Artist Marshall Lakes is pictured above with costumed stunt-woman Damita Howard (The Walking Dead) at a ComiCon.

“Lakes” as he usually signs was born and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from North Carolina A & T. The Artist journey began as a youth drawing Spider-Man and other comic heroes to hone his skills. ”If it was a cartoon it got watched!” he remembers. He recalls that he was proud at being selected to be part of APR an advanced placement class by an Art Teacher who noticed his ability. Early in his art studies he did classical drawings and paintings, but he says, ”It wasn’t in my heart.”

His imagery is fun, it captures the essence of the characters people know and love. He got one of his first opportunities in the comics business as a Concept Designer for a soon to be big African-American owned comic-book publisher ANIA. At one time they were seen as the 16th largest publisher of comics best known for the PURGE  comic-book in the 1990’s. He remembers the lack of diversity for comic heroes and reminisces that Static Shock was embraced and filled a void. ”People in their 30’s-40’s now enjoyed that character.”

He moved onto a niche area of focus he calls ”Con Life” short for Comic Convention events where he draws, paints and meets fantastic people. He met the ”King of Comic-book Artist” Jack Kirby. Kirby began to tell him a story ”Lemme tell you about the Silva’-Surfa’….he has cosmic Powers!…” then his wife Roz had to cut the story off to move the pressing crowd through the line. He also met the great Stan Lee, Todd McFarlane and recounted his experience  meeting him. ”McFarlane would finish at the convention and then hang out in the lobby and talk to us about art, business, look our work over, he was just really cool”. He also met a friend of McFarlane’s who wears a Spawn costume at appearances named Alphonse  (”ready for battle”) who may have inspired the character.

Lakes price range for originals is very competitive and fans really enjoy the work. The cost of an Artist entry into an event ranges from $50-300 depending on the venue. He is usually “Guest Artist” he states ‘it’s free’. Convention Prices for original black & white sketches, 11” x 14” for 40-60 bucks, 16” x 20” 100-125. Artist Studio Rates for original Paintings $250-1000 size 16” x 20” up to ”24 x 48”.