Meet Gregory Jones Jr. | Illustrator, Film Critic

We had the good fortune of connecting with Gregory Jones Jr. and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Gregory, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I knew that I loved creating all kinds of art including fan art. I was always envious of people who sold their work at conventions and after some thought (and a pretty big push from loved ones) I decided to take the plunge and give it a try. It was very rewarding in the end!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I love creating original illustrations but I also love creating fan art! I never in a million years thought I’d ever be able to do that even as a side hustle but here I am making it happen! I’ve always enjoyed drawing and many times it helps me keep my mind of things. My freshman year in high school, to put it mildly, didn’t go so well. But at that time I began drawing regularly I found that it not only help keep my mind of off things but it gave me a creative outlet I hadn’t considered. I began taking art classes and it was probably the first class I had ever taken where I got A’s on the assignments! By that point I had discovered the art of Akira Toriyama and had become a massive anime fan so I found myself spending countless hours trying to learn how to draw my favorite characters. I had also become a big Pokémon fan so that was also a big inspiration and one of the reasons I enjoy creature design. A few years after high school I hadn’t really decided what I wanted to do but I did managed to get a job at a local movie theater and was eventually became a projectionist. There’d be lots of downtime during the shows so I would work on my art in the booth. (My bad if I ever started your movie late!)

I’ll confess, I’ve always been self conscious. It took my best friend sending me message with some encouragement and a little profanity to finally find the courage to get an Artist Alley table at a local anime convention. I was in a bit of a funk at the time because I felt my career in art was going nowhere and this winded up being the confidence boost that I needed. I never thought I’d bring such joy to people by drawing some of my favorite anime characters pared up with a Pokémon that I thought suited them! I also never thought people would appreciate some of the random characters and creatures that I’ve come up with. So I try to make appearances at conventions and post art whenever I can.

If there’s a lesson I’ve learned it’s that if a drawing is not coming together it’s perfectly okay to just step away for a while. Even if a while is a an hour, a day, a week, or even months. You are your own greatest asset so it’s important to take care of yourself. Art should never be a determent to your own mental health.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
As I mentioned before I’m a big cinephile so I take frequent trips to theaters all over LA! I always tell people if you want to have a real IMAX experience you need to go to the one at the Universal City Walk. It’s one of the biggest screens around and it always looks and sounds incredible! If someone’s looking to see some retro films on the big screen there are tons of theaters that specialize in screening old movies such as The Vista, The New Beverly, The Aero, The Egpytian, etc. The Alamo Drafthouse is also the best dine-in theater that I’ve seen in LA so it’s perfect for a meal and a movie!

Being a huge nerd I also love visiting Little Tokyo! They have a ton of restaurants as well as novelty stores for collectors. I bought some of my first art books there!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
It’s incredibly hard to name everyone because I’m so very lucky to have so many loved ones in my life that encourage me and believe in me even when I don’t believe in myself. But they know who they are and if you’re reading this just know how much I love and appreciate you.

Website: https://linktr.ee/gregjonesart

Instagram: @greg_jones_art

Twitter: @greg_jones_art