I It’s always inspirational to come across Sailors with a true passion for something.

The combination of long hours and operational demands of military life, can easily lead us into forgetting about the importance of mental and physical rejuvenation. Some exercise, some read, while others indulge in life long passions that are hidden behind their commitment to service.

Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Handling) 3rd Class Shane Barton, has found a place of solace with an inexplicable gift of art. His internal fire was ignited in his native land in the parish of Saint Catharine, Jamaica. He honed his skill after discovering an artist by the name of Akira Toriyama, the graphic artist behind the international anime series Dragon Ball Z. The Jamaican native emanates with confidence and enthusiasm as he articulates graphic artwork concepts, designs and his plans to intertwine both passions of art and people throughout his military career.

“I’ve been in America for about eight years now,” says Barton with a faint accent on select words. “I just got my citizenship last year.”

Due to minimal resources and opportunities to expand his base in Jamaica, he decided to journey to America not only hoping to pursue his dream, but the chance to make a difference.

This led to his decision to join the U.S. Navy, initially as an officer, but he soon recognized that a commissioning was not the direction his life needed to take. Barton believes, ascending the enlisted ranks and becoming a master chief petty officer will touch more lives.

As far as family support, Barton admits that his family never really cared much for his drawing, categorizing it as only a hobby and nothing more.

“My Mom didn’t think it was safe for me to pursue it. And my Dad, well, he kept telling me I have to pick up more than a book, more than just a pen and paper. Which I think is true.”

Once in the U.S., Barton attended community college, pursing more resources and knowledge for a hobby he had become fixated on as a child.

“My initial major was graphic design, but I started drawing long before that,” he recollects. “Back when the show “Dragon Ball Z” first came out, I would try to catch every episode. I was really young, 10 or 11. We didn’t really have computers within our reach in Jamaica at the time, but I used any means possible to find out who the artist was. He became my inspiration and influence; I wanted to emulate his work, so I drew profusely until I developed my own style.”

The predominately self-taught Barton says he learned a lot, particularly in his technique, in the year and a half he attended school.

“In college, I discovered this graphic design artist who goes by the name Hoon. His work is detailed…even down the muscular structures and striations. You can see a lot about his characters in just one image. So now I try to emulate his work. I’ve been looking in a lot of anatomy books trying to learn how to better draw the human body.”

Barton admits that his style is heavily Japanese influenced; a style he has come to realize is not in high demand in America.

The Story of a Graphic ArtistStory by MC2 Nichelle Whitfield | Photos by MC3 David Hooper | Sketches by ABH3 Shane Barton

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Ink

All the same, he is still impressed with the storylines that emerge out of the Japanese culture and still aspires to incorporate that high standard with other work he has seen in America.

His new ambition is to create a graphic novel to narrate a story of his own creative fabrication.

“The reason why I even wanted to draw a graphic novel was because of Frank Miller,” he reminisces with a noticeably building energy, dancing eyes and a broad white smile. “When the movies “Sin City” and “300” came out, it blew my mind!” He shakes his head, still unbelieving of the epiphany the movies obviously inflicted on him.

Barton says the fight scenes in “Dragon Ball Z” series were enough to captivate his young mind in the past. Now that he’s an adult, complicated and intricate storylines like those found in the series “Full Metal Alchemist” and “Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood”, which deal with themes of the Seven Deadly Sins, immortality, sorcery, physical embodiments of power, and some of life’s despairing lessons of reality, began to evolve his thinking to more elaborate concepts.

Since being temporarily assigned from USS Carl Vinson out at sea with USS Nimitz, Barton has been using the personalities of Sailors around him for inspiration for some of his character development. One of his minor characters, the father of his main antagonist, is named after and based off a Sailor he became acquainted with on board Vinson. The Sailor is characterized as a quiet individual that desires to accomplish brave tasks and excels in the eyes of his chain of command.

“I’m trying to make it epic, something great,” states Barton with a perpetual smile and rampant gesticulating hands. “The concept has been in my head for a while, but I only just started putting my ideas on paper two months ago. Just making notes, and drawing concept art.”

*Spoiler Alert* The storyline revolves around Segi Ink, a substance that,

once tattooed on the skin, enables the manifestation of several

formidable effects on the wearer. It is also the same “Ink” that fosters discord amongst the Heegians and the Hanahs, two races presented in the novel who reside on a planet other than Earth.

“I’m sorry, but Earth is boring,” Barton laughs with ease like he has a simple solution to an idea that was once an obstacle. “If I create a different planet, I can do what I want to do. It becomes my own world and I can create new creatures. I have more creativity within my range.”

The current title of Barton’s graphic novel is simply “Ink”.So at which point did Barton determine to stop producing

creations for himself and start creating for the external world?“It was something that two different people said to me,” he

reflects. “One was my ex-girlfriend. She said to me, ‘What’s the point of you having all these weird ideas and they are stuck in your head? When you die they’re going to go with you. You’ve got to get them down on paper.’ It made a lot of sense to me…so I did it,” he smiles.

“The other was this blue shirt that I met here. He asked ‘What’s the difference between greatness and insanity?’ and, well, I didn’t know,” recounting the conversation, Barton shrugs his shoulders, shakes his head and deeply chuckles.

“He told me ‘The level of success. If you succeed, you’re considered genius. If you fail, you’re considered insane.’ I was like, well, umm…alright?” his expression indicates he clearly did not comprehend what to make of the statement at the time.

“Then, he gave me a good example about steam-powered boats. About how no one thought that lighting a fire under a boat would get it going. About how no one thought it could get it going, but alas we have steam-powered boats. It was revolutionary.”

Those fragments of unsolicited advice gave him the positive push he required to make him want to try to get his story out into the world, have it seen by many, become published, and witness how far it could realistically advance. He admits his goals are not centered on the prospect of money, but confesses

he would not object to gaining a large profit from his ideas and hard work.

Barton draws inspiration for his graphic novel concepts from literary resources such as “Dante’s Inferno” (his favorite book), Greek Mythology, and especially the military services (U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and particularly the Navy SEAL(s)). And, because it is his novel, he confesses to using it as a positive conduit for his more defiant ideas and thoughts about the military.

“The protagonist [who is in a type of infantry in the story] has long, thick, dreadlocks and facial hair,” he laughs lighthearted and a bit deviously.

For now, he is still concentrating on the storyline and the concept artwork.

“I’ve drawn three concept characters; the protagonist, a Segi hunter, and the start of the villain. I’m still trying to come up with how I want him [villain] to look because I want him to look extreme, but not overly so because I want other characters to sympathize with him.”

The story, Barton explains, is mainly finished in his head,

save for a few bits and pieces that will connect and finalize it.But when does he have time to create new worlds, complex

plots and multiple storylines and artwork?“I daydream at nighttime a lot,” he shyly laughs.Barton works as a member of the night crew in the hangar

bay, which he is extremely pleased about, because he believes he is able to do his best creative thinking during the late night hours. He keeps a small, green, and clearly heavily used notepad tucked away in his pocket.

Whenever he has time away from his aircraft moving responsibilities, Barton takes the time to quickly jot down a new idea. After working hours, he wastes no time transferring his ideas from his notepad to his laptop, diligently moving forward to achieve the goals he has established for himself.

Although Barton agrees with his parents’ personal views, and understands their desires to protect him from possible failure at something widely perceived as a hobby, he also acknowledges that many people have done great things of different magnitudes with just a pen and paper.