The D&D-Inspired Art of Levon Jihanian

His superheroes fight backaches and uncomfortable spandex. He’d like to draw a 200-page comic of someone watching TV from the perspective of the TV. He likes depressing music. Meet Levon Jihanian.

Levon Jihanian lives in a world of islands, isolated people acting apart from each other—monsters, robots, outsiders—who all see themselves as outsiders even if they’re not. In this fantastical place, creatures worry about making it until payday. He says, “Humanity is a series of cyclops. I like the idea of giving these characters the problems we have, and real feelings: love, loneliness, desire, insecurity. I always try to figure out what that part is really, at the root of a person.” Set Jihanian up with a bag of cheap micron pens and he’ll draw a monster. He begins with a shape and tries to uncover who is behind it. “I start from the most random detail. I might start from the armpit, whereas other people might start with the head.”

Post It. 

Born in Allepo, Syria, 1978, most of Jihanian’s childhood was spent immersed in Dungeons & Dragons. He graduated with honors from Art Center College of Design seven years ago, and admits that D&D deeply informs his art. “It totally fits my mentality of world-building and inventing things, not just things but people. It’s funny because others think of D&D as you creating this idealized version of yourself as a dragon slayer, but usually you're some four foot tall dwarf.” Jihanian imbues his monster portraits with human challenges, like a cyclops surrounded by all different types of chairs, or a robot battling an alien water cooler. Fantasy faces its mundane details through his comic books, Ordinary Fieldbook, Enjoy The Hot Dog, and Fork Frenzy. His superhero in Bitter Disappointment fights backaches and uncomfortable spandex.

If his characters came to life, what would they say to their creator? “They kind of talk to me already,” Jihanian claims. “They'd probably complain or maybe stay quiet. They're kind of all manifestations of myself. They'd probably make sure people liked them.” While we might giggle at his goofy, slightly pathetic monsters, Jihanian describes his work as quiet and sad, “not really zany.” He’d like to draw a 200-page comic of someone watching TV from the perspective of the TV. He likes depressing music and cries when the gypsy women go crazy to the sound of triangles in Bizet’s opera, Carmen.

Grassman.

Currently, Jihanian has rediscovered print-making, particularly enjoying the happy accidents that leads to finding new colors or palates. “It's part of the discovery that I like about art.” He also continues work on his opus, a graphic novel called Danger Country. “It’s an extension of this world I am talking about. ‘If the monsters came to light.’ It should be out sometime in 2045.” —Daiana Feuer

For more on Levon, go to www.levonjihanian.com