For Oz's big-time comic artist, it's up, up and away

Nicola Scott is a comic book artist from Sydney, Australia. Photo / Getty images

Drawing superheroes such as Superman or Spider-Man for the big two, DC and Marvel, is a dream for most comic artists, and Australian Nicola Scott made that dream real.

Scott spent a decade drawing the Man of Steel and childhood favourite Wonder Woman working with DC.

But at a time when billion-dollar tentpole movies have pushed superheroes into popular culture like never before, the Sydneysider has walked away from the genre in search of creative freedom.

It's not a decision she took lightly.

"Working at DC had been my goal when I decided to draw comics for a living. I wanted to not be bored drawing architecture," Scott told AAP.

She got her break at DC when writer Greg Rucka, a multiple Eisner winner (comics' equivalent of the Oscars) came across some portfolio pages she had crafted from one of his Wonder Woman scripts.

But Scott is now moving into the world of creator-owned comics. Her project with Rucka, a supernatural police procedural called Black Magick, launches on October 28.

"Creator-owned properties, because they're not trying to go on and on and on for seven decades like superheroes can, they end up having quite a decent shelf life," Scott said.

"They can stay in the bookshelves and be relevant for a long time to come."