I drew a Cartoon Network comic as a teen

When I was 18, I was very active on tumblr. I shared a lot of comics and drawings on a very regular basis. I also made a 35 page graphic novel called Empty Planet.

One day, I received an email from somebody at BOOM Studios. BOOM Studious is a company responsible for the comic book versions of many big animated shows, Adventure Time might be the biggest one. I was familiar with their name because a lot of the artists I followed on tumblr had made comics and covers for Adventure Time.

I opened the email eagerly.

They asked if I wanted to draw a short comic for the first issue of the new Uncle Grandpa comic book series.

I had no idea what this show was so I looked it up. It was a show about a man with a fanny-pack which he could pull anything out of, he lived in a campervan with a humanoid pizza slice, a realistic tiger and a little godzilla-man. I watched some episodes, they were loud and obnoxious, the stories were nonsensical.

My comics was often a little bit funny or deep (at least that's how I thought of them).

"Blackbeard" comic from 2014 that they liked

I wasn't particularly fond of Uncle Grandpa but it was my first opportunity to work with a real big client. I was stoked to try to do my thing on someone else's project, I thought there was also the possibility that if they liked my comic I would get to work on Adventure Time or another series in the future. I eagerly replied, asking for more details.

"Hey [CENSORED NAME]!

My real name is Jonas, but Indiana Jonas sounds cooler.

I had not heard of this cartoon until now, I checked a few clips on Youtube and I really like the vibe of this show.

I’m interested in hearing more about this so could you please tell me about the amount of work that needs to be done and how much time this has to take? Also does this mean we will co-write this or is there any finished stories?

I’m unfamiliar with this classic ”Mad magazine”, so more information about that would be really helpful.

I would like to know how you would solve payment for this job.

And btw I’m a big fan of Adventure Time so if you are looking for more artists for that comic I would be really excited for that opportunity too, or an alternate cover.

Thank you for contacting me!

Jonas"

I just couldn't resist mentioning Adventure Time.

After some emails we got started. I had to come up with a 1 to 4 page story.

First I would have to write it and get it approved. Then I had to sketch, ink, color and at last letter. Each of these steps also had to be approved. I felt uncertain every step, always asking them to feedback on everything. There was some technical steps about separating colors, letters and lineart into separate files that I had no idea how to do. They were very helpful and in the end they let me send in the huge work files so they could separate the layers themselves. I didn't manage to finish the comic in time for the first deadline. My story would be in volume 2 instead of 1. I think this was because I had to juggle school at the same time.

The first page from the story I drew for Uncle Grandpa

When the comic was done, I requested to have the money sent as a check of American dollars, because I was told there would be a 30 dollar fee for a wiretransfer. I really wanted to save those 30 dollars. This was funny for several reasons.

• Checks aren't a thing at all in Sweden to my knowledge, except if you win at the lottery.

• I didn't have a company or freelance status because I didn't look for work and I was in school.

• My local bank office had no experience dealing with American checks. To my knowledge at least and it sure didn’t seem like it.

When I got the check I went to the local bank office with my mom. We explained the situation and the people working there seemed a little bit amused and impressed by the situation. But most of all I think they were confused because they want to do things properly.

After 30 minutes or so asking everybody in the office, they had no idea what to do. They called the Stockholm headquarters for advice.

There was technical bank-speak that I didn't understand as an 18 year old, not sure if my mom did either. We watched and listened carefully as they tried to figure out the fate of my little check. I think they tried extra hard to find loopholes because they didn't want to make me sad. Somehow they found a way to put the money on my bank account in a way that didn't cost much.

I have no idea what I did with that money.

After about two months I got a couple of copies of the magazine that I appeared in. It was amazing to see it in print with the other artists that had also contributed. I still own and treasure those magzines as trophies.

Some time passed and I was offered to make another story for the same series. After the complications with the check and knowing that this time I would probably have to get a freelance status to get away with it. I asked if they could increase the page-rate. They offered to raise the page rate slightly, but I was not satisfied.

"I don’t feel like this project is worth my time, especially not at this low rate. Thank you but I have to decline this offer."

I was absolutely reckless at this age.

I reached out again a few years later to ask if they might have room for me on Adventure Time or another comic, I never heard from them again.

Drawing Adventure Time would have been mostly about prestige anyway. Instead I kept exploring my own tastes and made a lot of projects that I'm more proud of than this short story I made.

It might have been a nice way to sustain myself. But I'm happy with where I've ended up and the things I did since then.