Mike Dringenberg was born in Laon, France and raised in Germany before moving to the United States with his family in the late 1960s. Initially living in New Jersey and Florida, his father's career eventually took the family to Utah, where Mike attended high school. He later studied illustration and graphic design at the University of Utah from 1983 to 1987, where he began illustrating comics and working professionally even before graduating. During a break between his freshman and sophomore years, he briefly worked as an animation assistant at Sullivan Bluth Studios, where he was probably best remembered for using up all the copier toner to make reading copies of his Cerebus collection. [1]
Dringenberg came to prominence for his work on The Sandman, where he started as the series' inker over pencil art by Sam Kieth but switched to pencilling when Kieth left after the fifth issue.[3][4] He drew eleven issues, all but one inked by Malcolm Jones III, and his understated, realistic style did much to establish the tone of the series. He co-created the popular character Death,[5] whom he based on his then muse, Cinamon Hadley, whom he knew from the dance clubs in Salt Lake City, Utah.[6][7] Gaiman had imagined her looking like Louise Brooks or Nico, but ultimately preferred Dringenberg's version.[8] Dringenberg stated in a 2014 interview that "None of the characters are direct renderings of individual people; they're composites emerging from my memories; case in point, while my friend Cinamon was a primary visual inspiration for Death, she never actually posed for me as the character while I worked on the series. Most of the time, my girlfriend Givette and my friends McAnn and Nyssa actually posed and they each brought their own personalities to the task."[9] He also co-created Delirium, Despair, and Desire, basing their androgynous appearance on the work of Patrick Nagel, and had a hand in much of the character design apparent in the early series.
^Manning, Matthew K.; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "1980s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 238. ISBN978-0-7566-6742-9. The Sandman saw a variety of artists grace its pages. Sam Kieth drew the first few issues, followed by Mike Dringenberg, Chris Bachalo, Michael Zulli, Kelley Jones, Charles Vess, Colleen Doran, and Shawn McManus, among others.{{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Tousley, Nancy (October 12, 1991). "Artist draws a 'cinema for the page'", Calgary Herald, p. B9.
^Manning "1980s" in Dolan, p. 240: "Neil Gaiman, aided by penciller Mike Dringenberg, introduced the character Death to a fascinated readership...Death was an instant hit and arguably became more popular than the Sandman himself."
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