use his gore as inspiration often.

Superheroes, at heart, are all dual characters and all began as graphic novels / comics. And as the comic book media has expanded outward beyond the page and into both film (Logan and the entire MCU) and various series (The Walking Dead, Superman and Lois etc), it has allowed for far more graphic cinematography to become common in big summer blockbusters.