J.M. Matthews

National Talk Like A Transylvanian Day! Oh Happy day.

So technically, my Webcomics Nation Site and my Photobucket and Artflakes.com sites are functioning as my current online de-facto original art galleries (ever since I closed my DeviantART count a year or two ago anyway). Just to let everyone know.

Ever wonder what inspired the Vision of Parallax/Mono/End Times?

I came up with the concept for my comic book back in 2004. I remember it specifically when I drew a Rugged Young Man in a trenchcoat in a then-simple character design sketch in a spiral notebook with all my other earlier drawings. I remember it was 2004 when I dated the page.

There are three titles in specific that were the driving inspirational force behind the Vision of Mono and Parallax, where all my martial arts action violent comics started.

The First and Foremost thing that inspired Mono was Quentin Tarantino's 2003 film, Kill Bill Vol. 1. I never got around to watching Volume II I loved Volume I so much! I loved the anime sequence by production IG and the finale sword fighting wuxia sequence of the film the most. After that, I knew Kill Bill had established a new kind of Female Martial Art Ass-Kicker Archetype, and I didn't want to rip that element off". I know I wanted to create a male action-hero protagonist of some sort, a sort of Brad Pitt Fight Club with Kill Bill's The Bride's new-fangled "Woo-Ping Yuen choreography routine" But instead of make it a movie, make it a storyboard animation movie in comic book and-or manga format.

I remember seeing the film in the theatre with a friend when it first came out, and thinking "This film is as good as Ghost in the Shell was when I got that on VHS. It was so...Violent! And Action-y! And...Yellow! And Choreographed! And BLOODY! And I began sketching random things in my sketchbook, not having any idea how much Tarantino and Kill Bill Vol. I would ultimately end up influencing my own vision. I remember wanting to do something visually similar to many aspects of Kill Bill, except, instead of Bright Yellow, I wanted to take that Bright Yellow and ink it pitch black, so it eventuall evolved into a Blade of the Immortal type Frank Miller Noir Sin City thing as well, with guns and trenchcoats and all that. But "black trenchcoat films" like The Matrix, Versus, and A Better Tomorrow also ended up being some pretty heavy influences. I owe everything to those films/manga. If it weren't for those films, if they weren't made the way they were, I might not be writing and drawing comics today (www.webcomicsnation.com/jm), and if I was, I'd probably be drawing something else.

What's my next non-fiction book you ask....

That's easy:

"Fanboy Loudmouth Haxor Mafia: How Doujinshi Websites, Copyright Nazis, and College Aged Fanboys and Girls RUINED the enjoyment of ANIME for EVERYONE". by Otomo's Best Friend

HA HA HA HA HA!!! Suckas!!!! Die!!!!

Essay: Failing and Being Challenged

Failing and Being Challenged: An Essay

One of the best ways to get good at something, become an expert at it, or master it, is by failing, many times over, before you succeed. This can build stamina, conviction, and resilience which can all strengthen a person and make it seem to them as if all obstacles, difficulties, and setbacks seem absolutely insignificant when compared to the final and ultimate goal. Failure is an integral part of intellect, progress, and the creative process. There is no such thing as the perfect sketchbook. Sketchbooks actually seem more to me like books that chart creative and artistic progress or evolution, rather than a "gallery of masterpieces". If a person does create a masterpiece, there is usually no way to tell if the work-in-progress will end up that way or not. This is because you cannot observe the essence of the whole until the whole is finished, which is why it's important for an artist not to judge his own work too much, unless it's for constructive self-critique, which is often the source responsible for the artist's progress.

The Number 1 Advice I Can Think to Offer to A Beginning Comics Creator: Stalk the Bestseller List

That' right, check Amazon's manga and graphic novel and anime bestseller lists daily, if not hourly, to spot trends and what themes and titles and creators are selling. There is a lot of quality literary material on the Amazon manga and comics bestsellers lists. You don't study the bestseller lists to produce a knock-off (well, I suppose you can, but I highly don't recommend it), but instead to keep an ear to the ground and observe what people want, what people read, and what they are actually willing to (get this) pay money for.

Most polite ways to address a person you just met?

"Hey you little freak. I'm a skanko pornstar!"

"Hi, I'm a social disease"

Wow, what wise people you are...