Community Spotlight: Eric Hibbeler -

Here’s another American Pulps Spotlight where we take a person from the American Pulps community and interview them. We have such an amazing community through social media and we want to give props where props are due.

This week it’s Eric Hibbeler who puts a modern twist on his neo-noir style artwork and some awesome animations.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I was born in St. Charles, MO in 1990, was homeschooled through high school, found drawing real early and just kept doing it nonstop ever since. Now I live in Kansas City with my wife Rachel, three cats and a dog, I graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute with a BFA in Painting in 2012 and since then I’ve bounced around, first working as a concept artist/3D artist in video games, to working at MK12, an animation and design studio for a number of years before going freelance full time at the end of 2017. I’ve had a hard time trying to keep myself focused in a single discipline, but currently my frequently used titles are illustrator, animator, concept artist and comic artist.

How long have you been doing this?

I got real serious about drawing when I was like 12, my first paid gig happened when I was around 16 because I’ve always been really eager to work with other people. I didn’t start getting into pulp artists in a big way until college, so my work definitely took a turn toward that in 2009.

Where would you say you get most of your art inspiration?

Calvin and Hobbes, Dinotopia, Pokemon and Dragonball were my artistic fuel early on before I broadened my horizons with art history, pulp art and discovering new contemporary artists toward college. These days I get a lot of inspiration out of old radio dramas from the 40’s and 50’s like Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar and The Adventures of Philip Marlowe. They are also great listening for when I’m working. Musicals from the 50’s and 60’s are something I’m in love with as well.

Is there a certain artist that you’re influenced by?

Too many to name. Definitely lifestyle illustrators of the 50’s and 60’s. But the ones I strive to rip off the most are Gil Elvgren, Drew Struzan, Bob Peak, Moebius, Little Thunder,

What’s one project that you’re most proud of?

During my time at MK12 we finished working on a short film called Man of Action II: Ashes of Vengeance. I was lucky enough to be involved in a bunch of different stages of the process, from concept art, storyboarding, character modeling and animation and finally making a bunch of promotional materials like posters, album covers, etc. I learned a ton on that project and I’m applying those lessons basically every day.

You do animation as well as illustrations. Is there one medium you like more than the other?

I have no allegiance to any one medium, sometimes I think if I did I would be a lot more successful, but I’m just curious about everything to choose. I will say that illustration takes a lot less time, and it’s taken a lot of work to be patient enough to enjoy the slow burn of animation.

Is there anything anything exciting coming up on the horizon?

I’m working on a comic project called Girl Noir with my friend Annie Raab who is writing it. It’s going to be a loving nod to all our favorite stuff about the noir genre, just with a female protagonist and in contemporary times