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About the Artist |
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Hi! My name is
Erin Z. Gillespie. I’m 35
years old and I live in Bethany, Oklahoma with my wife, Darcey, and my 2
year-old son, Zane. By day,
I work for a major auto insurance company.
By night, I split time mostly between family and drawing.
All that our family is or ever could be is a direct result of the
work of Jesus Christ in our lives.
We are so thankful to belong to Him.
EZG Toons is my attempt to communicate in a new way, the truth of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I
pray that you may also know the joy that is found only in Him.
The Bible says in the Gospel of John, Chapter 10 verse 10 that
Jesus came to this earth that we all may have
life, and have it “to the full.”
Read about how to know Him here. As a child, I drew pictures a lot, but probably not any more
than any other kid. I
picked the pencil up again in my late twenties and learned from books
and other artists’ work. I’ve
also always had an interest in humor in various forms.
I enjoy cartooning tremendously.
It is a wonderful process involving many varied skills such as
drawing, writing, lettering, working with computers, observing,
thinking, detective work, and on and on and on… Here are some of my favorite artists in no particular order:
Jim Borgman, Mike Twohy, Larry Hat, Gary Larson, Arnie Levin, Leo
Cullum, Danny Shanahan, Gahan Wilson, Peter Steiner, Christopher Weyant,
Sam Gross, George Booth, Michael Halpin, Salvador Dali, Bill Watterson,
Al Hirschfeld, David Levine, Bill Plimpton, Sam Viviano, Jim Davis, Jack
Davis, Charles Shultz, Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, M C Escher, Mort
Drucker, Matt Groening, Jack Hamm, Andrew Loomis, Burne Hogarth,
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, George Bridgeman, Pablo Picasso, Robert Risko,
Anton Sher, Edgar Degas, Paul Cezanne, Scott Adams, Wiley Miller, Garry
Trudeau, Basil Wolverton, Brian Bolland, Ray Alma, Rick Tulka, Drew
Friedman, Mark Parisi, Andrew Weldon. My cartoons are inspired by Bible verses, sermons, daily
situations, and anything else that reminds me of God. I want to be able to entertain, but also to make people
think. I want to encourage
and challenge Christians, but also to be relevant to non-Christians as
well. When I’m really in
“the zone,” ideas just come to me (but this is rarely the case).
Honestly, most ideas come from lots and lots of Bible reading or
thinking about certain Biblical ideas over and over again, moving them
around in my head, until something new and interesting finally grabs my
attention. It is a great
blessing in my life to be allowed to do this.
When I draw, I feel close to God, like Eric Liddell in the movie
Chariots of Fire who said, “I believe God made me for a purpose, but
he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure.” My Wife
I got married on May 17, 2003. My wife, Darcey, is my soul mate, the love of my life, an
inspiration, and much help to me in cartooning as well.
Her walk with God challenges me and she unfailingly supports this
crazy dream of mine. She is
chief editor of EZG Toons. Every
sketch is reviewed under her keen eye. If it passes the coherency and effectiveness test, then any
necessary revisions are done before ink is ever applied. She is a loving stay-at-home mother and homemaker.
I am so grateful for how God has taken care of our family. There are a few more family pictures on my Myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/ezgtoons My Son
Zane amazes me. At times I feel like I’m teaching him and other times it
seems he’s teaching me. No
doubt, only a loving God could bless me in such a remarkable way. Every day Zane learns something new---way more than we’re
aware of, I’m sure. I
can’t get enough of him. We
watch cartoons together. Finally,
an excuse to go to cartoon movies again!
My Parents Buzz and Charlotte Gillespie are my parents.
I am grateful to them for much.
My father is a carpenter and one thing I remember from my youth,
something that has on some level probably never left me, is that giving
up just isn’t an option in life. I can remember, on many a jobsite, watching him work away,
nail after nail, brick after brick.
He worked in ice cold and in severe heat.
He worked on holidays and on weekends.
He hurt himself and kept going… like The Energizer Bunny, but
much more stocky and rugged looking.
He has far more good qualities than I have time to list.
He is still one of my heroes. Both my father and my mother have a great sense of humor.
(Maybe they had to develop a sense of humor to deal with me). My mother once told me I could do anything I set my mind to.
I don’t know if that’s true, but certainly it means a lot to
hear that from a parent. She has given much good advice to me and has never let me
down. She must have shown
up for everything I ever did. If
it was a school play, she was in the audience.
If it was a baseball game, I could hear her cheering wildly in
the stands. Thanks Mom.
More Acknowledgements
The contents of this website are a result of the verbal
encouragement and prayers of many people who were kind enough to believe
in this work. May God bless
you to the utmost for your sacrifice of time and energy on my behalf.
May you share in any joy I might have as a result of this work. ---Erin Z. Gillespie, February 6, 2007. |
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