With an unreserved, emphatic coolness to his work, Scottish-born comic book artist Jock has made quite the name for himself in recent years, producing work for the likes of Sony, Warner Bros. Universal Pictures, and attracting the attention of both DC and Marvel.

Introduced to the professional field of comic book design through his time at the renowned British series 2000AD (notably working on Judge Dredd and Lenny Zero), Jock represents a new breed of comic book illustrator. Not only proficient in executing adept, traditional hand-drawn and painting techniques, the artist is also versed at incorporating acute graphic design methods, resulting in a striking and always unforgettable polish to his artwork. 2010 welcomed the movie adaptation of his Vertigo Comics publication ‘The Losers’ and since then, Jock’s career has continued to flourish. Brainer caught up with the artist to discuss his career and rise to success in such a challenging and demanding industry.

What initially inspired you to embark upon a career in comics?
Basically picking up a copy of 2000AD when I was about 13 or 14. It’s a well-worn story, but like many others, it blew the back of my head off! To see such great stories and art immediately made me want to pursue [a career in] making comics.

Crafting a career as a comic book artist isn’t the easiest pursuit,

can you recall some of the hardships you had to endure on your creative journey at the beginning, and what methods did you adopt to overcome these particular hurdles?
It is really hard and you need to be very resilient to knock backs – it takes a long time to make any kind of impact. I signed on the DHSS for a while but tried to use that time productively, building up my portfolio and sending off samples. The one thing I’ve learned is persistence; we had our first child and I still didn’t have regular work. There was a lot of pressure to get a normal job, but I knew there was every chance I wouldn’t use my spare time productively (especially with a baby in the house) so stuck to my guns and, thank goodness, it paid off. I just think you have to be very honest with yourself, and I had a gut feeling I could do it. I just prayed I wasn’t delusional.

Other than being able to earn a living, what does painting and drawing mean to you?
It’s brilliant to be able to have an avenue for your ideas and channel them into something. With comics you have to be more regimented as you’re drawing in service of the script – it’s about telling the story, not having a free reign on drawing, but ultimately it’s very satisfying to do something you love and support yourself and your family. To make something like that into a viable lifestyle is pretty rare I think. I’m hugely pleased that it’s worked out so far.