New Artist Spotlight | Joe Romero (@Averagejoeart) | Comic Book and Superhero Illustrator |
YJ: Can you introduce yourself so our readers can become familiar with you and your work?
AJ: Well, my Mom calls me “Joey” and some people call me “Joe” so I guess as long as you get the first three letters right, it’s all good.
?AJ: I guess I started when I was able to hold a pencil (or crayon). Maybe 3-4? As far as what sparked it, it was definitely cartoons. After we (my family and I) settled in our own home, my Mom would have to work A LOT to take care of her 3 kids. That left my brother (9 years older) and sister (12 years older) in charge. Since they were both just kids as well, they would park me in front of the TV while they did their thing and I would watch cartoons for hours. I distinctly remember growing up with Popeye, Super Friends and of course the onslaught of 80’s goodness like He-Man, TMNT, Thundercats, etc. I guess once I was introduced to that, something just “clicked” in my brain. When I was old enough to read, my brother introduced me to comic books and that was pretty much it for me. The very first comic book I ever read was Superman…and so began my lifelong love of the character and comics in general.
AJ: I’ve always been a fan of Jim Lee. I mean, he’s not the only artist I’ve ever admired, but he’s always been my favorite. Even today when I see his artwork, I think “how in the hell does he make it look that good?” I would never compare myself to him or his work, but I would definitely say he influenced me in a lot of different ways.
characters, and video game characters. How did these become the avenue and subjects for you, and what is your selection/drawing process?AJ: I would say anything pop culture related is what I specialize it. It makes up 90% of what I do. I still get a lot of requests for pet art, portraits, and things of that nature. As for how if became “what I do”…I’ve just always been interested in pop culture. If you’re going to attempt to be an artist and make it a full time job, I think it’s important to make sure you keep it within the realm of things your interested. I’ve always felt that the best way to learn any kind of art (music, drawing, etc) was to relate it to something that interests you. For instance, if you’re learning how to play a guitar, and you instructor is busy teaching you how to play each individual string, your brain is likely to tune out (at least mine would). However, if you tell yourself that you want to learn how to play something like the “Blues Brothers” theme, then your brain is likely to connect, because it’s something you’re interested in (at least for me). Illustration is the same way. If I were forced to draw flowers, and dogs every day, I would be severely unhappy. Since I am my own boss and can pick the projects I work on, I make sure to do 90% of the work that genuinely interests me, and view the other 10% as “practice”. When I’m asked to draw a pet, it doesn’t bother me because I view it as fine tuning my skills….and I know I can draw Spider-Man tomorrow.
YJ: We are a brand that promotes the Freedom of creation, speech, and living, with the recent current events going on in the country, what is your opinion on police brutality and the #BLACKLIVESMATTER campaign?
the news, because quite frankly, it’s depressing. I keep up on current events as much as possible, but sometimes I just find the news to be so depressing that I just tune it out. As far as your question goes, of course it’s awful to see. I mean, as a society we’ve come SO far, but then things like this happen and it seemingly sets us back decades. It doesn’t matter what color of skin people have, to see ANYONE get treated like that is just plain wrong. It’s not a black thing, it’s not a white thing. It’s a humanity thing. As human beings, we should be able to treat each other with a lot more compassion and respect. I know a lot of people want to turn it into a race thing, and maybe to some degree they’re right, but to me it’s just something wrong with humanity in the modern era. Most people have become WAY too self absorbed to really even care about anyone, or anything around them. I think what you’re seeing is an example of that. There are people on both sides that will try to turn this into something that it’s not to feed into their own agenda, but I personally feel if we took a step outside of our race, and looked at this as an issue with humanity in general – we could find some sort of resolution. Anytime it gets turned into “black vs white” or race, religion, etc – that’s when it begins to spiral out of control. How many wars throughout history have been started simply based on those two topics? It’s sad.
is art, then find an avenue to express that passion. If it’s cars, construction, cooking…whatever, just run with it. It doesn’t necessarily have to be your job, but one of the worst things I can think of is to have passion for something and have absolutely no outlet in which to express that passion. Sounds like torture to me.
AJ: I honestly couldn’t pick 5. I’m EXTREMELY critical of my own work. The second I finish something, I start picking it apart. I will tell you the single most important artwork I personally feel like I’ve ever done is my Walter White. That’s the one that started the ball rolling for me with a new style of art. Something that specifically mine, and not just a cheap copy of someone else. That art has been purchased and sent to 16 countries around the world, and afforded me a lot of nice things. I will also have a very special place in my heart for that one because it’s really the first and only time I’ve sat back, looked and something, and thought “whoa…” and technically, it’s not even that good. 3 years after creating it, it’s still the single most popular piece of art I’ve ever done. I guess a close second would be the Jesse Pinkman, because that was just me asking myself “can you do this again?”
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