Jason Score 00:00
Re-draw things, do whatever you need to do. Honestly, just don’t give up because you don’t feel like you’re good enough, because you will be good. You know, you’re always good enough, but you will be good enough in your own mind soon.
Nick Armstrong 00:10
I’m Nick Armstrong and this is the Fort Collins Comic Con podcast. Each week we’re going to talk with an artist or creator in our own community, some of their visited Fort Collins Comic Con before and others that have been there, we’re going to geek out together over our fandoms while we talk about creating cool things. This week, we have Jason score Colorado artists that is inspired by fashion, pop culture, and anime and manga.
Jason Score 00:30
Hi, my name is Jason and I am a Colorado artist. And I’ve been at least publicly working on art for the last four years.
Nick Armstrong 00:40
What kind of art do you do, Jason?
Jason Score 00:43
I have kind of an interesting style, I’ve been told it’s a nice fusion is what one of my friends refer to it as, but it’s a little bit of like a comic book style mixed with a little bit of anime and manga, pop culture, it’s a little bit of a slash style, I guess.
Nick Armstrong 00:59
What are your two favorite fandoms to merge?
Jason Score 01:03
It’s kind of funny with merging fandoms I have actually recently gotten into character redesigning. So for example, I’ll take something like Starfire. And then I’ll just kind of redesign her draw her how I would have liked to see her or just, like, make some improvements on it. And those have been some of my more popular pieces recently.
Nick Armstrong 01:21
What’s been your favorite part of interacting with fans? Do you have a heavy amount of commissions or are you normally just drawing your own thing?
Jason Score 01:29
I’d say it’s 50/50. It actually depends on the time of the year, some of my favorite stuff with interacting with fans is getting to talk about their own characters, their own creations, things that they really love, or something that we can find common ground with. I’m a big D&D person. So people who are like, “Oh, my gosh, I made this character in D&D. And I really love them!” and getting to talk about that with them. It’s just a fun thing to create with other people.
Nick Armstrong 01:54
What medium do you typically create in?
Jason Score 01:56
I’ve been bouncing around a lot recently, I started working with mostly markers, prismas and things like that. But right now, I’m kind of sticking with digital. I work a lot during the day and everything too, so I find it easier to have a tablet with me or have some form of drawing and being able to have a nice finished product. Because you know, if you’re working on your lunch break, you really can’t bust out all your markers and set them on the table or anything else like that. So having the digital medium has really made a difference. And I’ve actually been finishing a lot more things with that.
Nick Armstrong 02:34
Are you finding that you’re more inspired now with the the craziness going on in the world? Or are you less inspired?
Jason Score 02:39
Oh, man. I started a huge project at the beginning of this month, and I finished it, there are 16 illustrations in it. So that’s one thing. It’s been a little up and down. I was one of the few unfortunate people who did kind of lose everything when this went down. But I’ve been trying to make the best of it and try to stay creative and everything else, because that has helped tremendously.
Nick Armstrong 03:02
How are you modifying what you’re doing now as an artist to stay in business?
Jason Score 03:06
Like I said, it’s a little rough, because I don’t do art full-time. But that might be my only option at the moment. But as a business, I’ve just been trying to get done as much as I possibly can. And I’ve also been kind of sitting on the fence for a couple of days on if I’ve been working on a comic book with my writer for the last four to five years. And I think it’s time and especially with all the free time, I think it’s time to just sit down and kind of focus on that for a little bit. Because really, the only thing that’s been holding me back is excuses, time, and myself. So I think now it’s time to work on that. I think that’s the direction I’m going to go in. But you know, with everything being so crazy, who knows? It’s one day at a time.
Nick Armstrong 03:45
Is that your dream project? Your comic book?
Jason Score 03:47
Oh, man. Yeah, there could be a whole podcast on just that whole thing
Nick Armstrong 03:52
Tell us about it.
Jason Score 03:53
It takes the idea of something I giggle about – when you watch something that you dislike so much, you want to make that something better. It falls into the whole futuristic virtual reality MMO game type thing. But the thing with this game is that it’s more realistic. So it was actually made to be like military training program. So there’s a pain threshold, there’s things like that. But there’s weird feature, too, that allows people to kind of put their sentience inside of the game, and they they don’t really become AI, it’s one of those big questions in the game is are you a person anymore if you do that. So it kind of follows along the people that are in a post-apocalyptic New York City, there’s a whole bunch of warring gangs, you kind of pick a faction and pick a side and go with that. It follows a bunch of people that really didn’t fit into the real world and people who did, but it’s about finding and making your own family in place even in crazy and chaos.
Nick Armstrong 04:45
It sounds really interesting.
Jason Score 04:47
Oh, thank you.
Nick Armstrong 04:47
So when is it available? Because we’re all starving for content right now.
Jason Score 04:51
Oh my gosh. So I want to hopefully have a little bit of it available by the end of this year, of course. I’m going to spoil my patrons and they’ll get early access. Everything as I do it, however, one of our main characters I draw her all the time. I love her to death. Her name is Cecilia Ramon. And she’s kind of like steampunk themed. So if you’re into that, definitely take a look at her because I will talk about her all day until the cows come home.
Nick Armstrong 05:13
When things do calm down, which shows are you most looking forward to?
Jason Score 05:17
Honestly, I had a blast at Fort Collins Comic Con, I did that one last year and I had such a great time. I loved it so much.
Nick Armstrong 05:26
Thank you.
Jason Score 05:27
Yes, yes, it was just a nice, cute, little quaint, intimate con. I loved it, it was the best. Then the other one that I really like to do every year – and I know some people give it a weird look just because it is an 18 plus show – but I love working Daku Con. I’ve been with it since the beginning. I will work around my schedule every year to make sure I can be a part of it. But the staff is wonderful. Every year I go I have such a great time. I mean, just some of the people that you meet, too. I’ve made some lifelong friends – artists, cosplayers, vendors, everything – the entire time that I’ve been there, so I really can’t ever bat an eye at that show either. I love it to pieces. Plus, it’s one of those other ones that’s not giant, but it’s not super small. You know, it’s the perfect size for a convention.
Nick Armstrong 06:08
What is the most surprising fan interaction that you’ve had at a con?
Jason Score 06:12
Well, the first convention I’d ever worked. This was poor, little me I was – it’s kind of funny, because I say “poor, little” – I think I was 22 at the time. I was super, super anxious about people had terrible social anxiety. Me and my partner were there. And he kept telling me, “It’ll be fine. It’ll be fine. Don’t stress, don’t struggle.” I got a commission from this individual to draw one of his characters. I was like, perfect. I love this. Let’s go. I drew it for him. This was when I did at-table commissions. Then I gave it to him. And this individual tried to lean across the table and give me a kiss. So that was a little wild.
Nick Armstrong 06:48
Nothing like being an introvert and being like, “Oh, no, no, no touchy. Not even the art. Please walk along.”
Jason Score 06:54
No, thank you. That was probably the most wild one. Usually, other than that, it’s just a bunch of like excited hugs. They’re like, “Oh, I know who you are!” but that’s the most wild one.
Nick Armstrong 07:04
Which artists do you absolutely adore and wish that if you could take them to any con, who would that be?
Jason Score 07:10
Are we talking like famous or local level? Because there’s a bunch.
Nick Armstrong 07:14
Let’s make it two categories. Who’s the local person you would take with you to any con? And who is the famous artist you’d want with you?
Jason Score 07:22
I have to do a big shout-out to my friend Allegra. I would say that she was my con mom. She was the first friend I ever made when I started doing cons. But her art is so dang adorable. And she’s just so sweet. And she puts so much time and energy into it, that it would always be her – 100% her.
Nick Armstrong 07:39
Awesome. How about internationally acclaimed?
Jason Score 07:41
Oh my gosh. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Kenneth Rocafort, but he’s done a whole bunch of work – his biggest piece was Red Hood and the Outlaws with DC. So he did some of the work for that. He has his own little comic book that’s like a sci-fi fantasy thing. His work is just so immaculate. But I love it. Love it. Love it. Love it. So it would probably be him.
Nick Armstrong 08:03
Somebody who’s getting started in illustration for the first time, what would you tell them?
Jason Score 08:08
Practice, it’s never gonna look good. Just practice, I am still, as somebody who draws at least once a day, I am still learning things. Take on projects, I learned something from this last project that I just finished. And never, I guess never stop learning and never be afraid to learn. Progress and looking back at your old work and kind of cringing. That’s all part of the game. I mean, re-draw things, do whatever you need to do. Honestly, just don’t give up because you don’t feel like you’re good enough. Because you will be good enough. You know, you’re always good enough, but you will be good enough, in your own mind soon.
Nick Armstrong 08:42
Is there anything else that you want to tell the con audience out there that’s looking into, you know, either getting back into the geeky circuit or reconnecting?
Jason Score 08:53
It’s kind of funny, because I’m, as my mother puts it, I’m an old soul geek. Because, I like a bunch of the new stuff that comes out. But, even with animes, I’m hardcore, you have Himura Kenshin, things like that. I know there’s so much new stuff on the market, and I’m a little picky about it. But honestly, even if you have something that’s older, you will find somebody who loves it, so even if you’re like, “Oh, I don’t really know about this, or I’m just gonna bring this and see if anybody wants to talk about it,” there will be somebody who wants to talk about it. There’s no reason to be shy and then shoot, you will find something that you’re interested in just because you know somebody who likes has the same taste as you. Of course, it’s hard because talking to people is hard. But I mean, I guess the best thing is just to dive right in there, you know, find something that looks fun to you and just go and enjoy it. Bring somebody with you who loves it too, or go by yourself, whatever you’re most comfortable with.
Nick Armstrong 09:45
Awesome. Jason, thank you so much for being here with us today. I am so appreciative of your time during all the craziness when you could be doing more fun things like drawing.
Jason Score 09:56
Oh, yes. Well, I mean, thank you so much for giving us this opportunity. It shows you really hear about those of us who are kind of affected by things.
Nick Armstrong 10:03
Where can we see more of your work?
Jason Score 10:05
I have a digital business card fortunately and that is just JasonScore.carrd.co and on there you can find my Patreon, my YouTube, my Twitter, all of that.
Nick Armstrong 10:17
Thanks to our awesome guest Jason Score today and thank you to you for listening. more awesome podcasts from Fort Collins Comic Con artists can be found at FoCoComicCon.com/podcast. Hope to see you next time.