Murray Smoker
Born of artist parents, both in advertising in the 1940′s – 1970′s, I copied them while they worked on artwork at home and discovered this paid off with me achieving high marks at school for art.
At this early stage, I was influenced by the cartoon culture, both on TV and in comics, of Disney and Hanna Barbera.
In my early teens, I discovered Marvel Comics and tried to reproduce their superheroes, being particularly impressed by the work of Jack Kirby, Johnny Romita and John Buscema.
Of course Mad Magazine was always at the forefront of cartoon illustration and when I scored a full time job at age 21 as an illustrator for the Department of Education, I found I was constantly referring back to my old Mad mags for inspiration from cartoon masters like Mort Drucker, Paul Coker Jnr and Jack Davis.
After 26 years of specialising in pen and ink illustration for educational publications, I went freelance and then got into cartoon illustration for greeting card companies both in Perth and interstate, producing hundreds of humorous card ranges for the national marketplace. This work is still ongoing.
I’m also building up a body of work in the fine art field, painting, drawing and exhibiting locally.
Please explore the images presented here, and feel free to inquire as to how I can be of service to you regarding fine art, illustration and/or cartooning commissions, or copies of any of my existing works.
Please Contact Me to discuss your illustration needs. I love a challenge.
