THE ART OF DUSTIN NGUYEN
ImagineFX
|July 2023
Dominic Carter talks to the Batman artist about illustrating his favourite heroes and co-creating sci-fi series Descender
Dustin Nguyen is living many artists' dreams. Having grown up enthralled by characters like Batman and Superman, he turned this passion into a career that's seen him illustrate his favourite superheroes for DC Comics.
As if that wasn't impressive enough, he also co-created the groundbreaking sci-fi comic Descender with graphic novel royalty Jeff Lemire. We caught up with Dustin to learn more about his work and hear how he balances his many amazing achievements.
Tell us a little about your background as an artist. How did you get started and what has your career been like?
I liked drawing as a kid, just like every other artist I think. I was never that into actual art classes or art schools themselves, but I put a lot of time and energy into my art. I was even voted 'most artistic' in elementary school.
I worked as a 3D designer for HVAC systems, and for the aerospace and commercial architecture industries because high school also led to my love for mechanics and figuring out how things work.
I left those industries to pursue a more illustrative job at Stan Lee Media in 2000, and ended up working on my first comic book with WildStorm Productions. I've been lucky enough to work for the main comic book companies, but now I've found a home between the mainstream and creator-owned titles at DC and Image Comics.

This story is from the July 2023 edition of ImagineFX.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 10,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORE STORIES FROM ImagineFX
ImagineFX
HP Omnibook X Flip 16
DOUBLING UP HP's latest Omnibook 2-in-1 is a decent-enough productivity laptop, but it truly shines when it's transformed into tablet mode
2 mins
February 2026
ImagineFX
Phaya Akat - The Sanctuary
“Phaya Akat’s Sanctuary Village began from a simple idea inspired by Thailand’s tradition of boiling eggs in natural hot springs.
1 min
February 2026
ImagineFX
HOW SURFACE NORMALS IMPROVE YOUR 3D ART
Ant Ward explains how to quickly change the way a polygon model looks by adjusting its normals
1 mins
February 2026
ImagineFX
Painting in Procreate: Reimagine Your Surroundings
VISIONARY WORK Across 20 lessons, Mikko Eerola reveals how he brings his ideas to life on the iPad using Procreate
1 mins
February 2026
ImagineFX
Technique focus: WORK SMARTER WITH COLOURS
Álvaro Jiménez reveals the workflow process he follows to summon an armoured demon
1 mins
February 2026
ImagineFX
FIVE MINUTES WITH PAT IMRIE
Big-screen blockbusters and a certain 3D art magazine helped set this creative on his career path
3 mins
February 2026
ImagineFX
RIFF ON YOUR PASSIONS
Max Froer draws on a range of influences when rendering a beast that's part machine
1 min
February 2026
ImagineFX
Anker SOLIX C1000
BOX OF DELIGHTS The chonkiest power bank around is powerful, portable (after a fashion) and boy is it well built
2 mins
February 2026
ImagineFX
PAINTING A SCENE OF GREEK DRAMA
Alexander Leskinen creates a stormy environment featuring harpies, the winged messengers of Zeus.
3 mins
February 2026
ImagineFX
HOW DO I COLOUR A 3D OBJECT?
The process of colouring a 3D image has a lot of layers, so let's start at the surface. Mike Griggs weighs up the material requirements
2 mins
February 2026
Translate
Change font size

