The Big News – Yes, I work on the show

I’ve joked that for the last several years that thing I most commonly say to fans at comic book conventions is “I didn’t work on the show, I just drew the Young Justice companion comics.” It’s largely true.

When I say that I’m not trying to diminish that work on any way in comparison to the show, I’m very, VERY proud of the work I did on those comics. But a lot of fans see my Young Justice artwork and assume I worked on the show, or worse yet, that the show is somehow based on my work. So I’m always quick to clarify my role and give full credit to the amazing people that produce the show, including lead character designer Phil Bourassa and his team for creating the visual landscape I have been privileged enough to play in. Which results in “I didn’t work on the show, just the comic.”

Well that line is going to have to change.

In December I’m going to be moving to Burbank, California and will be working as a Storyboard Revisionist on Season 4 of Young Justice.

This is a huge, life-changing development for me. First of all is just moving to California. Aside from several months spent at Art School in Chicago I’ve lived in Minnesota all my life. I’ve visited the Los Angeles area many times, and even the Warner Brothers Animation facility where Young Justice is produced, but never imagined I’d soon be living and working out there.

This change is largely coming as a result of a conversation I had with Young Justice co-producer (as well as my friend and collaborator on the YJ comic) Greg Weisman in March when we were both at Emerald City Comic Con. I was expressing frustration with the state of my comics career. As much as comic book art was my childhood dream job, I confessed that I’d often thought I could also have been happy working in the animation field, but it seemed a bit late to be making that change, as I’d be starting all over again in a new field. Greg told me he didn’t think it would be as impossible a transition as I was describing, and suggested that if I was serious I should talk to his Young Justice co-producer Brandon Vietti about it.

I ended up talking to Brandon by phone and he was equally encouraging, and thought I could start out doing work storyboarding or as a Storyboard Revisionist. So I updated my resume for the first time in 17 years (no one hiring comic book artists asks to see a resume) and gathered samples of storyboard work I’d done on a few projects over the last decade and submitted them to WB Animation. And now I start in December!

What does a Storyboard Revisionist do? My understanding is that I take the rough boards drawn by another artist based on the script, and revise them as needed to bring them more “on model” for the character designs and make other small changes as directed, before the boards are sent overseas for animation. I’ll have a much better understanding of the logistics of all that by the end of the year!

So now I need to find a place to rent in Burbank (any leads or assistance from my L.A. friends is very welcome!) and organize the move! The life-transforming scale of this change is a little terrifying, but I can’t imagine doing this under better circumstances. On the one hand it’s a leap into the unknown but it’s freaking YOUNG JUSTICE and the people in charge are friends. I knew this show was leaving a huge footprint in my life, but this is crazy! I’m WHELMED! I’m FEELING THE ASTER!

And while I’m here, a couple of other Young Justice related notes:

• I haven’t heard anything new as far as more Young Justice tie-in comics, even though I think they’d be a GREAT way to keep the fans engaged during the long wait between seasons 3 and 4, which will be more than a year. Greg and I would still love to do them, but even if the comic was a digital-only exclusive on the DC Universe streaming platform, it’s still up to DC Comics.
• No, I don’t think I’m done drawing comics forever, but any comics projects will have to be scheduled around my animation commitments for the foreseeable future.
• Yes, I’ll be doing more Young Justice prints, including prints based on Season 3 characters. I’ve just needed the time to work on them and have been waiting to see all of Season 3 to decide what prints to do! (If I’d started before the 2nd half of the season, I’d have had a totally different idea of what group of characters were identified as being the “Outsiders.” I hope to have a couple of new prints done in time for New York Comic Con.
• The previous Young Justice prints I’ve done (along with my other superhero and Doctor Who prints) are available from my Etsy store or you can get them from me directly at my convention appearances.
  https://etsy.com/shop/ChrisJonesArt

I’ll try to do a better job of updating this page throughout the process of this transition, and share as much of the experience of joining the Season 4 team as I can, but I’m under NDAs which means I’ll know more but can say even less about what’s coming. As Greg likes to say… NO SPOILERS!

SYMBIOSI!