Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jay Fosgitt. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Jay, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
My career is a testament to trial and error. Starting out before the coming of the internet, and stuck in the midwest far outside the comic industry, I didn’t have many resources on how to break into comics, or what the right or wrong way was to create comics. So, I just created. I wrote, drew, colored and lettered my first graphic novel with the cheapest and least recommended art supplies, digitally colored my work without any real understanding of color, shadow or lighting (and with barely a cursory knowledge of Photoshop), and without understanding working in layers. I finished it, printed off some sample pages, took a train to an out of state comic con, and showed those samples to anyone who would give me five minutes. That’s how i found my first publisher. I continued to learn things the hard way–most significantly, the business side of comics–and with each published work, my skill set grew, my business sense grew, my reputation grew, and my workload grew, in volume and prestige of projects.
In hindsight, I would have taken classes in Photoshop rather than learning as I went along. I think that would have significantly sped up my understanding and capabilities of working digitally. Otherwise, I believe everything that has happened in my career happened exactly when it was meant to. That’s my core belief.
I could say not living on the east coast near the publishing houses was an obstacle. But really, my career and skill level blossomed with the advent of the internet as a business tool–again, when it was meant to happen–so that wasn’t really an issue. The only obstacle was myself. I don’t feel like I’m a great self-starter. But the encouragement and support system I’ve had in my life got me beyond that deficit, and is as accountable for my career as I am.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My current bio reads as such: ay P. Fosgitt has created comics for many familiar properties, such as SESAME STREET and DREAMWORKS ANIMATION (Ape Entertainment), MY LITTLE PONY, G.I. JOE, MICRONAUTS, TRANSFORMERS, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES and STAR TREK (IDW), POPEYE (KING FEATURES), ADVENTURE TIME, RUGRATS, THE AMAZING WORLD OF GUMBALL, UNCANNY VALLEY, JIM HENSON’S LABYRINTH, THE DARK CRYSTAL and FRAGGLE ROCK (Boom), BETTY AND VERONICA and LITTLE SABRINA (Archie), ROCKET RACCOON AND GROOT, AVENGERS, GWENPOOL, WEB WARRIORS, CHAMPIONS, DEADPOOL, JESSICA JONES, NOT BRAND ECHH. LOCKJAW, SPIDER-GEDDON and DAMAGE CONTROL (Marvel), RUMBLE, I HATE FAIRYLAND(Image), DARK RIDE (Skybound), and Jay has illustrated several book series for Disney Publishing. Jay has also written and drawn his creator-owned titles BODIE TROLL, JUNK DRAWER COMICS (Cheeseburger Press), DEAD DUCK AND ZOMBIE CHICK (Source Point Press), and NECRONOMICOMICS (Rue Morgue). He resides in Metro Detroit with his cat, Goonie.
More personally, I was born to a preteen mom and adopted by my family within a month of that. I started drawing at age two, and after seeing a documentary on Charles Schulz when I was five, I knew I wanted to be a cartoonist when I grew up. I started my career as a comic strip creator for my college newspaper–my goal then was to be a syndicated cartoonist in newspapers. My frustration at the limitations of storytelling in strips, compounded with the death knell of the newspaper industry, inspired me to work in comic books instead.
As a kid, I wrote to Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets and countless other creative worlds. Jim had been my hero since I was little, so at age eleven, I sought out his company address, and reached out, pleading for him not to retire before I was old enough to work for him, as a designer and potentially a puppeteer. Jim actually wrote me back, encouraging my drive and complimenting the Muppet art I had sent him. He ended the letter with the hopes of meeting me when I was ready. That set the trajectory of my life and career. Though Jim passed away when I was still in high School, as an adult just entering the comics field, The Henson Company reached out to me, saying they had found my letter to Jim, as well as a photocopy of Jim’s response to me. They looked me up to see if I had gone on to a successful career in art as Jim had foreseen, and were thrilled to see I had. They invited me to visit the Jim Henson Company in New York, which was an absolute mecca for me. From all of this, I ended up working on several licensed comics based on Jim’s creations, all with the encouragement and endorsement of The Henson Company. Dreams do come true. And it is always worth a shot to reach out to your heroes.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
What I tell anyone who gets into comics–and I believe this pertains to any field of work–is, you better love what you do. Writing, drawing, creating just for the sheer love of it is all that matters, because it is not a steady career option, and It is not a financially viable career option. If you have so much love for creating that you spend your time doing that, without promise of money or publication, then you will succeed, when that time is meant to occur. Be prepared to do other work to support your art, even if it isn’t art adjacent at first (though do seek out art adjacent work when you find it, even if it isn’t necessarily drawing or comics). And consider taking some theater classes or getting involved with community theater. It’s an amazing outlet for storytelling that does lend itself to comic creation in acting, character development, staging of scenes, script writing, and other related areas. In the end, It’s all about perseverance.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
From the start of childhood, introduce kids to art in all forms. Do not limit a kid to a public school art education (though some communities–albeit not many–excel in their art programs). Look up area artists, community centers that offer art classes, community theaters, museums, concerts, and gather your creative resources early and often.
Public School Systems: start giving the arts the personal and financial support that you afford school sports. Art classes get gutted and cut in sacrifice to sports constantly. Not only is this unfair to young creatives, but shapes their attitudes, as well as the attitudes of the whole community, as to the importance (of lack thereof) of art in society.
Parents: NEVER discourage your child in their artistic interests and pursuits. And never try and dissuade them from a career in the arts. No, the arts cannot guarantee a stable career. But they excel in positive mental health where most “stable” 9 to 5 jobs are a detriment in that regard. Your child will find their own way, and your only job is to encourage that.
Government: Bring back artistic grants. Create artistic opportunities on a local and Federal level, the way the WPA did in the 1930’s. Publicly endorse the arts, through your campaigns, choice of elected officials, and financial resources. Tax breaks for creatives in all areas of the art, business loans made specially for artists, considerations and allowances for artists in the area of loans, and one day, unions for protection of benefit of all artists and their futures.
Society: To quote filmmaker David Lynch, “Change your heart or die.” Start seeing art as an important cornerstone of life, as a pursuit and career to respect and aspire to, as a common thread that unites us all, and a civic, social, and emotional need to the same degree as commerce, the military and religion are held today. Art is not the enemy. Indifference and disdain to creativity is.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jayfosgitt.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaypfosgitt/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jay.fosgitt
- Yelp: [email protected]
- Other: Cara: https://cara.app/jay-fosgitt
Image Credits
All photography and artwork created by Jay P. Fosgitt