Indie Spotlight: Joel Lolar
What's up everyone? I got another Indie Spotlight for you, today we're talking to cartoonist Joel Lolar. He self publishes some of the dopest books and has a real eye for design. He was nice enough to take some time out and answer a few questions. Hope you guys enjoy, and make sure you check out his work!
RYAN: For those that may not be familiar with your work, can you us a brief run down on yourself?
JOEL: My name is Joel Lolar. I'm an independent comic artist from Brockton, Massachusetts. I'm a 2006 graduate of The Kubert School and one of the members of Stock*Pile comics. I've self-published a couple of books, including Cosmohaunt, Monsters of Mars (with Rian Miller), and a post-apocalyptic samurai western called Forever Winter.
RYAN: What was your first exposure to the world of comics?
JOEL: If I'm honest, even before comic books, it was probably the Sunday funnies stuff like Garfield and Calvin & Hobbes. I was the perfect age to get caught up in the early 90's comic boom, hooked on event books that were supposed to be worth a fortune by now things like Death of Superman, Knightfall, and Fatal Attractions. Fatal Attractions even had holograms on the covers, so I never had a chance.
RYAN: Who were some of your artistic influences growing up?
JOEL: In my heart, I'm a 90's X-men kid. They had the best artists, Jim Lee, Romita Jr, Chris Bachalo, Carlos Pacheco, The Kuberts, and Joe Madureira. Joe Mad's stuff blew my mind me and all my friends wanted to draw like him. Adam and Andy were huge influences for me, obviously since I ended up at the school.
RYAN: I discovered your work from the Kayfabe channel. Has that exposure led to any new fans?
JOEL: Being on Kayfabe was fun; it was a neat experience to watch the video and see people talking on the live chat, sharing my Instagram page and stuff. It also directly led to getting to do things like this interview. It seems less and less likely I'm going to be able to do a con this year, which is a shame because it feels like that would have been the best way to see what effect it had.
RYAN: What do you tackle first, story or art, when working on a new book?
JOEL: I write first, but the scripts I write for myself are usually pretty bare bones because I know that I'm going to change things when I get in there and start drawing. I'm an artist who writes I'm not a writer who draws. Some of my favorite moments in Forever winter are things I never wrote beforehand; I call it ad-libbing, but that's because it sounds better than saying, "I make it up as I go."
RYAN: Do you work on you're cartooning full time or do you have to maintain a "regular" job as well?
JOEL: I have a "regular" job working nights in a warehouse. Its mostly grunt work, so it gives me plenty of time to daydream about comic book ideas or run dialogue in my head. I make sure to keep sketchbooks and notebooks in my car just in case. I've even brought pages to ink or pencil on my lunch breaks.
RYAN: What project is currently sitting on your drawing table?
JOEL: I've got twelve more pages to ink on the fifth issue of my book Forever Winter, so one of those is literally on the desk.
RYAN: Whats your primary way of selling your books?
JOEL: Mostly cons, I love doing comic cons, although you can get both physical and pay what you want digital comics from the store section on stockpilecomics.com
RYAN: For all the readers out there, where can they follow you to learn about any projects you might be working on?
JOEL: You can find me on Twitter and Instagram @joel_Lolar even if you don't like comics, I have two french bulldogs, and I post a lot of pictures of them, so that's worth the price of admission alone.
You can also follow Stock*pile comics on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr.