My name is Dan Barlow.  I’m 37 years old, I’ve been married 8 years and I have 3 children.  I started drawing in second grade when I became fascinated with a cartoon called, “All Star Blazers”.  I became consumed with drawing.  I filled sketchbooks with drawings from comics and dictionaries.  I drew buildings, clouds, etc.  My first comic characters stemmed from my love, of all things, G.I. Joe (yeah, I’m a dork). I also drew some cat creature called the “Cat Berets”.  I did five or six issues of them.  I was horrible at anatomy.

I was never a star pupil in art class.  I couldn’t paint and I was never good at following directions, so my projects came out funky.  I stayed away from art school, but my love for drawing never decreased.  I dabbled in portraits, doing work in both pencils and pastels.  

I read Justice League, Punisher, and X-Men.  A year after high school I tried drawing comics again.  It was a couple of years since my Cat Beretcomics.  My work was very dark, being heavily influenced by Mar Silvestri (before Top Cow and Image). 

I ventured out with my portfolio, but the only work being offered was some goth/porn junk which I couldn’t bring myself to draw.  I took part in several collaborative ventures that never saw print, but made friends along the way.  I’ve drawn and inked four personal books (120 pages) that will never see print, because of the quality of the work now that I look back.  I finally got published in 2004 (13 years later) in two books at the same time.

Though my debut in digital webbing came with some serious criticism, my anatomy or inking was not professional, there is always room for improvement.  It has been a long and exciting journey.

Since Christ saved my life in 2005, my artwork has changed.  I’ve challenged myself to do my best work for His glory.  I believe Christian comics can be better, but I’m excited to see brothers and sister grow and push this medium for the purpose of honoring the Lord.

Some of the books that features my work are Big City Blues and 4 issues of Panel Anthology by Ferret Press, Point Pleasant by Ape Comics, Johnny Zombie’s Rock n’ Roll Gauntlet #7 and 8, Digital Webbing Presents, the Megezeen Horror issue and Ragged Capes by New Creation Now.  

The next book I’ll be appearing in is the second issue of Joe Endre’s Colossians due out in 2009.  See you then and praise God, for He is good.

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