Johnson & Sir as a webcomic is finished, with 100 pages of epic silliness.
But the story is not complete yet! Continue reading “Johnson & Sir is Now on KickStarter”
Johnson & Sir’s New Book Cover
I finished the book cover for Johnson & Sir today!
With any luck, the first book of Johnson & Sir will be out in time for Phoenix Comicon in June!
The book will have the first 24 or so pages of the webcomic, as well as sketches and other behind-the-scenes bonus material, like the initial concept art and never-before-published pages.
I’ll announce when it’s ready to go, so keep checking back in.
P.S. I’m also thinking of redesigning this website. So brace thyself for any changes that may occur.
The Story Behind Johnson & Sir
I love making Johnson & Sir.
And not just for the T-Rex Sissy Fights.
Or the Noodle Trees.
Or Sir’s Sirness.
I love Johnson & Sir largely because of something that most readers don’t know about until today: the story behind why it exists.
Originally, Johnson & Sir started with my little sister and me hanging out and playing Jak II.
There are bad guys in that game called Krimzon Guards (which are pretty much elf police because everyone in that game was an elf or a talking beast). The fun part is, when you’re making Jak stand idle in the street or you’re just being bored, you can overhear the Krimzon Guards talking to each other and being bored.
My sister and I started to have fun with it and we spit-balled our own made-up dialogue between two Krimzon Guards, whom we called Johnson and Sir. And it was Johnson’s job to make Sir’s life as miserable and odd as possible. At that time, any time I drew them, it was a running gag that you would never see Johnson’s face (kind of like Wilson’s hidden face in the show Home Improvement).
Also Johnson cross-dressed. A LOT. And hit on Sir any chance he could.
For a few years, it stayed as an inside joke between my sister and me until I went to college. It was there that I shared the idea with my roommate, and then we went nuts with it and developed Johnson and Sir even more. There were insinuations of scandalous affairs, dry humor, the works.
Over time, my roommate moved out, college happened, and for a while I forgot about Johnson and Sir.
UNTIL ONE DAY…
It was in March of 2013. My older sister was in town for a few months until she could move to Arizona (long story). And by that time, I was dating Marc the Boyfriend for a bit. All three of us decided to go out to lunch together and just hang out.
While there, not only did I make Marc the Boyfriend giggle at the banter between my sister and me, but we both ended up talking about Johnson and Sir with him.
It happened a little like this:
Me: I’ve been thinking about getting into webcomics, but I don’t know what to make.
Sister: Dude, you should make a comic about Johnson and Sir. That shit cracked me up.
Marc: What’s that?
So afterward I sketched a few character designs, got a few ideas for strips from my sisters, and then Johnson & Sir was born.
Although Johnson & Sir has gone through a lot of changes in art, the humor is always there, and I hope it stays that way.
If you would like to read it (and you should, because it’s ridiculous and fun), you can start reading it here.
And then you will be part of a wonderful, fantastic inside joke.
Abandoned Projects: Auxaton
Time to talk about another abandoned project…
Today’s feature is unique in that, unlike the other abandoned projects I’ve blogged about so far, I want to pursue this one! At some point…
Today’s feature doesn’t really have a working title, so I’m going to name it after the main character of the story: Auxaton.
Auxaton is a Mountain Ridge elf and a priest. His matriarchal society worships the Goddess Ahyahweh, whom Auxaton devotes his life to.
Things were fine for a while until a band of humans came in, attacked his town, and kidnapped a great many of the people there. Even though Auxaton was trained for combat, he was overwhelmed by the band of humans and taken captive.
As the humans lead them away, Auxaton discovers that they intend to sell the elves into slavery, and in particular they intend to sell him as a breeder slave. This goes against his vow of celibacy, so he escapes the slavers with a handful of his comrades and they make their way back to their town.
However, the town is ruined. When his companions leave him, Auxaton receives a vision from the Goddess Ahyahweh to go into the world and rescue the rest of the Mountain Ridge elves, so they may rebuild and renew. And so he goes out into the world to fulfill his mission.
I’m still totally hooked to this idea, and over time I’ve developed a couple more characters for this story, illustrated here:
I’m eager and excited to do this, but this project has been shelved for close to two years.
Why?
Work Drama.
At the time I created this idea, I was a caricature artist in an amusement park (I would list where, but for legality’s sake, I won’t). Except by then, I didn’t like the job at all for reasons besides the art-making, so I tried working in a different department. It didn’t help.
What made it worse? It became slow season and our hours were cut to where all of us worked weekends-only.
By then, I was stressing and freaking out that I wouldn’t be able to pay my bills or have an apartment. I called up my family to talk about it and we decided that it was best that I leave the job and go back home.
So I did.
I shelved this story idea until I could get to a point where I could script it out, develop it more, and then pursue it.
This story is still a seed. It hasn’t been scripted, except for a three-page writing exercise to set the tone for it. Also, there aren’t that many characters to populate it yet.
When will it be developed?
I don’t know.
I gotta finish a few more things first.
But once I do…