Working on my zombie horde drawings for the upcoming graphic novel. All this work has made me realize something though. Which brings me to the update.
JP&TM Strips WILL RETURN NEXT WEEK!
That’s right. New strip next week. I know I said I wasn’t going to do strips any more… but the fact is, I’ve got quite a lot of writing to do on the graphic novel yet before I can even start producing pages, and I don’t want my site to go dark for that long, so I’m gonna do some strips in the meantime. I’m only going to post one strip a week (starting next week) and probably on Thursdays.
So, on the positive side there will be new content, but on the negative side, this will slow down production on the novel.
What’s in the Works at JP&TM
February 19th, 2010 | by jim (JP&TM creator)I know I’ve been quiet for a while now guys, and I apologize, but I’ve had something in the works. There are things happening in the Jetpacks and Time Machines universe.
I don’t have much to post about it now, since I’m not exactly sure how it’s all going to go down, but essentially what’s going to happen, is at least one chapter of a JP&TM graphic novel (one chapter and a prologue actually). I’d started plotting it out (doing some research, brainstorming, and sketching) a while back, and over the last few weeks I’ve started the writing process in earnest.
So far, here’s what I know for sure:
- This story will focus on and star some new characters
- There will be a cameo for at least one existing character (I’m trying to believably work in more)
- The world of JP&TM will be irrevocably altered at least a little
- There will be zombies
That’s all for now, but I hope to post more sketches as things progress and being posting pages as quickly as possible.
For more immediate info when available, or if you’d like to see what I had for breakfast, follow me on twitter.
Trouble at school for Adam and Fred. The imposing door to the dean’s office, and a bit of skepticism regarding unexplained phenomenon.
Sorry for the comic delay. I’ve been busy with stuff. Unfortunately, these things will happen on occasion though. There’ll be another comic on thursday though. Thanks for reading!
As a kid, I’d never actually arrived at a house that had left the bucket out until it was too late to capitalize on the opportunity…but I totally would have.
When was the last time anyone wore a ski mask to ski? I’m guessing that these days just buying one of those things will raise eyebrows. Imagine going into Walmart and buying a ski mask and a crowbar…That’s got to immediately raise some red flags. Might as well have the cops meet you as you walk to your car.
It’s been a while since I’d done any comics where Adam’s partially robotic nature was displayed, so I felt like it was past due.
Well, things are progressing nicely here at JP&TM. This wraps up the somewhat unofficial zombie comic storyline (more of a continued conversation than a true storyline, I know) but there are more festive Halloween comics coming. Next week, I’ll be posting the usual two comics on Tuesday and Thursday, and a special Halloween comic on Friday too.
Creation Notes: What we have here is a classic Jetpacks and Time Machines background in this comic. Maybe a little too much detail on the machinery that Adam is jumping off in the first panel, but this was a fun comic to draw.
The zombie jokes continue. In the world of Jetpacks and Time Machines, when I talk about (or when my characters talk about) zombies, they’re the slow-moving, infect you if they bite you type of zombies, not the fast-running super-strong mutant type of zombies. Nothing against those type of zombies, except that I just don’t think they should really be referred to as ‘zombies’.
Creation Notes: I really enjoyed doing that center panel, but in retrospect, I think I could have made Fred stand out a little more maybe. Or maybe not, I don’t know.
This is the beginning of Jetpacks and Time Machines 2.o. Technically, the strips begin here: http://jetpacksandtimemachines.com/4/ for anyone interested, but for the re-launch, I’ve been working out some issues with the world of JPTM, so there will be changes to the universe and some of the old strips might not be consistent with the new progression. (Most of the issues will involve character personalties or designs, but there is one MAJOR change and I don’t know if I’ll have time to change the old strips.)
Last Sketchbook Page Before Comics
October 7th, 2009 | by jim (JP&TM creator)That’s right… This is it. No more sketchbook pages, and no more posts this week. Next week, the comics begin.
Since this not the first time I’ve tried to return to a consistent comic posting schedule, I’m not going to make a big deal about it, or make a whole lot of promises about how this time it’ll be different and all that. I hope it will, but I’m not going to go there. What I will do, is say that I’m trying really hard to actually create a bit of a buffer this time around. Next week, and the week after that I’ll be posting two comics each week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. For the week before Halloween, I’ll be posting three comics - Tuesday, Thursday, and a Halloween comic on Friday the 30th. After that, I’m not yet sure what my posting schedule will be, but I plan to strive for a minimum of two comics a week, and the occasional extra comic or larger f0rmat comic every once and a while.
Johnny Sanderson, the nature hating nature show host is here to stay. Johnny is a great example of spontaneous and flexible character creation, and I’m quite fond of him.
The Creation of Johnny Sanderson
Originally, my idea was to put a really extreme nature show host in the strip based on Jeff Corwin (who I’m a fan of). On paper, this was a good idea, but I found that once I started writing and drawing, I quickly became bored of the character. I decided I had to make changes. While sketching out the character, I found I couldn’t draw a pair of legs I was happy with… which lead to the first defining characteristic – the wheel. At this point the switch flipped (because I felt that a guy that had to get around on a wheel probably wouldn’t be a tremendous nature fan), and I decided to flip the personality around, so the nature-lover had to go. The safari hat was actually part of the original design, and absurd enough to keep. From this point, Johnny took on a life of his own both in my imagination, and in the strip, and now he’s one of my favorite characters.
What I learned from this experience: If I’ve got a character I’m just not sure about or one I don’t think is interesting enough, I can’t be afraid to go back to the drawing board, because even a week idea has the potential to work out great with a few tweaks.
A Few Changes Before the Reboot
September 29th, 2009 | by jim (JP&TM creator)Originally, I’d planned on some really elaborate changes to JPTM before the relaunch. I had a lot of ideas… I was gonna do them all old-school pen and ink on paper, or I was going to completely redesign the look and feel in one direction or anotherl, or I was going to switch programs and make all my strips in photoshop and color them all…
…and so for a while I’ve been messing around with all that for the last couple weeks, and I realized something… I realized that I’d originally spent a lot of time developing the look and feel of the strip, so why throw all that away?
That being said, there are going to be some changes to the strip, but they should be mostly small cosmetic changes. This is partly due to my own personal preference, and partially due to the fact that I’d forgotten how to draw my characters, so I’m just winging it. We’ll see how it all goes.
Over the next week or two I’ll be posting some more sketch book stuff while I work things out, then I’m going to pick the strip back up. It’s not going to take up where it left off, but hopefully those few of you still reading will approve.
I know it’s not a comic, but it is an illustration with it’s artistic roots in the world of JPTM. Enjoy.
Technical Pen on Bristol Board – 12″ x 12″


















Jetpack Jabber