Interviews and More

Kevin’s Bio written by (my uncle) Jerry Lawrence and “Endcap” written by Kevin. No longer on Spawn.com, but archived here.

Kevin started his professional career as a commercial artist in 1983 shortly after receiving his Associates Degree in Art. While in college, he was interested in painting, decided to be an illustrator and then worked mainly in the advertising business for ten years prior to his start in comic books.

Kevin was able to realize part of his dream in 1993 when he broke into comics after inking some sample pages over Greg Capullo, an old friend who was penciling X-Force. Greg threw them in with his weekly pages and sent them to his editor. After seeing the sample pages Kevin submitted, Bob Harras gave Kevin his first professional assignment on X-Force #22 in March 1993. After doing various pages from X-Force issues which also included #28, #30 and #36 with Tony Daniel, a new penciler, Kevin was given assignments on Marvel’s Cable and other X books. As he continued to improve his inking skills and with penciler Tony Daniel’s request for Kevin to ink his work, Kevin was given a regular assignment as an inker for X-Force at issue #38.

After finishing X-Force #43, Gambit & The Xternals #1 and #2, Kevin left Marvel and again hooked up with Greg who was then working for Todd McFarlane on the #1 comic book, Spawn. Kevin spoke to Todd about Tony Daniel’s desire to leave Marvel and work for McFarlane. Tony also left Marvel to work for McFarlane. Todd’s idea was to keep Kevin and Tony together as a team since they had worked well together on X-Force.

Kevin then worked with Tony on Spawn Blood Feud, a four issue mini-series and also lent a hand inking various Spawn pages from issues #27 to #37. Kevin’s next project from Todd was inking the even numbered Spawn issues from #38 to #48.

After the Spawn projects ended, Kevin freelanced for Image affiliated studios such as Top Cow and Wildstorm Productions. Once again, he teamed up with Tony on popular titles such as Witchblade, Tales of the Witchblade, Shattered Image and The Tenth. His inking work would also be featured in Weapon Zero, Cyber Force, WildC.A.T.S., as well as some Marvel and DC comic titles. Kevin’s penciling work can be seen on a pin-up in Spawn #31, a cover from Samson Comics called Bloodbath, and a Spawn chrome card. He is presently working on a double page KISS pin-up.

Early influences for Kevin in the comic book business include inkers Joe Sinnott, Klaus Janson and Tom Palmer. More recently, Joe Weems and Danny Miki are Kevin’s favorites to study. Although Kevin admires and recognizes those previously mentioned and many other talents as well, he is gaining confidence in settling into his own style of inking. For the moment, Kevin is staying focused to continually improve his craft while inking over many different style pencilers.

Most recently Kevin’s inking work can be seen on the new smash hit KISS: Psycho Circus which made its debut in August 1997 under the Image Comics label and Todd McFarlane Productions. Kevin states, “At this point I couldn’t have asked for a better gig.”

As a child, Kevin began collecting comic books at age ten and started drawing super heroes with his friend Anthony at eleven years old. Oddly enough, Kevin’s favorite band growing up was KISS. During his early school years, he would draw the members of KISS just for fun. He became a KISS fan at age 14 when his friend brought over the album “KISS Alive!” Kevin was so into it that he rushed out and bought his own copy, nearly wearing it out from playing it every day. He also wasted no time purchasing three previously released KISS albums. His comic filled walls were now replaced with KISS posters. He also collected assorted KISS related items such as jewelry, KISS dolls and other memorabilia. Kevin attended his first KISS concert, the “Love Gun Tour”, at age 17. Around the age of 18, he made a costume and dressed up like Paul Stanley for Halloween. Kevin also attended countless other KISS concerts and won a local radio sponsored KISS contest which led to actually meeting the band.

Currently Kevin enjoys listening to Heavy Metal and Jazz music while working. Although time is limited, he occasionally bangs out a few beats on his drum kit. Other interests include daily walks with his two Shepherd/Labs, Jessie and Jamie, working out with weights, cardiovascular exercise and eating a healthy diet. He does admit to giving in to sweets on occasion. His goal is to eliminate all animal by-products from his lifestyle by the end of 1998. No red meat or poultry has passed his lips in years and he only eats seafood once or twice a week. He is an active supporter of the Humane Society of the U.S., Defenders of Wildlife and PETA. Although he is not in agreement with everything PETA does, he believes their extreme measures are sometimes necessary to wake up society.

Kevin’s typical workday starts with breakfast around 6:00 AM and he’s at the drawing table between 6:30 or 7:00 AM. His day is demanding and fragmented due to the responsibilities to his five-year-old son Jonathan, from a previous marriage. Although his free time is at a premium, Kevin spends as much time as possible with his son, girlfriend Renee’ and her daughter Morgan. He usually calls it a night and gets to sleep between 10:30 and 11:00 PM.

Through the completion of nine issues, Kevin is still euphoric and in a bit of shock. For Kevin, it’s a dream come true to be involved in the production of arguably the most successful KISS comic book to date.