John Martz

Here’s a look at the small piece I have in the upcoming...

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 10:16:15 -0400

Here’s a look at the small piece I have in the upcoming Space: The Gallery Show at Gallery 1988, opening June 21st. Say hello to Ham, the first chimp in space.

My comic in the current issue of Lucky Peach.

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 11:46:01 -0400

My comic in the current issue of Lucky Peach.

A copy of my next picture book, Black and Bittern Was Night, has...

Tue, 28 May 2013 09:41:57 -0400

A copy of my next picture book, Black and Bittern Was Night, has arrived!

Check out this amazing Machine Gum fan art from cartoonist Joe...

Fri, 24 May 2013 16:43:55 -0400

Check out this amazing Machine Gum fan art from cartoonist Joe Ollmann’s son seven-year-old son Sam. Sam also has a blog full of robots and spaceships and maps and diagrams and all the fun sorts of things I used to draw when I was his age.

sirmitchell: You guys, I am thrilled to finally share this with...

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:06:47 -0400

sirmitchell:

You guys, I am thrilled to finally share this with you. It’s the first time I’ve ever curated a show, and it’s a theme that I’m very passionate about. Take a gander at the artist list, get yourself pumped up and come to the show, it’s going to be a stellar time.

I’ll be a part of this show! Space! Pretty great!

Drawn 2005-2013

Mon, 20 May 2013 15:33:41 -0400

Drawn in 2005.

2005

Have you heard of these things called blogs? Blogging wasn’t new in 2005, but it was still a niche hobby for the technologically minded. I had been maintaining a personal blog, and was a regular blog reader. I saw multiple-author blogs devoted to certain subjects and cultures (particularly Boing Boing, and the animation-centric Cartoon Brew) and saw opportunity for something similar that could be devoted to comics and illustration and drawing. I hobbled together a Movable Type installation, sent out a few invitations to artist friends and online acquaintances who might want to get involved, and Drawn! (then with an exclamation point) went live on March 4, 2005.

The site became immediately popular, due in part to there being nothing else like it on the Internet at that time, and the sheer volume of posts from our excitement in sharing all these cool images and artists and links.

Within a year Time Magazine included the site in their annual 50 Best Websites list alongside fellow newcomers YouTube, Digg, and Myspace — the same year that social media and blogging led them to crown You as Person of the Year. Drawn became the top Google search result for “illustration”. To this day I still meet readers who tell me how much they appreciate the site, and artists who tell me their career got a kickstart from having their work featured.

Drawn in 2009

It is gratifying to know that this project, even in the tiniest way, became a valuable part of the community it was designed to mirror.

2013

I started Drawn because it was a way for me to connect with an industry and community that I wanted to be a part of. In 2005, starting a blog was the best way to share content easily with a wide audience, and there was enough of a hurdle in setting up a blog, that you could do it and get noticed. I’m happy for Drawn to have been noticed.

Here’s what didn’t exist in 2005: Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Facebook (at least not the Facebook we know today).

Drawn was designed to share links and images when sharing links and images wasn’t easy to do. Eight years later, by the time I get around to posting something interesting on Drawn, it’s already made its way around the Twittersphere and been reblogged on Tumblr a thousand times over.

In a 2013-era Internet that allows artists to share their work easier than ever and to a bigger audience than ever, and for anyone to start a Tumblr or a Pinterest account to collect and curate their own inspirations and influences, a 2005-era link blog like Drawn grows increasingly irrelevant. It starts to look more and more like the dinosaur it is. Drawn quietly switched to Tumblr in 2010, amid unrealized plans to do something new with the site unrelated to blogging, as a reaction to its competition from sites like Tumblr itself. But in those eight years since Drawn launched, it’s not just the Internet landscape that has shifted and evolved.

My personal life and priorities are not what they were when I was twenty-four, hammering away at the keyboard at my day job, hoping my boss wouldn’t notice. Drawn encouraged me to be a better artist, and my association with the site put my name out there in ways that I wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise. I owe my career as an illustrator to Drawn — a career that now offers, ironically, little free time with which to maintain a site like Drawn.

I certainly wouldn’t have the opportunities and friends I have today if it wasn’t for the goodwill and community that being a part of Drawn afforded me, and for that I am eternally grateful.

There may yet be life in the site and its name, and I will eventually put its searchable archives back online, but for now I’m drawing the curtain and taking a bow.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the site throughout its eight-year run: Matt Forsythe, Ward Jenkins, Luc Latulippe, Jay Stephens, Patricia Storms, Jared Chapman, Adam Koford, Claire Robertson, Scott Thigpen, Meg Hunt, S.britt, Jaleen Grove, Leif Peng, David Huyck, Chris Gardner, Jake Parker, and Dustin Harbin.

Thank-you to the reader who sent me this example of early...

Thu, 09 May 2013 09:43:00 -0400

Thank-you to the reader who sent me this example of early Machine Gum cosplay.

(via Retronaut)

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival is this weekend! I’ll be...

Tue, 07 May 2013 14:49:00 -0400

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival is this weekend! I’ll be exhibiting all weekend. Here’s a full list of everything I have that’s new this year:

Debut Books

Destination X from Nobrow Press
Machine Gum from La Pastèque

New to TCAF

Who’s on First? from Quirk Books
The Big Team Society League Book of Answers from Koyama Press
Gold Star from Retrofit Comics
Team Society League minicomic #5
Know Your Double minicomic (originally published in Nobrow 6)
Original Machine Gum robot drawings

See you there!

milleputois: TÊTES DE MICKEY maintenant disponible à la...

Mon, 06 May 2013 11:31:47 -0400

milleputois:

TÊTES DE MICKEY

maintenant disponible à la boutique Mille Putois.

now available at the Mille Putois online store.

A slideshow of the Têtes de Mickey book of screenprinted cartoonists’ self portraits. Get yours at TCAF this weekend.

I finally have copies of both my new books: Destination X from...

Thu, 02 May 2013 11:36:27 -0400

I finally have copies of both my new books: Destination X from Nobrow, and a Machine Gum collection from La Pastèque. They both make their official debut at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, May 11-12.

I illustrated this for the latest cover of Broken Pencil, which...

Wed, 01 May 2013 11:44:27 -0400

I illustrated this for the latest cover of Broken Pencil, which features a cover story on the wonderful Anne Koyama of Koyama Press.

milleputois: Coming out soon: TÊTES DE MICKEY. A collective of...

Wed, 01 May 2013 11:04:00 -0400

milleputois:

Coming out soon: TÊTES DE MICKEY. A collective of comic artists self-portraits entirely silkscreened and bound at the Mille Putois studio. 3 launches to come in may. In Québec city at Morgan Bridge galery on the 2nd , at TCAF in Toronto on the 11-12 and at Techno-lith in Montréal that date to be announced. More details soon !!!!

I am excited to see this book in person at TCAF. Check out that crazy lineup of artists. You may recall what my portrait for the book looks like.

My new book arrived! A Machine Gum collection from La Pastèque.

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:02:52 -0400

My new book arrived! A Machine Gum collection from La Pastèque.

And speaking of art auctions, this Doc Ock painting will hit...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 19:43:00 -0400

And speaking of art auctions, this Doc Ock painting will hit eBay soon as part of the fundraising auction for the Doug Wright Awards, which features Canadian cartoonists’ takes on supervillains.

UPDATE: The auction is live!

The original art for this Machine Gum strip will be exhibited...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 11:21:52 -0400

The original art for this Machine Gum strip will be exhibited and auctioned off as part of the Toronto Strip Show, the TCAF 10th Anniversary art show. The show runs from May 1st to 31st at the Steam Whistle Roundhouse.

Destination X is my new book from Nobrow Press. I can’t...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 10:14:32 -0400

Destination X is my new book from Nobrow Press. I can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy. It’s printed, and all set for its debut at TCAF. It’ll be in stores in June, and is available direct from Nobrow now.

Hey look, I made a mash-up. Mash mash mash.

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 23:01:25 -0400

Hey look, I made a mash-up. Mash mash mash.

Photo

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:14:03 -0400

Illustration for a story in the Globe and Mail.

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 12:32:46 -0400

Illustration for a story in the Globe and Mail.

Photo

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 10:37:21 -0400