Boleslav William Felix Robert "Bill" Sienkiewicz (pronounced sin-KEV-itch) (born May 3, 1958) is an Eisner Award-winning American artist and writer best known for his comic book work, primarily for Marvel Comics' The New Mutants and Elektra: Assassin. Sienkiewicz often utilizes oil painting, collage, mimeograph and other forms generally uncommon in comic books.
§Early life
Sienkiewicz was born May 3, 1958, in Blakely, Pennsylvania. When he was five years old, he moved with his family to Hainesville, New Jersey, where he attended elementary and secondary school.
Sienkiewicz began drawing "when [he] was about four or five", and continued doing and learning about art throughout his childhood. His early comic-book influences include artist Curt Swan Superman comics, and artist Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four.
Sienkiewicz attended the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts in Newark, New Jersey.
After art school, he showed a portfolio of his work to DC Comics' art director Vince Colletta, which led to his breaking into the field at age 19. The artist recalled in 1985, "They didn't have any work for me, but that didn't bother me. I just figured that if comics didn't work out I'd have done advertising or illustration. Vinnie called [renowned comics and advertising artist] Neal Adams, who put me in touch with [Marvel Comics editor-in-chief] Jim Shooter. Soon after that I was drawing Moon Knight, in The Hulk [black-and-white comics] magazine". His art style was heavily influenced by Neal Adams.
§Career
§Comics
Sienkiewicz continued as artist of the Moon Knight color comics series, starting with the first issue (November 1980). Four years later, after a stint as artist on the Fantastic Four, he became the artist on Marvel's X-Men spin-off New Mutants, beginning with issue No. 18 (August 1984), producing cover paintings and character designs. From this period on, Sienkiewicz's art evolved into a much more expressionistic style, and he began experimenting with paint, collage, and mixed media. He illustrated New Mutants from 1984â€"1985.
Sienkiewicz produced covers for a range of Marvel titles, including Rom, Dazzler, The Mighty Thor, Return of the Jedi and The Transformers, and drew the comic adaptation of Dune.
Sienkiewicz's own first writing credit was for the painted story "Slow Dancer" in Epic Illustrated in 1986. Sienkiewicz both wrote and illustrated the 1988 miniseries Stray Toasters, an idiosyncratic work published by Epic Comics about a criminal psychologist investigating a series of murders.
His first major interior work for DC Comics was contributing to Batman #400 (October 1986).
He illustrated the 1986â€"87 eight-issue limited series Elektra: Assassin written by Frank Miller. Miller and Sienkiewicz crafted the Daredevil: Love and War graphic novel as well. After which, he collaborated with writer Andrew Helfer on the first six issues of DC Comics' The Shadow series. In 1988, he contributed to the Brought to Light graphic novel with writer Alan Moore. In 1990, Sienkiewicz and Moore published the first two issues of the uncompleted series Big Numbers. Sienkiewicz painted the Classics Illustrated adaptation of the novel Moby-Dick.
Sienkiewicz was the subject of a 2008 full-length documentary/interview produced by Woodcrest Productions, The Creator Chronicles: Bill Sienkiewicz.
In 2007, Sienkiewicz penciled 30 Days of Night: Beyond Barrow. In 2008, Sienkiewicz illustrated a story for The Nightmare Factory - Volume 2 graphic novel. That same year, he inked the Reign in Hell limited series for DC. In 2010-2012, he inked several issues of Neal Adams' Batman: Odyssey project for DC Comics.
§Other work
In addition to his work in comics, Sienkiewicz has also worked in numerous other media, especially in the music and trading card industries. His artwork has been published in magazines including Entertainment Weekly and Spin Magazine. In 1998, he collaborated with writer Martin I. Green to produce the children's book Santa, My Life & Times.
In 1989, Sienkiewicz painted the art for the "Friendly Dictators" card set published by Eclipse Comics which portrayed various foreign leaders such as Mobutu Sese Seko, Ferdinand Marcos, and Anastasio Somoza Debayle. Sienkiewicz has illustrated cards for the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game. In 2004, Sienkiewicz contributed to card art for VS System, a collectible card game published by Upper Deck Entertainment.
In 1995, Sienkiewicz illustrated the Martin I. Green biography of Jimi Hendrix, Voodoo Child: The Illustrated Legend of Jimi Hendrix. The following year he provided the artwork for the Bruce Cockburn album The Charity of Night, and went on to provide album covers for RZA's Bobby Digital in Stereo (1998) and EPMD's Business as Usual (1990).
Sienkiewicz has also worked on character design for animation. His work on the television series Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? received two Emmy Award nominations in 1995 and 1996.
In 2006, Sienkiewicz designed the layout and art for The Venture Bros. season one DVD set. He also designed the cover art for the season three DVD and Blu-ray set. Still in 2006, Sienkiewicz teamed with Neal Adams to create art for former Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters. Their artwork was utilized as video projections for live performances of Waters' song "Leaving Beirut".
§Awards
- 1981 Eagle Award for Best New Artist
- 1981 Inkpot Award
- 1982 Eagle Award for Best Artist
- 1983 Eagle Award for Best Artist
- 1986: Yellow Kid Award (de), Lucca, Italy, for "bridging the gap between American and European artistic sensibilities"
- 1986: The Gran Guinigi Award (it), Lucca, Italy
- 1987 Eagle Award for Favourite Artist (penciller)
- 1987 Kirby Award for Best Artist (for Elektra: Assassin)
- 1988: March of Dimes Award, for charity work
- 1989 Haxtur Award for Best Cover (for Question #10)
- 1991 Alpe de Huiz Award, Grenoble, France
- 1992 Adamson Award, for Daredevil, and graphic experiments
- 2004 Eisner Award for Best Anthology (for contributions to The Sandman: Endless Nights)
§Personal life
During the early 1980s Sienkiewicz was married to a woman named Franki,(Francis Ann Dawson) who worked on-staff at Marvel as editor-in-chief Jim Shooter's administrative assistant, and later went on to a job as Marvel's Administrative Manager of International Licensing. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1983.
§Bibliography
§Interior art
§DC Comics
- Aquaman vol. 3 #52 (inker)
- Batman #400, #533â€"534
- Batman Black and White #3
- Batman: GCPD #1â€"4
- "Batman: Gotham Knights" #33 (inker)
- Batman: Odyssey #6
- Batman: Odyssey vol. 2 #1-3
- Batman Villains Secret Files and Origins #1
- Dark Knight Dynasty TPB
- DC 1st: Batgirl/The Joker one-shot
- DC Universe: Legacies #9
- Detective Comics #709
- Dreams Nightmares # 1 (pin-up)
- Endless Gallery (Pin-up)
- Green Arrow #109
- Green Lantern: The Last Will and Testament of Hal Jordan graphic novel
- Heroes Against Hunger (Pin-up)
- Nightwing/Huntress #1â€"4 (miniseries) (inker)
- Rogues Gallery (pin-up)
- Sandman: Endless Nights
- The Shadow #1â€"6
- Superman #400 (pin-up)
- Superman vol. 2 #173
- Superman: Day of Doom #1â€"4
§Marvel Comics
- Alias #7 (two pages) #8 (three pages)
- The Avengers Annual #16
- Bizarre Adventures #31
- Black Widow #1â€"6
- Black Widow Volume 1 (paperback collection)
- Blade: Vampire Hunter #3
- Captain America: Red, White & Blue (one story only)
- Daredevil: Love and War
- Deathlok vol. 2 #11
- Elektra: Assassin #1â€"8
- Epic Illustrated #34 ("Slow Dancer")
- Excalibur #27 (inker)
- Fantastic Four #219, #222â€"231
- Galactus The Devourer #1â€"6
- Gambit #3-4
- Generation X Annual 1995
- Heroes for Hope starring the X-Men #1
- The Hulk magazine, #13â€"15 #17â€"18, #20 (Moon Knight backup stories)
- Marvel Fanfare #38, #42
- Marvel Preview #18, #21
- Marvel Saga #8
- Marvel Super Special #36 (comics adaptation of Dune
- Moon Knight #1â€"15, #17â€"20, #22â€"26, #28â€"30, #33
- Moon Knight Special Edition #1â€"3 (reprints)
- New Mutants #18â€"31, #35â€"38
- New X-Men #127, #131
- The Spectacular Spider-Man #220-229 (inker)
- Return of the Jedi #1â€"4 first page and pinups
- Spider-Girl #0
- Spider-Man 2099 #42
- Stray Toasters #1â€"4,
- Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #6â€"8
- Uncanny X-Men #159, #287, #288, #314, Annual #6
- X-Men: The Wedding Album one-shot
- What If? #44
- Wolverine: Inner Fury one-shot
- Wolverine #10â€"16 (inker)
- X-Man #9
- X-Men Unlimited #43
- X-Men Vs. Dracula one-shot (reprints)
§Cover work
§DC Comics
- Question #1â€"19 #21â€"23, Annual #1
- Teen Titans Spotlight #10
- Detective Comics #741, #772â€"773, #775
- All-Flash #1 (variant cover)
- Batman: Cacophony #1 (1:25 variant cover)
- Batman: The Widening Gyre #1
- JLA #59
- Star Trek The Next Generation #1-6
- Star Trek The Next Generation graphic novel collecting six issue mini series with variant cover.
§Marvel Comics
- Amazing High Adventure #1
- Beauty and the Beast #1â€"4
- Black Panther #14
- The Brotherhood #1â€"3
- Clive Barker's Hellraiser #10
- Comet Man #1-6
- Daredevil #197, #204, #207, #236, #338
- The Dark Phoenix Saga trade paperback
- Dazzler #8â€"9, #15â€"16, #18, #27â€"35, #42
- The Defenders #123
- Doom 2099 #35
- Elektra vol 2. #23-#27
- Elektra: The Hand #1â€"5
- Excalibur #83
- The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #26
- Fury #1-6
- Ghost Rider #58
- The Incredible Hulk #295-297, #301, #312
- The Iron Manual trade paperback
- King Conan #11
- Kull The Conqueror #2
- Marc Spector: Moon Knight #26â€"31, 34
- Marvel Graphic Novel #8 ("Super Boxers"); #12 ("Dazzler: The Movie")
- The Marvel Masterpieces Collection 2 #3
- Marvel Spotlight vol. 2 #6
- The New Defenders #125, #131, #135
- New Mutants #17
- Nick Fury versus S.H.I.E.L.D. #2
- The Official Marvel Index To The X-Men Vol 2 #3
- The Power of Iron Man trade paperback
- Punisher Vol 2 #93
- The Punisher Holiday Special #2
- Rom #46â€"47, #52â€"54, #68, #71, Annual 2â€"3
- The Savage Sword of Conan #102, #116
- Spider-Girl Annual '99
- Spider-Woman #16
- Starriors #1â€"4
- Star Wars #92, 101
- Thor #332â€"333
- Thor vol. 2 #75
- The Transformers #1
- Uncanny X-Men #195, 252
- What If...? #43â€"47
- Wonder Man #1
- X-Calibre #3
- X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills Only the 1994 trade paperback edition
- X-Men Unlimited #3
§Other publishers
- 30 Days of Night: Beyond Barrow (3 issue mini series, covers and full interior art)
- The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist #2, published by Dark Horse
- Big Numbers # 1 â€" 2 (Covers and full interior art and several pages of number 3 which was unpublished and the series discontinued)
- Brought to Light graphic novel (cover and interior art)
- Judge Dredd #12-22 â€" Titan books collected edition (covers only)
- Judge Dredd and the Angel Gang â€" Collected edition graphic novel (cover only)
- Judge Dredd: City of the Damned â€" Collected edition graphic novel (cover only)
- Judge Dredd: Innocents Abroad â€" Collected edition graphic novel (cover only - this is a cropped version of the cover of the Titan books Judge Dredd # 14)
- Judge Dredd: Oz Books One to Three â€" Titan books collected edition (covers only - all three covers interlink to form larger image)
- Judge Dredd: The Complete Oz â€" Collected edition graphic novel (cover only - the cover features a mix of covers # 2 + 3 from the single reprint books)
- Lone Wolf and Cub # 14-20 â€" US reprint books by First Publishing (covers only)
- M3 #2 published by Hound Comics (cover only)
- Oni Double Feature #4â€"5 ("A River in Egypt" part one and two)
- The Nightmare Factory - Volume 2 graphic novel, published by Fox Atomic Comics
- Classics Illustrated #4 â€" Moby-Dick (Berkley Publishing)
- Total Eclipse #1â€"5 (covers only)
- The Matrix graphic novel (Interior art on story section)
§Other work
- Santa, My Life & Times (Illustrated storybook, cover and full interior art)
- Voodoo Child: The Illustrated Legend of Jimi Hendrix (Illustrated storybook with CD, cover and full interior art)
- Bill Sienkiewicz: Precursor (2003 Art Book, Hermes Press )
- Bill Sienkiewicz Sketchbook (Fantagraphics)
- Vampire: The Masquerade Revised Guide to Camarilla & Sabbat covers
§Media
- The Venture Bros. Seasons 1 and 3 published by Warner Home Video
- Bruce Cockburn's album The Charity of Night
- RZA's album Bobby Digital in Stereo
- EPMD's album Business as Usual
- Entertainment Weekly, various covers
- Spin, various covers
- Resident Evil, cover artwork for the American and European release of the PlayStation version
- Roger Waters' Leaving Beirut
- Sold Out: A Threevening with Kevin Smith
- Kid Cudi's Man on the Moon albums, The End of Day and The Legend of Mr. Rager
§Trading cards
- VS System, various sets
- Big Budget Circus (Eclipse Enterprises)
- Friendly Dictators (Eclipse Enterprises)
- Coup D’Etat (Eclipse Enterprises)
- Rock Bottom Awards (Eclipse Enterprises)
- Marvel Masterpieces, Series 2 and Series 3, assorted cards
- 1994 Fleer Ultra X-Men, assorted cards
§References
§External links
- Official website
- Bill Sienkiewicz at the Comic Book Database
- Bill Sienkiewicz at Mike's Amazing World of Comics
- Bill Sienkiewicz at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators