Mike Dringenberg

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Death, from The Sandman #8, drawn by Mike Dringenberg

Mike Dringenberg is a German/American comics artist best known for his work on DC/Vertigo's Sandman series with writer Neil Gaiman.

Dringenberg was initially the series's inker (over pencil art by Sam Kieth) but switched to pencilling when Kieth left after the fifth issue. 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, whom he based on Cinnamon, a girl he knew from the dance clubs in Salt Lake City, Utah (Gaiman had imagined her looking like Louise Brooks or Nico, but ultimately preferred Dringenberg's version). He also co-created Desire, basing his/her appearance on the work of Patrick Nagel, and had a hand in much of the character design apparent in the early series.

Dringenberg's work appears in the Sandman collections Preludes and Nocturnes, The Doll's House and Season of Mists. He is credited in every printing as being one of the series's creators, as he is responsible for the iconic representation of many of the principal characters.

His earliest work was in independent comics, including Adolescent Radioactive Blackbelt Hamsters (a parody of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which itself was a parody of many current comic books), Enchanter, Alien Worlds, Total Eclipse, Shock the Monkey and Kelvin Mace. His mainstream work includes DC's Doom Patrol with writer Grant Morrison (where he co-created Flex Mentallo), the fantasy card game Magic: The Gathering, and White Wolf Publishing's card game Vampire: The Eternal Struggle.

He is currently a popular illustrator of book jackets and CD covers, most notably for various books by J.R.R. Tolkien, Kij Johnson, Kage Baker, and San Francisco's Big City Orchestra.