I'm finished with school and life is finally getting back to normal. I'm getting ready to go to comic book conventions again, so it is about time I get some comic art done. The above is a digital painting I did the other day. This took me about two hours all together. I remember it taking less time when I was doing this stuff regularly.
Now that I'm finished with school I thought of posting on a regular basis. First thing I want to do is just draw stuff I'm interested in—nothing for work. I have a book cover I need to do that has been bought and paid for, so I really should get to that, but I just want to take a little break from the work stuff and draw for fun.
I thought of reflecting on the last 2.5 years and what it means to me, but I really need to reflect on the last 16 years to really understand what the last 2.5 years has meant. First off, I went back to school because I went to school for an art degree back in 97, but got distracted by a number of things going on in my life. I started off taking various music classes and art classes, but I ended up getting married and moving to Colorado Springs to pursue a career in law enforcement in 99. I did this because I thought having a stable career was better than being a full time artist. After I finished the academy and got POST certified I realized being a police officer is not my forte. I ended up taking a job as a machinist and worked in that field for about 3 years, before I was laid off (didn't turn out to be very stable after all). Then I decided to work in IT. I worked for Gateway for six months before getting laid off again. This time I took a job with T-Mobile and stuck with it for over 2 years before I had to leave due to a tragic life event—divorce. In itself it is not a big deal, but my daughters were 2 and 4 at the time and it was just us for about five years before I got married again. After the divorce life was kind of a blur. For five years I just wondered with little direction, worked for Verizon Wireless, Microsoft helpdesk and finally got a great job working for Progressive. I did end up finishing an associate’s degree during this period of time, though.
After I met my current wife life started over for me. I'm the father of four daughters, one of which is starting high school next year. Life is moving right along. So, 2.5 years ago I thought life was at a good point to go back to school to finish what I started way back in 97. I thought "I have a stable job, my wife and I are doing fine, and my daughters should have a father who at least has a Bachelor's degree". Now I'm finished with a BA in Visual Art from UCCS and it is time for me to get back to doing what I love, making comic book art.
I am a different artist now. I’m a cross between a contemporary artist and comic artist, which makes it difficult to explain what I do exactly. I draw comic books, but my art goes in galleries and I say things like, “I’m exploring the way sequential panels juxtaposed with each other can create movement and meaning for a narrative.” I imagine it is difficult to understand what that means to someone who reads comic books for the entertainment factor, but for the academic side of art it means my work has a little more meaning than entertainment, but in contrast it is not just about how the content works with form or theme.
Ultimately, my audience is both the fine art world (mostly academic audiences) and the comic book reader. I consider myself one of the general comic book readers myself. I don’t teach and I have no interest at this time in getting into that field of work. What I want my audience to get from my work is twofold. If you’re a teacher, I want you to learn about comic books. How they can function and how in different ways they can communicate ideas. If you’re a comic book reader I want you to be entertained and learn something about the contemporary art world. I want you to see how comic books can be pop culture and how they can teach us about ourselves. Whether I succeed in my goal or not, I hope everyone enjoys my work.
Josh
