Meet Javier Hernandez

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Javier Hernandez. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Javier, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?

A lot of it comes from the fact that I need to forge my own path forward. As I’m a singular artist (I write/draw/self publish my work) I’m wholly responsible for creating my work and building my library. That fuels me to keep on creating new work.

Also, seeing people’s reactions to the latest story always inspires me to keep creating new adventures for the character. When something resonates with people you’re very fortunate, and that needs to be carried forward.

Another thing that keep the creative spark alive is trying different avenues. Making the movie based on my comic was an entirely new endeavor for me, and one that I threw myself into completely. While it was my character, the medium was very different from comics so that was like starting all over again, in the best possible light. I was hired to create a mural for comic artist Steve Ditko, so that was another new area for me to work in. I got to create artwork for a 20′ tall by 93′ wide mural! Every different medium brings it’s own challenges, so that always keeps me growing as an artist.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I started self-publishing my comics work in 1998, through my own imprint Los Comex. I launched it with the first issue of my character El Muerto. I had wanted to make comics, but didn’t want to be the 135th artist to draw an issue of Superman. I wanted to create my own character, my own stories. Ownership was important to me, as I had read far too many accounts from the comic book business where artists were denied any ownership over characters and concepts they created.

Also I had wanted to create something reflective of my Mexican background, so I came up with this mix of Aztec mythology and Mexican folklore/Dia de Los Muertos. As the book slowly found it’s audience it gave me the confidence to proceed with more stories.

Currently I’m working on the third storyline for El Muerto, with another 7 graphic novels planned after that. So this is a marathon lifelong pursuit.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I’d say having a good sense of storytelling is key. How to move the characters through the story page by page, and at the same time engage the reader to come along on the journey.

The other two major qualities I feel that served me were patience and discipline. The patience to invest the time and let things play out at whatever pace they’re moving. Sometimes you want things to come quicker (fame, financial rewards, etc) but it may take longer than you were expecting. But being able to wait for it to finally come has served me well. And the discipline to put in the work, the time, the money…. Maybe it’s a stubornness, but it’s fueled by that desire to want to make it on your own. It’s like keeping that carrot always in front of the horse. Let him have a bite but keep the whole prize in front of him.

Any advice I’d have would be summed by how bad do you want whatever it is you want? If you’re doing it as an independent artist then even more reason to prepare for the inevitable rough patches ahead of you. It’s all on you…. But the success will be all attributed to you as well.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?

Being an independent artist, you have to face any overwhelming burdens all on your own. You can’t pass something off to another department. However, the way I’ve dealt with it is to sometimes you simply have to step back. That could mean a few days, or maybe a week. As long as you didn’t have some event defined by an exact date you probably have some wiggle room to take some time off.

It might mean get away from your art studio and take a quick 3 day trip, or watch movies for 3 days. But it can also mean to switch it up and work on something else. If I reach an impasse on drawing a comic book story, maybe I spend some time working on something else, like writing another story or organizing my files. It’s all part of your overall work output, but stepping away from a roadblock will allow you to come back to it with a fresh pair of eyes.

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