Turkish academic illustrates international bestsellers

İZMİR

Turkish illustrator and academic Mehmet Korkut Öztekin, who made his name illustrating the half-human half-robot Robocop comics, is currently on the world’s top sales lists for his latest international project “Out of the
Woods.”

Öztekin, who is an assistant professor member in the Fine Arts Faculty of İzmir’s Dokuz Eylül University, contributed the illustrations to New Zealander Brent Williams’ “Out of the Woods,” a story of depression and anxiety written about his own life.

The book, which was completed over a three-year period using oil paints, has drawn interest in e-trade platforms and won the right to enter the archive of the Cartoon Museum in London.

Speaking to state-run Anadolu Agency, Öztekin said he earned a good international reputation for his work on the Robocop “Last Stand-Son” series. Prior to the Robocop work, he had worked on the “Hellraiser” project with famous British director, writer and painter Clive Barker and Brandon Sieferd.

He said he was invited to cartoon festivals and got the chance to work with leading names in the sector.
“Students from foreign countries have written theses on me. I have given interviews to international magazines. I have been well received around the world. I am surprised and honored,” he said.Öztekin added that Williams initially proposed the work after contacting him online.

“We finished the project over three and a half years. Williams wrote about depression and anxiety, using his own life as a model. The book is about people suffering from depression and the relations between them and their relatives. This book came out in New Zealand on Sep. 27 and was later sold at international platforms. The main sales platform is Amazon.com and a contract was made with a delivery company,”
he said.
The book has now appeared in locations as diverse as Europe, North Africa, Japan, China, Hong Kong and
North America. The Turkish version is now due for release in 2018.

Öztekin said the book was a bestseller not only in the graphic novel and manga category, but also in the biography, cartoon and anxiety book categories.

He said it was a privilege to be an academic and have such opportunities, adding that he had refused some proposals from abroad because he did not like them.

“My next goal is not to work with foreign partners, but to do something on this land, something related to this history,” he said.