In this episode we explore the fascinating journey of Justin Thompson, from his role in helping to shape the Peanuts legacy to inspiring young minds in Tanzania through the art of storytelling and illustration.
Guest: Justin Thompson, Senior Artist at Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates
On LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-thompson-91a47339/
On Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/mythtickle/
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Host: Marco Ciappelli, Co-Founder at ITSPmagazine [@ITSPmagazine] and Host of Redefining Society Podcast & Audio Signals Podcast
On ITSPmagazine | https://www.itspmagazine.com/itspmagazine-podcast-radio-hosts/marco-ciappelli
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Episode Introduction
Welcome to a new episode of Audio Signals with Marco, where today's narrative takes us behind the scenes of a cultural phenomenon – the Peanuts! In this episode, I am thrilled to introduce you to Justin Thompson, a name you may not immediately know, but whose artistry is deeply entwined with a beloved part of our collective childhood. As a Senior Artist at Charles Schultz Creative Associates, Justin's journey in the art realm is as captivating as it is singular.
Our conversation delved deep into his evolution in the world of art, tracing his roots from an aspiring actor to an illustrator passionately dedicated to storytelling and comic strips. We explored the enchanting essence of Charles Schultz's characters and how their subtleties resonate across cultures worldwide. Justin's shift from pursuing personal artistic endeavors to becoming an integral part of the Peanuts legacy is a story of inspiration and transformation.
We also ventured into discussions about current trends in art and education, where Justin shared his perspectives and experiences, with technology and his new adventure as a mentor for young kids in Tanzania. His insights on these topics are sharp, revealing, and filled with wisdom gained from a rich career.
Moreover, Justin opened up about his ongoing personal comic project, offering a sneak peek that comic enthusiasts won't want to miss. So, if you're a fan of the Peanuts, cherish creativity, or relish extraordinary life journeys, this conversation with Justin Thompson is tailored for you. His tale is a powerful ode to dedication, artistic ingenuity, and the timeless appeal of classic comic storytelling.
He will be back for another episode, or more… YES!
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Please note that this transcript was created using AI technology and may contain inaccuracies or deviations from the original audio file. The transcript is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a substitute for the original recording, as errors may exist. At this time, we provide it “as it is,” and we hope it can be helpful for our audience.
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Marco Ciappelli: [00:00:00] Hello, everybody. This is Marco Ciapelli. Welcome to another episode of the Audio Signals Podcast, where, as you know, I repeat that all the time, I reposition the antenna to get news stories and to focus actually Not just on the stories, but on the storytellers. So I try to invite a variety of people that tell story in different media.
We're talking about musicians, songwriters, actors, uh, writers, of course. And, uh, And we can tell a story in a lot of different ways, and one of my favorites is actually through illustration, or photography, or anything that is visual. And in particular, um, I have been a big fan of, uh, I think, uh, something you can see in the background, a Christmas tree for an episode.
It's a little blurry, but there's a Christmas tree with the peanuts on it, and it's, by Guaraldi, one of the probably most famous holiday album of all time and [00:01:00] uh and the connection here It's simple to make if you're watching you're already seen Justin Thompson is here.
He happened to have a lot of lives, but the one that is connected to what I say is the fact that he's a Senior artist at the Charles Schultz Creative Associates the for the Peanuts But uh we're gonna just have a cup of coffee here and look into how Justin got into this, uh, this art because of course it is an art.
And, um, and we'll talk about a bunch of other things, all about storytelling. So stay tuned. I spoke enough. I'm going to let Justin come on and introduce himself. Hello, Justin. Welcome to the show.
Justin Thompson: Thank you, Marco. Uh, okay. Briefly. Um, I'm Justin Thompson. I am an illustrator. Uh, right now I, I've done a lot of different things.
But in this current incarnation, I am an illustrator and a cartoonist, and I, as Marco said, I work for, uh, [00:02:00] work for Peanuts up in, uh, Santa Rosa, California. Um, we don't, uh, the daily comic strip of Peanuts isn't published anymore. Uh, in the newspapers, they publish repeats. But, uh, for about four or five years, we were making comic books with a company called Boom.
And those were new stories based on little stories that were in the strip. So they still were rooted in the strip. So that it still had the feel of, uh, of Charles Schultz's sensibilities. And I worked on those comics a little bit. I did a little drawing, a lot of inking, a lot of coloring. Uh, and um, that ended.
So now, uh, I'm a creative consultant on the Snoopy Show. Which is, uh, the new cartoons that are up on, uh, Apple TV. The Snoopy Show and then they, we just did a new series with the kids at camp and, uh, Snoopy is the Beagle Scout with the, um, the little [00:03:00] birds. These are great little cartoons. They're done with a company called, uh, Wild Brain up in Canada.
And, uh, every step of the animation, uh, has to be approved by our studio. But there are five of us that are the creative consultants. I think maybe five or seven of us. And, uh, we look at each stage of production and we approve it. We ask for tweaks here and there. If something doesn't seem quite Schultz enough, so we're really devoted to keeping, uh, Charles Schultz's sensibilities and alive because, um, that strip is really.
All the dimensions in his personality, all the little stories that he wrote in those 50 years of that comic strip, the people in it, the little kids in it were people that he knew, the voices he heard all day, his internal voices, and that is why it had to stop when he passed away. The family and Charles Schultz made an [00:04:00] agreement when, you know, in his last days that the strip would not go on, that there would be no Ghost writer or new person taking it over as a lot of the old strips have done.
Um, only Schultz could have done that strip, and he's the only one who ever wrote any of the strips, who ever drew any of them. It was all him. He never had a staff.
Marco Ciappelli: Well, I'm so glad that you went straight ahead there because it was one of the main point that I wanted to touch with you. So we will talk about right, you know, like how much the connection stays when something become.
Much more corporate, much more commercial, and the never ending series and sequel, even after, um, the creator is not there anymore, but I'm going to put a pause here on that and get me back on track and go and go back on you. So I want to know, I want to know how you ended up. There. And I know that [00:05:00] when we talked before, exchange a couple of email too.
And also, I'll throw it there. We're both part of the mentor project and Justin has done amazing things there. Um, how did you, uh, stumble into become, uh, who you are now, but also you make fun of a few different lives and I so mirror myself into that because I feel like I had many jobs in my career.
Yeah, sure. So, let's go there.
Justin Thompson: I think it's a great thing, I mean, to have many different jobs and learn lots of different things. I have been a cartoonist since I was a little kid, you know, every kid starts out that way and some keep going and some stop for whatever reason. When I, um I went into college at Arizona State as an art major and I really hated it.
So I quit after a year and changed my major about three or four times. Wound up as an acting major and I did very well there. Brought my GPA up from [00:06:00] probably a 2. 5 all the way up to a 3. 8 by the time I graduated. Um, that was my niche. So I graduated there as an actor and I got a scholarship to Rutgers in New Jersey.
Uh, where I, uh, I got my master's degree now and, and then I just hit the boards. I started trying to act in New York and I went on some tours. I was really good with a sword because I was a fencer at Arizona state. So I did a lot of plays where, um, you know, there was sword play, which meant a lot of Shakespeare.
So I went on a lot of Shakespeare tours around the country. Um, and somehow, uh, by an association, my roommate at the time, he worked at the New York Renaissance Fair in Tuxedo, New York. And he finally convinced me to, to join in with that. And, uh, of all the acting training that I ever had my first day at that, at that fair as an actor and an improvisational actor, [00:07:00] it was like, I knew nothing.
It was crazy. Um, but you know, you learn the ropes, you learn how to do improv and everything. And I wound up as a storyteller there. My third year there, uh, telling stories to children. So that, uh, was a natural progression into storytelling, you know, uh, And then I started writing my own stories and then I started illustrating them and I published them myself and then I would read them at Ren Fairs and even sold them at a booth at the Ren Fair while I was doing stunt work there.
Um, jousting and sword fighting at the Ren Fair all day. So because I did those books, uh, when it was time to move out to California, my wife and I had had a son and so we moved out to the Bay Area here in California because we wanted to raise our kid in the West. I started looking around for jobs. There wasn't much around here, and then I [00:08:00] exhausted the very last outlet for it for jobs, Craigslist, that I, you know, I hadn't tried that.
I tried it. There was the listing for the Schultz job, and they said they were looking for somebody who had done, uh, who done merchandising, had worked with properties before, and I did that in New York. I was a graphic designer for about five years. Um, designing cartoon characters and licensed characters on bedding and bath products.
So that got me in there, and when I showed them the books that I had written and illustrated at the fair, they hired me. So that was what tipped me over. Now, the weird part about the Schultz thing is that I was a Charles Schultz fanatic when I was a little boy, in the late 60s. That was everything to me.
Those specials, when they came on, I had the paperback books that were reprints. Of the, uh, strips from the early sixties and late fifties. I would have one in my [00:09:00] pocket with me as I went to grade school every single day, or there was one in my lunchbox in sixth grade, my teacher had me draw a mural or paint a mural in his classroom on the back of a bookshelf bookshelf.
And I painted Snoopy and Charlie Brown and Lucy on it. That was in sixth grade. So this peanuts thing has kind of followed me along and it feels like it was. Something bigger than just chance that I would wind up there someday. And I've been there 19 and a half years now. Wow.
Marco Ciappelli: You know what makes me think about this is a conversation I recently had with a musician.
He's a songwriter, Drew Ryder Smith. And people can listen to that. It's on the podcast. Little plug here for myself. But we talked about being able to be a chameleon. And I'm connecting this with you, but still being in the realm of your [00:10:00] interest, your, your main focus. So in the music industry, of course, we talk about writing song, playing music, work in a record studio, be a sound engineer and all of that.
And as you're telling me your story, yes, you had different life, but they were all gravitating. Around that artistic and storyteller. And of course your passion for, for, uh, you know, the peanuts, the cherry on top.
Justin Thompson: I knew I couldn't really be in a cubicle and do office work and things like that. Not out of any arrogance of saying, that's not for me.
I'm too good for it. That wasn't it at all. It was just that I knew that I wasn't smart enough for that stuff. Well, I shouldn't shortchange it. I could have pulled it off. I did some temp work when I was an actor. So I did work in some big office buildings in New York and. But, uh, I felt small there because I didn't feel like I belonged.
I felt like, oh, any minute now I'm going to screw up and I'm going to do something terrible because I just didn't get [00:11:00] that world, you know? So that's all on me. You know, there's nothing wrong with that world. It's just that my brain and my aptitude feels completely inept in those situations. Whenever I'm around the arts, I'm relaxed.
I can think better. I have ideas. It's, that's where I need to be. So yeah, I just flew around in that planet for most of my life, you know?
Marco Ciappelli: That's super cool. I love it. And, again, I, I kind of see myself into that, even if I choose certain, different roots, but, you know, advertising brandy, but I always been having my own thing, right?
Yeah. I, I had very, very short amount of time where I was sitting. In an office and again, there's some people that thrive they do amazing. They love what they do the teamwork I mean that they actually more like a hierarchy or whatever it is, but and yeah, I feel you let's talk a little [00:12:00] bit more Let's go back to now that we heard a little bit about you to charles schultz and how he was Embedded with his life literally in this so What happened when as you say, you know somebody unfortunately pass or retire and and you Somebody sits there and say can we keep going with this?
Is there gonna be you know, I don't know I I think Disney I'm a big Disney fan. So how do you bring Disney when Disney is not there and
Justin Thompson: The any Disney product has Many, many hands in its creation, whether it's Disneyland or whether it's the movies, whether it was comic strips, there were lots of people who were Disney, right?
There was only one man who did Schultz one night. That's the difference. And when I was going to [00:13:00] Japan a lot, I went there every year from about 20, 2005 to 2017 or 2018. Um, I was kind of one of the studio liaisons to Japan and I would meet with the licensees over there. And, uh, A lot of businessmen over there, uh, but, and their art teams, you know, and they, it was very difficult for the first few years for them to get the concept.
No, you can't just grab an arm from this pose and put it over on this pose to make Snoopy look like he's holding a sign up. It looks wrong because Schultz had a particular, uh, way of drawing his characters. They were perfectly balanced all the time. And one little thing would just tip it. Schultz's characters are incredibly difficult to draw.
Anybody will tell you that. And that's pretty much my job to, you know, try to mock his style. And I, I do a lot of artwork that was supplemental art [00:14:00] that we couldn't find in the strip or source material. So I'll have to create it based on that and make it look like it. I do that every once in a while. Um, but we always try to use Schultz's work if we can.
But every once in a while, great. But it's incredibly difficult to do. And so when they would be shifting around, I called it Frankensteining when they take body parts from other poses and put it together to make one, it never worked. And so I told him, you cannot do this. You can't do this. And I gradually got them to understand the magic of Schultz's work.
And then they started thriving and we are so big in Japan. It's unbelievable. We're like the number three license in Japan. When I left, we were number two. I'm not sure if we still are, but we were bigger than Disney in around, around 2016 or 2017 or so. Um, so getting that sensibility across to the, uh, businessmen [00:15:00] and how important Schultz's drawings are and how difficult they are and have to be treated with care.
That's a lot of what we do at the studio.
Marco Ciappelli: How about, uh, how about, sorry to interrupt you, but how about the cultural, cause you bring in Japan, I've been there, love the culture there. And yeah, I see a lot of Snoopy and Hello Kitty, uh, and a few others. And they have a certain way, their character are very, I don't know, simple, very kid like, but they do advertising with kid like, uh, character for important thing, insurance company.
Justin Thompson: They have 10 poses of Hello Kitty. You can take an arm from one and pop it onto another one and it won't look different because of the simplicity.
Marco Ciappelli: It's a little bit more of a doll in a way. Not in a negative way, but like you can take the arm, you can place it and change the position.
Justin Thompson: And the simplicity breeds the kawaii or the cuteness factor of their merchandising.
And I'm not [00:16:00] really sure what they see in Snoopy and Woodstock because most of it's about that for them. They like the kids. But most of it's about Snoopy. Um, maybe they see that as simple. Snoopy is incredibly complex for me as an artist to try to draw. It's very difficult. Maybe that's it. Maybe they see it as a very simple and beautiful property.
I don't know. But, um, yeah, it's a very different aesthetic over there.
Marco Ciappelli: How about the message though? Cause I was also going to go there like, okay, so. So, Schultz took the society he was living in, he brought Franklin, black kids during the Civil Rights Movement, and he did important things. I mean, this is my impression.
I didn't study the sociology of the Peanuts, but for me, he empowered a lot, even the women, I mean, Lucy and all the other girls, they're, you know, they're, they're strong character from my perspective. [00:17:00] And so he was reflecting the society of the time very well. He was helping it. Uh, maybe also making statement and then you take this and there's a water down when you bring it to another country where how do you translate the culture?
That's my question.
Justin Thompson: Well, that's, it doesn't always translate. It doesn't. And when, when I say peanuts is the biggest property over there, like I said, it's mostly just about Snoopy and the poses we can do a Snoopy and how they can get Snoopy's little body and face on as many things as they can. They're charmed by it.
Deeply, deeply charmed by Snoopy. And, um, some of it, it might be that he does these personas and things, but it doesn't, it doesn't get as deep as it does here. You know, they don't quite understand a lot of the things that the Peanuts kids do in everyday life, but they like it because it's [00:18:00] American. A lot of times we'll get lettering on, on merchandise that doesn't make a whole lot of, I mean it, it says something but it doesn't Make a whole lot of sense in the context of the illustration that they used on the product.
Let's say a t shirt Mm hmm, but they just like the lettering because it's American or English, you know, so there's a lot of that There are a lot of people here think Japanese culture is really cool the manga and the pop culture and all that Very attracted to that. It's the same way the other way around, you know, they see that's is inherently American And I think there's a lot of the attraction for that too, but as far as the stories go, it doesn't mean that much to them, I don't think.
Marco Ciappelli: Yeah, yeah. Can you, can you think about, um, other strips or cartoonists that are kind of in the same realm of Schultz? In, in term of the sociological [00:19:00] aspect and the character that, that grow and reflect maybe Adulthood, but they're kids. I mean, Calvin and Hobbes. I'm just throwing that there. I don't know how you feel about that.
Justin Thompson: Yeah, Calvin and Hobbes was greatly influenced by Peanuts. I think, uh, people don't credit that as much as they should.
Marco Ciappelli: Um, but if you think about it, it is, right? I mean, there is the relationship. It's,
Justin Thompson: it's the Absolutely. And, uh, Calvin wears Linus's shirt. He probably brought them into But it, it's not like he's copying Peanuts, but you can see the influence there, you know, and he wound up making it this beautiful comic strip with his own singular voice.
I'm not sure how much social relevance came in there, but it didn't need to. It was more striking at the heart. And there's a comic strip by, um, Patrick [00:20:00] McDonald called Mutz that really pounds at the heart sometimes. Sometimes it's cute, sometimes it's charming, sometimes it's sad, and then sometimes it's funny.
But I love that you have creators out there and editors who allow these creators. To get so human to play that range of emotions, you know, and a lot of cartoonists, they may be there. They're timid. They're they don't want to go there. Um, I can't imagine Garfield getting very touching, you know, but for a time in the eighties, Bloom County really hit the nail on the head.
It had a lot of, uh, socio political themes in it, but it was a very charming setting with kids and, uh, a couple of talking animals. You know, um, it, it, it spoke to the time of the 80s, you know, maybe even into the 90s. I'm not sure how long it ran, but that was a pretty good, uh, pretty strong stretch. [00:21:00] That really got a fantastic follow.
Marco Ciappelli: So talking about the kids, a lot of people, as they say in creative environment, you grow up, you forget you were a kid, and you don't want to watch cartoon anymore, you don't want to read comics, or, yeah, yeah, that's for kids. Like, I don't care. I don't know. I go for that stuff. I watch every single movie and all of that, but my question is how hard is to take the responsibility to, to educate kids and give them a moral by, by sharing the story?
And I think I'm coming more into your present role as educator or mentor. So, I mean, I feel like it's extremely important in our society to. I mean, storytelling, fairytale, even in the Grimm Brothers, they've always been like, okay, maybe they were not cute, but that's how you teach lessons to kids, the moral, [00:22:00] don't get lost in the wood, don't do this, don't do that, there is a bad, uh, wolf out there.
Justin Thompson: There are some cartoons out there, um, that are good about that. I remember I was raising my kids. 18 and 21 now, but when they were kids, there were some cartoons that we found that, uh, Had some good moral lessons, but that's really hard to do anymore. It seems like, um, The country's so damn polarized and there's so much anger that people are afraid to teach any good moral lessons anymore.
Someone's going to write a letter. Someone's going to shout about it on a news channel or something. I feel like a lot of it's been backed off and that's not really a part of our culture anymore to instruct children morally. I mean, I don't know, maybe I'm just not tuned into it, but I don't see it that much.
A lot of the things that are aimed at kids, it's just, uh, [00:23:00] you know, it's, it's fun. A lot of graphic novels now coming up and I I'm not gonna talk much about that 'cause I don't know much about it, but I know that there are a lot of people, um, a lot of my friends and PE colleagues that I've met have, are doing very well with, uh, with graphic novels to kids.
Um, and I don't know if they have strong moral lessons in them or not. I know they're, they're talking directly to middle, middle aged kids are middle aged, middle school kids. . That's the target. Um. But I'm not really sure about the content. I don't read them, so I don't know.
Marco Ciappelli: Right. Yeah. Well, my feeling I don't know what
Justin Thompson: the content
Marco Ciappelli: used to be.
Yeah. I mean, my feeling of that is that, you know, that's, that's what people can, kids can learn. And people can learn even by watching it, uh, an entertainment TV show. But whatever happens there, you kind of reflect in what you see, what you hear. And [00:24:00] so I think it's, it's important. But apart from that, also maybe do choose a career, maybe in, in what you do, right?
In, in being an illustrator. And I don't want to go in generative AI unless you want to. Um, generative AI and, and artificial intelligence in creating that. So I don't want to open that can if you don't want to, if you want, but feel free or you come back. But my question here is more like how important is, I mean, just that since a kid, you've been doing that.
And I heard my story of. Illustrators, they're like, that's what I used to do as a kid, uh, either it was going to be a profession or not. That was my passion. So do you, do you see this still alive in our digital computerized society, taking a pencil and drawing?
Justin Thompson: Yeah, both of my kids were very creative and they both love to draw, um, and paint.[00:25:00]
And, um, the tools I use, you know, uh, Adobe products and they're on the computer. I even draw on a computer screen. But for me, that's very far from AI. I'm using these programs as a tools to, um, create, but I'm still using my hands and my mind, it's still coming from my heart. It's still human. It's not making fun of humans, which is what AI does.
Um, and I'm greatly offended by AI. Having anything at all to do with the arts. It's like stay in your lane robot because, um, now AI is fantastic. It can get us to the stars. It can, it can get us to planets. It can, it can elevate our, uh, our lives. I'm sure I can, I'm sure it's going to be able to work out rails.
We're going to have, I don't know, I mean, transportation, fuel, it's going to help [00:26:00] better our lives in all these ways. Why is it messing around with the arts? It's now in just about every art form, including writing. And, uh, boy, that that's really a big insult to me because that is, those are the expressions of the human soul.
That is not working out a timesheet, which would be great for AI work out how to, how to, you know, distribute things in a, uh, in an estate sale or something like that, that's fine. But when an individual's expression, uh, is. Not being looked at as much as a AI creation. I think that there, we're in big trouble there.
And I don't know why these guys do this with AI within the arts. What are you doing? Why? And I think it boils down to a lack of respect. [00:27:00] For the arts, that's always been inherent in the people who don't do that kind of thing. Yeah,
Marco Ciappelli: so you see art, art as a more, um, artisanal endeavor, right? I'm from Florence, Italy, so I'm thinking the Renaissance.
I'm thinking sculpting, I'm thinking painting and getting dirty. You do that too. And, and I, I agree with you. I mean, I love AI. I talk about it. I talk about the future of it. I use it sometimes as a, I'm not an illustrator. So I'm more of a writer. So if I want to illustrate something, I write, it's easy to say, Hey, uh, Jali designed this for me, but it's never perfect.
It's never inspiring to be honest with you. And he's also, yeah, but, but, but I think that to go back to the, the. labor with your hands. You said you use, you draw on a computer, but you're still using your hands.
Justin Thompson: Yeah. It's still, it's still channeling an [00:28:00] expression of an idea that I had or, um, something that, that it's the same thing as if something hurt me and I wanted to write a poem about it and I type it into the computer.
That's still from my heart into my hand. You're
Marco Ciappelli: still pouring that in a human way. Yeah. So I'm thinking even if AI is not going to go, Back and I don't want this to become a conversation about AI, but but let's go back to the storytelling Yeah, I don't like that. People think that now I can go to Artificial intelligence say write a story write a good story The hell is a good story right and the easy button and it's you know garbage in garbage out.
That's for sure So how do we? Try to keep, in your opinion, this love for kids to experiment with their hands, because there's a side of me that thinks that it's innate in us. It's a human trait to Play with your [00:29:00] hands as a kid, and I don't want us to lose that. I don't want school to become Art school to become here's your computer do everything here.
I think you still need to do it with your hands. What's it?
Justin Thompson: What's that funny? My youngest is is taking a pottery class right now. Oh first semester in college and and they've never worked with clay before you know and Tara's always really clean. No, they never really wanted to have any But, uh, man, oh man.
Every weekend I see Tara and they say, Oh, you got to see what I created. Did I made this so and so mug or I made a bowl or whatever. And so, and I'm really like this, huh? And they're like, Oh my God, it is so much fun. Um, we can't lose that in schools. We cannot lose that at all. Any, any kind of arts where the kids are using charcoal or pastels or pencils or clay or whatever like that, like [00:30:00] you said, they got to get their hands in it first.
It's a big experience, uh, growing up to, to have that little corner of the, of the brain filled.
Marco Ciappelli: And then maybe bring that to, to the digital form as a medium, but you're still just using a medium. You're not using a thinking elements to it, right? It's a, it's a tool.
Justin Thompson: It's just a tool, just like, you know, you'd use a pickaxe to dig in for gold in a mine, you know, you don't use your hands there, but because that tool is going to get into the dirt or the wall quicker and get your gold quicker, just like when I create a comic strip, um, on my, uh, my electric tablet and I'm drawing on the screen and creating it, it just goes faster than when I'm having to do it with my hand on paper, you know, and I can correct mistakes much easier.
On the computer, uh, screen, you know, um, command [00:31:00] Z, if I get a line wrong, boom, I don't have to erase. So it takes a lot, you know, it makes things go a lot quicker and I'm not using up a bunch of paper. So I'm saving trees.
Marco Ciappelli: It's how you interact with it. Yeah, right. And I think that's important for any kind of technology to teach kids to use it, but still retain the humanity.
So let let's let's go towards the end here with looking into Not only the many life that you had, but to bring the focus back on you, but, uh, you're not next step in life or what you're doing now and what you're envisioning to do maybe in the future or more. What's your, your next adventure?
Justin Thompson: Yeah. I just started, um, with the mentor project.
I just started teaching an art program or cartooning program that I created. And, uh, I taught the, it's in a small town in [00:32:00] rural Tanzania. I went there for a week and taught my program to middle school kids. It went really well and they were very engaged and I kept the, we kept the thing going. Um, I'd get on a zoom once a month.
They'd all crowd around the computer, you know, and I'd get the whiteboard out on the zoom and I'd draw a lesson for them, something to work out. And, uh, then each week I would send in to our liaison over there, a lesson plan. So, and they just completed their semester. So they, they all got a certificate and everything.
Um, and I'm going to teach that cartooning program for a week in January at the, uh, Charles Schultz Museum, which is right next to the studio in Santa Rosa. It's for kids. So I'm, I got this program, this art program that I'm working up and it's got a specific theme to it. It's a little different and I'm going to further refine it.
The more classes I teach, I'm going to, you know, pin it down and, [00:33:00] uh, work it out and see where I can go with it. But it's been incredibly rewarding for these kids that they don't get to work on art out there in Tanzania. You know, the, uh, there's. You know, there's some art there at the, in the town, not a whole lot though, uh, but they are aware of cartoon characters and stuff somehow.
I mean, I think some of them have TV and they can watch TV there. Uh, and as I asked them, do you know Mickey Mouse? Do you know Snoopy? And yeah, some of them, they know some of those things. Uh, but they were all very, very excited to learn. And we had to pick about 12 or 15 kids. Out of all of them who raised their hand and wanted to take the program, they had to write a reason why.
So we're gonna, maybe, I'm gonna teach two classes in June. I'm gonna go back out there this summer and teach for two weeks. Maybe get two classes a day [00:34:00] going. I don't know. We'll see where it goes. But I'm gonna keep doing it and hopefully they'll send me to different places of the world, underserved areas of the world, where I can, uh, I can bring this strange avenue of art to them and they can express themselves through that.
Marco Ciappelli: It's, uh, it's super cool. And, and again, I'm going to bring a positive thing to technology again, which is it allows you to keep this going even when you're not there and keep the fire going. But again, it's that tool is that medium is not. It's not the final goal, right? Um, one last question, because there's always this debate about being a natural born artist and good at something, you know, music is born with a, with a gift of music or is born with a gift of illustrating and drawing.
And so on your opinion, how much is the learning aspect [00:35:00] and how much is the being Natural or something. And I came with this question when you were telling me about these kids that maybe they never really took a class about art. Have you seen somebody more of, oh wow, this kid is a
natural.
Justin Thompson: Exactly. I have.
I have seen that. Um, you can kind of tell. And some of it is the attention. They see something in their head and they want to get it down on the paper. There's a drive there. And other kids, they see what they want to do, but they're very tense and they're trying to draw it. It doesn't flow naturally.
They're still going to get there if they keep working. Just as much as the kid who's a natural at it. And maybe when they're in their 30s, people aren't going to be able to tell the difference which one was the natural when they were 12. I don't know. Um, just so it's a rougher road for some, some of them than [00:36:00] others.
Marco Ciappelli: Makes sense. And it happens, I think, in others. The kids can grab a guitar and kind of like, okay, I can hear what I want to play and find the right notes naturally. Other are going to have to study maybe a little harder. Well, um, I really enjoyed this, Justin. I can't believe it took us so long to to get it going, but I'm glad we did.
We talked about a cup of coffee. It's a subject that I really love and I know you're passionate about it. You can tell from the way you talk about it. So open invitation here to come back anytime that you want to share a story about arts and about the things that you do.
Justin Thompson: Yeah, I would love to come on again and talk about how I create a story.
Yeah, within my comic strip. 'cause I've done that a few times. You know, I would love, I'm it take months to get through them and they're very big stories,
Marco Ciappelli: books. I mean, I, I, I'm gonna book you already jore. Let's, uh, let's do it.
Justin Thompson: I do have my own [00:37:00] comic strip that I've been doing. Oh, oh my god. Okay. Doing for about 18 years.
Yeah. It's,
Marco Ciappelli: you know what I, I am. I am my own boss on the podcast, so let's talk a couple of minutes about that if you have time. Oh, okay. It's easier for the next conversation.
Justin Thompson: Yeah, my, uh, it's called MythTickle. Uh, it's kind of like saying mystical with a lisp, but really it's two words. Myth, as in mythology.
And tickle as in something makes you funny. So you put it together, myth tickle, and it's on go comics. They're the syndicate that syndicates it. And, uh, um, you go to go comics. com slash myth tickle. You can see it there. And, uh, it's characters from mythology and legend all kind of put together, but they're young, they're like kids.
Kind of trying to learn how to be better deities, I suppose. And it's, you know, humorous and strict, but occasionally, um, every few years I'll have some grand, uh, storyline that [00:38:00] spans a few months where there'll go into some like, uh, Asgard, or they'll go into Duat, the Egyptian underworld and have an adventure.
You know, it's all mythology based, you know, and we're very well researched because my readers, they know more about it than I do it. If I make a mistake, I hear about it. So I gotta be on my toes with that,
Marco Ciappelli: but you mentioned that you love mythology a while back, I think. Okay, well, this is an entire episode because I can totally see these little Thor and Zeus and Venus or whatever going on adventure together.
Justin Thompson: I do have Thor and Venus and there's a little, uh, Japanese girl named Karma in it. The main characters are a dragon and a knight, uh, and Anansi. And I have an, uh, an African creatrix, Goddix named, uh, Zeva. And, you know, they pop up everywhere, wherever the joke would be best said by this character, [00:39:00] whatever.
I just decide all that. And if you go there today, there's kind of a holiday card there. Featuring, uh, the universal monsters, you know, like Frankenstein, Dracula, Inigo, right? Stuff. A little Christmas card there. So go check that out.
Marco Ciappelli: Cool. I'll be sure to do so. And, uh, yeah, I'll put the links, all these links that just, just share it with me and I'm going to put it on the notes.
So on this podcast, people can go check it out. And absolutely, I want to dig into your brain on how you go from an idea. To the story plot and, and actually the illustration, uh, that will be really, really, really fun. And I think at the core of storytelling for, for what the core of this podcast is.
So we'll see you again soon, for everybody else, uh, subscribe to this show. So you will know when the next with Justin come up and all the other storytellers that I have on the show, Justin, this was real fun and I'm looking forward to do it again. I'd [00:40:00] love to do it again. All right. Bye everybody.
Bye bye.