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I’m back! Whoop! Beautiful morning on Bolsa Chica Beach. ♥️ #lotus #flower #tower25 #mosaic #beach #art #mosaicbeachart #annemarieprice #bolsachicastatebeach #CA #clamshells #shells #mosaicart #huntingtonbeach https://www.instagram.com/p/Cd008uwr8Cm/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
@caleido_radiators #tower25 #top #design #towelrail #interiordesign #instagood (presso Claudia & Co. Interior Design)
#nicosia #tower25 #cyprus #urbancyprus
#nicosia #tower25 #cyprus #urbancyprus
ARTIST OF THE WEEK: PJ PATTEN (PLUS AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW)
This week, we bring out one of our favorite indie creators to the spotlight: PJ Patten! PJ has been hard at work on his ever expanding series titled Tower25 as its set to be published by the folks over at Underbelly Comics. He's kept up with the workload and is often seen sharing his message through twitter as Tower25 grows daily.
We wanted to showcase just how hard this guy works by putting his work out there and we even have a bit of a special treat for you...an all new interview! Enjoy the art and check out what PJ has to say!
The Pulp: How's it going PJ! I'm so glad to get the chance to talk to you in detail once again! It's been a little while since we were able to do this!
PJ: It's going great Jordan. Living with my girlfriend and her two boys is wonderful. I'm playing bass in my girlfriend's band Eden Fine Day, drawing comics about a talking pooh-log with my six-year-old step-son, and playing superhero dress up with my three-year-old step son.
On the work side I've been busy organizing, putting pages in sequence and filling in the gaps in the narrative for Tower25. The finish line is soooo close.
TP: How have you been since Tower25 was picked up by Underbelly?
PJ: Its been a total whirlwind Jordan. Within the first month after releasing my work online, I met you & was signed to Underbelly comics. Since then Tower25 has received a lot of great reviews which has been amazing. What I take to heart the most is the thank you's I've received for sharing my story. I'm so grateful that my work is connecting to readers at the heart level.
TP: How long has it been now since you first started to lay the groundwork for this comic?
PJ: Tower25 is very similar to the journals I've kept since I was 14 or 15, and I'm 38 now. I've been dabbling with the idea of it over the years but it wasn't until May of 2015 that I finally took the leap and decided to pursue it seriously. It took me a while to decide to have faith in myself and my work.
TP: What services are you using to spread the word about your work? I know you use Tapastic, but are you using any other network to get more attention on your work?
PJ:Twitter has been the biggest tool in spreading the word about Tower25. That's how I've been connecting with new readers, new creators, met my publisher, and have made friends like you , @JamieMeWrites of #comictalk, @Dadtowncomic, @jimwhiffen1 and others. Tapastic is great. I have a Facebook page, a website, and also entered the Challenge League on Webtoons.I recently delved into instagram.
TP: How much longer will Tower25 run?
PJ: Indefinitely. I've barely scratched the surface of what I have to share. There are a lot of things I haven't touched on yet, and I plan on living a long time.
TP: What's next after you finally finish the series? That's going to be a huge day for the both of us!
PJ: You're right man, that will be a huge day for the both of us Jordan! You and I met right after Tower25 and The Pulp launched online at the same time. It's hard to believe it has been less than a year since we both started this journey.
I love the range of emotions that are evoked by combining imagery and words. There are other subjects I would like to explore using this medium such as juvenile justice, autism, poverty, and mental illness. These are all things that have affected my life directly and affect countless other lives.
In the future, I hope to explore other, less personal but no less important topics, like modern reserve life of indigenous North Americans and the bleak situation that is the downtown Eastside of Vancouver, BC.
TP: Are your working on any other projects aside from the ongoing series?
PJ: I've been putting more energy back into playing music. I took a ten-year break after my best friend and songwriting partner passed away. I mentioned before that I'm playing bass in the band Eden Fine Day. We will be going into the studio to record an EP this spring.
I've also been working on some shorter comics for a collection I want to put together, my actual journal, and have also been in the brainstorming stage for that story idea you shared with me recently.
TP: I like to ask this all the creators we interview because everyone else has a different answer: What is the hardest part of getting your comic into the public eye? We know that marketing is a tough one as well as creating, but for you, what gives you the biggest challenge?
PJ: The biggest challenge for me was believing in my own work. It's easy to be discouraged when you see that your comic is only getting 20 views, or that no one likes or retweets your work, or you only have 10 followers for your first month on Twitter. Believing in myself and my work made it a lot easier to weather those early challenges.
TP: You're a very spiritual and grounded person and one of the nicest people I know. I talk to you almost daily now it seems and you're always in a great mood and ready to share whatever you can give. I feel like that's reflective as to where you've been in life and there's a definite connection to you and your work. Are you drawing influences from anything as of late that would make your new work so more honest and humble than ever?
PJ: Thank you for the kind words Jordan. Right now the healing process is a huge influence on all aspects of my creative work. Part of that is reconciling the past with the present. When I feel my own emotions swirl around inside my soul while drawing I know I am on the right track in doing my best work.
As far as other artists and storytellers go there are a few. I've really gotten into David Mack of Kabuki fame. Though what caught my eye about him is his work outside of comic books. He is insanely talented and is able to emulate so many different styles. At the end of one of his art collections is a personal comic about losing his Dad. It's perfect. The simple black and white art, the feeling of the writing, it just captures the moment in a way that transcends the comic medium. I also learned that he has done work with Visionaries & Voices art studio (for artists with disabilities, autism, etc) since 2003. He's just inspiring as a human being.
TP: You were telling me about this residency that you're applying for where you'll twenty-three days out at sea on a cargo ship? DUDE TELL US MORE!
PJ: The name of the project is called "23 days at Sea".You get to be the only non-crew member on board a container ship as it travels from Vancouver B.C. to Shanghai China. There's no cellphones, internet, etc. The whole point is to draw inspiration from the experience and create a body of work that will be showed in galleries.
TP: If you get to go on this trip (I wish you the best of luck!) what do you hope to gain from such a...exotic retreat?
PJ: Its been two years since I started living a regular life in a city again. So you could say that I'm looking forward to having alone time. I mean, just spending some time in an environment without the distractions of the city will be amazing for my head space.
TP: Let's talk about #ComicTalk now! Have you been finding the program useful as a creator?!
PJ: I actually consider #ComicTalk a social event for me. It has been serving as a quick way into the comic community. I've been able to exchange ideas, receive some great feedback, and connect with new readers to list off a few things.
TP: Who are some people that you've connected with on the outside as a result to the Jamie Me hosted event?
PJ: Well there's Jamie Me, Emily of http://bluevalkyriecomic.tumblr.com/ @edweenlo who is from the same area of California as me, @mary_goglia, @JeremyMegertArt.
TP: Is there anything you would change about the program to make it easier or more accessible?
PJ: I think Jamie has #ComicTalk on the right track. I'm hoping that he will bring back the read along thing he tried once. He put Tower25 on there and it really helped me connect to an audience.
TP: Is there any one guest that you'd like to see on #ComicTalk?
PJ: I would love to see David Mack on there. I would do anything to put a copy of Tower25 in his hands. I would also like to see Jeff Lemire, Nate Powell, Craig Thompson, and Emi Lenox.
TP: And lastly...Will you be taking part in next week's event?!
PJ: Unfortunately I won't be able to make it this Sunday. I'm volunteering at a spiritual retreat this weekend. Usually what I do if I cant make it is read the questions later that night.
In closing Jordan, I just want to say thank you for all the stuff you are doing for indie creators of all mediums. I'm grateful that we connected when we were both starting out. You and The Pulp have been my friends since Tower25's first day. Thanks for being my friend.
I also wanted to drop all my contact info:
@wabisabi1977 on twitter
Tower25comix.com is my own website.
http://tapastic.com/series/Tower25-Final-Edit on tapastic
pjamasvonpatten on instagram
https://goo.gl/nwjsSA for my facebook artists page
and last but not least, my six year old step son writes a comic called Mr.Pooiehead you can read it here http://tapastic.com/series/The-Adventures-of-MrPooie-Head
SPREADING THE INDIE LOVE WITH PJ PATTEN
SPREADING THE INDIE LOVE WITH PJ PATTEN
It’s #IndieSunday here at Pulp Cultured! We get submissions from around the net from creators out there need a bit of a spotlight for their recent work and we do our best to provide a platform that can help anyone. Now, we’re kicking off this Sunday with a creator we’ve worked very, very closely with since the launch of our site back in May.
PJ Patten is the author/artist/editor/and for a while there, the publisher to his comic book series titled Tower 25. He recently joined forces with the good folk at Under Belly Comics to get his work to a larger audience and still have creative control over what it is he’ll be doing with his ongoing series as well as any work that he continues to do under the guidance of the company.
Patten, much like ourselves is pushing the issue in becoming a force in the comic book industry and giving it his all. From having it all to being homeless to finding himself in his religion and find a peaceful medium to express his life adventures, it’s a story that has deeply influenced us to continue to find the best independent work out there because PJ is the perfect example of how we want to do our part. Without him, it wouldn’t have been as apparent to us that this is what we needed to do.
Tower25 is one of those pieces of work that draws you into a connection that you can feel. Even if you’ve never held a conversation with him, you can feel the energy, sadness, and humility in every minimalistic sketch he pumps out through his twitter and eventual collections that he calls episodes. The episodes detail each point in his life as a continuity from the next, giving a fluid line of storytelling that works well with what he’s trying to achieve.
Right now, Tower25 is collected into one solid episode simply called Episode One that is a must read if you’re looking for something more than capes, cowls, and heroes every day. The hard work that PJ puts into is work daily when he feeds us the newest sketch through his twitter, just adding and adding onto his story, his adventure, and his comic. Masterfully blending humanism and the simplicity of emotions, it’s something you can’t miss.
His new work since the last time we joined forces with him is even better than it was before. His writing is sharp and the art is connecting us into places we hadn’t seen from him just yet. Growth is important for any kind of creator mastering his craft and PJ is coming into his own, building towards perfection while maintaining a balance of his own sophisticated tales of his life.
We realize that the independent world is FULL of creators just like him and the goal is to find every one of you out there and bring your work to the forefront of our site. PJ gave us that vision and we’ve never lost sight of just how much his work has influenced our work in the grand scheme of things.
Read our review of Tower25 here! Then be sure to check out our exclusive interview PJ after you finish up checking out his work!
PULP CULTURED'S EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH UNDERBELLY'S NEWEST CREATOR...PJ PATTEN
INTERVIEWING PJ PATTEN: CREATOR OF TOWER 25
PJ Patten gave us the opportunity to talk to him about everything from his new comic, family, and his recent signing to Underbelly comics! PJ is an independent creator coming from all around who found his retreat away from his hard times in prayer and art. Here's what we talked about...
Q: So Tower25 is based off of real life experiences right? Would you care to share a little bit on that?
A: You're right that Tower25 is based off my life experiences. Tower25 started off as a personal journal that I started keeping five or six years ago as an attempt at understanding what the fuck happened to my life :D I would occasionally post an entry online to friends and the response was overwhelmingly heartfelt.
The project would stop and start for whatever reasons. Mostly because I was struggling with being comfortable not only with myself but also with the style of my work. Those two things have been the biggest hurdle in getting this work done. You could say that I am my own worst critic:)
Q: Your comic is the of the most heartfelt pieces of work we've come across in our month of being a website so far, is being honest hard for you when creating your work with everything you've been through in your lifetime?
A: That's a good question. I would actually say that NOT being totally honest has been the hardest thing to overcome. The honesty of my work is what makes it so effective. I believe in order for a story like mine to be effective it has to be 100 percent honest. Up until the past month, I always struggled with how much should I show? So once I stopped worrying about how both myself and my work would be perceived if I put it all out there, I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders and became very motivated in my work. I mean, I feel that anything that you put out in the public eye is going to be judged, right? I would rather be judged for being true to myself and my work.
Q: Now what ultimately made you decide that comics were going to be the way you expressed yourself to tell your story?
A: The haiku writing and art of Basho, Issa, and Ryokan is probably the biggest influence on my style for this project. I tried writing a memoir, but it just didn't feel right, like there was something missing. I mean, if I write everything down on paper I would be presenting a lot of information to the reader. Filling their head with exactly how I want them to perceive the settings and my emotions. I feel that the sparse nature of my pages and text gives the reader more time and space for their own emotions and thoughts to arise. Haiku is so effective at that. It's amazing at the range of emotions that seventeen syllables can produce.
Q: Where we were you staying location wise when you were out there on your own and did you ever leave that city since you had free range to do as you pleased?
A: I was sleeping in a public restroom at Bolsa Chica State Beach which is in Huntington Beach the town where I grew up. This is all in Orange County, California the place made known by places like Disneyland and TV shows like the OC. I basically just lingered around the town of Huntington Beach. After nine months or so I left that life behind and moved to a Buddhist retreat center where I lived for the better part of ten years.
Q: To get a little personal into the aspects of your journey, what was the hardest and low point in everything you went through?
A: When I found myself digging through the garbage looking for foil to smoke meth on was the lowest point. The hardest part was recognizing that I had finally lost everything at the moment with tin foil in hand. I had to admit to myself that continuing on the path I was on would lead me to my grave.
Q: It seemed like you had it all before things hit rock bottom, what was life like before the eventual events that led you to becoming homeless?
A: On the surface it would definitely seem like I had it all. Life was pretty much all about doing art, surfing, playing in my band, and getting high. So it would seem like I was living the life to a lot of people. But underneath it all I was hurting. I was just trying to cope with a lot of internal demons that I kept buying time and time again under the haze of my drug addiction. So no matter how good a day went there was always this slight awareness that my life would eventually come crashing down. That in itself was a burden.
Q: Having so much time alone, did you find out a lot about yourself that you didn't have before?
A: I found out that I had a world of hurt inside. Old wounds started to open up and were begging to be dealt with. Everything from stuff that had happened to me as a youth to a lot of the events that surrounded taking care of my sister who was drinking herself to death and living with schizophrenia which was not diagnosed at the time. The biggest thing was I just became aware of how much I had neglected to take good care of and love myself throughout my whole life. I had become so distracted I couldn't see the sunset even if I was looking straight at it. So there was this mourning that was taking place. To be honest with you, the first week or two were just spent crying.
Q: To me, a movie that reminds me a lot of your situation is In To The Wild, (Sean Penn directed it) and the lead character just gave up all of his personal effects to be one with himself and nature. Is that something you could relate to?
A: I did see that film and read the book. I can relate to wanting to get rid of all the extra things and just live life. I did however choose to stay homeless. Good people did offer me places to live. I just couldn't handle being around a lot of people or things. Also by not having anything I started to appreciate the sunsets, clouds in the sky, etc. Being outside at night I was able to watch the moon set on the ocean which is really a breathtaking site.
Q: Being largely independent in almost every part of your life now, how do you approach comics now?
A: I'm not really sure what you mean by this question. So literally I start with coffee, ink and paper. I don't do pencils. I try not to think too much about what I am drawing or writing. I just put the pen to the paper and go.
Q: What can we look forward to in the Tower25 series in the near future?
A: There is so much to cover and things that I really want to share that I feel are very important in conveying a realistic representation of the issues at hand. I want to do a volume that shares my sisters story as she played a huge part in my life, a volume about my youth as I fell in and out of drug addiction and visited juvenile hall multiple times, I mean I could go on and on.
Q: How long have you been working on comics as a whole and how long have you been working on them and trying to take the craft seriously?
A: The style of drawing and the images that are being used have been filling up my sketchbooks for the past ten years. I've been keeping journal comics for myself since I was 14. This project known as Tower25 really took shape a little over a month ago. I just decided to go for it and not worry about my pages looking different than what was out there and what people would think about me as I put my life out there in the world.
Q: SO YOU JUST SIGNED TO UNDERBELLY COMICS!!! What's that feeling like and where do you go from here? Thinking about relocating now?
Q: Getting signed by Underbelly is a dream come true. When I received the email that they were interested in my work and we're going to send me a contract I just about burst. I was smiling, laughing, crying, and letting my parents know.
As far as where do I go from here, well I have to get the book finished and pass it on to Underbelly!
Funny you should mention relocating, I just moved back to Northern California in the Ukiah area. So far way enough from the Bay Area to be in nature but close enough to drive down and to some promoting and expos and stuff to try and get the word out. The best part about where I'm living is that I'm right down the street from a Buddhist monastery where I can go to meditate and do my prayers and stuff.
Q: Do you have anything other than Tower25 in the works that could be published soon?!
A: Tower25 is my focus right now. I do have a lot of drawings and other short comics or one offs along with some illustrations that I did for short story as part of a collaboration project on deviant art that I could compile together eventually. I am also looking into doing prints of some Buddhist paintings that I do using a traditional ink stone and brush.
I do have something else in the works doing a mini comic or graphic novel for a concept album a friend of mine is working on right now.
Q: Now that we've grilled you for the majority of this interview, do you have any questions for us?!
I'm not really good at asking questions. I do want to take the time to thank all of you at Pulp Cultured for supporting indie artists of all mediums and muses. You have been one of the main forces in helping promote my work. So please keep up the good work and hey folks follow these guys, love these guys, read their work and look at their website they are good folks!
Here's a link to my comic Tapastic.com/series/tower25.I can be found at Facebook as Pjamas Von Patten and on Twitter @pjamasvonpatten
So there's my shameless plugging. Thanks for taking the time and all the support and love you guys have shown me in getting out my story and helping me raises awareness about these issues that are so dear to me.
I would like to end this with a prayer
May the great Bodhisattvas Avalokiteshvara and Jizo
Remember their vows to help all sentient beings reach enlightenment
And aid all beings especially those suffering from mental illness and addiction to
Find true happiness and freedom from suffering.
