I hope that the late spring and summer have been treating you well. It’s been a very busy season at the Johnson house with warm weather activities, family moving nearby, conventions, and humbly attempting to improve my golf game. But through all the crazy, I have been hard at work with Flesk Publications on making The Art of Daniel Warren Johnson, an art book covering the majority of my career the past decade.

All the details are on the Kickstarter campaign page, but know that I personally handpicked every piece that you see in this book. It’s page after page of some of my proudest moments while drawing and making stories for a living. I truly hope that if you have not pulled the trigger yet that you take the dive. I promise it will be worth it.

In other news, I will be at SDCC this week! Below are my signing times and appearances. I hope to see friends both old and new!

Thursday

12-12:45pm Image Comics signing - (Booth 1915)

1-3pm- Felix Comic Art signing (Booth 4612)

Friday

1-3 pm Felix Comic Art signing (Booth 4612)

Saturday

10am - 12pm - Felix Comic Art signing (Booth 4612)

12:30-1:30pm DC Panel: Gotham City, Room 6DE

2-2:45pm Image Comics signing (Booth 1915)

3:30pm Image Comics Panel (Room 24 ABC )

4:30PM - 5:30PM, Energon Universe/Transformers Panel (Room: 5AB )

Sunday

11am - 12pm - DWJ Special Guest Panel; The Ultimate Storytelling Crash Course Masterclass: Daniel Warren Johnson shares some of his favorite tips and tricks for creating your own stories. Join him and get pumped up for your next project! (Room 28DE)

3-5 pm Felix Comic Art signing (Booth 4612)

That’s all for now, my friends. Be good to each other.

-DWJ

Hello, friends! I hope your summer has been treating you well. I’ve been hard at work slamming all things comics with my AC blasting. 2024 has been absolutely nuts so far and doesn’t seem to be slowing down. San Diego Comic Con is starting TODAY, and I finally found a moment to send you all a note from my tiny little window seat way up in the sky. It’s a good excuse to reach out and make sure people know where to find me this coming weekend. If you’re not going, my humble apologies for clogging your inbox on this fine Wednesday morning. To soothe this inconvenience, here’s some art I just made:

I’m bringing a bunch of Transformers pieces I worked on just for fun to the show, and these are just a few. I still love drawing Optimus and the gang, but it keeps it fun to try new techniques like acrylic and spray painting. Anyway, on to my schedule!

Today, Wednesday July 24th

6-7pm Felix Comic Art signing- Booth 4612

Thursday

11:30 -12:30 pm -Image panel- Room 24ABC-Image Comics Presents: Artists Unleashed with Skottie Young, Daniel Warren Johnson, Derek Kirk Kim & Dustin Ngyuen

1:30-2:30 pm- Image signing- booth 1915

5-6pm Felix Comic Art signing-booth 4612

Friday

10-11am Felix Comic Art signing- booth 4612

4:30-5:30pm Room 5AB, Energon Universe panel

Saturday

11am-12pm Felix Comic Art signing-booth 4612

Sunday

10-11am - Felix Comic Art signing - booth 4612

12:15-1:15pm- Image signing- booth 1915

As always, thank you all again for your support. Stay tuned for more appearances soon!

-Take care,

DWJ

Tyrell Cannon and Ryan Lee chillin at a local diner. (I love diners, and I feel comic book creators in diners are just a perfect match)

The Felix Crew at the traveling Marvel exhibit, which just happened to be in Charlotte at the time. And look at some of the original pieces they had up!

And Tradd Moore going ham on an X-men jam piece during a panel.

In other news, I have just announced a NEW series with one of my closest friends, RILEY ROSSMO, who’s also an amazing artist. THE MOON IS FOLLOWING US comes out with Image Comics at your local comic book shop September 18th. Check out Riley’s wonderful cover for issue 1, with color help from the amazing Mike Spicer:

The title came from my daughter Fiona, during a walk a few years back. We were walking to the park in the evening, and she saw the moon in the sky. “Look, Dad! The moon!” We then were swinging on the swings when she saw the moon once more. “Dad! It’s the moon again.” And it was during our walk home that she looked up and exclaimed “Dad, the moon is following us!” And the title (and the vibe) was born! This book is incredibly personal for Riley and myself. It’s a comic about family and about parenthood, but it also has sweet snake monsters. Here’s a few black and white preview pages to just show how sweet this book is going to be.

And here is a B&W look at my wraparound B cover for issue 1:

Needless to say, we are both bringing everything we got with this one. Also, while I am writing it, we’re also splitting interior art duties, with Riley taking about 85%, and me the rest. It’s a super collab, and I haven’t seen different art styles used this way in storytelling yet. Please pre-order this at your comic shop if you think you’ll be into it!

And last but not least, here is a link to a little video trailer I made for the book; I wrote and recorded the music. Buying too many synths has finally paid off!

THANK YOU, everyone, for your support this year, and for being excited about the things I’m making. I’ll have more updates for you soon, and maybe I’ll see you at Heroes Con this weekend!

Take care,

-DWJ

First of all, I wanted to welcome the newcomers to my Substack from IG. It’s so good to have you here! I still plan to post updates and such on Instagram, but with Meta going headfirst into the empty pool of AI, I am more and more concerned about sharing my artwork there. We’ll see how it all shakes out, I suppose, but in the meantime, I plan to post more and more art on here. So let’s get to it:

How about this cover, huh? I’m so happy with how it came out. This is for TRANSFORMERS issue 11. Not much else to say, except drawing TF characters is still hard as heck even after 6 issues, so I’ll take my wins when I get them!

Another way I’d like to stay connected to my readers and community is through YouTube. I plan to continue going live every Friday, and will hopefully see you in my studio in a few hours. Check that out here:

I’ll just be drawing and hanging out. See you soon!

Take care, and again, welcome.

-DWJ

You may have noticed that its been a while since I did a Friday with DDubs Livestream. My life has gotten very busy lately, especially with family logistics and travel, but I hope to return to it this week, with a few special guests! Stay tuned!

I also wanted to share that the Extremity Signature Edition is going to be available for a few weeks more thru Backerkit! It’s basically a way to still get in on anything you may have missed from the Kickstarter that finished in late March.

Also, just in case you’ll be looking for me this weekend, I will NOT be at C2E2 this year in any official capacity. I gotta do family stuff! I may be walking around on Saturday though, so keep an eye out and say hi if you see me.

And last but not least, here’s a shot of a Mechagodzilla cover I did for a shop exclusive cover.

I am quite happy with how it turned out.

And for the Forbidden Library portion, check out this amazing mecha mag Shawn from Japan Book Hunter sent me!

Shawn found this while book hunting, and picked it up for me just because he thought I’d dig it. And I totally do! I have no idea who the artist is or what’s happening, but it’s a worthy addition to my mecha collection. Thank you, my man!

Until next time,

-DWJ

This book is going to be mega expensive to make, so I gotta say it: This will never be reprinted again! I want as many people to enjoy this thing as possible, so get on board while you are still able!

Okay, I’m up way too late. Here’s a panel from the Forbidden Library!

A lot of you may know that I’m a big fan of Simon Roy. He worked on the PROPHET reboot back in the day and has been putting out bangers since then (and before)! One of the before books is JAN’S ATOMIC HEART. It’s a short sci fi story that’s one of my faves, and this is one of my favorite panels from it. Look at those bold lines!!! Enjoy, and thank you, Simon!

Til next time!

-DWJ

These were available through my rep, Felix Comic Art, when nobody was interested in buying them! They were sitting on his site and I decided that I wanted to keep them for myself rather than selling them. They’re not the “A-list” pages of this series, but they are some of my favorites, and there is a throughline to all of them: I busted my BUTT on all of these. I remember struggling with specifc things on each one. I decided to make the top page’s panel of Thea standing by the wall a top bleed panel, so I whited out all above her head. The crowd scene of Roto speaking with the Essene was so hard to figure out, and it was a struggle to keep my patience as I intentionally inked each character. I came up with THIS guy on the fly while inking him:

He was a total happy accident! Anyway, these are just a few of the many details there are to the original art of this book, which will all be included in this Signature Edition. The Skybound team is doing an excellent job with it, and asking for my input at EVERY single stage of the creative process. I think people are going to be very happy with this thing. ALSO, take a look at this exclusive print we’re offering as a stretch goal!

This is the black and white image of what will be the EXTREMITY hardcover edition(that image will be colored by none other than Mike Spicer of course), coming later in 2024.

If you haven’t already, please consider getting this collection! I can’t wait until it’s in your hands! And as always! Let’s get into The Forbidden Library!

How about this banger from Michael Golden and Dough Murray’s THE NAM? It’s one of my favorite books to come out of Marvel during this time period. The printing on my issue 1 is a little blurry, but still sings of organic lines and true comic book making passion.

Talk soon!

-DWJ

Hello friends!

I wanted to send over a quick note about the EXTREMITY: SIGNATURE EDITION launching on Kickstarter!

This HUGE book collects all 12 issues of EXTREMITY in a new format where my work will be printed at the actual size I worked at, and all the pages will be RAW SCANS, warts and all, of every Extremity Page. Here’s a little preview:

Looks awesome, right? I can’t wait! And ALSO:

Accompanying the EXTREMITY: SIGNATURE EDITION on this campaign is THE ART OF EXTREMITY, a hardcover collecting never-before-seen concept art and sketches produced during the my making of EXTREMITY, including characters, creatures, vehicles, and more. I drew SO MANY SKETCHES during the creation of this book, and with the help of my amazing intern (all way from 2017!) Alexandra Terry(Who’s also an amazing artist), I was able to get ALL of them scanned. This thing is gonna be amazing.

If you’re interested in this book(s), I’d love for you to follow our pre-launch Kickstarter page and join us at launch. By clicking "Notify me on launch," you will help ensure we have the strongest launch day possible. AND as a member of Slybound’s mailing list, if you back this campaign at any physical pledge level, you’ll get this exclusive EXTREMITY logo enamel pin, which is sweeeet.

OK! That’s my pitch! Thank you for being a part of my comics journey, as always! And last but not least, a panel from the Forbidden Library:

From none other than YOTSUBA&!, volume 1. If you want to see how to master comedy in comic books, look no further. This book makes me laugh out loud. I’m sure you’ve already read this, but just in case it flew under your radar, check it out. It’s made for kids and adults alike.

Take care!

-DWJ

His lines are intense and wild and most importantly, ORGANIC! This is the kind of artist that really gets how to present mechanical characters in a way that’s approachable and FUN. Brace yourselves for issue 7, it’s a banger.

Now for some housekeeping: There’s a SMALL amount of leftover Do a Powerbomb shirts up in my shop from our pre Xmas preorder. We are planning to have another pre order soon for some more DAP merch (and possibly Space-Mullet stuff?!) so keep your eyes peeled for an email when that goes live.

For those of you that are into the YouTube thing, I put another Transformers Director’s Commentary video up for issue 3, with another for issue 4 soon to follow. I’ve also added a quick how to on some of the finer points of drawing in perspective. These are things that you may have already seen, but I figured I’d throw them in here anyway just in case. And of course, I’m still going live on YT on Friday evenings! It’s very chill and I promise not to ask you to subscribe to my channel :)

Now that my art duties on TF have wrapped, I’m already working on the next project. It’s something that I’ve never done before and I’m really excited to share it with you all. There should be an announcement within the next couple of months, so stay tuned, and as always, thank you for your support!

And let’s not forget! A Panel From the Forbidden Library:

I’m sure most of you know this one. It’s from NEON GENESIS: EVANGELION, the manga, which has been around since forever. I remember reading this series in high school and being completely blown away by it. I knew about this before the tv show, and has always had more of an affinity for it. The line art is truly special and IMO rivals a lot of other things coming out at that time. It’s just…crisp. I’m sure you’ve read it already, but JUST IN CASE-Get on this now!

-DWJ

-Daniel Warren Johnson (and fam)

I stopped for a (truly mind-blowing) cup of coffee this afternoon in Osaka, and sketched for a little while in my travel sketchbook. I bring one to every country I visit outside the USA.

I thought really quickly I’d show you some of the inside. Here’s a shot of Kanda Coffee in Jimbocho, the used book district in Tokyo. Wonderful coffee here.

And here’s a quick bullet train sketch, complete with my train ticket.

I’ve been saving EVERYTHING this trip, including receipts, tickets, streamers from wrestling shows, you get the idea. More images to come soon!

Last but not least, I have updated my shop page on my website, which now is open for pre-orders on new shirts! Check it out! Here’s the front:

And the back!

And in case you’re not into long sleeves, we have a short sleeve option for this same design up as well. I’ve also opened a pre-order for a third printing of the black tee design from 2022. I’m closing this pre-order when I get home from Japan on Sunday, so if you’d like something, please order soon! We’re hoping to get orders out before Christmas.

And as always, a panel from the Forbidden Library:

This one comes to us from Mitsuru Adachi in CROSS GAME, one of the finest baseball stories to ever come out of ANY media. It’s well worth your time and money. Also, the baseball action shots? Perfection.

Until next time!

-DWJ

I returned from NYC on Sunday after an eventful week of signing, sketching, and hanging. I flew out two Mondays ago to Jersey, where I sketched and signed on ALL of the “Ballin” TF issue 1 Felix Comic Art basketball variants.

Needless to say, there was a LOT of books to sign and sketch, but we got it done, and all orders have shipped! Keep an eye in your mailbox if you haven’t received yours yet. Thank you to Felix and Lambert (pictured above) and Yams for their massive help in this endeavor!

We then traveled into the city and got ready for the show. I took a few pictures that I’m happy with. By no means do I consider myself a photographer, but sometimes I capture something I dig and thought I’d share:

Apologies for the photography shots! I know you’re here for comic and illustration goodness :) After sketching my butt off earlier in the week I didn’t have much to do, so I decided to try and push myself to do some blank sketch cover drawings. Felix had brought a ton, so why not? I love how these turned out! Prepare thyself!

I realize a bunch of these were already posted on social media, but I want to get into the habit of sharing things on here, as I don’t know how much longer I’ll be on those platforms. If I’m honest, they seem to suck the joy of many parts of my life, and this newsletter is already a much healthier experience in the few posts I’ve made! These sketch covers will be available during Felix Comic Art’s New York Felix Con, starting this monday. Check it out!

I also had a young fan named Brandon that wanted to see me on Sunday, but I wasn’t going to be there for the last day of NYCC. Good thing his awesome dad brought me some fanart Brandon did for me! This piece is beautiful! Thank you, Brandon!

For all the people that brought me gifts at the show, thank you so much. I wish I had enough time to share it all, but I will do my best to highlight those things on my weekly Friday livestream!

And last but not least, there is an update coming to my shop at Danielwarrenart.com! I’m working on a NEW Do a Powerbomb tee shirt design, as well as re printing the black tee from last year. We will be taking pre orders this time, and leave it open for about a week in November so we can mail things out in time for the holiday. Keep an eye out for an email about that very soon, within a week! Here is a little WIP of the new shirt design:

This will be available in either long sleeve or short sleeve style. The front is being designed as we speak! Also, is anyone out there fluent in Japanese? I want to include Katakana on this shirt, but I want to make sure I do it justice, so that it not only looks correct, but AWESOME. Let me know!

And speaking of can’t wait, I’m traveling to JAPAN in a little over two weeks! The last time I went was in August of 2015. It was on the plane ride there that I wrote the first issue of Extremity, and in during the five days I was in Tokyo, I gathered a multitude of inspiration and excitement for making my own stories and sharing them with the world.

That last picture was from our last night in Tokyo. (left to right, it’s Nick Dragotta, Felix Lu, Garry Brown, Chris Mooneyham, James Harren, Nick Pitarra) We were all gathered around the lounge area of our hostel, drawing with our newly purchased brush pens and screentones. I remember being so pumped up, the lines flowing out of me like they were already drawn a century ago. This was the first time I felt like I was a true peer of my fellow comic book creators. Something clicked for me then. I knew what it was I wanted to do, and I had a good idea of how to get there. I left that place ready to hit the ground running and prove myself to the rest of the world. I’ll never forget that feeling. And now, eight years later, it feels like it was meant to be, as I build a brand new world with the sci-fi book I’m writing now, and will be drawing soon!

I will be doing my absolute best to give updates from Tokyo and Osaka, and I’m bringing my video equipment to show vlog style me hunting for some manga and artistic inspiration I know I’ll gather as I make my way though this beautiful country.

Let’s end things with yet another panel from The Forbidden Library:

This is taken from Tradd Moore’s DR. STRANGE-FALL SUNRISE series, and it’s my favorite panel in the whole story. This book is wild, punk rock, and richly detailed. It feels like it was a miracle it got made, and that miracle shines through every page. Thank you for this treasure, Tradd!

Until next time,

-DWJ

I’m still super happy with this image. Sometimes when a book comes out, it’s been so long since drawing the original cover that I’ve soured on it a little, but not this time! It’s still one of the most successful Optimus drawings I’ve ever done, and each success feels very, very special. They don’t come as often as you think!

Tomorrow I will also be doing a store signing here in Chicago at CHALLENGERS COMICS, from 4-6 pm, come one, come all. I may even have some special covers with me for sale : )

Also, I will be going LIVE on my YouTube channel this Thursday at 7:30 PM Central to do a DIRECTOR’S COMMENTARY on issue 1, where I’ll be going through the first issue script, thumbnails, and raw pen and ink art while talking about my process and answering questions from the people that show in the chat. I hope to see you there!

And as always, to wrap it up, a panel from The Forbidden Library:

This is one of my favorite moments from Kentaro Miura’s KING OF WOLVES. There’s no english translation that I know of, but I have the Italian tankobon. If you can find a copy somewhere, even if it isn’t in your language, do yourself a favor and add it to your inspiration shelf. It’s Miura before he tackled Berserk, and you can tell how hungry he is in these pages! Every single one sings.

Until next time!

-DWJ

Hello! This is my very first official post for my email newsletter that I’ve been talking about doing for a long time. First of all, I want to thank everybody who has taken the time to subscribe or buy something from my shop, and then was patient enough to wait for an actual email from me. A big reason why I have not posted is that I want to make sure that everything that I send you all is something of quality and is really worth your time to read. I don’t want to spam anyone. I want you to feel like you have a tiny bit of gold in your inbox when you see an email from me, if that makes sense. That might be too big of a goal, but aim high, right?

To start, if I’m honest, I don’t feel that I’m too good a writer, which is why I don’t do this kind of thing often, or post much on the internet except for sharing my art. But with the way social media seems to be taking a nose dive, I felt it might be a good idea to just try this and see how it goes. I also really want a place where I can have direct access to the people that love my work and want to support it. Oftentimes I find that because of the dreaded algorithms, a lot of important information about my stuff gets lost in the shuffle, and those who might really want to be notified about things I do (like a signing or an exclusive cover) don’t even find out them about until it’s too late! I also want a place where I can show more work in progress pictures, maybe even some mild spoilers every once in a while. And speaking of:

There’s a little WIP of me penciling a panel for my upcoming series TRANSFORMERS, which comes out in comic book stores October 4th. Please consider checking it out if you’re stopping by a shop. I also inked these TF pencils during my Friday with DDubs livestream, which is up on YouTube now. I go live every friday afternoon/evening and just draw, mostly stuff that I’m behind on. Come visit live sometime!

Anyway. I thought that I would break things up into sections; like what kind of movies I’m watching, music I’m listening to, things that are getting me inspired, books that I’m reading, you get the idea. I’m not sure if anybody actually wants to hear this stuff, but I think it might be cool. A bit more long form than I’m used to, but it’s stuff that I get asked a lot. So we’ll do it this way:

What Am I Working On?

See my WIP above! Transformers has been taking up most of my time, and it’s been great. I’ve been having a really good time drawing it, and it’s a fun challenge to write. When I have more time, I’m planning to write more about the creative process of Transformers. Keep an eye on my YouTube channel for the TRANSFORMERS #1 DIRECTOR’S COMMENTARY, where I go live and go through the whole issue, from outline, to script, to thumbnails, to art! I’ve also been writing some new things that I can’t quite talk about yet. Maybe soon.

What’s Been Getting Me Inspired Lately?

Reading books! Ever since I started using my wife’s old kindle, I’ve been reading may more and it’s great(I always say I want to read more and have trouble finding the time to actually do so). My most recent read (I’m about 20 percent done so far), is SHOGUN. It’s historical fiction set in Japan during the 1500s. It was recommended to me by Riley Rossmo and Ryan Stegman(I name dropped and I’m not sorry), and I’ve been loving it. It’s absolutely epic in it scope, which is helping me conceptualize new, more “grander” style stories and worlds. More on that in a while.

Any Important News?

-YES! We recently updated my shop, with signed and remarked copies of my TRANSFORMERS 1 SDCC Ashcan!

There’s also a new sticker from one of my favorite panels in DO A POWERBOMB.

-ALSO! I’ll be doing a signing at CHALLENGERS COMICS in Chicago for the release of TRANSFORMERS Issue 1, October 4th, from 4-6 PM CT. I hope to see you there!

-I’m also going to be in New York City for some signings during NYCC! I won’t be at the show in an official capacity, but I have a Midtown Comics Times Square Signing on Friday, October 13th at 6 PM ET(200 W 40th St, New York, NY 10018), and will have a few signings at the Felix Comic Art booth during/at the show. We don’t have a schedule for the Felix signings yet, but if you’re attending NYCC, stop by our booth each day and we will have the times posted there as soon as the show starts.

That’s it! And to sign off, here’s A PANEL FROM THE FORBIDDEN LIBRARY:

TRANSFORMERS VS GI JOE, art by TOM SCIOLI, not sure which issue. But this is of one of my favorite Autobots, Blaster, and damn is it cool. The whole comic is just TF/GI Joe meets Jack Kirby vibes, and it was one of the first things that made me even think about wanting to do a TF comic someday. Such satisfying lines! Have you read this yet? It’s a trip! It’s so fun! See you next time!

-Daniel Warren Johnson

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