The Art of Nils Osmar! Comics, Cartoons and Graphic Novels
For the past several decades, I’ve made my living in the arts: making movies and stageplays — writing — acting — teaching — doing freelance illustration — and drawing and publishing books and comics like the ones below. My usual working method is to draw a rough in pencil on either a small sketch pad or tracing pad — then transfer it in pencil to a larger sheet of Bristol board — then finish it in ink. Some of the drawings on this page were inked by other artists, including Robin Walker, Tom Christopher, Evan Palmer, and the late Tim Sale.
Worlds of Wackadoo! Click to Enlarge:
- Some of the drawings were published in independent comics. In some, I was doing the writing, penciling, editing, inking and coloring. In others, I was collaborating with artists such as Robin Walker, Evan Palmer, Tom Christopher, and the late Tim Sale.
- Some of them were published in my comics and magazines; some in an arts tabloid, Emerald City Comix and Stories, and in a magazine called FEVER. All of the ones I’m sharing here are © Nils Osmar 2026.
- Scroll down to see my SF and fantasy work, humor and satire, and more.
Science Fiction, Fantasy and Superheroes
A Note from Nils!
Collaborations with Tim Sale
I met Tim Sale back in the 1980s when he and I were both struggling cartoonists/comic book illustrators in Seattle. He lived a few miles from me; I would take a bus down to visit him, walk up some steps to his place, drop off pages to be in, and look at pages that he was working on himself, which were always beautiful and instructive. He inked 60 or 70 pages of my artwork. The pages in the section were published in the 1980s and 1990s; scroll through to see more. I’ve learned a great deal from working with him. In this section, I’ve included pages that were penciled by me, inked by Tim, and in some cases also colored.
Dark and Shadow: Ink and Graphite on Paper (Click Images to Enlarge)
I grew up reading comics and pulp magazines… I’m sure the influence is visible. I learned to do artwork that had a certain workflow: the artist would work in pencil, finish the illustrations in ink, then erase the pencil lines. I find for myself that I also like images in which the construction lines reman part of the image. These are some examples I particularly like © Nils Osmar 2026.