Bored Panda reached out to Anthony Smith and asked some questions regarding his work. First, we wanted to know what influenced the artist’s unique style in creating comics. Anthony shared with us: “I grew up in the UK and at the time there were a variety of comics and publications that inspired me. I actually mainly loved Marvel Comics at the time and would purchase all the UK weekly reprints published by Marvel UK. However, my first paid assignments were for less realistic work (local papers and so forth), so I developed a more cartoony style.

Ironically one of those early paid assignments was at Marvel UK, but rather than drawing superheroes they wanted me to draw puzzle pages for their comics aimed at younger readers, which was great at the time. (I was a mere 16 years old!)”

Asked how he comes up with ideas for new comic strips, Smith answered: “I still read a lot of comics as well as other literature, and like everyone, I think I just absorb concepts and ideas which pop out in another form later on.

I'm also inspired by real life or events, especially when doing work for the likes of Private Eye which is a satirical and current affairs news magazine published in the UK.”

We were curious how Anthony’s style or approach evolved over the course of his career, and we found out: “I think it's been less about my style evolving and more about developing new styles for various jobs. I think you need flexibility these days.”

Lastly, we were wondering if Anthony could give any advice to aspiring comic artists looking to break into the industry. Smith said: “That's tricky because opportunities in the local press and small publishing houses aren't what they used to be and that's how I started.

On the flip side, there are now so many opportunities to showcase work on online platforms, so I think if I were starting out again, I'd concentrate on building a presence online.”