Fanart / fanfiction as a form of free labor and free advertising

Some of the most gullible fans on the planet are anime fans, hence the coprious amount of unpaid labor they provide animation studios and creators

Strikes me as just a tad bit exploitative to let it happen so much on places like DeviantART.

LOOK, if you like comics, manga, anime, whatever, and you like Drawing Characters you should be out there promoting your own original work, AS your own original creative work, which will lead to your own work, not giving your favorite artist a free ride to groupiesville.

You don't need to "help" so and so with more free labor art and writing. I can assure, they get enough of their own...unlike you.

Pen and Ink Cityscape Study: BLACK CITY SKYSCRAPERS (Latest Piece)

Online Publishing Strategy...

Probably the biggest mistake I made entering the business of comics was to not have an online and digital publishing or webcomic e-publishing strategy. Like my writing and drawing style, it was spontaneous, inspired more by Jack Kerouac's writing style than Norman Rockwell (who used extensive art production strategies for building his massive paintings). I was never that organized, and as a result the online presentation of my art suffered because I never took it seriously. I never announced when I'd be publishing new work in the near future, I never wrote artists commentaries for pages or illustration pieces, and I never thought ahead in general. Part of the problem was I didn't take online publishing seriously as a professional outlet of distribution and audience attainment at the time. I viewed it as inferior and secondary to traditional publishing, just because the artists on these sites are young, naive, and inexperienced, and don't seem to completely know what they were doing at the time. In terms of online publishing of artwork, I lived in the moment until recently. Then Joey Manley died, and saw what a mess Webcomics Nation ended up as as a result of his immortal absence from online comics publishing, and I realized, I gotta get my sh*t together. Joey Manley didn't, and look what happened to his web empire. It's borderline frozen in time. God only know how long the site's inheritors will take to make the site operational in Manley's permanent absence. If they ever do get the site to be operational again. 

So in the future I'll be

Announcing future publishing dates of pages

Scheduling my work time

Scheduling my publishing time

Just making my whereabouts and work routines more public and operational so they're more reliable and hopefully I won't get sidetracked by stress, pressure from my job, or contingencies as much in the future and recently

I'm publishing on Blogger, Tumblr, Pixiv, Ink Blazers, Google+, and ComicFury now. 

But until recently, I considered them a "play hobby" to be done for fun. Not seriously organized as a serious operation. I didn't do it that way because I assumed no one else was doing it that way. But even IF no one is doing it that way, I can be one of the first if that's the case, if people aren't already approaching their webcomics work in a professional serious minded profession, even if it's essentially unpaid mostly primary school volunteer work for the most part.

If I take my act more seriously in terms of the time put in and the workload, I suspect other people might follow my methodology example the way people take after my artwork in their own fan artwork.

MEEEEERRY CHRISTMAS! MEEEEEEEEEERRY CHRISTMAS!! HO HO HO! SHREDS LIKE NO OTHA!

Holy SHIT! Santa done gave me an electric guitar and speaker for Christmas! WHOA!

All I want for Christmas is METAAAAALLLL!!!!!!!

Nice to meet you....

Some Day Somebody Else beside me
will not call me Joseph Matthew Alberts.....or Jay Matthew Alberts

They will call me by my stage name they will call me JM Matthews.

Good morning how are you, I'm Doctor Worm, I'm interested in things.

I'm not a real doctor but I am a real worm I am an actual worm. I live like a worm, and

I like to play the drums.

Animation Frame - Style Illustration - Image Board (Done With Digital Compositing)

This drawing or "Image Board" was inspired by the Animation Production Style Thomas Romain Utilized on Oban Star-Racers. A constant inspiration to me this side of Invader Zim.

I was aiming for a sleeker, cleaner line quality in my vision for the most part.

I wanted it to look like a pen and ink cell from an animated or anime motion picture, since that's the sort of projects I've been working on as of late...

Comics Drawing Comprehension

A lot of instructors don't say this, if you want to draw and write comics, you have to read comics. As many comics by other people as possible.

Just like if you want to write a novel you have to read other authors' novels. It's the same principle.

If you want to draw comics you need to read comics and study how their made. Study how other artists make them.

LinkedIn email from Silicon Valley

Hi Joseph M., 

Are you in the job market?

My name is [name withheld] and I am a technical recruiter based in Silicon Valley. I place engineers at full-time jobs with technology companies in the Bay Area. I work with established companies like Symantec and Salesforce, and also recruit for several well funded and successful start-up clients. Typical salaries are from $115k to $200k, and most packages include bonus and stock awards which take total comp to $130k-$280k. Relocation is also provided if needed.

I have been working as a recruiter in the Bay Area since 1997, and this is about as hot a market as I have ever seen!

My current openings include:

1) Full Stack Java Software Engineer - Senior and Principal level 
2) UI Engineering 
3) Automation QA Engineer 
4) Build/Release Opening
5) iOS and Android Mobile Development
6) Build/Release Engineer 
7) Program Manager
8) Product Manager
9) Linux System Administrator
10) Architect - Java - $220k base, $300k+ total comp
11) Hadoop Big Data Principal Engineer 

If you are looking around, please send a resume to me at [anonymous]. If you have any questions, I can always be reached at [anonymous]. If we are not already connected on LinkedIn, please send me an invite. I can be found at:

Production: Status Report...

Submitted Script, character designs, and design bible into co-producer over at studio.

Awaiting more input.

Producing My Very First Short Animated Film....

So I'm finally going to get to flex my muscles as an animation producer.

The truth is, you don't wait for the offer, you create the work yourself...

On the Downside: I'm producing animation on a shoestring budget, so the funding is limited which inhibits certain things.

On the Plus Side: I'm getting work in animation, technically...

I don't have enough money for a Pilot.

But I have a script I wrote and a lot of pre-production work completed of my own accord.

I'm in talks with a small budget  freelance studio for the actual production.

I'm happy about this. You have to start somewhere...A lot of people never do. And it's often because you think you need to wait for an invitation to begin production.

Jay's Favorite Lists:

• Comic Book Rebels: Conversations With The Creators of New Comics (Table of Contents) 1994
• Animation Magazine's "40 Auteurs We Love (1987 - 2006)
• Mangaka America (Table of Contents) 2006

Creative Powers, Energy Levels, and Their Limitations: Know Your Limitations...

My abilities, despite having a lot of power and energy, are limited. Generally I only have enough energy to tap into my full power and control, or manipulate and harness, it, once or twice a day.

Well, the fact that I can only use my powers once a day, and can only use one power per day.

So, Novelist, Screenwriter, or Cartoonist, I can only be one of those things each day, once a day.

So I can only be a novelist for one consecutive day, once a day.

I can only be a screenwriter for one consecutive day, once a day.

And I can only be a cartoonist for one consecutive day, once a day

That's the limitations of my powers and energy. 

Gravity Falls - Creepy Letters From Li'l Gideon (All 4 Letters)

Travon Script - First Draft

TRAVON - The Screenplay

Dear Jeff Zucker, Please Kill Yourself. Sincerely, AFarewellNote. Now that NBC fired you should investigate your own pedophilality

Why does Jeff Zucker like pedophiles so much? He's a pedophile's biggest fan, what with his Hitler army at NBC he commanded, or is it Joseph McCarthy, or both. Oh well, he's out of power at NBC, so no more opportunities to terrorize the populous with NBC News and Networks. I'm glad his reign as a bigot and zealot in a position of power is over. From overseeing NBC's entire anti-pedophile agenda, in secret of course. He ran NBC like a third world military, controlled by a corrupt Bush Administration. NBC cranked out horrible, bigoted, racist, misinformed, ill advised and discriminatory series, from "To Catch a Predator" to "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit", that really were out to hurt me and other people. But especially me, trying to make me look like a criminal falsify my reputation on numerous occasions. I was their unknowing pawn. Their effigy, all because of loli porn. I noticed on some websites. It's amazing how far they wanted to make it seem so much more criminal and serious than just me looking at loli and yuri porn online. 

My Brother Andy, Der der der der der der der der My Little Pony

I must admit, I do kind of miss living with my brother. He was my number one point of reference. 

His opinions were beneficial in a certain way as a conservative....Not because they were ever right, but because I could always count on them proven to be WRONG.

Andrew was my counterpoint. No matter what happened, I could always count on him, my misguided brother, to do the wrong thing and take the wrong side, politically OR socially.

He wasn't reliable for doing anything right. But he was ALWAYS reliable for doing something all WRONG!

In one sense, in an opposite day kind of way, he WAS my moral compass.

I could always count on him to reflect on what the true idiots of the world are and were actually thinking at that moment in time.

How, Mr. Mail Man and Woman. You Givum Me Nice Native American Catalogue.....

Wilma Mankiller would be proud...

The Tale of a Late Life Starter....

I was a late starter in nearly everything I do well, EXCEPT FLAT OUT SKETCHING IN A SKETCHBOOK and journaling. I was doing that since the first grade. And I've been keeping a journal since age 16. Everything else I didn't start excelling at until I was in my late 20s, including comics and animation cartooning, screenwriting, and short and long fiction writing.

It's okay to start late. I didn't get the hang of what I was doing until my late 20s, and in some cases my early 30s (like comics and manga)

Branching Out, Across Oceans

I have numerous Asian and European (Eurasian) animation friends and business connections now.

Yus! That was kind of my dream. To be friends with people in Japan, France, Europe, and China. It's good luck to befriend people from that region, that's why it's a big deal to me on a personal level.

"Paperwork" - Panel design and illustration

Top 2 Reasons Why I Hate C.A., my adoptive father

1) As far as he's concerned, he refuses to prepare his own family or think of a contingency plan in reaction to his own death. Like a lot of Baby Boomer 60 year olds, he has horrible health, at least 4-5 chronic and potentially deadly ailments, yet he refuses to plan for his potential death. It's obvious as far as he's concerned in his opinion, even though he's 64 years old, he thinks if he dies, so should me and everyone else (me being his 31 year old unemployed son).

2) He doesn't think any existence outside of his little Florida life exists, and has an incredibly arrogant "Screw The Liberals and the World" kind of attitude.

Imitators and Money - Thoughts on Privacy

There's never any money to be made from the career fields I start, when I first start them.

But then people start imitating what I do and getting paid for basically doing the same thing I do, and they leave me wondering, "Why are we doing the same thing and they're getting paid for it and I'm not?" I wonder why that is.

Q & A W/ JM

Q: Who or what are your biggest literary influences at the moment?

A / JM: Hammid's Black and White "Cards" on Adult Swim, online social media paragraph centric things like Twitter and Blogger, internet literature, particularly columns and postings on sites like Anime News Network and the Adult Swim Message Boards, where I used to post as Spindack, but now post as ActionFistBullet, and the lyrics of Dethklok, the fictional band on Metalocalypse on Adult Swim. Seth MacFarlane's novel, A Million Ways to Die in The West. Not so much because it's incredibly well written as because I can relate to what he's doing, a fellow animation auteur who wants to be taken seriously as a writer and author. I can appreciate that balance. The novel is actually pretty good, and separate from the context of his animated shenanigans. 

So yeah, lots of internet and [adult swim culture] in my writing...

America Loves Lists: The Discrimination List

Industries Where Top Players Conspire to Go Out of Their Way to Make Sure I Earn No $$$ (not naming individuals. Why I'm sparing their "good names"... I have no clue why I'm choosing to do this. That's probably better than they deserve...Seeing as they would NOT extend the same courtesy to me.

The Guilty

TV Anime
TV Animation
OEL/World/Japanese Manga
99% of Japanese Manga
Most of the Comedy TV World
Rogue TV and Internet Journalists (you know! The one that shouts and GLARES at you)
Rogue Otaku
Hired Trolls
Rogue Talking Heads

Industries/Creative Talent That Don't Conspire:

The Innocent

Silicon Valley
Amazon
Pixar
70% of Walt Disney Theatrical and Television Animation
Dreamworks
Internet and Online Streaming Video (you know! The industry I fucking CREATED.)
Technology Industry
Literature and Book Publishing
Self-Publishing (Lulu Kindle)
Patenting
Williams Street
Titmouse
LucasFilm
Satelight Anime Studio
Otomo
Savin Yeatman Eiffel
Thomas Romain
LeSean Thomas
Steve Blum
John Lasseter
Todd McFarline
Dave Sim
George Lucas
Marvel
Jhonen
Spielberg
Tara Strong
SLG
Apps
American-Centric Book Publishing and Distribution
French Pop Culture

If you don't want to be discriminated against for selfish, greedy, anti-progressive, psychotic reasons by egomaniacal sharks, work in the industries that DON'T conspire against aspiring professionals. Not the ones that DO.

The Future of the Real Culture to Internet Culture Transition

Cyber crime and cyber justice will evolve and continue to reform until they stabilize there will be more punishment for stalking, cyber-bullying, illegal pornography, and harrasment, and crime rates will lower themselves accordingly upon the acknowledgement and realization law enforcement does take the web 2.0 seriously.

Business will come to acknowledge social media, websites, and apps as a legitimate business platform. The majority of marketing, interaction, business transactions and sales will relocate to online.

Social culture worldwide will probably end up revolving around 70% digital 30% human interaction

Communication will become even more ubiquitous and lighting fast. The common people will demand access to EVERYTHING, regardless of whether their "entitlement" is earned or not. That too will need privacy and regulation.

Books, CDs, DVDs, Magazines, TV Shows, Movies, Commercials, Films, animation, art, literature, and comic books will all scan themselves and relocate to cloud storage and streaming or digitized media online.

HALT! Present Hall Pass! Who Goes There, in JM's Bookshelf Library!

I don't know what it is with the women in my life...

So I've been in one way correspondence with my long-lost girlfriend from art school, who moved from Florida (her temporary residence away from New Jersey where her parents lived) to Portland, Oregon, who from 2003 to until 2010 I wasn't granted the opportunity to correspond with or so. And to this day it's a one way communication, as I can't officially tell if she recognizes or remembers me. I send her messages to her email through her photography website profile, but even to this day she doesn't have a phone number I know of. The relationship, as it always was, was not mutual, as I've always felt a lot more affection towards her than she has me. But still, other than one female childhood friend named Amanda, Nicole is all I have. She may be unable or unwilling to communicate openly online and not in private, but she's one of the only remaining links I have to my past, outside of my regular male middle school chums.

AUTHOR COMMENTARY REPRINT: MONO ANTHOLOGY MEGAMIX (AVAILABLE THROUGH LULU)

FOREWARD

by J.M. Matthews

What's in 10 years? What exactly is in a decade? Well, to me (2004-2014), that decade was 10 years of a labor of love, a year of unprecedented ups and downs.

When I first created the concept of Mono Jubei and his crazy, darkly imaginative post-apocalypse world of New-Earth, I was not aware of how much my style and vision would  become emulated worldwide in comic book literature, Japanese animation, and Hollywood. I thought my idea was great. I knew it was good, a good conceptual idea and package.  But I didn't know I'd be designing the model sheets of a new Action Hero Fantasy Archetype that would shape many action and fantasy projects to follow its example. A lot can happen in 10 years. While I never officially sold my script or premise to a studio, I was smart enough to know when the mainstream and indie scene alike were both openly taking pages out of my action-fantasy movie archetype playbook. From trenchcoat dual wielding, to fiery kick-ass redhead female "sidekicks", to dystopian visual utopias and paramilitary bureau agencies, to secret agents well versed in the kinetics of wuxia. A lot's been used from this Action Movie Bible and Blueprints I consciously designed to be so. The Following book includes a New-Earth Timeline history, short fiction outlines and a script I wrote, conceptual sketchbooks and illustrations, and a series of comic book pages. What started off as an animation pitch evolved into the large scale presentation book project you see before you today.

Been a wild ride indeed.

Here's to 10 to 30+ More.

Onward and Upward,

-J.M. Matthews

9/11/2014

NOW AVAILABLE TO ORDER THROUGH LULU

Chi Art Energy

I generate so much raw power and Chi in my surroundings whenever I draw art and get into that sort of inventive mentality. For an American level of Creative Psychic Energy and Chi, mine's pretty high. Other people can literally sense it if I'm having an active period.

Having Tiger Eye Gems in my pocket keeps to help me focused, and my willpower high, so instead of not having Tiger Eye Gems in a bag in my pocket, I keep a stash of Tiger Eye stones to keep my eye on the prize.

Submissions Rejections List - You Only Live Once

The following are places I've submitted my various main projects to. I was  rejected by all of them, but I was proud of myself, as I'm finally submitting my work to studios, companies and publishers now....

Places I've submitted to (but that said "No thanks")

·        New York Nonfiction Mainstream Literary agencies

·        SLG Publishing

·        Titmouse Inc.

·        Microsoft

It's never easy finding active literary and cinematic publishers and studios that match up with my personal style (including ones I don't work with but might like to), but I still make the effort to be on the lookout for new opportunities. 

"Popular" Artist?

"As popular artists, we get too many individual messages to respond to everyone"?

Checks inbox: 0 emails from people wanting to be my friends.

That's funny, that article almost gave me the impression a lot of people are approaching ME to be my artist friends. 

Oh please. No one does that. The only artist who are even CLOSE to that level of popularity and busy-ness are the artists and animators who work full time at a studio. Or who you notice attend cons, or whose webcomics actually have more than 2 readers. (All of which I am none of the above. I've ALWAYS hoped other artists will approach me for friendship. I'm not famous or popular enough to say otherwise). If I was getting approached by a lot of people wanting to befriend me online, I'd have mentioned it in my blog a long time ago. Such is not the case. Not with me anyway. Sometimes I wish more people would figure out it's okay to talk to me directly and become my art buddies.

I get zero comments on my tweets and blog BECAUSE no one is approaching me to become their mentor and friend. I don't know why some artists are so touchy and temperamental about being approached for friendship online. I'm certainly not above being approached, and neither are a lot of artists. Well, not the ones that are unemployed anyway. 

Say. Why HAVE you been avoiding me all these years anyway..................

.......NICOLE.

Ahhhhh yyyyyeeeeeaaaahhhhh

Jay's Brain: Ahhhhhh yyyyyeeeaaahhhhh.

That's the goooooood stuuuuuuufffff

The knowledge of my  book library. It FEEDS ME.

Don't Call It A Comeback...

So it's the 3rd of November, on a Monday, when I had my first productive drawing session in a whole 2 to 3 weeks since I quit comics art lessons. But I recovered, and now I'm back and badder than ever. Busted out a good 20 whole pages  of art sketches today. I have to recover from the blow to my ego from learning, in terms of art, though there's always someone worse off, I'm nowhere close to being as good as I thought I am. That was a blow to my ego and self confidence. That realization, weakened and depressed me. Like any time things get really difficult in my life, I once again considered quitting and retiring from comics ("They don't need me...") but I'm starting to get back on my feet to stand and walk.

I did some push-ups, drew one character sketch, then the next day my recovery accelerated and I drew 20 pages of rough abstract sketches.

The strength of Ten Grinches, Plus Two.

The Sad Tale of My Birth Mother

My birth mother, Mary Gaynor, died only a week or two after she got to speak with me for the first time in her life. I heard some of her last dying words on the phone before she passed away a week or so later. 

Who I admire the most

My Current Heroes ("The Inventors", "The Creators")

·       Bill Gates (Software)

·       Anthony Wood (DVR)

·       Steve Wozniak (PC)

·       Ted Turner (Cable, Cartoon Network)

·       Tim Berners-Lee (The World Wide Web)

·       Philo T. Farnsworth (TV)

·       Sean Akins (Toonami)

What do they all have in common?

·       Dropped out of college, didn't graduate, or never went

·       Founded companies, brands, or organizations

·       Invented and/or created a prototype and product

·       Created a technological or media system

·       Work well with systems, and systems building work

·       Took risks to get where they are

·       Most didn't find success until at least their mid-30s or 40s on average

·       They did most of the major innovation on their own, by themselves

·       With the exception of Anthony Wood, all their career peaks began before the 21st Century

If You Could Live Anywhere you wanted, in any kind of hood, where would it be?

I'd live in a neighborhood that was within viewing distance of a local airport. 

Planes don't really bother me personally.

I think it would be cool to live in a house where I could look out my window or stand outside and see planes taking off and landing all the time, but where they're far enough away it doesn't make noise pollution..I've driven past residential areas like that and I keep thinking "How cool it must be to live there!"...

Holy-Jive Batman!!! LeSean Thomas and Thomas Romain, working on new mystery project together. Just co-announced by the producers themselves on their Twitter accounts!

If their past work in animation is any indicator, it's gonna be amazing! Looking forward to it.

They're referring to it as "World animation". Sounds kind of co-production-y.

Biblio listing page I forgot to put in each of my printed work.....All available from Thunder-Lighting Publishing through Amazon & Lulu.com

ALSO BY

J.M. MATTHEWS

 

From the

End Times comic book Universe

 

Available Through Amazon Kindle

 

·       End Times: One Shot

·       End Times 2.0 (Issue 2)

·       End Times: The Anthology

Available through Lulu.com

 

·       MONO: The Anthology Megamix

·       Mono - Issue 1

·       Mono - Issue 2

 

Other books by J.M. Matthews

 

Available through Amazon Kindle

 

·       Art: Manifested - The Art of J.M. Matthews

 

 

Available Through Lulu.com

 

·       Stories: A Novella

·       Journals: Volume I

·       Journals: Volume II

·       Journals: Volume III

·       Journals: Volume IV

·       The Black Book

Famous People I Follow on Twitter (And YOU Should, Too!)

·        @BarackObama

·        @abfly (Yoshitoshi ABe)

·        @Thomasintokyo (Thomas Romain)

·        @neilhimself (Neil Gaiman)

·        @StephenKing

·        @BruceLeeLegacy

·        @JhonenV

·        @marilynmanson

·        @TheRock

·        @Todd_McFarlane

·        @SethMacFarlane

·        @SethGreen

·        @dave_filoni

·        @BryanCranston

·        @yakkopinky (Rob Paulsen)

·        @ralphbakshi

·        @JohnKricfalusi1

·        @chrisprynoski

·        @theDivaLea (Lea Hernandez)

·        @Cunch (JR Goldberg)

·        @littlethurop (Thurop Van Orman)

·        @wizmatts (Matthew Senreich)

·        @tarastrong

·        @CartoonNetPR

·        @adultswimpr (Adult Swim News)

·        @JJVILLARD

·        @blumspew (Steven Jay Blum)

·        @lheiskell (Lance Heiskell)

·        @jamieESrich (Jamie S. Rich)

·        @LexLang

·        @TenNapel (Doug TenNapel)

·        @jpalmiotti (Jimmy Palmiotti)

·        @RogerClarkVibe (Editor, Vibe Magazine)

·        @DaveWillis2 (Dave Willis)

·        @MDLuffy_ (Monkey D. Luffy)

·        @EastmanOfficial (Kevin Eastman)

·        @ManOfActionEnt

·        @JATActor (James Arnold Taylor)

·        @Nas (Nasir Jones)

·        @Damonalbarn

·        @TedNaifeh

·        @SerenaValentino

·        @thomyorke

·        @liquid_tv