Conversations with Jon Garcia

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jon Garcia.

Hi Jon, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I began drawing when I was about four years old and I’m 99% sure I exclusively drew characters from HE-MAN and KNIGHT RIDER. As I got a little older, I started getting into comics but not necessarily the “cool” comics. I found my first comic and ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST while fidgeting around in church when I was probably 6 or 7. I would constantly attempt to recreate the panels and become increasingly frustrated that my art wasn’t exactly like the art I was attempting to replicate not fully grasping that I was seven and had no sense of perspective or anatomy. I would casually draw up until high school when an art teacher told me that anime wasn’t “real art.” That really put a damper on my enthusiasm but in retrospect, this dude was an assistant baseball coach and had no business teaching an art class. Needless to say, the illustration fell away from me and I moved on to more graphic design and film work.

I didn’t get back into illustration until late 2015. I was doing video work for an advertising agency called ONE CREATIVE in Albuquerque, NM and my wife and I got a puppy (Arya) that would get up every morning at 5am to go outside. Essentially, I just didn’t go back to bed and decided to start drawing casually again. Needless to say, it took a good while to find a groove and get my lost skills back but I dedicated myself to completing one illustration every single day. Some were okay. Others were atrocious. But it got me back into it and gradually, I started drawing more and more and getting marginally better. Eventually, the illustration work began getting decent enough that I started getting attention from the actors of characters I would draw on social media. One of my earliest achievements was completing a drawing of the cast of the FX show, YOU’RE THE WORST, and selling my artwork to a few of the cast members.

Today, I’m lucky enough that I actually get paid for illustration and design work full-time as a Training Designer for Torchy’s Tacos. In addition, I do design/illustration work for indie films and have created posters, illustrations and motion graphics for films such as MONDAY and MILLENNIUM BUGS (both directed by Alejandro Montoya Marin).

Currently, I’m doing more illustration than I ever have before. As a kid of the 90’s, I loved old school NES so I branched out to pixel art in addition to digital and traditional ink/marker illustration. My most recent project was a return to the ink and paper realm with INKTOBER 2021 in which I drew a character from the show TED LASSO every single day throughout the month of October. What was incredibly cool about that was that I actually engaged with actors from the show and have even sent a print to a few of them.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Smooth? Not at all but it’s never not been fun. One of the first struggles was just getting past the learning curve to where the image in my head finally matched up to the image on paper. There are so many great illustrators out in the world and it’s really hard to not compare your work to theirs. Eventually, I finally got it through my head that I wasn’t in competition with anyone but myself and that’s when I actually started to progress. I think another thing is that I struggled with, and I think younger illustrators may encounter this, is that there is a pressure that you have to do something or make money with your art. So many people see illustration as a cute little hobby but don’t necessarily take it seriously unless you get some kind of credit or monetary compensation. I personally started having success when I worked on things I really wanted to without any sense of what the endgame would be. Recently, I watched the old 90’s movie WHITE MEN CAN’T JUMP and thought it would be fun to do a pixel drawing of the characters in the style of NBA JAM. It was incredibly fun to make and weirdly enough, it connected with a lot of people and I’ve sold a few shirts and other merch with the art on it… all because I made something just for me.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
While I do a few original characters from time to time, I’m mostly known as a fan artist. If I have a speciality, I’d say my pixel art is what I’m most known for and has certainly received the most attention. I kinda follow what I’m feeling so I’ll jump around mediums a lot depending on the subject matter and what I think will be most impactful.

I’m really proud of my Inktober pieces (especially the RICK & MORTY piece) mostly because it really is a challenge to draw every single day for 31 straight days. There are days when I’m just not feeling it but I’ll power through and I’m always glad I did. I’m also really proud of the collaborative work I’ve done especially the stuff I did for the movie MILLENNIUM BUGS. I got to really branch out and do a lot of different things from an animated sequence to the poster to even some of the art seen on props and in the background. It’s always cool when your passions cross paths with another dreamer and you can help to create something incredibly cool together.

Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Everyone sucks when they just start out. Unless you’re some prodigy, most likely the image in your head will not be what’s on the page. But always finish that drawing, no matter what, because you will learn something from it. You’ll see your bad habits, the stuff you’re pretty good at, and the stuff you really need to improve on.

It’s okay to copy someone’s style at first. You’ll eventually start getting to a place where you define your own look. And don’t be afraid to ask someone how they did something. A good illustrator will share their knowledge. Reach out to the people you admire. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Like Jake from ADVENTURE TIME said: “Sucking at something is the first step towards being sorta good at something.”

Contact Info:

• Email: rokrjonart@gmail.com
• Website: rokrjon.com
• Instagram: @rokrjon
• Twitter: @rokrjon
• Other: https://www.teepublic.com/user/rokrjon