New Prints for C2E2!

I just finished a bunch of new art for the next convention I'll be tabling at, which is C2E2 in Chicago! You can find me in Artist Allery at table H-04 with my girlfriend Kate Carleton. C2E2 is probably my second favorite con of the year (behind Megacon) and I'm super excited to be introducing these new prints for the show! Take a look!

Rocket Raccon 8.5X11 Print

X-Men 11X17 Print

Harry Potter 11X17 Print

Wolverine 8.5X11 Print

I Was Dead. Officially.

Hey everyone! I posted a new short story to this website Booksie. All my short stories are going to go on there from now on. To read my latest one, titled "I Was Dead. Officially." click on the link below!

I Was Dead. Officially.

If you missed the last one, Dennis, just go to my Writings page and you can find a link to it there. I'm hoping to write a couple of these every month or so. Gotta improve those writing skills somehow!

Thanks for reading!

- Josh

New Prints For Megacon 2014!

Megacon 2014 is just 2 days away! Time to get excited and stuff!

In addition to my usual prints that can be seen in my store, I will also have the following new prints for sale at the show. Be sure to come by table PURPLE 14 in Artist Alley to check out the new stuff, as well as the the old stuff, or to just say hi. I'll take that too. And I'll even give you a high five! YEAH!

Dennis

I wrote a short story called "Dennis." It's pretty short, even by short story standards, but I plan on writing more of them with hopes that it'll help me write better stories in the future. For this one I tried coming up with a simple topic (the aftermath of being on a reality show) and I just started typing some things as they came into my mind. I went back later and added some more tidbits.

I'll post the better ones on this blog ;)

Inspiration!

I don't know about you, but  I spend a good amount of time hunched over a sketchbook, crying, sighing and tearing my hair out because I'm not drawing anything good. The same goes for writing. I don't know how long writer's block is supposed to last, but I bet I can out-writer's block any writer on the planet. To get out of slumps like this, it helps to look at some things that inspire me. Inspiration is great, it's like a crazy drug I can take to fill myself up with energy. Except, instead of overdosing and dying, I'm creating some awesome artwork...

So here are some of the people, places, and things that inspire me to draw and write...

Flynn Rider, drawn by Glen Keane

Ariel, drawn by Glen Keane

1. Glen Keane
Like any kid from the 90s, I loved the movies of the Disney Renaissance, especially the string of movies starting with The Little Mermaid and ending with The Lion King (the best ones). It didn't register in my young mind at the time, but the guy who designed and animated some of the best characters from these movies was Glen Keane. Some of these characters include Ariel, Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Tarzan, Rapunzel, and the list goes on. Among the many talented artists at Disney from this time, Glen Keane is my favorite. Years later, when I tried to develop a style of my own, I would look to his sketches for inspiration, and still do.

2. John Swartzwelder
As far as writing goes, there are many people I look up to, but my absolute favorite is John Swartzwelder. You may not have heard of him, but you are probably familiar with his work if you've ever watched The Simpsons. He has written 59 episodes, the most of any single writer for the show. And they're some of the best ones, in my opinion, in the earlier seasons. In addition to The Simpsons, he's written a series of novels that are even more hilarious. I've never laughed out loud while reading a book until I read The Time Machine Did It. His brand of absurd humor is what inspired me to write some of the things I've done, like Facebeast. If you've never read a John Swartzwelder book, please do yourself a favor and pick one up.

3. My friends and fellow artists
There was a long period of time that I didn't draw anything, starting sometime after high school and lasting until I was about 26. Something that inspired me to get back into creating artwork was walking through Artist Alley at Megacon. So much awesome artwork was being created by people who were just like me. Not famous, not published, just people who like to draw and create things. This fueled me to start making indie comics and start tabling conventions with my girlfriend Kate. I became friends with a lot of artists that I looked up to, and every time I see what they're working on, it motivates me to work on something just as awesome.

HereosCon 2013

4. A trip to Disney World/Walt Disney

The Magic of Disney Animation

I am a 10 year old kid trapped inside of a 28 year old bearded man's body. No further explanation is necessary. But just in case it is, I'll just say that I love Disney World. There's something about the physical presence of all the movies that pumps me up. Also, there are a couple of things at Hollywood Studios that really inspire me. The Magic of Disney Animation exhibit at the park always has awesome concept art on display from whatever movie they're making at the moment, and the One Man's Dream exhibit is an interesting look at the history of Walt Disney's life and career. I don't necessarily see Walt Disney or the Disney company as major influences in my life, but it's definitely inspiring to see how someone came from nothing and built an empire the way he did.


So there it is. That's how I deal with my slumps, by taking a look at what inspires me. There are plenty of other things that inspire me that I could add to the list., but I guess there in't a blog out there to inspire me to write a longer blog...

Thanks for reading!

- Josh

My Next Book, Ella Strange

Hello! I've got a lot going on right now with writing the the next few issues of Facebeast, but I wanted to take a second to talk about the other book I'm in the process of making. It's called Ella Strange.

Ever since I stopped making my webcomic, The Hall Monitors, I've been itching to start another comic of my own. I think I've grown as both an artist and a storyteller and I wanted to create something that I could challenge myself with and show everyone what I've learned in the past few years. When I first started writing this comic, I knew I wanted a few things:

• A comic that revolved around music. Music was (and still is) a big part of my life. I just love writing about musicians and people who play in a band. 
• A comic with a strong female lead character. This isn't about making a political statement or anything. While I agree that comics need more strong female leads, I'm not the type of person who stands on a soapbox and makes things for a cause. This is purely about challenging myself. I'm a dude, admittedly, and that's pretty much all I know how to write. Any female characters I've put in my comics in the past are just women who act like dudes. So it's time for a change.
• A comic series that was structured like a trilogy. When I wrote a comic before, I just wrote whatever came to my head first. This time I'm trying to plan it out a little better and give it a proper three act structure. I've taken a lot of influence from the original Star Wars trilogy, and how that story was structured. For this series I'm shooting for 9 issues, with an act spanning 3 issues. When it's all done, the 9 issues will be made into 3 trades containing 3 issues each.
• A comic in black and white. Up until now I've only made my comics with color. This is because I don't know how to properly ink a comic. I've been hiding behind color, which looks pretty, but is super expensive and time consuming. If only I knew how to ink beyond just outlines, I would save some time and money! Well, I'm trying to challenge myself again here. I'll be using Manga Studio for all my inking and toning.

For the past few months I've been outlining a story. The gist of what I've settled on is a story about a girl who is somewhat of an outcast. She's a musician who just joined a band as their vocalist and keytar player. After her first show with the band she encounters something from out of this world that gives her strange powers. I guess I shouldn't give away too much, or else you won't have anything new to read when it's done!

The story has gone through some changes over the past few months, though. For instance, Ella was originally going to play a magical ukulele that her grandfather passed down to her. I realized, though, that ukuleles just aren't cool enough for mainstream audiences, and so I changed it to a keytar... (ahem)...

I have all nine issues outlined at the moment, with issue 1 being the only issue completely written. The first issue has about 20 pages. As for art, I have a few pages penciled at the moment, and I'm getting about 2 or 3 done a week. I still have a day job, so I'm trying to get as many pages done as I can in my free time. My goal is to launch a Kickstarter for #1 sometime in April or May. I'm shooting for a $1000 goal, which will cover the cost of printing 500 copies of #1 and shipping to backers. If I go over that goal, I'll use that money for stretch goal rewards, more copies of the book, and maybe some convention costs as well.

That's about it for now. I plan on using this blog to post updates on the book, as well as updates on other projects I'm working on. Thanks for reading!

- Josh