Conversations with Jonboy Meyers

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jonboy Meyers.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I am a illustrator, concept designer and artist working in video games, animation and comic books and I’ve been writing and drawing my own stories since I was 4 years old. I grew up in a military household and used to draw pictures for my Dad while he was stationed overseas or on tours for extended periods of time.

On one occasion when my Dad was home he took me and my brothers to a couple of movies that were playing on base, one being Star Wars and the other was the Black Hole. Both movies were a bit over my head (especially the Black Hole, since there was a horror element to it and a bit too intense for a kid my age)–but I did love the Robots in both movies. And I remember drawing my own Black Hole comics and sending them to my Dad, with the Robots Vincent and Old Bob fighting Maximillian and Star Wars Storm Troopers and Darth Vader was somewhere in the mix, but his helmet was reallllllly hard for me to draw….

That really got me started and when we later relocated to Colorado to a Army Base called Fort Carson, my Dad who was a Military Policeman would bring us home comic books after his shift working the Military Drunk Tanks, where soldiers if they got in trouble on base, would be “locked up” until their Commanding COs (Commanding Officers) would pick them up that following Monday. To pass the time in the tanks the MPs (Military Police) would buy them magazines and comic books to read, since there is absolutely nothing to do to pass the time until Monday rolled around.

Most of the comics my Dad would bring home were War Comics like Unknown Solider, Sgt. Rock and Creature Commandos, Weird War Tales, that sort of thing. I loved them and would draw war comics, until that one day he brought home some Captain America and Batman and Superman comics. Up until that point I had no idea Captain America was a comic book, I knew him only as a toy and a cartoon. It was a big watershed moment for me, reading about these larger than life superheroes and the art was way more stylized and dynamic than the War comics I was reading and drawing.

And the rest they say is history, I’ve been drawing superheroes and monsters and wizards ever since and I still try to push all that since of awe and wonder into my own work as much as I can to try to inspire the next kid to do the same 🙂

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Well, growing up midwest, most people there don’t really think a career in art is possible or even profitable. Both of my Parents thought it was “nice” that I drew but there’s no career or future in it, that I would starve.

It can be tough to have a dream and always working towards it to make it a reality and the biggest cheerleaders you have in life are telling you that this isn’t possible or that it was foolish–it’s tough, they wanted to me to become a Doctor or something more noble where you would make a lot of money. I get it, we were military and base E6 pay was nothing and we scrapped by like other military families.

But I always new that I didn’t want to live my life according to someone else’s Dogma, that is other people telling me what I can or cannot do or how other people think I should be doing with my life–it’s my life, I wanted to go for the things I wanted to do and was passionate about.

And I learn that who you are and what you are made of–that voice has to be the loudest voice in your head and not the voice of those around you.

Nothing is for free in life and if you really want something bad enough, you have to really sacrifice and work towards that in order to make it happen–no one will give it to you, nor will it land in you lap–you really have to be disciplined.

Disciplined meaning, doing things you hate or don’t want to do and doing it like you love it. That’s really the key in pushing thru from average to greatness.

So I told myself I wouldn’t let anyone outwork me and I would grind until I made it happen. And the funny thing about life is that once you have it, you really need to keep pushing and grinding in order to keep improving, and getting better and better, it’s a never ending cycle of challenges and sacrifice.

Working thru countless rejections, harsh criticisms, and a lot of failure is part of the process–I used it as fuel that made me dig in, work harder–if I quit, everything people said about me or my work would be right–so I didn’t want to let anyone win or beat me…. I wanted to prove them wrong. And when you do get there and “make it” it’s really worthwhile and rewarding.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am an illustrator and concept designer for Animation, Video Games and Comic books. In short I tell stories, I design worlds and all the characters the live in them.

I’ve very fortunate to be able to add the Meta of things I enjoyed as a kid, like creating concepts for Riot Games and Blizzard Entertainment, to redesigning the Teen Titans for DC Comics or revamping Spawn with Todd Mcfarlane are real highlights for me as a creative. But I don’t think I’ve done my very best yet–I think there still a lot of candy left in this piñata and I think my best is still yet to come 🙂

I’m not sure what does separate me from others in my field, for me I really care about the work I do, and I try to hold up very high standards for what I am doing. That in the end that’s really what matters to me, am I doing the best I can do and am I happy with what I am creating. I think it’s a better way to run your own race than live your life to comparing it to what other artists are or are not doing. Be in competition with yourself if you can get what I am saying 🙂

Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
Yes, Anything you want to do is possible in this life. Anything. You just have to really have good reasons to do so. Your WHY in life has to be really strong and in order to get what you want, there is always something you have to sacrifice to get it–it could be your time, relationships, your comfort… it’s really about how bad do you want it?

If your reasons are not strong enough and you don’t have a WHY–then your a someday person. And Life is very short and somedays usually never happen.

Pricing:

• nope.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jonboymeyers.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonboy007007/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100031221676032

Image Credits
Sure these are various covers and illustrations done for print and comics. These Characters are Copyright Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Robert Kirkman, Brett Bean, Paramount