Featured Artist: Jeremy Vinar

Ralph Thomas·August 27, 2024

Jeremy Vinar is one of those artists that when I see what he puts in a Sketch Wallet I let out a gasp. Always amazing. His finished work is so clean and his colors are always beautifully crafted. He's got a Kickstarter currently running but it will be ending soon so don't wait! (Link is at the bottom) Keep reading to get to know Jeremy better.

I assume like most artists you’ve always liked to draw, how did art play into your childhood?
Yes, as long as I can remember I've drawn. I can vividly remember my love of art and comics started when my older brother showed me an X-men comic. Back then it was the Silvestri/Claremont era and I was immediately drawn in. I started by copying my favorite comic book artists until one day I showed my mom my latest drawing. She said that's great, but you should try to come up with your own drawing instead of just copying. Harsh mom, but a fair point. It was then I started coming up with all my own ridiculous and derivative super heroes, dozens and dozens of them. It was super fun and would be the last time for a LONG time I remember being really uninhibited by the "right" way to draw. One summer in middle school I took a comic book making class at a local art center we have here in Frederick MD. From there on I was making actual comic pages and not just drawing characters in cool poses. Drawing was something I constantly did as a kid. Probably why I can't imagine doing anything else as an adult.

Are there other artists in the family?
You know, I never thought about that. I can't think of any other family members that are artists. Maybe that's why it feels like it took me longer to progress than my peers. My mother liked to sing, I guess that's the closest I have.

When did you decide you wanted to be an artist?
As a career? I think it was early on when I was copying all those comic artists. Comics were huge in the 90's so it actually seemed like a viable career path to a kid like me. Boy was I mistaken about that. Comics crashed hard soon after I became an adult.

Could you give us a brief history of your art career to this point?
I went to the Savannah College of Art and Design with the intent of getting a degree in Sequential art (comics). It was one of the only art colleges that had a curriculum like that. Somewhere along the line I got scared though. I was amassing tons of debt and I would need a job to pay it off out of college. So I eventually started to learn more about video game making. 3D programs and animation. But ultimately my degree was in illustration. I was a real mess in college and I really regret how I handled it all. I wish I had stuck to my guns and pursued comics from the get go.

That led me to move to California after college (bay area) . That was where the majority of video game companies were at the time. I moved out there with my girlfriend at the time (future wife) with no real prospects other than a job interview to be a videogame tester. I did that for about a year and half all while applying to any and every video game company in the bay area. I did finally get an actual art job with a small video game company in Santa Cruz. From there it was about 11 years of working for small companies like that until they would inevitably go out of business or have layoffs. The video game business is pretty volatile. You can't really rely on a job for the long haul. I worked on a number of small games, some for handhelds, some for Facebook when that was big. I did a lot of art and animation in Flash at the time. The good thing about it is it broadened my skills in drawing. I drew everything from the interiors of clothes stores for a fashion game to cutscenes for a Superman Nintendo DS game to dirty kitchens for a health inspector game.

Ultimately video game jobs were just too unstable and California was just too expensive, so after the latest layoff and the prospects drying up, my wife and I moved back to Maryland where we were both originally from. I decided that my true love always was comic books and I really derailed myself early on. My brother was kind enough to offer me a job with his business so I could pay the bills. So for the past 9 years I've been a customer service rep for a vent cover business all while trying to make comics in my spare time. It's both super depressing and super satisfying at the same time.

How did Perilous Adventure Studio come about?
Perilous Adventure Studio started because when I started making comics again my wife had some fantastic ideas for me. She is the one who came up with our Roll Your Way series which is like a choose your own adventure book, but instead of choosing you roll a dice to determine which page to turn to. She wrote that and I drew it. After a bit we thought we should have our own studio name for the both of us. So that is where it was born.

What would you like to see it turn into?
Good question, no clue. It's just been fun working with her on stuff. She is really the one with all the brilliant ideas and I can always rely on her to bounce my ideas off of to make sure they aren't stupid and make sense.

What conventions or events do you attend or table at?
We are based in Maryland so for now we've mostly done the conventions near us. The big ones we've done have been Baltimore Comic Con, Awesome Con, Heroes Con, SPX. We even went up to TCAF one year and MICE. I've been a bit out of it the past couple years but with my renewed excitement over Bounty, next year I plan on hitting as many as I can.

Tell us about your current Kickstarter.
Bounty is about a customer service rep for a vent cover business who dreams of being a bounty hunter (I know, super creative). It's obviously based on my own life, but I always wanted to draw a Star Wars bounty hunter story about amature bounty hunters too. So I just said screw it, I'll combine those two things and make my own story. I am so glad I did. This is the most fun I've had making comics in years. I've gone through some ups and downs the last 4 years with my art. When I moved back from California I thought I'd only be working for my brother for six months while I got my comic career going. Nine years later here I am still selling vent covers. I've tried to just quit art completely, but I end up even more depressed. I need to do this, even if it's for an audience of one, I just have to be making things. So now I'm taking all that great customer service experience I thought was a drag and reusing it for my own creative outlet. Take that boring day job!

I've also switched to the issue format rather than making a full graphic novel. All my previous books were 100 to 150 page graphic novels and could take up to two years to make. This issue format has been really nice because I get more immediate satisfaction. It's also been super fun crafting a story that is compelling in such a short format but also leaves the reader wanting to know what happens next. I'm already working on issue two and I'm super excited.

If time and money weren’t an issue, what project would you tackle?
I think I'm actually doing it now. I just want to make comics. After 42 years I'm finally at a place where I'm happy with my art and I'm making things I love. It took some stupid decisions and a long windy road but it feels good. Now just hopefully the money can follow so I can actually do this full time.