On any given day, Anderson Carman can probably be found drawing or coloring in his home studio in Johns Creek, show tunes playing through his headphones. Though the artist's works range from a children’s book about a green flamingo to a comic book about monsters, his style is unmistakable.
His latest piece, a webcomic entitled Cyber League Baseball: The Naturals, imagines a futuristic time when professional baseball is dominated by players with robotic augmentations, “like a spring-loaded arm that shoots out fast, and crazy things like that,” he says. And reading it may just be the best way to get to know Carman's journey as an artist.
“This project is very autobiographical,” he says. “There's a lot of stuff from my own career and story I'm putting into this.”
His protagonist, Asher, dreams of playing professionally--without augmentations--as a rare “natural.” As Asher chases success, he discovers how much the definition of “making it” can change with each new goal met, not unlike the author’s own experience.
“I think a question that a lot of people in the arts and entertainment industry have very often is, ‘When have I 'made it'?’" Carman says. "Or, a question that I have wondered in my own head, ‘What is good enough?’”
The piece also explores questions about artificial intelligence usage in art--an issue his whole industry is wrestling with right now--through characters who set out to “prove that true athleticism can’t be replaced by machines."
While he was not an avid comics reader as a child, Carman wanted to pursue art from an early age.
“In high school, I started playing around with animation. I did a lot of stop-motion with Legos and stuff like that.”
He spent 18 months in an animation school, culminating in a portfolio review by a Pixar artist.
“This is good, but I would encourage you to go to an art school and really study drawing,’” the artist told him. “My drawing actually wasn't very good, but my animation was fine. So I went back to school, initially thinking I would go into animation,” says Carman.
His plans shifted when he and his brother created a comic book for fun, and he discovered he preferred making comics. So he moved to Atlanta to get a degree in Sequential Art (comic book-making, essentially) from Savannah College of Art and Design and has been an active member of the metro Atlanta comics scene ever since.
Now he works from home alongside his wife, two toddlers and baby. When not working or spending time with his family, Carman enjoys running at East Jones Bridge Park and visiting Home Depot to pick up supplies for his latest house project.
“Right now, I'm trying to figure out how to make a slingshot/catapult so my son can throw the softball to me and help me practice. He's only three, so his arm isn't that big. We'll see if that works.”
Read Cyber League Baseball: The Naturals and see more of Anderson Carman’s work at AndersonCarman.com.
Or, a question that I have wondered in my own head, 'What is good enough?’