WILL SLINEY, Ballycotton illustrator and CIT graduate, is looking forward to an ‘appy’ New Year for 2017, writes Ellie O’Byrne.
The highlight of this year for the Marvel Comics Spider-Man 2099 artist has been the success of the Learn How To Draw app that he developed with his younger brother, tech developer Aidan Sliney.
Will Sliney with the artwork for this year’s Holly Bough. Picture: Denis Scannell
“People are always asking me if I teach drawing or do classes but I don’t have time,” explained Will.
The free app launched in iOS for Apple devices on December 22, just in time for Christmas, having reached number two in the Google apps Play store top ten following its October release for Android. The brothers have high hopes for their creation going forward.
The app features guides on how to draw superhero poses and develop comic-book style musculature and there are regular updates to the lessons, with Will releasing tutorials on different aspects of his craft every Monday. Between this and Will’s regular contract work with Marvel Comics on the Spider-Man 2099 series, it was a busy year for the artist.
Following a Marvel-ous and eventful 2015, which saw Will propose to singer and music teacher girlfriend Laura O’Callaghan, get involved in the rescue of a young dolphin with the RNLI, with whom he volunteers, and participate in Cork Comic Con, 2016 was a year of knuckling down for Will, who produces 20 pages of Spidey art per month under his contract with Marvel.
“It’s pretty much nine to five,” said Will. “There’s a new issue every month and an issue is 20 pages. The amount of work that goes into a page is huge. I constantly have my deadline and that’s my main work. It’s pretty much nine to five.”
Yet he still found the time to illustrate the cover of the 2016 Holly Bough with depictions of local legends like actor Cillian Murphy and radio presenter John Creedon, which he says was another highlight of his year.
“I really like seeing it on the stands — it’s so bright and colourful,” he said. “It’s always nice to do stuff that comes out in Cork, because most of my stuff comes out in America so doing something close to home is good.”
Another highlight for Will in 2016 was attending New York Comic Con, the largest convention for fans of comics and graphic novels in the US, where he took part in a panel discussion on ‘breaking into comics the Marvel way’.
Will has been doing his dream job of illustrating Spider-Man with Marvel for the past four years and in the past has been involved in mentoring projects for young Cork creatives, such as Cork Creative Space in CIT.
“I always like kids knowing that you can do these illustration jobs at home — you don’t have to go off abroad and chase them down. Every single comic book artist who does work for Marvel or DC works from home — that’s just the norm now,” he said.
“I remember meeting some young illustrators a few years ago and them asking, ‘how do you break into comics?’ The answer is really simple: you just go off and make comics. Now there’s a group for people in Cork to meet up and it’s so much more accessible now for people to get into. I didn’t know anyone that was doing comics when I was starting out, so simple things like help with how you get a comic book published or where to send pages to if you want to work for a company are really useful.”
Social media helps Will to link in with fans and other illustrators around the world, all from his home in Ballycotton.
“I can post something up and everyone in the world can see it straight away,” said Will. “It’s a global thing, and visuals travel so much better than words.”
He will continue to work on his beloved Spider-Man comics in 2017.
“Drawing Spider-Man is what I always wanted to do so the longer I can do that for the better,” he said. “A lot of new comics don’t last for more than a year, but we’ve been going on for nearly three years now so I’m continuing on with that at the moment.”
Another eagerly-anticipated event in 2017 is his summer wedding to fiancée Laura, who teaches music in the Ursuline convent in Blackrock. Will, 33, proposed to Laura at her 29th birthday party with a little help from his illustrating skill; he projected a slideshow cartoon illustrating their life together while celebrating with family and friends in Preacher’s bar in Cork city centre and dropped to one knee to propose at the end. So can guests at their wedding expect Sliney original illustrations as mementos of the occasion? Will laughs. “It’s always nice to get away from the comics as well, when your life is buried in them, so I’m not planning anything for the wedding. We’ll just be celebrating. We’re both very excited; we can’t wait.”
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