Please tell us a bit about yourself and your creative background.
I’m J. TOONS!, a freelance illustrator and graphic designer who has been drawing for as long as I can remember.
I’ve illustrated comic books, children’s books, CD covers (back when we had CDs), and all sorts of publication materials and merchandise in multiple languages for international clients both big and small—and I’m always looking for more opportunities. I’m a member of the National Cartoonist Society, self-taught, and have always been inspired by great American comic book art. My earliest inspiration was my uncle’s airbrushed T-shirts and my older brother’s drawings.
Additional inspirations in style and subject were MAD Magazine (who I’d love to draw for), Cracked, “Weird Al” Yankovic, and so many others. My single biggest artistic influences are Steve Ditko and Dr. Seuss.
When did your love of comics first begin?
My love of comics began with MAD Magazine—all those different styles of drawing and humour have forever (and positively!) skewed my humour and taste. However, my earliest comic book memory was when I saw an issue of Iron Man (vol. 1, issue 255) on the comic spinner rack of a local pharmacy near my maternal grandmother’s house, back when single-issue comics being sold at places other than comic book shops was a thing (and should happen again!). The line work and colours of the cover—split right down the middle—just blew me away. It’s the first comic book I remember getting.
Tell us about Force Comics.
Force Comics is my independently owned and operated little comic book company with currently just two employees. I’ve been producing comics and other material under that banner for about four years now, although I did start using the name as far back as 1992.
The aim of my work through Force Comics is to rekindle the love and excitement of American comic books found in the Silver and Bronze Age. The flagship publication of Force Comics is Force Comics Presents, which is a one-man-produced anthology of various characters I have created. Each issue is a collection of short stories in different genres and art styles. The second issue, which was just published in June 2024, relied heavily on the Affinity suite for lettering, image editing, and pre-press work.
“The aim of my work through Force Comics is to rekindle the love and excitement of American comic books found in the Silver and Bronze Age.”
What makes Affinity a go-to tool for comic book creation?
The Affinity suite has become my go-to tool for comic book creation. While I do all my art on actual paper, the Affinity suite enables me to prep my line work for clean, crisp black line work and also makes it a breeze to do comic book lettering. In addition, the Affinity suite allows me to use tones (zip-a-tones/screentones) using great brush sets via a great third-party Affinity brush and texture company called RetroSupply Co. (not a sponsor!).
When I was working on Force Comics Presents #2, I discovered that the Affinity suite gave me a way to seamlessly do several things crucial to preparing it for publication—and I could do them all in one app by merely switching between Affinity’s persona settings. So when I needed to adjust my line art, I could switch to Pixel Persona within Affinity Designer. When I needed to add word balloons and text, I could easily just switch back to Designer Persona. This facet of the Affinity Suite removed the headache of having to open and save multiple files in other, well-known design apps. Going back and forth between these personas was just the click of a button!
“When I was working on Force Comics Presents #2, I discovered that the Affinity suite gave me a way to seamlessly do several things crucial to preparing it for publication—and I could do them all in one app by merely switching between Affinity’s persona settings. ”
Can you describe your process for creating a printed comic book from start to finish?
The process I use to create comic books is a little different than most modern comic book artists. The main difference is that all my art is still done on paper intentionally and unashamedly—apart from the bulk of the lettering and screentones.
First, after getting my ideas down, I do a rough thumbnail of a page using a blue pen.
I then take those thumbnail ideas and roughly sketch them out on large, A3 paper. I keep the pencils very light and loose intentionally, expanding and revising the initial ideas as needed.
Inks are then applied over the pencils. This is my favourite stage of the process since I can enhance the rough pencil lines.
Once the inks are done, I then scan the art and import it into Affinity Designer. In Affinity Designer, I use various combinations of settings available in “Adjustments” under the “Layers”. Affinity makes it easy to get clean, crisp line work that prints equally as clean.
Lettering is then added over the art and a word balloon is added behind the text layer. Affinity has some good pre-made word balloons, but you can also draw them nearly effortlessly in Affinity Designer right on top of your art.
Once that’s done, I stitch all the pages together in order in Affinity Publisher, exporting each page separately as a high-resolution JPG (to preserve any/all effects, etc.), and send all the final pages off to the press!
“In addition to comic books, I’ve used the Affinity suite for professional publications, bookmarks, T-shirt designs, stickers–just about everything a designer could want to use it for and it handled them all beautifully without issue.”
Affinity suite has many great features that make it ideal for doing all sorts of graphic design work. One small and easily overlooked feature is the ability to save preset templates and easily access them for future use in the New Document window. This allows for quicker production of graphics for a variety of mediums. For example, you can use a template set up for social media dimensions and then pump out appropriately-sized and proportional content. In addition to comic books, I’ve used the Affinity suite for professional publications, bookmarks, T-shirt designs, stickers—just about everything a designer could want to use it for and it handled them all beautifully without issue.
What makes a great comic book, in your opinion?
To be a great comic book, both the story and art must be compelling and give readers something of value. There are many great comic book artists out there today. However, being a great artist isn’t what is most important in comic books. Can the artist tell a story through pictures? It’s a simple question, but the answer and end result is a lot harder than you might imagine. If a story is substantive (gives readers something to talk or think about) and is done with clear, exciting artwork… that is a great comic! (Read Blue Beetle Vol. 5 issue 5 for an example).
What inspires your stories and writing?
Good work by dynamic creators in every medium, whether it’s comic books, movies, or books, inspires me. For example, I recently got into normalman, a finite, 12-issue series by the great comic book artist and writer Jim Valentino (Guardians of the Galaxy, Shadowhawk), who I’d love to work with. It’s a hilarious, yet lovingly done parody of this great medium we call “comic books” and makes me want to revive the character! While Jim’s art was in its earlier phase, his writing shines through; he really gives readers value and enjoyment in everything he has written.
Another example is that I never go a month without watching “The Empire Strikes Back”… absolute treasure of sci-fi/fantasy; compelling story (lots of plot twists), fascinating characters, and beautifully filmed by Irvin Kershner. The 2008 Speed Racer film is a cinematic masterpiece, right alongside the 1989 film The Adventures of Baron Munchausen… both are very inspiring.
But one of the most inspiring things that I encourage all artists to explore is boredom. Shut off your smartphone and step away from social media. Go for a walk. Sit on a train. In doing so, your imagination will run wild. To prepare, get a sketchbook, so you’re ready to capture those ideas while they’re fresh.
“One of the most inspiring things that I encourage all artists to explore is boredom. Shut off your smartphone and step away from social media. Go for a walk. Sit on a train. In doing so, your imagination will run wild. To prepare, get a sketchbook, so you’re ready to capture those ideas while they’re fresh.”
What are you working on right now?
Currently, I’m working on several projects (and am always interested in finding others)–Force Comics Presents #3, a Star Wars one-pager (I hope it can reach fellow Star Wars fans), one of my weekly Fun Facts for Fans of Fiction, etc.
Who is your favourite superhero of all time?
While I would consider Batman my favourite superhero of all time, Blue Beetle is right there with him. In fact, the absolute pinnacle of what comic books can do–inspire, challenge, and educate in an entertaining way without being preachy–is best encapsulated in American comic book legend Steve Ditko’s 5-issue run on the Blue Beetle back in the later 1960s.
The fifth issue in particular, though controversial, is, for me, the best comic book I’ve ever read. The story is illuminating, Ditko’s art is stellar (so many various poses and camera angles)… just an absolute masterpiece.
Do you have any advice for someone creating their first comic?
Drawing of any kind requires endurance. You’re sitting in a chair thinking and moving your hand and mind for hours. It can be every bit as taxing as manual labour, despite the caricature of “pushing pencils”. So you must first build up endurance—the ability to sit at a desk for hours—before attempting a full comic book. Additionally, having ideas for comic books is one thing. But it’s not until you start actually drawing comics that you begin to understand how complex it is; you have to choose the poses, and the camera angles, know how to render textures, know about visual storytelling, etc. While I would not consider myself as having mastered any of those, I do know where I can look for inspiration on all those points: the work of comic book masters like Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby, Joe Kubert, Neal Adams, etc.
In light of that, let me make a simple suggestion: Do a one-pager FIRST. So if you can do one page, then you can try two. Then three. And so on. Before long, you’ll have an actual comic book!
To see more work from J. TOONS!, check him out on Instagram, Webtoons, and YouTube.