Early Life
McFarlane was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He graduated from William Aberhart High School. As a 17-year-old teenager, he discovered comic books, and became a fan of creators such as John Byrne, Jack Kirby, Frank Miller and George Pérez (as well as the writing of Alan Moore), but was especially drawn to the more atypical art of Michael Golden and Katsuhiro Ōtomo, creator of the manga Akira.
In the early-1980s, McFarlane attended Eastern Washington University on a baseball scholarship, and studied graphic art. He sought to play baseball professionally after graduation but suffered a career-ending ankle injury in his junior year. During his time at EWU, McFarlane worked at a comic book shop in Spokane, Washington. Drawings he did of Marvel and DC superheros were sold at local shops. McFarlane also attended the Alberta College of Art and Design.
Read more about this topic: Todd McFarlane
Famous quotes related to early life:
“Many a woman shudders ... at the terrible eclipse of those intellectual powers which in early life seemed prophetic of usefulness and happiness, hence the army of martyrs among our married and unmarried women who, not having cultivated a taste for science, art or literature, form a corps of nervous patients who make fortunes for agreeable physicians ...”
—Sarah M. Grimke (1792–1873)