We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joshua Hauke a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Joshua, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?

This is a story about bubble gum, “RainBlow” bubble gum to be specific, not money. And, how my art helped me line my cheeks with it. After all, everyone knows the only thing better than having money in your pocket is having bubble gum in your mouth.

When I was younger, around second or third grade I discovered that I loved to draw. My favorite thing to draw at that time was cartoon characters. Unfortunately, back in the day the internet wasn’t around to look up references and cartoons were only on during certain times a day. This meant that if I wanted to get better at drawing them, I had to be home at the right time. So, every day after school, I’d bust in the door to my house, flip on the TV, plop down on the floor, and draw. This was the late 80’s early 90’s, which meant I spent a lot of time drawing Looney Tunes, Hanna Barbra characters, and of course Ninja Turtles. My mom had bought me this little scape book of sorts, so that when I when I mastered a character I could stick it in this book and save it. Before long I had almost filled this whole book and it felt incredible. Flipping through the pages I realized that I was starting to get pretty good and I began to wonder if I could make money doing this.

In my class and around my school kids started noticing my work. Occasionally, they would even ask me to draw them something. It happened enough times that it occurred to me that this could be it. This could be how I make my millions. That’s right, millions! I was aiming for the sky and I now had a plan. And that little scape book my mom got me, it was the key. I’d simply take my book down to the local playground and show it off. I’d tell kids for twenty five cents, no… for fifty cents I could draw them anything in this book. I did not see how it could fail. Who wouldn’t want to take home their very own hand drawn Chilly Willie the Penguin.

Well… I’ll tell you who. Most of the kids on the playground apparently. After a few days the closest I came to making a sale was when an old kid offered to pay me a full dollar if I could draw boobs. Since those weren’t in my book though, I had to pass. Nothing seemed to be working. Then one afternoon, I bumped into a girl I knew from school and she wanted to hire to do a drawing for her little brother. And what she wanted me to draw, was a ninja turtle. Lucky me, I had been practicing. This was going to be a piece of cake. Now we just needed to land on a price. As it turned out, she did not have any money on her, but what she did have was a little more than half a pack of RainBlow bubblegum. And if I did this drawing for her. It would all be mine.

Let me paint a picture for you incase you’re not familiar with RainBlow bubblegum. We are talking full gum balls size pieces here. They were sold in a plastic sleeve and they came in… that’s right. You guessed, every color of the rainbow. So this was no Joe Blow or floppy Winter fresh. This was four to five full gum balls, With at least one or two of the heavy hitters, like red or purple still in the pack. I was all in. I took my time on the drawing and did the best turtle I could, it was probably a Ralph or a Mikey, since those were my favorite. The girl thanked me and handed over my prize when I was done. I remember watching her walk off to take the drawing to her brother and I knew he was going to love it, because I loved doing it. And if I could somehow turn this into a real job someday that it would be even better than downing four gum balls.

Joshua, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

For those of you who don’t know me… Hello. Pull up chair. My name is Joshua Hauke. I am an author and an illustrator. For the last decade or so I have been plunging the depths of my imagination for the weirdness that lurks deep, deep below so that I can make the comics you always wish you had when you were younger. I am the creator of the all-ages webcomic Tales of the Brothers Three and the middle-grade graphic novel series Doom’s Day Camp. My latest creation, Icarus Chan and The Space Rescue Plan, hits shelves sometime in 2026.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

When I was a kiddo, I really struggled with reading. When I saw a book with its white pages all full of words, it just was… ugh. It was bad. Real bad. So bad that I actually got held back and had to repeat a year of school. My saving grace turned out to be the funnies. That’s right, that one bright colorful section in the paper that was so soaked with ink you could feel it on your fingers. As I mentioned before, I loved to draw and the evil mastermind I called, Dad, knew it. In an effort to get me to read more he started saving the funnies just for me. He knew the words side by side with art would be hard to ignore.

I’ll be damned if my Dad wasn’t right too. After all some of my favorite cartoon characters started right here. Where talking Garfield and Charlie Brown. They are still around today because you know them and you love them too. This combined with the one two punch of Calvin and Hobbs and the Far Side and I was hooked. The interesting thing, was that comics didn’t just make me a better reader and a better artist. They had a real impact on me. If you had asked me back then, when I was repeating the second grade what I was going to be when I grew up, I never would have guessed that I would become an author.

As an author, my goal has always been to tell stories for the kids just like me. Those struggling, reluctant readers that can’t find a story they connect with. I want to make something that will make them life-long readers. I don’t need to be everyone’s favorite author, but I would love to be their favorite author.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

If you are lucky enough to have a job like mine, you can spend months or years toiling away on a project. Just you and your thoughts. It can be a real rollercoaster. Some days you love the project. Some, not so much. What it comes down to is, you really never know if people are going to connect with it the way you hope they will until it goes out into the world. That’s why, when you meet someone who has done just that, it’s important that you take a moment and let it soak in. I’m not talking about your mom or your friend either. A total stranger, who saw exactly what you were trying to do and it had an impact on them. It could be that they thought it was funny, or cool, they might have noticed something you didn’t think other people were going to pick on. Whatever the case, just take a moment, enjoy it. It can really make the journey worth it. And it’s really important to remember that even though you may be in the trenches now, you have that feeling to look forward to.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.joshuahauke.com
• Instagram: joshuahauke
• Facebook: talesofthebrotherthree
• Linkedin: Joshua Hauke
• Twitter: mortimerjmoose
• Other: Threads: @joshuahauke
  Blue sky: @joshuahauke