Interview with Justin Maynard: Story-Teller & Graphic Artist

Using timeless themes, Justin creates graphic novels about adventure and superheroes.

The Child of Prophecy

The king has ordered his men to find the child of prophecy, a child born of magical blood. Who, the Oracle predicted, would be his undoing.

How did you get involved with writing stories and drawing pictures?

I actually started writing stories when I was seven years old. But my stories were always very violent and filled with blood and gore and all that stuff. My family started telling me to stop writing scary stories and maybe start writing adventure or fantasy stories. So I started doing that and now I just can't stop!  I just love writing books. That's something I like to do.

When I do the stories, I want people to understand what the words are saying.  I draw pictures to represent what the words are saying. Yes, I have been writing books and drawing like nonstop my entire life. And I just kept getting better and better. The way I improved on my books was I didn't know how to do anatomy very well back then, but ever since then I have been learning from Chris Schroeder, Osiris, Justine, mostly all my teachers at the old building and the new building. I just couldn't stop doing books. I loved using my learning and my words in creating a good story.

Night Shadow

It was an ordinary night at Cross Road City.

What do you like most about making your books?

I like drawing the characters, mostly drawing the villains, demons,  monsters, or dragons. I just like drawing the characters, mostly. That is mostly my favorite part about the book. After I write the story in words, I read it and I try to understand the drawing that is forming in the words.

What would you like to see happen from publishing your work?

I want to show people that even though you have a disability, you can still write a good book. I've had TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) my entire life, and it's not been easy. I had a head injury when I was nine months old. I had a hard childhood and a very rough time, too. 

Night Shadow

Tell me where Dracula is and I won’t cut off your head.

What are your stories mainly about?

I mostly do fantasy or Marvel. But mostly fantasy, more than Marvel. I have done three fantasy books and one superhero book. The one superhero book I did was the Adventures of Shadow Man. I use my past school experiences in the story. I was bullied at school, called four eyes all the time. I used that, combined with powers, and created the Adventures of Shadow Man.

In my eyes I can see a story created by using my imagination, and that's what I do. I use my past childhood to create my stories. I usually get my feelings out in my books like my rage, my sadness, my happiness. I put them all in my stories.

Most of my stories are involved with my emotions. It depends on how I'm feeling and also depends on the story. If I'm happy, I write a good story; if I'm mad, I write a horror story; if I'm sad I write a dramatic story.

The Danger Shadow

As the king was dying, he called forth his three sons to choose the next heir to his throne, and the king said with his last breath . . .

What are some plots of your stories?

The Adventures of Shadow Man is about a boy who got cursed from a powerful amulet that gave him the power of shadows, and he got his revenge on the bully that picked on him. But revenge is never a good thing and the bully learns in the end that family is more important than power. So the bully sacrifices himself to save the city from the spirit that is in the amulet.

I created Shadow Night when I was at my grandma's. I was drawing a normal vampire biting someone's neck and then this idea popped into my head. “Wow! This is a good cover, maybe I should write a story to go with it.”  I just couldn't stop writing it. It was such a good story. It turned out to be 198 pages long.

The story is about a girl named Sharma who was bit by Dracula. She's trying to find Dracula to break her curse; she doesn't want to be a vampire. So she hunts down vampire after vampire to find Dracula to kill him and break her curse. And at the very end, she breaks the curse and is human again.

How did you become an artist at Imagine Art?

When I first started drawing, I was seven and in the hospital. They had these drawing activities that they would always have me do. But I just liked doing dragons… I just loved drawing dragons. The first drawings I did were of dragons. Then I learned about this website at school called Drago Art.

One of my teachers, Mr. Loomis, was my helper and he would print me out photos of step-by-step drawings to do from Drago Art. Drago Art is a website that shows how to draw characters out of shapes. I used that to learn how to draw characters and figures. After that, I learned about Imagine Art from one of my Bluebonnet people. They told me I had to submit three pieces to come to Imagine Art, so that's what I did. I submitted an owl, dragon and a horse.

Justin is always exploring new themes and styles: Samurai Woman.

Ever since I came to Imagine Art, it's helped me so much. They taught me so many things about figures and body structure and forms. All my teachers have helped me. So ever since I got better at my characters, I just got better at my stories. First, they started off being all word stories, but I just loved drawing pictures that represented the words of the story.

Justin Maynard

(photo by Madison Raye)

Hot off the digital presses, the first book is now available through the IA website at The Danger Shadow.