My name is Erik Colan. Where to begin goes back to being born 1966. My father is legendary comic book artist Gene Colan my mother Adrienne Colan. I'm Jewish on both sides and not sure how we don't have any family tree records going back from us being victims of the Holocaust but i've been very fortunate to have lived my childhood growing up in Jersey with no wars happening. Instead it was music that was happening and i believe the first songs were hearing Stevie Wonder "My Cherie Amour" and Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and then Disco later on and then the 80's. It's now 2017 music has definitely changed but it was music that guided and inspired me and i'm sure everyone then from Motown to Disco, Bowie, Led Zeppelin the Stones later on Depeche Mode and U2 of course Michael Jackson and Prince, Madonna etc. it goes on and maybe i sound ridiculous mentioning about what we all know was great but it seems to me to be if you weren't around when it was born and happening you wouldn't know what that was like to have as the only way of feeling anything to help you have something to follow and inspire you and yes i was born under an amazing artist and father who loved music but also loved films and it was film that he wanted to draw his art to be like films like the French Connection to Rosemary's Baby you name it my father had shown me when i was just a young kid watching them in our Jersey home den. I'd come home after school my father had his office upstairs in our home and he'd be drawing day and night until 2 am sometimes drawing at his craft making sure it was the way he wanted it to be not caring if it was gonna be done quickly it had to be right and tho many artists did 5 pages a day my dad did the most 3 if it was a good day and the kind of quality he put into his work. It paid off by the fans that knew and loved him for what he drew and how he drew. In my opinion he drew comic books more like a fine artist at their painting rather than getting it done quickly and being an illustrator which Gene Colan was but to me he was definitely a fine artist and not just an illustrator. He brought the two medias together and made it come alive. I can go on about him and will on my following posts but this first post isn't just about my father tho when i think of me the first thing i think of is my father and the connection therefore i'm too an artist and what he'd tell me as a young little boy was how special i was and talented and to never forget that and to do what i was born to do with such talent. He'd encourage me by just saying that and i say the same to others the friends i have and love i share the same words to about their own importance and why i love them so much and my inspiration having them as friends. I was fortunate to go to School of Visual Arts at a time back in the 80's when artists like Keith Haring, Basquait and Julian Schnabel were happening already and before them it was Warhol and when i graduated Warhol, Haring and Basquait died and what a terrible loss it was because it was these artists that excited the art world and it was more than just their paintings that had an energy but themselves and what they were like if you ever met them in person. Warhol welcomed anyone pretty much and you could be a star even tho you were not what we would think stars are but to Warhol you can be a nobody and you're still a star and I LOVE THAT! that's how i feel still and i'll never let go of that idea. I know i'm spreading myself out in all kinds of directions writing about myself but this is me and where i come from and i think of it often.
A pic of me and my father Gene Colan
My father drew many great super heroes but Dracula was what i grew up watching him draw mostly and personally one of my favorites.
