ANTMAN Is the Artist Who Made Himself the Blueprint

ANTMAN grew up in Kingston, Jamaica. There, the murals on the walls were memorials. People passed away and their faces went up in remembrance. Murals were signals for community. ANTMAN spent the first seven years of his life on the island before moving to Atlanta, Georgia, to live with his dad. But before any of that, and before the style that people recognize from across a room, it started with a textbook and a competitive streak. In primary school, kids would open their textbooks to pictures of animals and see who could draw the closest. "I would be so competitive that I would try to get every detail lined out so I could actually win." He usually lost, he says, not because his art was bad but because he was small and kids took advantage of that. He was unbothered, however, so he just kept drawing.

By the time Dragon Ball Z entered the picture, the competition had upgraded. He and his twin cousins would go back and forth: who could draw Goku the closest? That was where he really found his footing. "I loved it ever since then."