Chatting With Sherri welcomes award-winning artist; Clarence Bateman!

Chatting With Sherri welcomes award-winning artist and illustrator; Clarence Bateman!

Clarence Bateman's passion for art was inspired by comic books from an early age. He fantasized about one day being a comic book artist for Marvel as Spiderman was his favorite superhero at the time. In his early teenage years he would hustle family members by doing Christmas cards and lightly twisting their arms to buy them. He would do art for his friends in school and they would pay him with comic books. He dropped out of high school to enroll in the The Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston, Jamaica attending for three years before emigrating to the US.

After a series of dead end jobs he decided to go back to school for art enrolling in the New York City Technical College part time while holding down a full time job in the garment district as a pattern maker. He did a three year advertising program with the intention of becoming an Art Director and instead ended up working in the advertising field for the next thirty plus years as a freelance pre-production sketch artist. Sketch art at the time was done primarily with magic markers, color pencils and inks. When work started transitioning to the computer he taught himself how to use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.

Clarence’s primary focus is Science Fiction and Fantasy art encompassing such a wide range of subject matter he considers it practically impossible to have artist block. He spends his late nights honing his skills, constantly learning, and working to become a better artist.

Clarence Bateman artist and Illustrators of the Future winner from L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 39.