Every artist has their own niche, and the stuff we love here isn’t always about whats just on the street – we also love art that reflects the urban environment, or work that directly inspires the stuff we see out and about every day.

There’s no doubt, that comics have played a massive part in the development of street art – hundreds of artists have, over the years, poured their creative souls out in the narrative form, which, in turn, has inspired some of the greatest urban artists in their pursuit of their own creative goals. Perhaps its the elements of fantasy, or free flowing ideas, that engenders it – or maybe its just the sheer illustrative talent that goes into each work that speaks volumes to artists who then often reflect those styles up on the walls of the cities we live in.

Australia has a rich history of comic book art, and over the years some great work has come out from our shores. Personally, comics and graphic novels have played a hand in hand part of my love of art since I was a tacker – I still own every single Transformers comic (gen 1), I have a mountain of 2000ADs and personally drawn Rouge Trooper  (who is my all time bad ass favorite) on my wall, and I, and so many other artists that we’ve interviewed on here, owe shitloads to their influence.

So, who better to interview than Melbourne own Katie Houghton-Ward? Comic illustrator and writer extraordinaire, live painter, and generally cool and talented artist – someone who has worked tirelessly for the past decade, and is now reaping the rewards of all of that hard work.

So read on, and enjoy, because this girls work is fkn blazing.

Can you tell us a little about how you first got into art, and where the creative addiction first struck you?

I was always drawing as a kid and couldn’t pull myself away from cartoons or anything drawn.

When I was old enough to buy my own toys and mags, I was introduced to the 2000A.D comic books from the U.K. – that publication blew my mind, and opened up an entirely new world for me.

How about in terms of comics? What was the first comic you drew, and how did you first get into writing and drawing them?

The first comic i wrote and drew was ‘Deckheadz’ the comic I did every week for five years for the music magazine ‘3D world’ – I started that when I was 22.

I was seeing a DJ at the time,  and I needed a vehicle to vent my distaste for scenesters … haha – it worked, and it turned into an entirely new thing, and then morphed into more of a socio-political rant – go figure.

What have been some of your greatest creative influences over the years, not just in terms of comic books, but art in general?

My greatest influences over the years of all pretty much come from comic books, the likes of Simon Bisley, Eric Canete, Bernie Wrightson, Frank Miller Mike Mignola etc.

I also have been heavily influenced by Alphonse Mucha, Klimt, Picasso and all kinds of street art that’s slightly Toonafied, I’m just in love with the Line, I guess you’d say.

Can you tell us a little more about the comics you have worked on in the past, and which of them you believe really helped to progress yourself as an artist?

Most of the comics I’ve worked on in the past have been less art based, and more dark humor based, like ‘Laughter of the Damned’
– and I also featured in Harvey award winning comic ‘Ársenic Lullaby’ by Doug Paskiewicz.

The work that really changed me was my last comic ‘Khulan’ which will go to print next year in Heavy Metal Magazine.

Whats the association you have right now with 2000AD?

Haha, I’m just on their books waiting for a writer who’ll match my style – I got given a trial script by Matt Smith, the editor, it was pretty damn hard and then he said he’ll try and find someone who matches my style … sooo, I play the waiting game : )

You mentioned you have just landed some work with Heavy Metal magazine with your comic, Khulan –  that has to be somewhat of a personal and professional milestone – can you tell us about the comic itself, and how the project came about?

I was mentored by my illustrative idol, Simon Bisley, through that one and I really pushed to do it to my full potential – fueled by his belief that I could do it.

After I met Simon in San Diego, we spent a solid amount of time talking about art and what fuels you and why. It changed the way I perceived all of my work, all i knew is that i wanted to take his advice and make something amazing out of it … and if i couldn’t, I’d die trying.

Haha, dramatic – but to tell you the truth, it felt that intense.
That comic came out of the deepest part of me. I’ve also just nabbed the colourist from Tank Girl, who’s colouring the comic as we speak, and he’s doing a bang up job on it – he’s amazing.

A couple of months back you had an exhibition in Fitzroy, can you tell us a little more about that? When you are doing personal artwork, away from comic work, do you approach the pieces differently and just have fun with it, or is there always a story in mind?

I like to do shows of my paintings and live painting because it keeps me fresh and out of the studio, as well as meeting other artists, which I need to do to stay sane.

Doing non-narrative work is luxury for me, but it always leaves me wanting more, once you’ve had sequential you never go back : )

There are, and have been, a lot of street artists that have been immersed or have drawn influence from the comic world – why do you believe it has such a massive influence on low brow artists, and, as a comic book artist, do you ever yearn to go bigger and splash out on the streets or walls at all?

I think we’re all in love with the line, and chase it down many rabbit holes.

I’m definitely going to hit the streets a bit next year, so watch out for my legals under the tag ‘Hyphen’ – I’ll be doing live paints with Heesco and Midori too.

I’ve seen a couple of images of custom toys around the place and on your site – is this something else you’d like to get into more in the future?

Yup, I’ll definitely be working on more toys next year, it’s all part of the same family – the big kid complex hits deep!

Where to next? What other projects do you have in mind for the future, and what else are you working on or developing at the moment?

What’s next? More stories for Heavy Metal, more toys, more walls.
I’m collaborating with some amazing artists in the states and Germany right now so stay tuned for those updates too.

Troy Zurel from Dynamites hit comic ‘Widow Warrior’s’ is also inking a short comic I did last year as well – so expect a full comic next year with all those collaborations in the glossy pages. They’ll retail through comic book shops Australia wide, and I’ll have a big launch.

I’ll be updating all those things through my fan page on Facebook page….

Check out the art of Katie Houghton-Ward – as well as her Facebook page, for a heap more pics and info on what shes up to.