Who is Jerry Alan Kimbro?
Thats me! I'm a hotshot Space realtor---er no that's my comic book. No, I'm an unknown cartoonist living in the forgotten wilds of North Florida. Contrary to everyone's expectations, I have been drawing comics since I was at least 12. I even went to art school at Florida State University and graduated with B.A. in a studio art degree in painting in 1982. That was the pre-digital world.
With remarkable foresight none of my professors and classes offered anything about computers or thought the computers would affect the world of art at all. And for my part I just wanted to get out of art school after 4 years of being told comic books were NOT real art. So in 1983 I was out in the world that was about to be digitized without a freaking clue as to what was about to happen.
Did I care? Well- beyond scrapping a living working fast food and retail- no. I was drawing comics and painting in oils on the side. I landed my first art job five years later in 1988, working as a graphic artist at Homes and Lands magazine. That was grunt work building magazine pages by hand- not fast and digital like with a mac using photoshop or anything. No, there was a real darkroom and real cameras and real art to be drawn and real pens and real light tables to draw them with and on. THEN computers came and ate my job.
So I ran. From magazine to magazine. Newspaper to newspaper- each time the last one to be hired before the digital revolution ate the job. I was not allowed on or near computers. I was told not to to touch them. And then I was fired. This happened more times than I can remember from 1991 - 2003. Oh I picked up a smattering of computer knowledge on the way. Now I'm pretty knowlegable on photoshop, paintshop pro, microsoft publisher and acrobat. But it took years.
Then I started working at a completely digital printshop in 2003 . Everything was flashdrives, pdfs and docutechs. NOW at last I can scan, and digitally copy, paste and print just like all those who grew up with computers.
I actually draw my art by hand- scan it- and color it and letter it digitally using the Paint Shop Pro digital program- and its much better than photoshop ever was. Digital at last! I love the way my art looks now.
You can see the difference- the art I submitted to the photos here on Grapevine- the black and white ones - were hand drawn - and date from the ealry 90s. The Color Preview comic was done last week. WHAT a difference, huh? i am getting better and better- despite the indifference and out right hostility i have recieved about my work from art and print experts all my life.
But i'm not bitter. Just determined. Never let the b*stards drag you down!
It took twenty years...but I'm here and I'm digitized. And I got twenty years worth of comics to upload. Oh YEAH. GET READY. Because here it comes!
HA HA HA HA HA HA!
Tags: Comics Kimbro
