By Melissa Jones McGinnis
Tell us a little about your work. What do you create? Hi there. I’m Daniel Jackson, owner of Level 28 Toys. I make custom action figures and Funko Pops of everything from sci-fi and video game characters, to musicians, to superheroes, even real people. Over the years, I’ve made hundreds of figures for clients in countries all over the world, including a few pieces for some of my favorite sci-fi actors and actresses. How long have you been doing what you do and how did you get into it? I’ve been customizing figures as a hobby all my life, and it’s been my full-time job for just over two years now. I’ve always loved action figures. I’ve collected them since I was a child. To me, they’re like these amazing little statues of the people and characters we love; only better because they’re also articulated and come with cool accessories. I am a massive fan of the shows Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis. They had these super-detailed, realistic figures based on those shows and I collected all of them. But, some of the characters I loved from the shows never got a figure, so my first real customs were making those characters to expand my collection. I started sharing my work online and other fans began to commission me to make custom figures for them. Eventually, I was able to quit my job and make toys full-time. What has the response been from family and friends? It’s been great. My friends and family have always supported my artistic endeavors and they’ve seen me struggle a few times trying to get projects in different mediums off the ground over the years. So, finding success in toy making has been a dream come true for me and they’ve really supported me along the way. It’s also really cool because now I get to make action figures of my family members/friends for birthday/ Christmas presents. Those are always a big hit. Just something different and unique, you know? How did you get into the nerdy realms? I’ve been into sci-fi/fantasy as far back as I can remember, from collecting X-men comics as a kid, to playing tabletop games, to cosplaying and attending cons. Star Wars was my first love though. Like so many others, that was what really what set my life down a path of nerdiness. What were some of your earliest nerdy memories? Some that stand out to me are my friends and I making our own comic books, running around dressed as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and definitely making my first custom action figure by turning Batman into Space Ghost. I’m not sure what happened to that figure, but I would give anything to have it now. Are you also a cosplayer? If so, what did you get into first, cosplay or creating/ vending? Yes, I am a cosplayer. I’ve always enjoyed the challenge of making my own costumes versus buying them. I’ve made several costumes over the years for myself as well as for my family and friends, including a Boba Fett, Brienne of Tarth, Richard from Legend of the Seeker, and Deadpool, among others. My favorite is definitely my Stargate SG1 Jaffa armor and staff weapon. I’ve won a few contests with that one and even fooled some of the actors who’ve worn the real thing on-screen. What are some of the different bits of satisfaction you get from each of these? I love the challenge of building a costume from scratch and learning new techniques and methods along the way. It’s a huge sense of accomplishment when you make a costume that not only shows off your love for a character and dedication to the craft, but is well-received by other fans. If you had unlimited time and budget, what would your dream art/craft creation be? A real, working lightsaber. What is your favorite con/event story, as an attendee, volunteer, vendor, etc.? I got married onstage at a Stargate convention in Chicago in 2016. Erick Avari walked onstage, totally out of the blue, and reprised his role as Kasuf and blessed my wedding in the alien language from the show. I made a lighted Stargate that was used as an archway that all of the actors in attendance autographed for me after the ceremony. This was even cooler when the promoters asked me to leave the gate up as an entrance/exit for the actors for their panels all weekend. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to top that one... What are some of your favorite events? I love all comic, sci-fi, and pop culture conventions. ’m always encouraging my family and friends to come to cons with me. There really is something for everybody at these events and they’re just a place I can go and be surrounded by the things I love, make new friends, and really just be myself. Tell us where we can see more of your creations! Any last thoughts? I have a website, lvl28.com, with photos of all the figures I’ve made, as well as a FAQ section with info on my customizing process, and a contact page for those who want to order their own figures. I’m also on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @lvl28toys, and feel free to email me at [email protected]. By David Doub The Dallas Public Library hosts the 3rd annual Women of Wonder Con on Saturday, March 7th at the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library from 10am to 5pm!
Press coverage about WOW Con 2019: http://kabooooom.com/2019/03/women-of-wonder-con-2019-report/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjXshtdnTEY https://dallaslibrary.librarymarket.com/events/women-wonder-con-2019 More information about Women of Wonder Convention can be found at: http://www.womenofwondercon.com https://www.facebook.com/WomenOfWonderCon By David Doub
What got you into art? What got you into comic art? My love for comics at about 10 years old got me into art and so of course comic art was what I wanted to do. You have a lot of retro florescent styled art? What got you into that style and how do you make such art? I liked drawing and tried to paint, but was never any good at painting. Then I saw spray paint art and loved the speed and details you could get with it. So I watched some videos and incorporated that into the comic world. I liked the bright colors for the spaces scenes I learned spray paint art with and found out they were fluorescent, so I just went with that and created the black light art I now concentrate on. I use my ability to draw and spray paint techniques, using dish washing liquid and power washing with water, with multi layers to create my canvas art. You do a lot of events in North Texas, what are some of your favorites and why? Over the last 7 years I’ve done most of them. They are all my favorites, but Denton Art and Jazz fest is one I like because it’s an art show not a comic con, its juried and hey I made the cut. What are some local creators that you enjoy their work? I like almost everybody’s work I can’t single anyone out. What are some of your favorite pieces? Even though I’m a marvel guy, my various Batman and Joker pieces are my favorites. If you could work on any project, character or creator, what or who would it be and why? I am working on my own story, for a novel or graphic novel. I would love to make it into a movie. What shows are you doing next? I have 28 shows this year spanning 72 days. For my schedule go to Mitchellstudios.com What advice would you give artists just starting out with comic art. Practice practice practice. What advice would you give for starting out in the convention circuit? Find someone like me that’s been doing it for a few years and get as much info from them as possible, most of us are willing to help. By David Doub Please introduce yourself and describe your chosen Creative Medium. Hi, I’m Dianita, a fantasy artist from Veracruz, Mexico. My art is usually known for its cheerful or contemplative nature. I love to combine personal symbolism with fantasy imagery to shape scenes that celebrate our connection with others and with nature, real or fantastic. To create my artwork I prefer traditional mediums like graphite, colored pencils, acrylics and oil paints. What got you into your Creative Medium? Since I was little I loved to draw, I guess that’s why I find drawing with graphite pencils so comforting. I got curious about painting after watching other artists working in different fields like Matt Busch, Audrey Kawasaki, Mia Araujo, Amy Sol, etc. In 2008-9 I discovered the work of Julie Bell and curiosity sparked but my ability/technique still wasn’t there. After arriving to the USA, I discovered of Donato Giancola’s oil paintings and other traditional artists in the Fantasy/Sci-fi field and my heart just raced with motivation to finally take the leap and embrace first: my love for traditional mediums and second: my curiosity about fantasy. What schooling and experiences help lead you there? Art-wise I was self-taught until 2019. I only took a 2 year workshop in my hometown at the State university back in 2006-8 but other than that it was just me trying to understand books and tutorials online. I remember I won a giveaway from Matt Busch and I received a copy of his “How to Draw Star Wars” video series and that way I started working with acrylics a bit more. I’ve also had subscriptions to Schoolism and in 2019 I was finally able to enroll in SmArt School and had Donato Giancola as my teacher! About experiences, I believe that conventions have taught me a lot. I used to be very scared to talk to people but as I started going to these events I’ve met a lot of artists who had shared incredible advice and experiences with me. I’m also part of a little group of local artists and we try to gather every week to talk about art, business and hobbies. It gives me a wonderful reason to go out and spend time talking with and learning from talented local artists who are really incredible friends. What do you do to continue to learn and improve? I’m very critical of my work and I’m always reminding myself this is not a sprint. I want to improve my understanding of anatomy and how to read and interpret my visual references properly so I can make progress in how I structure my scenes. To keep learning I try to turn to books, to instructional videos online in places like Youtube or through Schoolism and I often go through my favorite artbooks from artists I admire in order to understand their choices. Enrolling for SmArt School was one of the best decisions I’ve made for myself as I finished the last class with a much better understanding of my process and technique and with lots of motivation to keep improving. I’m also enrolled for a presencial workshop in the Summer and I’m extremely excited because I get to learn from my art heroes. Education is always a great investment, time-wise, money-wise or both but it’s so worth the effort! What are some of your favorite works? My own favorite works are “My Dear Friend” which happens to be a favorite in conventions, it’s my cat Kitty befriending a big big dragon. “Fill your world with magic” a piece I made to gather a few of my personal symbols into a magical scene. “Eternity” that features a white horse and it’s a small exploration of hope. “Moonlight Bloom” and “A flower for a friend” were pieces I finished in 2019 are close to my heart because I used myself as model and I’ve never thought of myself as special enough to belong to my own fantasy world. And “Nest” (tentative title) is a piece I’m finishing after my 2nd semester with Donato Giancola and it makes me feel very proud of what I achieved and of what I learned. My favorite pieces by other artists (I love all their works, but this are the ones I can look at forever): “Pegasus befriends the muses” and “Behind the veil” by Julie Bell. “Elegy for Darkness - The Sundering”, “Huor and Hurin approaching Gondolin” , “Joan of Arc” by Donato Giancola “La Valiente”, “La Campana”, “La Cantarita” by John Picacio. From his Loteria series. “Alice and the Tiger” “We’re all mad here” by Mia Araujo from her “Alice in Wonderland” personal project. “Memento Mori”, “The bear’s Queen”, “Freya’s dance” by Alessandra Pisano. What do enjoy about creating? What are some pet peeves? I believe that what I love about creating is being able to bring moments in life from worlds that exist inside my mind. The incredible feeling of grabbing the brush, applying paint on the surface and slowly witnessing the bits of progress I’ve achieved with every piece. The idea that we can improve if we dedicate time and effort to do what we love, and seeing that it’s true after feeling that I reached a milestone with every piece I finish. It’s just incredible! Of course, it feels incredible when people find something unique in my art like a connection with the memory of a loved one, or an experience in their lives. Who are some local creators who you enjoy their work or are just generally awesome people? Please explain why. Jefferson Muncy, he’s a local illustrator and fine artist who’s incredibly passionate about art. He is designing labels for local breweries, but he also has a passion for the horror genre and folklore and he is an impressive oil painter! https://www.instagram.com/jeffersonmuncy/ Maysa Sem, she’s a nature artist who works with inks to create miniature illustrations with animals or flowers. https://www.instagram.com/maysasem/ Hannah Isabelle: She’s an illustrator who works with many themes, from pet portraits, to little comics to fantasy/nature illustrations. https://www.instagram.com/hannah_isabelle_art/ Emmanuel Garza, a talented artist who uses ink pens to make his art. He created a Tarot deck based on his illustrations and will be using Kickstarter to bring this project to life. https://www.instagram.com/manny.garza.art/ Martha E. Roberts, she’s an Illustrator, Printmaker and Fine artist who uses mainly watercolor and other mixed media to create her delicate, highly detailed illustrations mostly featuring animals. (https://www.instagram.com/mer.artist/) Amanda Ramsey, she makes beautiful, delicate paintings based in mythology, fantasy and folklore. https://www.instagram.com/ajramseyart/ Bethany Moffit, she’s a wonderful character artist who’s working on the first pages of her own comic when she has some free time. https://www.instagram.com/be_mo_art/ Joey Torrescano, who uses watercolors to create really cute and colorful pet portraits. https://www.instagram.com/captain_joey_art/ Cait Pratt, another amazing character artist with one of the funniest, cutest sketchbooks I’ve ever met https://www.instagram.com/cait_also_caitpratt/ Alex Burdette (Alleiya), a passionate artist creating character portraits with colorful markers and pens. https://www.instagram.com/alleiya/ What are some of your favorite local conventions? Can you share any particular fun memories? I’m still new to the convention scene here in Dallas, I’ve just attended to ConDFW, Fencon, Fan Expo Dallas, Texas Latino Comic Con and Women of Wonder Con and all of them as a vendor. Fan Expo was the only one I attended years ago and it was really big! Fun memories? Well, I believe that all conventions have had fun moments mostly because I like to talk with my neighbors and to people stopping by. The weirdest thing that has happened to me was in Fan Expo Dallas where Christopher lloyd stopped with his crew right in front of my table waiting for something but of course I didn’t recognize him because I was too distracted watching for them not to knock over my stuff. It was until I saw people who were waiting in line for something getting so excited and looking in our direction. Then I realized I had a famous actor right in front of me. And no, I didn’t say hi to him, he was long gone when I realized who he was. What do you look forward to for Women of Wonder Con? What do you hope people can take away from Women of Wonder Convention? Meeting new artists, hanging out with the artists I’ve been lucky to meet in previous events and getting to talk with people who attend the convention. I believe that WoWCon is a wonderful opportunity for people of Dallas to come, meet and support women artists from their community. It’s a convention not only for women but for the community to see some amazing art, listen to some panels, get some wonderful products and have a fun day with your friends and family. And maybe get inspired, no matter who you are, to keep creating. https://twitter.com/dianita_art https://www.instagram.com/dianita_art/ https://www.facebook.com/dianitaart The Dallas Public Library hosts the 3rd annual Women of Wonder Con on Saturday, March 7th at the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library from 10am to 5pm!
Press coverage about WOW Con 2019: http://kabooooom.com/2019/03/women-of-wonder-con-2019-report/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjXshtdnTEY https://dallaslibrary.librarymarket.com/events/women-wonder-con-2019 More information about Women of Wonder Convention can be found at: http://www.womenofwondercon.com https://www.facebook.com/WomenOfWonderCon By David Doub Please introduce yourself and describe your chosen Creative Medium. Hi! My name is Maysa Sem and I’m an illustrator based in Dallas, Texas. I love doing detailed illustrations of plants and animals inspired from nature. I studied illustration at an art college in Memphis, but didn’t find my artistic voice until after college. My favorite creative medium is ink and watercolor. What got you into your Creative Medium? What schooling and experiences help lead you there? What do you do to continue to learn and improve? I got into watercolor and ink from looking at printmaking books and scientific illustrations. Growing up my parents didn’t have the money to buy me name brand art supplies. My dad would give me cheap office pens to use. Because of this I was able to practice various art techniques such as mark making and shading. I find studying from art history books and from other artists was one of the best experiences to practice my medium. What are some of your favorite works? What do enjoy about creating? What are some pet peeves? My favorite works are my “Tiny Ink Life” series. These miniature ink and watercolor illustrations of animals are all unique and ready made in a tiny frame. What I enjoy the most about creating this series is hearing how certain animals remind people about someone special in their life. Who are some local creators who you enjoy their work or are just generally awesome people? Please explain why. My friends Diana and Hannah are local creators who continue to inspire me. These ladies are both hardworking and always give it their all. What I love about these two creators is they are positive and want others to succeed. They will be showcasing their beautiful artwork at Women of Wonder Con! The support from my friends is one of the reasons I have continued art. What are some of your favorite local conventions? Can you share any particular fun memories? One of my favorite local conventions was actually last year at my first Women of Wonder Con. I wanted to start doing shows and I didn’t know how. I was nervous about sharing my work but my friend Diana was very supportive. She helped me set up my table and gave me a few tips on how to display my art. It was also fun to do a show with a friend because it feels like I’m not doing it alone. What do you look forward to for Women of Wonder Con? What do you hope people can take away from Women of Wonder Convention? I look forward to the supportive community and meeting amazing people. I hope others will be inspired to create and follow their passion. Hope to see you there! You can find me @MaysaSem on Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/maysasem/ ) & Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/maysasem/ ) The Dallas Public Library hosts the 3rd annual Women of Wonder Con on Saturday, March 7th at the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library from 10am to 5pm! Press coverage about WOW Con 2019: http://kabooooom.com/2019/03/women-of-wonder-con-2019-report/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjXshtdnTEY https://dallaslibrary.librarymarket.com/events/women-wonder-con-2019 More information about Women of Wonder Convention can be found at: http://www.womenofwondercon.com https://www.facebook.com/WomenOfWonderCon By David Doub Please introduce yourself and describe your chosen Creative Medium. My name is Candace Ford, but you can call me Vexy! I’m an artist from Houston, TX. I love to make comics as well as promote the comics of others that are part of my webcomic collective. What got you into your Creative Medium? What schooling and experiences help lead you there? What do you do to continue to learn and improve? I’ve always love to tell stories, but I also love drawing. At first, I was convinced that I was just going to be a novelist, but during my college career at SCAD, I learned to combine my love of writing and drawing into comics. I am still working on my comics to this day and publishing my craft while surrounding myself with my community. What are some of your favorite works? What do enjoy about creating? What are some pet peeves? Some of my favorite comics are “Saga”, “Trying Human”, and “Earthsong”. I feel like I can reread any of the volumes from those and feel like I’m opening it for the first time. My favorite thing about creating is sharing my work. I’ve always been an entertainer in life, loving to tell stories and make people laugh, so being a comic artist just fits that so well. Some of my biggest pet peeves as an artist is stagnation. I hate when things don’t grow or change over time. It just feels like a huge trap. Who are some local creators who you enjoy their work or are just generally awesome people? Please explain why. Some of my favorite creators are Tyson Hesse, who you might know as the man who redesigned the movie version of Sonic the Hedgehog and Emy Bitner, the artist behind Trying Human. I’ve been following Tyson’s work ever since his first webcomic and it’s bee amazing to watch him grow to be a part of something much bigger. Emy Bitner just has such a fun style and I love it so much. She has amazing sense of color and drama to her art. What are some of your favorite local conventions? Can you share any particular fun memories? I do a lot of conventions, and by a lot, I mean between 15-20 a year. I do have to say some of my favorites are Delta H Con in Houston and San Japan in San Antonio. It’s really hard for me to come up with any favorite memories because I always have such a fun time at cons, but I really love seeing repeat customers make their way to me because they love me and my work enough to come see me every con. What do you look forward to for Women of Wonder Con? What do you hope people can take away from Women of Wonder Convention? I look forward to reaching out to an audience that is interested in learning more about and supporting female artists. I hope to leave the con with more connections and friends and con buddies! Instagram: @vexingly.yours Twitter: @VexinglyYours The Dallas Public Library hosts the 3rd annual Women of Wonder Con on Saturday, March 7th at the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library from 10am to 5pm!
Press coverage about WOW Con 2019: http://kabooooom.com/2019/03/women-of-wonder-con-2019-report/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjXshtdnTEY https://dallaslibrary.librarymarket.com/events/women-wonder-con-2019 More information about Women of Wonder Convention can be found at: http://www.womenofwondercon.com https://www.facebook.com/WomenOfWonderCon By David Doub Please introduce yourself and describe your chosen Creative Medium. My name is Jennifer Nesrsta / Kieshar and my work is comics (sequential art). My creative medium really can range, depending on the project. For example, I just finished my comic called Belma and all pages were traditional watercolor pages that in turn photographed to make available digitally. My current project is a reboot of something I tried to publish many moons ago and that at the time the pages were traditionally created with ink, quill and brush. To get the pages ready digitally required scanning, cleaning and cropping. Now, I need that total time cut in half, which means it will be done as a 5 color pallet digitally illustrated comic. All cover pages and a few pages here and there (for emphasis) will be done as traditional watercolors. What got you into your Creative Medium? What schooling and experiences help lead you there? What do you do to continue to learn and improve? Watercolors: My grandmother bought me a really nice watercolor pan set when I was very young and to this day I still have it. It got me initially into color use and painting. Schooling: Since Grade school, I have attended many art schools that really cemented my foundation for design. Graduated from college with a painting and drawing degree. Most of my color theory and technique came the professors there. I did take an illustration class from a man named Jeff Haney and he changed the flow of my art completely. I had always to do gesture drawings as exercises for various drawings classes off and on and hated it. He saw something in my art. Like it was on the cusp of something and he introduced gestures to me in a different way and overnight, it changed everything. My work went from ok/ nice to all beautiful movement. I'm ALL ABOUT movement. Even my thumbnails are gestures. With all that, I was being trained to be a fine artist and show in gallery or the like. However, my love always came back to comic books. I was an illustrator at heart and didn't know it. After graduation, I decided to stop fighting and teach myself how to be a sequential artist. Easy? Absolutely not! ^_^ To learn and Improve: New skills: Learning a new media. I just recently took a Japanese woodcut class. FANTASTIC. So many steps that depend on transparency, staining, consistency, paper quality, moisture, chiseling ability, sectioning of wood blocks and brush work. A great change of pace and excellent to help with artist block too. Limitations: Limit my color pallet to force me to understand color better. The natural urge is that if you have all colors at your fingertips that you will be inclined to use all colors. Many things happen, you don't understand relationships with color, moods and all work can look like the artist next to you. Nothing wrong with that but only if you choose to. I also found limiting my research and source images improved my conceptual ability and design. Since most of my stories are completely fictional/fantasy places, I restrict my resource genre. For instance for Belma, all my landscapes were taken from crystalline structures and aztec motifs and my creatures from mostly flowers and some fruit and veggies. It forced me to reorient my mind and remove blocks that kept me from designing something usual and hopefully enchanting. What are some of your favorite works? What do enjoy about creating? What are some pet peeves? Favorite works: OMG, I love anything illustrated black and white by Collen Doran, the Silver Diamond manga series Shiho Sugiura, the Finder series by Carla Speed McNeil and all works by Charles Weiss and Scott Morris. Enjoy about creating: I love the planning part. How pieces work together and which needs to come first before the next piece can follow. This can be form the conceptual part of it, color layering and what mood and effect it is creating to the finishing out of the pages and books. Second best is conceptual work. LOVE conceptual designing from world appearance to character look. Pet peeves: I really try not to have too many at least outside my own work. We all have our path and way of doing things that make us unique and want to see, read and/or following. I do wish that people stop hammering others with their prowess and mastery of a skill where there is none. Who are some local creators who you enjoy their work or are just generally awesome people? Please explain why. Terry Moore: All around sweet guy and excellent illustrator. I admire how he stuck to his guns and started out grass roots self-published and still is today. What are some of your favorite local conventions? Can you share any particular fun memories? AnimeFest: This is a long time favorite of mine. People are so damn sweet and I have made so many friends over the years that it has come to a family reunion and less vendor venue. Fun memory: I love cosplayers and sitting at a table allows me to see a lot of them as they walk by. One in particular is 2 cosplayers that did alternate versions of Sailor Moon characters for 3 days. I just gushed over them. Last day I found 2 bracelets they made for their costume under my table sheet and a gift of thanks and I lost it. It was so neat and incredibly sweet. Comic Indie: This was the second original comic specific convention I sold my book at. I was a little hesitant because the previous one, I was not received well at all. That was not the case at all for this one and it almost brought me to tears because I was so scared that this would be how the next project would be received and now I have confidence in myself and my work. ALSO, this con is straight out amazing. Fun memory, I cussed twice in a panel that was PG. I felt so embarrassed. >.< Furry Fiesta: Shocked. I have never met people as sweet as the people that ran, sold and attended this con. Fun memory: received a flower from a furry I took a picture of. She was beautiful. What do you look forward to for Women of Wonder Con? What do you hope people can take away from Women of Wonder Convention? I have no preconceived thoughts to be honest. First time and excited to experience this con. https://kieshar.com/ https://www.instagram.com/kieshareme/?hl=en The Dallas Public Library hosts the 3rd annual Women of Wonder Con on Saturday, March 7th at the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library from 10am to 5pm!
Press coverage about WOW Con 2019: http://kabooooom.com/2019/03/women-of-wonder-con-2019-report/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjXshtdnTEY https://dallaslibrary.librarymarket.com/events/women-wonder-con-2019 More information about Women of Wonder Convention can be found at: http://www.womenofwondercon.com https://www.facebook.com/WomenOfWonderCon By David Doub
Out of all the artistic mediums, why comics? And specifically, for you, why crazy humor comics? Drawing is simply the most fun way for me to pursue storytelling, and the most natural. Comics offer so many versatile ways to tell stories and you can do it all with just ink and paper. I lean towards crazy humor comics as those were what got my attention as a kid. I’m not a very serious guy and just naturally want to be silly and make fun of stuff, so humor comics fit me like a glove. What are some of your influences? Why informs your wacky art style? My biggest influences are MAD Magazine (especially artists Tom Bunk, Basil Wolverton, Al Jaffee and Sergio Aragones), The Ren and Stimpy Show and Gary Panter. I also derive a ton of inspiration from old Fleischer Bros. cartoons, Looney Tunes (especially Tex Avery and Chuck Jones), MTV’s Liquid Television, and tons of New Yorker and National Lampoon cartoonists (my absolute favorites being Charles Addams, Sam Gross, B. Kliban and Virgil Partch). What are some local creators that that influence you? Kit Lively, Miguel Aquilar, Hector Cantu, Richard Ross, Halo and Terry Parr, and Tyson Summers are all amazing artists and just plain awesome human beings. What are some of your favorite books you’ve worked on? I’ve been lucky that I’ve gotten to work on a lot of very fun properties such as SpongeBob, The Simpsons, Adventure Time and Garfield, so it’s hard to pick a favorite. But SpongeBob Comics was such a unique comic book to work on as the artists and writers were given a pretty fair amount of creative license, which is pretty rare. If you could work with anyone living or dead, who would it be? I would have absolutely loved to have gotten to collaborate with Jim Henson, a true creative genius. Since that obviously can’t happen, I would kill to get to do something for another one of my heroes, “Weird Al” Yankovic. If you could work on any character or property what would it be and what would you do to it? My biggest pop culture obsession is monster movies, and Godzilla in particular. So if Toho would let me (they of course won’t), but I would write and draw an insane Godzilla story in my style that would just have crazy monster fights and super weird monster opponents. I’m doing an original story now that’s basically this but with my own original characters, but to get to have my way with Godzilla would be insane. Are there any local creators you’d like to work with? Man this is tough as there are so many amazing local creators that would be amazing to collaborate with, but my friend Miguel Aquilar and I have talked forever about working on a project together and I would love to make that happen someday. What are some up coming projects you’d like to talk about? I can’t reveal much about what I have coming up, but I have several book projects in the works that are just a blast and should be appreciated for fans of weird and gross humor (mwahaha!). I’ve also been working on an animated series for Augenblick Studios that has allowed me to totally indulge in my love for horror movies and comics, so that will definitely be something to look out for! For aspiring North Texas creators, what advice would you give them that you wish someone had given you? I like to confirm to aspiring artists not to ever get discouraged in your creative endeavors by people that will tell you that it’s not worth pursuing. It’s a tough business to break into (it took me about 10 years to get my first big break), but I would still be drawing for fun if I wasn’t able to make it my full time job. I got tons of rejections and people telling me that I wasn’t any good, but I’m glad I used that to fuel my drive to get better instead of just giving up. https://twitter.com/daviddegrand https://degrandland.com/ https://www.instagram.com/daviddegrand/ |
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