With his work unveiled at San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend, the longtime dream of a local Wichita Falls artist has been fulfilled.

Debuting at San Diego Comic-Con at the Factory Entertainment booth was a beautifully created statue of the Justice League, designed by Alex Ross (a god among comic artists), and painted by local artist Mark Bristow.

Mark Bristol - Wichita Falls Artist
Mark Bristow (via Facebook)
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A longtime artist, Mark got his start in paid work in the late 90s, creating custom action figures,

I've been an action figure customizer as a hobby since I was a kid. I had a stint in 1999 with professional wrestler Vampiro. Near the end of WCW, Toybiz cancelled Vampiro's action figure. He reached out to me and I made 34 figures for him using some Jakks Rock figure as a base. He also gave me some used ring gear as a gift. It was pretty exciting!

His experience doesn't just cover action figures, but comics as well,

In 2007, I did a stint with IDW Publishing as a digital painter/colorist on their Transformers comic books. They were mostly tie-ins for the new movie at the time. Hard work and tight deadlines. It was exciting for me, as I've wanted to work in comics since I was 10.

Mark got some professional attention last November when he created some custom Jack Nicholson Joker figures, having to design his own likeness of Nicholson who refused to allow his likeness in the official NECA line. Mark's path to the Justice League painting job took a beneficial turn when he checked Factory Entertainment's website for work,

I had spoken to Tyler Ham, their former director, a couple of years ago over some Ghostbusters business. After seeing my work, he suggested me to the new guy at Factory Entertainment, Barry Eldridge (Factor Entertainment's Creative Director). Barry liked my work and offered me some projects! Most of my work for them has been paint design and some fabrication work on their Metal Miniatures line, which includes projects from both DC and Marvel. Those will be revealed shortly, as well.

While celebrating his first anniversary with his wife in San Francisco, Mark was offered the painting job on the Alex Ross Justice League statue. With Factory Entertainment being in the bay area, Mark picked up the sculpt and brought it home, taking around two months to complete his work on it, with the final product featured at SDCC this past weekend,

This is the first time my work has been featured at San Diego Comic Con, so that's a dream achieved for me! The sculptor did a great job on the statue and it was a blast to paint.

The Justice League won't be the last you'll see of Mark's work either,

As for future projects, stay tuned to Factory Entertainment's San Diego Comic-Con reveals! I'm also hoping for find work with many more companies in the future.

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