Interview with Jason Chalker

by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)

Hey everyone, today (as apart of our interview Tuesdays) we have a special interview: Jason Chalker. Jason is our artist for Rise of the Rock Star, our Kickstarter board game. The way (I assume) Kickstarters (are supposed to) work is that you get some examples of the art work to promote then once you fund you can pay the artist to finish the work. We hired Jason after the February Comicon and have been bugging him to help us not only with the art but the logo, and board design. He has been very obliging and we are happy to let you guys get to know Jason a little better here... enjoy!

How long have you been an artist professionally?
I have been a professional artist/ graphic designer in some capacity since I graduated from SCAD in 1994 with a MFA in Illustration. Over the years I’ve worked at a number jobs in t-shirt design, advertising, interactive design and freelance off and on. In the fall of 2004 I joined the animation team for A Scanner Darkly and that started me on the course I’m on today. Working with so many talented artists really rekindled my interest in comics and pop culture as an art form. About a year after my stint on the film ended, I took a job with Motorola in Chicago as an interaction designer. Chicago has a great art scene which really pushed me in some new directions. After a couple of years in Chi-town I moved back to Dallas to help take care of my parents and I have been freelance ever since.

How do you sell/promote your artwork (cons, etc..)?
I have numerous avenues I pursue for selling my art. Two of my primary resources are my online store, The Manly Art Shop, and conventions. I also do as many art shows as I can and maintain a website and blog (http://www.manlyart.com and http://manlyart.blogspot.com respectively).

Do you do anything other than paint/draw?
I also create custom toys and do some sculpting here and there. Art is what I love to do, so my career and hobby are the same thing. It’s pretty nice. I rarely feel like I’m doing a job.

What media do you feel you do best in (digital, pencil, paint)?
Probably drawing/inking. Painting would be a close second. I used to do a lot more digital art, but I missed the tactile feel of the materials and getting messy.

What are your future plans (any big upcoming events/commissions)?
The rest of my year is very busy. I’m currently working on a short comic called “The Spawn of Sasquatch” written by Sean Whitley (of Southern Fried Bigfoot fame). After that I will be doing the art for the Rise of the Rock Star board game once it gets funded on KickStarter. I will have tables at Wizard World Chicago, Dallas Fan Days, ComiKazi Expo, Designer Con and most likely Wizard World Austin. I will also be participating in a Red Bull live art event in Dallas in July and a couple of other art shows in the fall. Oh, and I have three “alternative” poster designs being featured in the book “Alternative Movie Posters: Film Art from the Underground” scheduled to be released in October.

Thanks so much for taking time in your super busy schedule to answer these questions. For those of you who want to read more of his work on our Kickstarter game: Rise of the Rock Star check out our post on June 24th. I will post the art we prepaid for and give a little background about Jason's art.

Thanks so much. We hope that having a solid packed 2 months of blogs, vlogs, videos, and audio shows will give you reason to back our Kickstarter project. Please back us!

Thanks!
Nathan