About me
Hi, I’m Eldad! Welcome to my website, portfolio and print shop.
I used to draw all of the time, but for many years, I was completely consumed by life, office jobs and parenting, and the drawing and creativity had more or less completely stopped. Now, my kids are still young and I continue to ‘go to the office’, but since the first lockdown in 2020 I’ve picked up where I’d left off, and drawing is a big part of my life again.
What’s it all about then? Good question! I’ve had some amazing sources of inspiration which still mean so much to me, plus there’s something that’s all my own. As a kid, I obsessively collected Tintin and Asterix books, Peanuts and Mad paperbacks, UK Marvel comics, and, soon after, classics like 1980s X-Men and Daredevil. I was obsessed by the drawing, and I gravitated towards obscure, arty comics creators. Later, I realised how great the ‘originals’ like Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko are.
At the same time, I discovered Dali, Saul Steinberg and Ronald Searle - geniuses! Then, as I got older, Egon Schiele, and anything to do with Surrealism became my obsessions. In particular, Giorgio de Chirico’s metaphysical art has had a massive impact on me, and at university, way before the idea was remotely possible, I designed a virtual reality ‘de Chirico City’.
I spent many years making etchings, lithographs and mono-prints, all fused with my influences from art, films and comics, and immersed in music, dance and the sound-system culture I was getting into.
All of the above influences and inspirations are still my ingredients - enjoying and soaking up music and art, and getting fired up by the state of the world keeps me going, and makes life interesting and fulfilling.
My family inspires me as well, and one day I’ll draw the story of how my wife Julinie’s, and my life converged. Having children has been life changing as you’d expect, and it gave me a sense of purpose in my life that I didn’t have before. Typically, I never got around to drawing the cartoon strip I thought of when my eldest daughter Ezrine was born - of her adventures zooming around on her baby carrier ‘jet pack’, but her amazing energy and full-on happiness still keeps inspiring me. So does her little sister Calista, who doesn’t stop drawing and is affectionately known as Hurricane!
I love working with writers to illustrate stories, comics, scripts, poems, songs, essays and articles. If you’d like to collaborate, get in touch, and if you want one of my drawings on your wall check out my print shop - I can’t wait to hear from you!
Eldad..
