The Unknown Janitor!
Here’s something from the way-back machine. While digging through some old digital files, I found these pictures and thought I would share them.
In 2006, I noodled around with the idea of drawing a comic book. Unfortunately, I’m not that great of an artist, and that was made clear by my inability to draw faces.
To get around my “face problem,” I came up with an idea for a superhero who would wear a bucket on his head. I called him the Unknown Janitor. This allowed me to skirt the face issue, but a superhero can’t be in costume all the time.
This meant my guy needed a day job—a clever way to hide among the masses. I created the job of an Unknown Comic impersonator. It seemed like a good vocation for a guy without a face.
I sketched a couple of concepts which you can see here (click on them to enlarge). As I said before, I’m not much of an artist, but now I’m proving it. When people are looking for a creative outlet, they’ll take almost anything as positive reinforcement. This provided a further spark that I was on the right track!
The next step was to purchase some 11” x 17” comic page artboards from a local comic book shop. Afterward, I drew the cover. I should have written a script—hell, I was a writer. But in this scenario, I wanted to be an artist. I divided up the pages and lightly sketched a series of panels. The story created itself on the fly.
Even my hero’s foil - Captain Happy - was a superhero without a face. If anything, I stayed in my lane.
Once the pages were drawn, I scanned them and colored them in Photoshop.
A hand holding four aces is on the cover’s upper left-hand corner. There’s a fifth ace poking out from the sleeve. This was the logo I created for “Way of the Con,” my website at the time.
Throughout my life, I tried a variety of creative things. Most of them haven’t worked out. But that’s okay. I eventually found the one thing I loved the most—writing.
I hope you get a kick out of this comic and enjoy it as a snapshot into the growth of creativity.
