Today we’d like to introduce you to Antonio Johnson.
Hi Antonio, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I’ve always been an artist. Every since I could hold a pencil. Throughout my life, I have created all sorts of pieces. From landscapes to portraits and have used most mediums. However, as a teenager, I gravitated more towards comics and sequential art. The ability to tell a story through illustrations fascinated me so much that I started creating my own characters. I hoped to one day make my own comic.
As technology began to grow and become more accessible, I moved from pencils and ink to digital art and design working on my technique and trying out different digital art software. Years later, after I was married with a family, my wife and I decided to really pursue making a comic and start a design business. We ended up taking the concepts for a novel and a comic and meshing them together to create a book which we call a NOVIC.
It is a blend of written stories and illustrated stories married together to become one complete story. We self-published our book Bluff City Blues and released it in October 2019. It was well received! We are currently writing our second NOVIC.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely was not a smooth road! One of the struggles was learning how to write with my wife and the other was my procrastination. People may think that writing with your spouse is easier than writing with someone else because you know them and they know you but it’s not!
It’s probably harder because you are close and feelings may get involved in the way of business. Also, I tend to procrastinate and literally finished Bluff City Blues the morning of printing!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I love doing pinups and cover art! I’ve always liked the look of movie posters, so I try to incorporate that into my work. I’m most proud of Bluff City Blues. I started creating it over 20 years ago and it has been a labor of love.
I think what sets me apart is that I connect with the characters that I create and they become real to me, having personalities and backstories.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
My advice for finding a mentor and/or networking is to try and connect with your local artists or graphic design associations. What worked well for me was finding social media groups of like-minded artists.
My wife and I want to try to form a group of local creators who can come together, network, and share advice and opportunities.
Pricing:
- Bluff City Blues-$15
- Prints-$7.50
- Commissions start at $50
Contact Info:
- Email: adjohnsondesign@gmail.com
- Website: ADJDesign.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/_adjdesign
- Facebook: facebook.com/adjohnsondesign
- Twitter: twitter.com/_adjdesign
- Youtube: youtube.com/channel/UCXqX_YWLmN4bt8j8NlNoryg
- Yelp: yelp.com/biz/adj-design-memphis
