jasonderoga86: The O.G. Lil' Hero Artist (Default)
Almost forgot my own birthday! Well, it's here, so I'd better acknowledge it! 

Halloween, and it's my birthday, and I'm 38! Thirty-eight years old. Something tells me I should be worried given the number, but I'm just gonna ignore that. As Dr. Leonard McCoy would say to me, "Dammit, Nana, what the hell's the matter with you? Other people have birthdays, why are we treating yours like a funeral?"

Whoa, hold on, Bones. I get you. Definitely in a more celebratory mood today, given everything I've been through this year. 

Presents? Gosh, I'm not really a "birthday present" guy. But if I could ask for any birthday gift right now, it'd be that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz win the upcoming presidential election so I can get re-hired at my old job with no more political anxiety, and so that I can stay connected with all of my family and friends (both on and offline and including my pals here on Dreamwidth). I really couldn't ask for anything more than that. 

Here's to my birthday wishes coming true! πŸ‘πŸΎπŸ₯³   

jasonderoga86: The O.G. Lil' Hero Artist (Default)
Global Comix sends me bi-monthly updates on readership of my comics there. I have 3 followers there (I technically don't count the fourth because it was an erroneous follow vote from myself, but I'd rather not un-follow because I feel that shows I'm not proud of my work... yeeeaah, I'm kinda weird like that), which to me is more than I could ask for. 

What surprises me, though, is that of all the installments for each of my two series, Lil' Hero Artists and Sneakers' U-Force, it seems Sneakers' U-Force is the most popular of the two series, with readership for all three current installments -- Volumes 1 and 2, and Volume 3 - Issue #12 -- currently amounting at nearly 4,600 reads, with one reader also favoriting the series today, tying it with the single favorite for Lil' Hero Artists.

During my time at my former job, I remember something all of my supervisors -- our HR manager in particular -- always told me to take to heart: that it's high time I start taking the compliments I've been getting from others seriously, because they are honest compliments. As I've always been extremely self-critical and self-conscious, accepting compliments hasn't exactly been easy to do. And as far as my art goes, yeah, many people tell me I'm FAR too humble about my work, ranging from my local bookstore owner who never complained about slow sales with my work while also declaring to me that I'm the only local artist whose graphic novels would grace her shelves (!), to my Eco Art instructor who not only helped my with my vision to bring Sneakers' U-Force to life, but to make it the star attraction at the gallery in 2010, along with an interview and photo-op for the college paper. 

I think I'll start taking the compliments now. No point in denying what people keep telling me; I am proud of what I've accomplished. And I'm excited about what I've got planned for the future for not just my series, but another series currently in development headed by a good friend of mine since 7th grade who wants to try his own hand at scripting a graphic novel of his own with me as illustrator and graphic designer. It's gonna be a lot of fun. 
jasonderoga86: The O.G. Lil' Hero Artist (Default)
Okay, Christmas is less than 2 weeks away, festivities are happening everyday at work, and seeing as my mom's birthday is on Christmas day, the obvious question looms... what am I going to get for her present(s)? This is gonna be really hard, because Mom has always told me:

"Don't worry about me, Nana. The best present I could ever ask for is our family."

My supervisor and our dining chef joked about getting her something really fancy and expensive, and I would go to that length. I really would... but I also run the risk of getting something pricey that Mom would take, but then kindly encourage me not to spend so much on her again. It's happened before.

But, Mom... it's Christmas and it's your birthday. I think I'm kinda obligated to do so here... 
jasonderoga86: The O.G. Lil' Hero Artist (Default)
Today I saw that TwedeeNimbus, who’s been gracing us with her fluid art and wisdom here on Dreamwidth, just put up a post on her views of art and art in business. The post struck a chord with me because it brought back memories of my own history and continuing journey as it relates to art, and I saw many common themes in both of our experiences. This is my detailed response to her post, and to her I wanna say:

Twedee, you hit the nail on the head in so many parts of this post.

I’m what some people call a “self-taught” artist. I think the first things I ever drew were pictures of the USS Enterprise from Star Trek and many drawings of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I remember there was one drawing I replicated off a Ninja Turtles “Turtlecopter” toy box that my dad loved so much he had it pinned on his office cubicle wall. It wasn’t until I visited my cousin in London that I really dove into drawing; that was when I played the first video game that really opened my eyes to character design: Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis.

Sonic the Hedgehog set me on the path of cartooning, leading me to eventually create illustrated books featuring him and his friends, which wowed my teachers and my classmates in elementary (my parents loved them too to an extent, but wound up encouraging me to draw other things as well, and getting me to cut down on the Sonic stuff sometimes). Later, I met a friend with a bunch of Archie’s Sonic the Hedgehog comics, which was the spark that got me into evolving my picture books into comic books. As time went on, I started drawing comics that featured my own characters (many of my characters today still have a slight Sonic-esque feel to their design, due to the influence of the art style in the Archie Sonic comics).

When I got into high school, I started playing around with human anatomy. The whole “putting pieces of a mannequin together style” way of drawing was interesting. I never had any real education in rendering human anatomy until I attended a one-week summer 2D/3D animation program at the Art Institute of California, San Francisco. The 2D animation was my first real dip into human anatomy (3D also was, but to a lesser extent). When I entered college, my real training in human anatomy began, with mannequins as well as nude models. What I noticed what that though I already had a decent handle on human anatomy, the classes taught me things I never knew beforehand, like perspective. Every now and then I go back to the basics to hone my skills, and usually I wind up learning something new.

When I got my first job, though, that’s when I started thinking about monetization. Of course, to do that, I’d have to make the art into a sellable and tangible form. So, I used some of my earnings to get my stuff professionally printed in comic book style from various print-on-demand vendors. I think around late 2007, I had printed my first graphic novel. Of course, as you did, at one point I became obsessed with going into selling my stuff fully. And, as you also discovered, reality knocked me on the head with a sledgehammer. I found out that one doesn’t just make something, try to sell it, and make big bank. The infamous “if you build it, they will come” façade isn’t infamous for no reason. Moreover, as many have learned the hard way in book publishing – and to a slightly lesser extent, the comics industry – that drawing and publishing a book/comic/graphic novel is a passion or hobby but selling them is a business. And in business, there are certain rules to follow, and fierce competition to reckon with. In book selling, you need capital, you need a market, you need a target audience… and in many instances, luck.

My dreams of making a living (or even a killing) from my graphic novels were quickly shattered once this realization sank in. And man, it took a LONG time – a little over a decade – and a lot of overspent money on printing costs, for it to sink it. The point was, as good as I believed myself to be, in the business world, the more established writers/artists (as the general public believe) were FAR better. One of my comics, The Viper, was brutally compared negatively to “Big Two” (Marvel/DC) comics on grounds that it didn’t follow the “traditional” superhero rules. A graphic novel of mine, Lil’ Hero Artists, was criticized for its “confusing plot points” (which I admit, there were a few), a mistargeted age group (it was billed as “All Ages”, but judged as more aimed at kids) and occasional subpar art. At a time, it was once traditionally published by New York small press publisher Alterna Comics, but even there, I struggled. The book is a co-creation between me and my friend Nick Vollmer, and we both soon agreed that our progress sales wise was less than optimal, never mind the traveling we'd have do for conventions and the like. And the competition. My God, the competition... That led us to decide to leave the publisher scene and go solo (after parting ways admirably with Alterna, of course) Lastly, when I tried to get local bookstores to stock it, only 1 out of 4 stores I talked to would do so. However, for the first store, my first volume was incredibly expensive to the common customer. Fortunately, the owner believed in me (and still does), so she never forced me to come back and pick up the books that didn’t sell. Still, while all this was happening, I had my job and college at the time, and while my job was progressing well, my college studies were slowly declining. The time I spent away from work was spent more on the comics than my studies, and I began to think that maybe college was less important than my job and my “business”.

Fortunately, many factors got me back on the right track: My family and a few close friends were able to pull me away from this delusion that I’d strike it rich like the big comics/graphic novel stars and live an idyllic life by warning me about the dark side of the comics industry, I took a few classes in college that strangely captured my interest and drew me away from running the “business”, and finally, two books delivered the liberation I needed: Neil Gaiman’s commencement speech in book form, Make Good Art, and Scott McCloud’s Making Comics. Both brought the truth I didn’t want to learn but needed to learn in that instant—that the most important thing in comics, or any creative endeavor for that matter, is NOT fame and fortune. It’s about doing something you enjoy. Any kind of art done for money is art done on the assumption of what sells. But in this business, what sells has generally already been established, and that isn’t changing anytime soon, if ever. With that in mind, you must be incredibly lucky with your idea to even make a dent in that establishment, and even if you do, that dent will eventually buff right off. Not to mention that if your main goal is money, that’s what will drive your work, and you’ll cave to things like deadlines and trends—things that the pros do, and that they’re not exactly proud of when the paycheck comes, especially if the work they’re doing is corporately owned, or “work-for-hire”.

Understanding that fact, as well as the ugly truth about the comics industry exploiting its writers and artists (sometimes to their deaths) and chiseling them by paying them pocket change in earnings while its corporate arm pockets the lion’s share in print sales and licensing/merchandise earnings, I finally saw that this was a battle I wouldn’t ever win. I had the skills, but I wasn’t skilled enough for the market, and I had (and STILL have) no business know-how. So, I decided to just make the art for myself. And when I did, the art/comics I made from that point on indeed brought me more joy over time. I still have a day job (and it’s an AWESOME one), because the reality is that I cannot realistically rely on my comics to sustain me. If I tried to this point, I would surely get to a point where I’d be hating my work right now, because I’d have a pitiful number of sales and my life would be in dark place—broke, maybe even homeless, and indeed, “starving”. What brought the whole thing full circle in understanding for me was that “good” and “bad” art are entirely subjective. What one considers “good” art, another will say is “bad”. The saying "You can't please everyone" is real gold here. And to go even further, to me, there IS no such thing as “bad art” UNLESS its purpose is to do anyone some kind of harm. If you’re using your artistic gifts to hurt someone or a group of people out of pure malice, then yes, your art is, in my opinion, “bad”.


jasonderoga86: The O.G. Lil' Hero Artist (Default)
Wow, fortune smiles today! On Friday, I saw the surprising statistics of my webcomic series Sneakers' U-Force, with the series view count having reached 978 views, a record for the comic. But recently I just checked the stats for my other series, Lil' Hero Artists, and Lord Almighty, this was a record breaker for not just this series, but my highest view count for comics PERIOD. 

As of the time of this writing, Lil' Hero Artists has amassed 1,064 views -- the highest view count for any of my comics. 

Does this have to do with my recently updated page advertising the series being available at Amazon.com, My Lulu.com Storefront, local bookstore websites through IndieBound, and e-comic versions at DriveThruComics.com? I dunno, but I can say one thing: this is ONE thing I'm definitely thankful for this Thanksgiving, along with my new friends Matt Zimmer, Jazz Nevermore, Lady Jess (a_natural_beauty), and TwedeeNimbus. 

Thanks, guys! Meeting you all has been one of the best things to happen to me this year!

-- J.D.
jasonderoga86: The O.G. Lil' Hero Artist (Default)
Welp, looks like Jason has reached another year. I am THIRTY-SEVEN, BABY! And it looks like it's going down with a sure-to-be-awesome Halloween/Double B-Day Celebration (a participant at our center also celebrates their B-day today)!

This B-Day, I got a lotta things to appreciate: my family being closer now than ever, the unexpected many sales I made with my graphic novels (in particular, almost every co-worker of mine at work who bought copies of Sneakers' U-Force Vols. 1 & 2 paid double - yes, DOUBLE - the suggested price; in other words, $40 instead of $20), the completion of two graphic novels: Sneakers' U-Force Vol. 2 and Curse of Creation: Lil' Hero Artists, Vol. 2, and last but CERTAINLY not least... meeting four VERY important people in my life as of right now: Matt Zimmer, Jazz Nevermore, Lady Jess, and TwedeeNimbus, without whom this B-day could not have been more special.

To the future! 

J.D.

Nana Kumi-Amankwah 

jasonderoga86: The O.G. Lil' Hero Artist (Default)
Gotta say, I was pissed about yesterday's massacre in Maine. I still find it horrifying that this is the new normal in this country because of money, corruption, obviously racist motives, and most of all, pure hate. And I will continue to condemn this shit as long as I live. But I had a cooldown moment at work today, and I'm more chill now.

I adopted the Serenity Prayer recently, because I was totally fed up with, well, everything after Oct. 7th, when Hamas decided to wipe more than a thousand Israelis off the face of this Earth. I still have a burning hatred towards anyone, or any country, or any continent that believes they're above anyone else. That kind of ideology has stained the concept of humanity from the early ages. The very idea that someone has to end another's life because of a disagreement is the most pungent of bullshit. But I'm not even going to dwell on it anymore, because I can't change it myself. I'm NOT okay with it, but I'm not dwelling on it anymore. And maybe someday, even if not in my lifetime, someone with power will step up and say "To hell with this obsession with guns. It's time for some common sense up in this piece!"

In the meantime, along with the Serenity Prayer, I'm also grateful for today, 'cause it was my first dive into yoga of all things. I read about a lot in the past, and even a Comic Fury webcomic covered it slightly in its newest chapter. I thought it was all "bendy-stretchy" and honestly, some of the poses I saw in the past looked damn painful and nigh impossible for anyone to replicate. But today was something simple, it was seated. It made sense, since our clientele at my job are disabled people, most of them in wheelchairs. Seeing them participating in the class reminded me of the good things in life. It almost felt like I was a parent watching a baby take its first steps, for lack of a better description. And two of our clients just tied the knot, too. Not a bad day, all things considered.

So, I'm gonna look into this stuff, and I'm sure I'll benefit in terms of being at peace with myself. Ditching mainstream media has already done wonders for me, and this can only help me more. So, cheers! 😊

Peace and love to you all,




J.D.
jasonderoga86: The O.G. Lil' Hero Artist (Default)
I happened by Amazon.com last night to see quite a humbling sight: Someone left their first starred rating on Lil' Hero Artists: The Original Series (Variant Cover) -- and it was a full 5/5. 

I don't know who it was, as they didn't leave a detailed review. But I think after 18 years since its birth I should just shamelessly post a praise for the book from an old friend back in 2007, which graces the book's back cover.

Michael S. Bracco, former editor of
Alterna Comics (once a New York Times Bestselling Small Press Publisher my work was published under):

“In a world where creators everywhere are unsuccessfully trying to capture the magic of Smith’s BONE in their work, this one seems to have potential to do it.”


Now, I don't normally point my fans to Amazon as they take a huge cut outta my royalties for distribution purposes (which is why it's primarily promoted on my storefront here), but for the sake of promotion I'm putting this up today. And this is two days after my job caught wind of my long background in art (and more specifially, my comic book/graphic novel prowess) and is working to promote me again from a classroom aide to a full-on Art Instructor. Ain't got much teaching experience, but our clients are shoving me in front of my management right now begging me to take the place of our resigning Art Instructor (who now has a singed copy of Sneakers' U-Force Vol. 1 as a parting gift). Man, am I nervous this morning...  

(...and Jeff Smith's Bone has the privilege of being so badass and monumental that it was banned for a bland depiction of violence in a school or two. Guess that's a badge of honor for me to wear right now, given we're in a time where book banning is like a video game with politicians clamoring to one-up each other's high score. How about that...)  

Peace and love to y'all.

Newcomer!

Jul. 1st, 2023 03:35 pm
jasonderoga86: The O.G. Lil' Hero Artist (lover of humanity)
Yo guys, the name's JasonDeroga. I was directed here by the absolutely amazing Matt Zimmer. The fact that his journal's avatar features the character Fone Bone already confirms its awesomeness. Matt, if you're reading this, thanx for being so welcoming! =D

Date: July 1, 2023

It's the start of July, and I'm proud to be alive and finally witness a beautiful sunny day. I just recently met a cool dude, Matt Zimmer, who along with a few others have opened my eyes to see that now, more than ever, I've got a right to exist, and a right to help others. I do that through my awesome job and thru my talents in art. I remember being discouraged at every turn to use this gift growing up, from jealous bullies to "educational" skeptics. But here I am, a successful graphic novelist in my own right, gatekeeper blessings be damned.

I've been featured in a gallery art show focusing on environmental issues and climate change with my newest graphic novel series, "Sneakers' U-Force". I've also achieved my previous dream of being published under an indie graphic novel banner known as Alterna Comics. They helped shape me into the artist I am today, and they're knocking it outta the park in the industry with their eclectic titles - without Diamond's status-biased monopolistic arm to boot. My other work, "Lil' Hero Artists", is my very first graphic novel project, which won a digital submissions publication contract under Alterna back in 2008. Though I left them on good terms, I am eternally grateful for their support for LHA. And now, my local bookstore has sold out the first batch of copies of the original 4-chapter series and is showing interest in more of them, as well as Sneakers and the LHA sequel series, "Curse of Creation".

From these experiences, my message to any aspiring artist or author out there is pretty much what many greats like Scott McCloud and Neil Gaiman have stressed time and time again: Forget the gatekeepers and the perceived "prestige" supposedly required from the industry at large and GO FOR IT. The tools are out there. Your drive is there. What's stopping you? I believe EVERYONE has a story to tell and a right to tell it (within reason, of course). Don't believe me? This is 'Merica, baby. Just ask my good friend the First Amendment. This nation, this WORLD needs your stories, your ideas, your perspectives (again, within reason). Standards do not exist, nobody has the right to shut you up 'cuz you're not with the status quo.

Peace and love to you all, and keep telling stories!


J.D.

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