Get Graphic: Making A 'MeSs' with Artist Dylan Speeg

Art by Dylan Speeg

Interview by Troy-Jeffrey Allen

This week's Get Graphic focuses on Cincinnati painter, illustrator, and musician Dylan Speeg. Dylan is the artist behind MeSsed, a truly unique story that falls somewhere between supernatural horror and speculative fiction. Taking place in and around the ten thousand miles of pipeline underneath a city, the comic book focuses on the wastewater workers of the Metropolitan Sewer District (or the "M.S.D."). Waste workers like Lilliput, our tour guide to a "weird, wet and wild world."

In the following spotlight, Dylan Speeg tells us how he ended up on this project with writer Jay B. Kalagayan, Dylan's creative inspirations, and he shows us a small glimpse of his creative process. 

Keep reading...

"I am Dylan Speeg from Cincinnati, Ohio. I attended The Art Academy of Cincinnati and have worked as a portrait painter and illustrator ever since. " - Dylan Speeg

 "My major influences are lurid pulp novel covers and Robert Williams, R. Crumb and other comic book artists." - Dylan Speeg

"My father was an artist and illustrator so I kind of fell into it. From a young age, I loved drawing." - Dylan Speeg

"I like to use Cincinnati and the people I know as subject matter. I am also a musician in the band Heavy Hinges." - Dylan Speeg

"I am a slow reader and have slight dyslexia so comics appealed to me because I could just look at the pictures." - Dylan Speeg

"I knew Jay B. Kalagayan, [the author of Messed], from a previous job where we were both working in the public relations departments. So we would see one another at events around town. I ran into him a few years later at the Art Museum and he told me he was looking for an illustrator for a script." - Dylan Speeg

"[When Jay approached me], I had just finished doing a lot of concept art for a female superhero series so I was ready to give it a try. The rest is history."

- Dylan Speeg

 Keep an eye on PREVIEWSworld.com's Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram for more artist spotlights! And if you like Dylan's art then be sure to check out these titles at your local comic shop...

BOOK OF WEIRDO R CRUMB HUMOR COMICS ANTHOLOGY HC (MR)

LAST GASP

MAR191856

(W) R. Crumb (A/CA) R. Crumb

The Book of Weirdo is the definitive and hugely entertaining examination of WEIRDO magazine, renowned underground comix cartoonist Robert Crumb's legendary humor comics anthology, which was originally published throughout the 1980s. A "low-brow" counterpoint to Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouley's rather high-faluttin' RAW comix publication, WEIRDO influenced an entire generation of alternative and neo-underground artists. This hardcover anthology features the complete story of the well-recalled comics magazine, along with testimonials from over 130 of the publication's contributors and interviews with WEIRDO's three editors: R. "Keep On Truckin'" Crumb, Peter "Hate" Bagge, and Aline "The Bunch" Kominsky-Crumb.

In Shops: May 08, 2019

SRP: $39.95

PREVIEWS Page #336

ORDERWISH LIST

KAFKA GN R CRUMB (CURR PTG)

FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS

MAY131148

(W) R. Crumb (A/CA) R. Crumb

David Zane Mairowitz's brilliant text and the illustrations and comic  panels of the world's greatest cartoonist, Robert Crumb (himself no  stranger to self-loathing and alienation), help us to understand the  essence of Kafka and provide insight beyond the cliché "Kafkaesque,"  peering through Kafka's glass wall like no other book before it. The  book is a wonderful educational tool for those unfamiliar with Kafka,  including a brief but inclusive biography as well as the plots of  many of his works, all illustrated by Crumb, making this newly  designed edition a must-have for admirers of both Kafka and Crumb.

In Shops: Aug 07, 2013

SRP: $16.99

PREVIEWS Page #321

ORDERWISH LIST

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Troy-Jeffrey Allen is the producer and co-host of PREVIEWSworld Weekly. His comics work includes MF DOOM: All Caps, Public Enemy's Apocalpyse '91, Fight of the Century, the Harvey Award-nominated District Comics, and the Ringo Awards-nominated Magic Bullet.