Bio

Been working on a new BIO for an upcoming event. It's always tricky to walk the line between brevity and shameless self promotion. Here's what I've got so far, feel free to give it a read and offer up any tweaks.

Kody Chamberlain, a native of Thibodaux, Louisiana, relocated to Lafayette in 1993 to attend the University of Louisiana at Lafayette where he earned a BFA in Advertising Design. After working for several top advertising agencies, he started his own design studio in 1999 where he offered a diverse set of client services for print and web. Early in 2004, he started his career as a professional comic book artist and hasn’t looked back. 

Chamberlain is known for working in a diverse range of styles and will often adapt visually to better suit the tone of the story being told. This is most obvious by comparing the award-winning SWEETS to his first creator-owned series PUNKS: THE COMIC with co-creator Joshua Hale Fialkov, a project that was recently picked up by MTV for their new line called MTV COMICS. Chamberlain's journey through comics has been rather unique, often focusing on passion projects or offbeat and unusual opportunities. One project in particular was a collaboration with Grammy Award winning singer Trace Adkins on an original four issue comic titled LUKE McBAIN published by 12 Gauge Comics, which the publisher says is in the tradition of exploitation classics like BILLY JACK and WALKING TALL. Adkins appeared on THE LATE LATE SHOW with Craig Ferguson to promote the comic series on network television to a national audience, something that rarely happens in the world of comics. His publishing credits include Marvel Comics, DC/Wildstorm, HarperCollins, Image Comics, IDW Publishing, 12 Gauge Comics, BOOM! Studios, and Digital Webbing Press.

Chamberlain spends most of his time writing and drawing original comics and graphic novels, but he's also an accomplished commercial, storyboard, and conceptual artist having recently contributed concept work to Warner Brother's WATCHMEN: TALES OF THE BLACK FREIGHTER, original card artwork for Topp's INDIANA JONES Heritage line of trading cards, and promotional illustration work for MTV's JERSEY SHORE and WARREN THE APE. His work has been featured or reviewed by Print Magazine, Tripwire Magazine, Ain't It Cool News, Crave Magazine, G4TV, and over 50 other international media outlets. He was a guest speaker on the floor of MACWORLD in 2008 & 2009 where he performed live artwork demonstrations using Axiotron's Modbook pen tablet, and was a featured guest and panelist at the 2010 MIAMI BOOK FAIR INTERNATIONAL. Although several of Chamberlain's comic book collaborations have already been optioned for feature film development by major studios including Universal, Paramount, and Landscape Entertainment, he's also working on two original screenplays he hopes to develop sometime in 2012. 

Chamberlain's most recently project, SWEETS: A NEW ORLEANS CRIME STORY, will be released in graphic novel (trade paperback) format in late August. SWEETS is described as a noir-inspired five issue comic miniseries from Image Comics set in New Orleans in the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina. Sweets paints a dark portrait of a down-and-out detective seeking to bring a killer to justice before his city and evidence are washed away by the impending storm. The book has already earned over 70 stellar reviews and is the winner of the 2011 SPINETINGLER AWARD in the category of Best Mystery/Crime Comic or Graphic Novel. The SWEETS graphic novel will be available in September from all major bookstores including Amazon.com, and is already available for digital download from ComiXology in a format that can be read on almost any digital device like iPhones, iPads, Android devices, and any laptop or personal computer.

For more information on Chamberlain, please visit his website: KodyChamberlain.com