The Murder Balloon is finally done!

Hello all,

I know I have been away for a while. I try to stay pretty active on social media, mostly Instagram and Twitter. If you follow me on there, then you know how busy I was working on my latest project, The Murder Balloon. For about 10 months, I was penciling, inking, and coloring over 75 pages. I launched the kickstarter in October of 2018 and during the months of January and February 2019, I was shipping out orders.

In reality this project has been with me since 2011 and after a few well received Inktober Concept books, I was able to finish the thing last year, raise the money to get it funded, and I even had a launch party on the 23rd of this month at Aw Yeah Comics.

I. AM. EXHAUSTED. I am also very happy with how it turned out and extremely proud of the reactions it's getting. So while this isn't a book for kids, I felt it was worth sharing on my book blog as it has become a great milestone in my artistic career/journey. I hope you can check it out at a con or once the online store is up. I'll keep y'all posted.

FCBD 2018

I attended Free Comic Book Day at Aw Yeah Comics-Skokie on the first Saturday of May. I had a great time drawing along side comic buddies, Art Baltazar and Alejandro Rosado!

Check out some photos and a behind the scenes video I shot on the day! Hope everyone had a wonderful Free Comic Book Day.

It’s Free Comic Book WEEK!

Happy Free Comic Book Day, boys and girls!  Victor and I will be posting a page-a-day for an entire week from an all new Wonder Care story! 

Written by Victor and illustrated by Justin over at our web comic homepage: wondercareafterschool.tumblr.com

We know that you are out with your friends and families picking up your free comics and visiting your favorite comic shops.

That’s why today we are just posting the cover which was drawn and colored by Victor, himself. He draws too, kids!

So enjoy this tease of what’s to come and tune in Sunday for page one of the Wonder Care: FCBD Special! (click on the image above)

Victor will be at Wizard World Minneapolis ALL WEEKEND Table B37! Justin will be at the Aw Yeah Comics Shop in Skokie, IL starting at 10am! If you are in any of those areas, come check us out!

AW YEAH FCBD 2015!

This past Saturday (May 2) I was at Aw Yeah Comics for Free Comic Book Day! I had the pleasure of sketching with some greats like Jeffrey Brown (Darth Vader and Son), Art Baltazar (Itty Bitty Hellboy), Benjamin Hunzeker (Sonic The Hedgehog), and Scoot McMahon (Sami The Squirrel)! It was so much fun sketching for the crowd and you can see some of those sketches I did right here. Thanks to Marc Hammond and the Aw Yeah Crew for inviting me and making me feel right at home!

Post: c2e2 2015

Last weekend I had an incredible weekend at the c2e2 convention! There was a lot of happenings and events going on through the weekend and I wish I could've been a part of them all. We attended the pre-con party at Aw Yeah Comics which was super fun, from what I remember.

The show itself was fantastic. It was a busy three days and I had a lot of people taking commissions. That kept me busy all weekend! On Saturday night, they had a Drink N' Draw to benefit the Hero Initiative as well as an art auction for St. Jude's in which they raised around $11,000!

Sunday morning I led a workshop in the Family HQ entitled Shape our Drawings. It was a fantastic turn out and kids were really into the demonstration as well as participating in a fun shape game that we played towards the end.

Wonder Care Issue 2 made its con debut and by the end of Sunday, I had sold out! I also sold quite a few prints and Heart books which always pleases me. All in all it was a fantastic weekend and I was so happy that Tressa came to the show and stayed with us. If you see her at a con near you, pick up her new book, Motherless Creatures, it's great! I also want to give a big shout out to my table buddies and all around awesome bros, Miker & Foo, for grabbing dinner with us both nights and making it a fun three days. Also I sat next to Mark Waid who is one of the nicest guys I've ever met.

Thanks to the Aw Yeah Comics crew for the invites and a big awesome thanks to the Mighty Mike Negin for putting together an incredible Artist Alley! I look forward to the next year and building upon the amazing friendships I've made since this show's inception.

c2e2 2015

I will be at the C2E2 convention in McCormick Place from Friday, April 24 to Sunday, April 26. My artist alley table number is table V13 and I'll be alongside my good friends Mike Roll and Tressina Bowling.  I also be doing art drops all weekend and on Sunday (kid's day) I am hosting a drawing workshop in their Family Fun Zone.

Here's the info for that:

Shape Our Drawings with Justin Castaneda

Sun. April 26| 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM | Family HQ – N427bc

Artist Justin Castaneda will show you the importance of using 

shapes when drawing. You will be able to see what core shapes

make up some of your favorite heroes and villains. Also, we will tap

into our imaginations and create fun, dynamic drawings from the unique 

shapes we make up.

If you are in the area or plan on coming down to the show, stop by the table
and say hi! I'll be doing commissions all weekend. And I'll have copies of
Wonder Care Issues 1 AND 2 as well as some other comics I have worked on. 

Look forward to seeing you there.

- J

Aw Yeah Sketchin' 4 Paws For Ability!

This past Saturday we raised over $300 dollars drawing for 4 Paws For Ability. It was a great time had by all and I want to thank the Aw Yeah Comics crew for inviting me to come hang out and sketch for a great cause!

*For a look at more sketches I did that day, click here!

Sweetheart Sketchin' @ Aw Yeah Comics

The crew from AYC asked me to come in February 14th from 2pm-5pm to do some sketching for charity. Come throw some money our way and get some wonderful artwork. You can also pick up Issues #7 and #9 of AW YEAH COMICS which features artwork and stories by yours truly. 

ART BALTAZAR, JAMIE COSLEY, RANDY FIELD, and BENJAMIN HUNZEKER will be on hand to doodle and color that special sketch for your sweetheart!

Aw Yeah Comics #9

Hi everyone. This past week, issue 9 of Aw Yeah Comics came out that features a short story I did, entitled, "Smart Phone."

I hope you swing by beautiful downtown Skokie and pick yourselves up a copy or five. AND if you can't make it down or you aren't local, click this link.

Post: Aw Yeah Sketches for The Hero Initiative

This past Saturday, I was invited by Aw Yeah Comics to sketch for donations to the Hero Initiative.  I accompanied Randy Field, Ben Hunzeker, and Kurt Wood and we sketched from 11am - 2pm but we all stayed over a little extra because it was so much fun!

Here are some of the pieces I did that day all in the name of Jack "The King" Kirby:

#Kirby4Heroes

FCBD 2014!

I will be at two locations on Free Comic Book Day this weekend! The stores and hours are below:

Dreamland Comics (11am-2pm)
1415 W Schaumburg Rd, Schaumburg, IL 60194
(847) 524-6060



AW YEAH COMICS (3pm-?)
4933 Oakton St, Skokie, IL 60077
(847) 423-2916





I will be doing FREE #cardBORED sketches
and signing copies of Scratch 9 FCBD book!
In anticipation of awesomeness 
here is a preview page from this Saturday's release:

c2e2 2014!

I will be at the c2e2 Convention this weekend, here is my schedule:

Artist Alley Table: V15

SATURDAY -

Free sketches in Kid Zone @ 1pm
Artist Alley Stage @ 4pm

SUNDAY -

Drawing Workshop @ 1pm

Hope to see you this weekend, and I'll be bringing my #cardBOREDsketch box. Come get some!

Aw Yeah Comics! #7

Extremely humbled and proud to have a story in the latest issue of Aw Yeah Comics with Trevor Mueller. A big thanks to Art and Franco for letting me play in this wonderful world of characters they created!