Jeremy Vanhoozer is a freelance illustrator living in Orlando Florida with his wife and three children. He has swept the floors of many studios, including Disney, Big Idea, and Universal. When he isn’t fighting alligators or dodging hurricanes, he likes to sit down and draw stories about crazy characters and wacky robots.

 

Hey everybody! This is Stephen. I hope you’re all doing fine. This week’s interview was done over IM, and I decided to include a little amusing exchange that took place before the interview started. Enjoy!

Stephen McCranie: Hey Jeremy! Ready?

Jeremy Vanhoozer: Hey! I was just changing a diaper!

S: Ha ha! Sounds like perfect timing.

J: Isn’t that the life of an artist? Creating funny stuff… and changing diapers.

S: Ha ha.

J: I am back in my chair, however.

S: Great. Okay, let me get my questions.

J: Okee dokey. And then you can edit my long winded answers, correct?

S: Right. We’ll edit ‘em down to unreadable sound bite sentences. Ready?

J: ok…. breathe, breathe…. ready!

S: As I recall, your story for Parable: Volume 1, entitled “The Picnic,” was not only one of the longest stories in the anthology, but also done in a very short period of time, because you had to fight against a fast approaching deadline. What was it like trying to beat the deadline?

J: Well, it was pretty crazy. When I was asked to be a part of Parable, I was so excited that I really didn’t stop to think about how fast I would have to work. Once I settled down and actually thought about how much drawing I had to do… it freaked me out a bit. But, when I was able to thumbnail my story out and come up with a page count, things fell into place.

S: And what inspired your story for Parable?

J: Hmmm. I would have to say peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. When I was a kid, I never liked sharing my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. My mother would tell me to let my sister have a bite, and I would flatly refuse. As I grew up I began to realize how nice it was to share my sandwiches. For my story, I wanted to talk about sharing sandwiches and what it felt like to be a kid with a giant imagination.

S: That’s great! I didn’t realize it until now, but peanut butter and jelly is a motif in that story. So what was it like growing up for you? Specifically, what was the journey from imaginative child to established professional like?

J: I can remember being in kindergarten and drawing tanks and helicopters all over the writing paper. I think it was at that point that I realized there might be something to this art thing. I spent my young years drawing weird monsters, huge trucks, and imaginary lands. In between my artistic endeavors I also opened a salad bar in my bedroom, recorded a weekly radio show on a cassette recorder in my hall closet, and set my parents bed on fire. All events that I look back on and credit with expanding my imagination. After graduating from high school, I was extremely fortunate to get an internship at Disney. That is where my “real” art training took place, and also where I learned how to mix art with business.

S: What a wonderful opportunity that must have been. Though, I hear internships don’t pay very well, but the contacts you made must have been payment enough.
I noticed that you know a lot of people from the Drawergeeks crew. Who do you know and where did you meet these people?

J: Lets see…. Paul Conrad used to be my boss at Big Idea. Bryan Ballinger and I played the ukulele together at Big Idea. Greg Hardin was my replacement when I left Big Idea. I started as Sarah Mensinga’s biggest online fanboy, but am now able to call her a friend. I am looking at the list of Drawergeeks contributors and I know quite a few… it would take me the rest of the night to list their names and social security numbers. Just trust me when I tell you that no friends were obtained illegally .

S: Ha ha! You know, I wasn’t really aware of how integral networking is to success in the comics industry until I went to Comic-Con and met you and Sarah and a bunch of other Parablers. But making friends who are also in the business is a wonderful experience. I can’t wait to go back to Comic-Con this year.

J: Networking is key.

S: I try to make my last question a silly one… Is there something unique or interesting about yourself that I can pry into?

J: Hmmmm… Let me think…I can’t think of anything really outstanding….. my first job was selling balloons at the Magic Kingdom. I survived a tornado. My parents raised goats when I was little, so I had to milk them. Not too much.

S: Did you have to wear any funny suits for the balloon job?

J: Only the best. I had two outfits…. For the Magic Kingdom I wore a stylish candy striped shirt, white knickers, tall white socks, an odd hat, and a smile. When I worked at the Disney-MGM Studios I wore an awesome surf print shirt, suspenders, delicious brown polyester pants, and really bad shoes. The beauty of it was, I would get such a bad sunburn… but not in the areas where the suspenders were. It was the greatest partial tan ever.

S: Ha ha, awesome.

S: Well, that about wraps it up I think.

J: Have a great night!

S: You too.

In two weeks, tune in for an interview with Josh Alves!

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First off, happy Victoria day everyone. I know it’s a Canadian holiday, but it means that I get the day off and when the weather is this awesome out, thats a good thing. It also means I can write this wonderful blog entry for you all, so rejoice!

Just a couple of things, maybe mundane to some, but I’m plugging them anyway. Mike Laughead is a shirt making machine. I believe this is his official title and if it is not, then we should lobby to make it so. You can vote for his shirts and you should. Many, many have already voted and they were right in doing so. See an example of his fine work below:

As many of you may or may not know, our other Mike, Mike Maihack, has a little pet project called “Cleopatra in Space.” I love this kind of genre/setting cross over- feels fresh. Mike has page number four up as of today for our enjoyment. Check it out at his blog. It’s fun and fast paced and perhaps if enough people like it he will update pages more frequently.

Until we meet again,

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After a brief hiatus, we are getting back to our bi-weekly Spotlight interviews with the creators that make up Parable Book 1, coming out this November from Viper Comics. This week, Parable contributor Stephen McCranie spotlights writer Caleb Monroe.

Caleb Monroe was left at the circus at a young age by gypsies. After he nearly died in a terrible aerial accident, the Alligator Man managed to cobble him together again using insect DNA and spare roller coaster parts. Then, when he was 11, he bought his first comic book and also sold his first short story, ensuring that he would spend his life fighting crime as a writer rather than just another insectile cyborg acrobat.

Stephen McCranie: The story you wrote for Parable Volume 1, entitled “Uncommon,” is a simple story about a balloon shop. I think the message of the story is very pertinent though, especially to the average person. Was there any experience that inspired this story?

Caleb Monroe: The entire comic is based on a true story. Something that happened to a good friend of mine named Weyman. It was the first idea I had when I started talking to Mike about Parable. Just a quiet slice-of-life piece. Mike put me in touch with Caroline Parkinson, and her art turned out to be perfect for it, really catching those everyday details and heightening the emotional impact of the moment with their presence.

S: Your Leap Year project is very exciting. How is your goal of becoming a full-time writer going?

C: It’s barreling along. I wish I had more to report, but things are at a quiet stage right now where there’s not too much ready to talk about. I’m working on some creator-owned projects right now, all with some fantastic artists or co-writers; will have work in a number of anthologies later this year and just recently had my first opportunity to pitch a book to one of the Big Two.

S: Everyone wants to become a writer, but becoming a writer for comics is something different entirely. It seems to me that most of your writing projects are collaborations with other cartoonists. What draws you to the comics industry?

C: Hmmm. Well, I both sold my first writing (a poem and short story to my local newspaper) and bought my first comic (Spectacular Spider-Man #16) in the same year when I was 11, so I guess it was just a matter of time. My mom was also finishing up her first book around that time, so I had someone in the house to learn from.

I’m a very visual person, which is one of the reasons I love comics and film so much. About the time I started seriously trying to write comics I also left college and worked on various film sets for about three years in just about every position you could imagine. At first I was thrilled to just be part of it all, but as the years progressed I came to the realization that ultimately I was unhappy without a say in the story. Plus, I was working in so many varied capacities. When I moved to LA I stopped working on set (which is kinda backwards, I know), because I decided I wanted to be great at one thing instead of good at a bunch of things, and that one thing I’ve always wanted to be great at is writing.

For comics, there was a time even further back when I was an equally strong student at both writing and art. But again, I wanted to truly excel at the one, so I left the other behind. Now it would be worse that starting over because my visual sense has grown so much more sophisticated but my artistic muscles are so atrophied. Plus, I just love the process of collaboration. And I think there’s a spiritual element to that process. Scripture talks often of people from different walks of life learning to operate in unity. That’s the model for the church. Plus, as believers since Pentecost, we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The exact same Spirit that collaborated with somewhere around forty human co-authors to write the bible. That same Spirit wants to participate in all that I do, which means if I invite him into my writing process I have the opportunity to co-write with the greatest Author of all time. But this happens on a spiritual level and can sometimes be hard to grasp in practical terms. Which is where working with human collaborators comes in – to constantly better learn the art and skill of collaboration on a practical level in order to be able to apply those lessons on a higher level.

S: And what is your diagnosis of the Christian comics industry in particular? What do you think Christian writers and artists are lacking?

C: I think there are several fallacies in such a consideration. First, in comics there’s no such thing as a Christian industry. Which I actually think is fantastic. There are Christians making comics, and some of them are even making faith-based comics, but there’s not really a separate industry, like there is in music. I think we should fight to keep it that way. Christianity is not meant to be a ghettoized sub-culture set apart from “real” culture. There is a dialogue taking place out there in the arts. Art is a medium where people discuss and grapple with the things that are most important in life. And we should be contributing to that discussion. Out there in the dangerous “real” world, rather than swapping tales back and forth within the imagined safety of a Christian sub-culture. Every comic I’ve ever written, even my Parable work, is intended for a secular audience.

As for what aspiring Christian writers or artists may be lacking, it’s the same things any aspiring writers or artists are lacking: the skills, experience and the specialized knowledge of the medium that it takes to make excellent comics. We should constantly be honing our skills and adding to our storytelling toolbox if we want to make it in this industry, and our beliefs have very little to do with that. It’s a reality regardless of faith.

S: On your blog, you mentioned the Daniel diet, a diet derived from what the prophet Daniel ate while under the instruction of the Babylonians. Can you tell me more about this?

C: I can. The Weyman I mentioned in my first answer and his family have a ministry called Healing Waters, which is currently based in Denmark, but for which they travel all over the world. Last fall they invited those of us who support them to join them in a 40-day fast to pray for the salvation of loved ones. The type of fast we chose for those 40 days would be between us and God. As I prayed and considered my options I felt called to a Daniel fast, which is sort of an extreme form of veganism. I was very reluctant at first, because frankly I love meat, but through a small series of events I knew this is what I was being asked to choose, so I chose it.

After a brief adjustment period, I discovered an amazing side effect of the fast, which was a huge surge in both my creativity and my follow-through on it. In fact, it was ten days in that I began my Leap Year project. When I went back to my regular diet after the 40 days, there was a noticeable increase in mental cloudiness. Or at least it seemed cloudy after the boost my writing had seen during the fast. Then, starting the first of this year, my wife wanted to do the same fast for a number of reasons and I joined her for support. Again, there was a noticeable boon to my creative work. About halfway though this second fast I discovered a verse I had somehow missed before in all the times I’ve read the book of Daniel:

“So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead. To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning.” –Daniel 1:16-17 (emphasis mine)

This chapter in Daniel is actually the only place in all of the bible that the term “literature” appears. I’ve come to realize that my mind is probably my greatest asset as a writer and that what I put into my body has a direct effect on it. So I’m doing further research and making some permanent diet changes to reflect this new priority.

Also, as someone living in LA and trying to break into the film industry as well as comics, I identify a lot with Daniel. The book of Daniel takes place when he was a captive in Babylon. The same Babylon that held the Hanging Gardens, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was not just literature, but the literature of the Babylonians that he was learning. Babylon is an identity that LA and Hollywood have always sort of embraced. In fact, the design of the Hollywood and Highland complex that houses the Kodak Theater (home of the Oscars every year) is based on the set design of the city of Babylon from DW Griffith’s early 20s epic film Intolerance.

Daniel lived in Babylon and learned the literature of the Babylonians. Which I think brings me back to my earlier point about Christians in the industry: the industry already exists, we need to learn to excel within it, not set ourselves apart. Simply put, let’s make quality comics.

In two weeks, tune in for an interview with Jeremy Vanhoozer!

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Hi all,

To those of us who live in North America, this weekend holds a very special place in the hearts of all comic lovers. That’s right, it was free comic day! The one day a year when your local comic store will give you, free of charge, one of many comics published specially for the day. I myself picked up a copy of Atomic Robo from Red 5 Comics. I had to do a bit of research and found out that the shops do have to pay for the comics, so make sure if you go to pick up one of the ‘free’ issues you go the extra mile and pick up another copy to support this awesome day.

Marvel and Upperdeck have brought back the Masterpieces Sketch Card Series, and our very own Josh Alves has submitted his genius for Marvel to check out. Josh did fifty of these guys and while they were all sent back, they really are fantastic. Check out one sheet below and head to his blog to check out the rest!

Lastly, a couple of our contributors have websites with new looks. Caleb Monroe (calebmonroe.com) and Caroline Parkinson (carolineparkinson.co.uk) I would recommend checking out both sites, both are pretty neat and well put together.

That’s all for this week folks!

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