Nigel Carrington is a self-taught Trinidadian writer and artist currently residing in Rochester, NY. Nigel has been spinning tales since he was seven years old, fueled by the work of artists like Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Manga artist Katsuhiro Otomo and countless hours of Sci Fi and Japanese Anime movies he created the Starr Skills Studios Universe which comprise of Ant hill, G.U.N and The Ananci.
Nigel came to the United States in the year 2001 with a strong desire to become a Comic Book Artist. Being that this is “the land of opportunity” he decided to make one for himself by presenting his work to the offices of Marvel Comics in Manhattan NY . He met with one of Marvel’s Editors and was given test assignments which included Spider -man, Dare Devil and The Hulk. The Editor was impressed by his work and it gave Nigel an increase in confidence, but nonetheless Nigel had to maintain a more steadier income aside from free lance . In the following years of working a regular job he returned to his true passion, doing so by giving life to the characters he created as a child and the rest is history in the making.
Nigel worked on a back-up story for the Terror of the Midnight Robber #2 when he lived in his home country of Trinidad and has self published other works including Truth Amongst the Bones, Ananci, G.U.N., and the Ant Hill series. You can see Nigel’s work and get more information on his upcoming projects by staying posted on this web site. www.anthillcomic.com
Creating Ant Hill by Nigel Carrington
The year was 1999 when the journey began. I can't remember the exact sequence of events, but it was around that time I just discovered my brand new love for Comic Books and created Ant Hill while living in my home Country of Trinidad. I discovered Comic Books during the Image Comic movement. If you are not familiar with the Image Comic movement of the early nineties, just Google it. My brother Nicholas was the first one to introduce me the medium and he found out about it from his friends Jerome and Joel Griffth. Back then we all had our comic book titles we would collect from Image Comics. Nicholas collected The Maxx, Joel collected Savage Dragon, Jerome bounce in between titles and I collected Spawn.Being aspiring comic book artists, we decided to make our own comic book company called Cape Comics. Much like the bigger companies we looked up to we planned for our debut publication to be a collaboration book called Sign it was a black and white book that would be printed on eigth and a half by eleven size paper folded and staple by the creators, a simple formula for self publication .The plan was stories by Nicholas and Joel would be featured in the first issue then me and Jerome in the following . So I started looking for inspiration for a cool story that would introduce me to the world, which came to me one hungry and exasuting day after working my regular nine to five job. I arrived home with the intention of eatting some left overs but instead I got a plate of rice , ants and chicken. Being upset I stuck the plate in the microwave and took the ants for a ride. It killed the ants, but the ingredients remained the same. Being hungry I still ate the food reguardless.Anyways a couple of days later while remembering my ants episode it came to me : what if I made the best Ant character ever ? Then in the following days leading up to my story for Sign I modifed it into a space saga after talking to my friend Morillo about the idea. He said to me that he was getting a "vision" of the charcter in space with other ants. The pieces of the puzzle started to come together, so I created my first Comic Book. I never got chance to publish it because " Sign" only had one publication so the story was shelved temporary.
Fast forward into the future twelve years later. I was searching for a comic book title that I thought would make a good book. After creating a comic book called Gun that had mixed reviews, I tapped out of ideas. I revisited my old childhood creation, and started penciling the pages for an Anthill reboot. At first I was hesitant to work on the character because of all the other ant characters I learnt about (which I beleave was some how inspired by my submissions to these main stream companies) but they can't beat the original .Now the original book I did was still back home in Trinidad, so I totally forgot what I had planned for the story or main character. All I remembered is that he had cool long attenas something like Spawns Cape. So once again I started thinking of an idea that I thought would make a good story. I started grabbing for situation that affected me most in my life. At the time my cousin Fhoalan had pass away from sickle cell anemia he had fought with all his might. He was such a cheery soul that no one would ever imagine the pain he most had suffered.Then somewhere in my mind it clicked. Fhaolan's life kinda mirrored what I wanted my main charaters life in the story to be. A person that had so much pain every time he charges into the hero that everyone admired they would never know the pain he suffered because he would never let it show.That was one of the first changes I made to the story.My Aunt Jennifer who also died of cancer became his mother and Fhoalan's dad (who is still alive and well) Uncle Robert became his dad Rob etc.. Then some of my other past acquaintances, storylines and charaters I tied it into the Ant Hill books and made a cliff hanger saga and so Ant Hill was born.
Life after creating Ant Hill issue number one has not change that much not like I invisioned it would. Everytime I create a book I see it as if it would make a good Movie script, not just a good comic book. Lately I started writing more than I am drawing when I produce a book. At my very first free comic book day show In Rochester NY I was talking to James Clauney (a local comic book Artist and creator of Amildillo ) and he give me some wise advise. He said "Nigel I started writing more before I even pick up a pencil to draw because sometimes as artists we tend to draw more than we write and that's what seperate a comic artist from a comic "book" artist. A bomic book artist now means a whole lot more to me now than it did in my humble beginings in Trinidad. Even more so being a Independant comic book artist, I take a script and turn it into visual image that you can follow in a series of stories. For Independent Artist like my self that do the majority of the work and don't get the props for the dedication we have to the craft like the "so call celebrity artist" do, it had me thinking.Should I continue this journey I started so long ago, the journey that has my fans cheering me on or should I give up like some others that tried before me .Come what may the journey up lifes ant hill contiues for us none quiters.
When I Rebooted Ant Hill I made a promises to my self that I know my lord and savior Jesus will bring to fruition. Thanks to everyone who had accompanied me on the journey. Don't matter how big or small some your contribution was, I appreicate you. I want to thank all the comic book stores that support my books my family and friends, and thank you esspecially for picking up this book and reading this section. I hope you enjoyed it.I would like from you ,so please feel free to email me at: antfarm@athillcomic.com or via face book and twitter @ nigelcarrington Thanks and untill the next time I hope you will take this journey to the next volume or the next ish with me.
Nigel came to the United States in the year 2001 with a strong desire to become a Comic Book Artist. Being that this is “the land of opportunity” he decided to make one for himself by presenting his work to the offices of Marvel Comics in Manhattan NY . He met with one of Marvel’s Editors and was given test assignments which included Spider -man, Dare Devil and The Hulk. The Editor was impressed by his work and it gave Nigel an increase in confidence, but nonetheless Nigel had to maintain a more steadier income aside from free lance . In the following years of working a regular job he returned to his true passion, doing so by giving life to the characters he created as a child and the rest is history in the making.
Nigel worked on a back-up story for the Terror of the Midnight Robber #2 when he lived in his home country of Trinidad and has self published other works including Truth Amongst the Bones, Ananci, G.U.N., and the Ant Hill series. You can see Nigel’s work and get more information on his upcoming projects by staying posted on this web site. www.anthillcomic.com
Creating Ant Hill by Nigel Carrington
The year was 1999 when the journey began. I can't remember the exact sequence of events, but it was around that time I just discovered my brand new love for Comic Books and created Ant Hill while living in my home Country of Trinidad. I discovered Comic Books during the Image Comic movement. If you are not familiar with the Image Comic movement of the early nineties, just Google it. My brother Nicholas was the first one to introduce me the medium and he found out about it from his friends Jerome and Joel Griffth. Back then we all had our comic book titles we would collect from Image Comics. Nicholas collected The Maxx, Joel collected Savage Dragon, Jerome bounce in between titles and I collected Spawn.Being aspiring comic book artists, we decided to make our own comic book company called Cape Comics. Much like the bigger companies we looked up to we planned for our debut publication to be a collaboration book called Sign it was a black and white book that would be printed on eigth and a half by eleven size paper folded and staple by the creators, a simple formula for self publication .The plan was stories by Nicholas and Joel would be featured in the first issue then me and Jerome in the following . So I started looking for inspiration for a cool story that would introduce me to the world, which came to me one hungry and exasuting day after working my regular nine to five job. I arrived home with the intention of eatting some left overs but instead I got a plate of rice , ants and chicken. Being upset I stuck the plate in the microwave and took the ants for a ride. It killed the ants, but the ingredients remained the same. Being hungry I still ate the food reguardless.Anyways a couple of days later while remembering my ants episode it came to me : what if I made the best Ant character ever ? Then in the following days leading up to my story for Sign I modifed it into a space saga after talking to my friend Morillo about the idea. He said to me that he was getting a "vision" of the charcter in space with other ants. The pieces of the puzzle started to come together, so I created my first Comic Book. I never got chance to publish it because " Sign" only had one publication so the story was shelved temporary.
Fast forward into the future twelve years later. I was searching for a comic book title that I thought would make a good book. After creating a comic book called Gun that had mixed reviews, I tapped out of ideas. I revisited my old childhood creation, and started penciling the pages for an Anthill reboot. At first I was hesitant to work on the character because of all the other ant characters I learnt about (which I beleave was some how inspired by my submissions to these main stream companies) but they can't beat the original .Now the original book I did was still back home in Trinidad, so I totally forgot what I had planned for the story or main character. All I remembered is that he had cool long attenas something like Spawns Cape. So once again I started thinking of an idea that I thought would make a good story. I started grabbing for situation that affected me most in my life. At the time my cousin Fhoalan had pass away from sickle cell anemia he had fought with all his might. He was such a cheery soul that no one would ever imagine the pain he most had suffered.Then somewhere in my mind it clicked. Fhaolan's life kinda mirrored what I wanted my main charaters life in the story to be. A person that had so much pain every time he charges into the hero that everyone admired they would never know the pain he suffered because he would never let it show.That was one of the first changes I made to the story.My Aunt Jennifer who also died of cancer became his mother and Fhoalan's dad (who is still alive and well) Uncle Robert became his dad Rob etc.. Then some of my other past acquaintances, storylines and charaters I tied it into the Ant Hill books and made a cliff hanger saga and so Ant Hill was born.
Life after creating Ant Hill issue number one has not change that much not like I invisioned it would. Everytime I create a book I see it as if it would make a good Movie script, not just a good comic book. Lately I started writing more than I am drawing when I produce a book. At my very first free comic book day show In Rochester NY I was talking to James Clauney (a local comic book Artist and creator of Amildillo ) and he give me some wise advise. He said "Nigel I started writing more before I even pick up a pencil to draw because sometimes as artists we tend to draw more than we write and that's what seperate a comic artist from a comic "book" artist. A bomic book artist now means a whole lot more to me now than it did in my humble beginings in Trinidad. Even more so being a Independant comic book artist, I take a script and turn it into visual image that you can follow in a series of stories. For Independent Artist like my self that do the majority of the work and don't get the props for the dedication we have to the craft like the "so call celebrity artist" do, it had me thinking.Should I continue this journey I started so long ago, the journey that has my fans cheering me on or should I give up like some others that tried before me .Come what may the journey up lifes ant hill contiues for us none quiters.
When I Rebooted Ant Hill I made a promises to my self that I know my lord and savior Jesus will bring to fruition. Thanks to everyone who had accompanied me on the journey. Don't matter how big or small some your contribution was, I appreicate you. I want to thank all the comic book stores that support my books my family and friends, and thank you esspecially for picking up this book and reading this section. I hope you enjoyed it.I would like from you ,so please feel free to email me at: antfarm@athillcomic.com or via face book and twitter @ nigelcarrington Thanks and untill the next time I hope you will take this journey to the next volume or the next ish with me.
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