Today we’d like to introduce you to Jimmy Palmiotti.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I grew up in Brooklyn, New York in the 60’s and 70’s, before cable TV, before computers, and before a million distractions. This was a time where kids played in the street, drew with crayons, and read anything we could get our hands on. My brothers and I always had piles of Marvel and DC comic books around the house for as long as I could remember and we would spend hours reading and rereading them and talking about the characters and how cool they were and how the real world needs these caped crusaders to protect and serve and for me, what it would be like to write and draw my own. I fell in love with the illustrations inside the comics and would try to draw exactly what I saw. My father would bring home reams of copy paper from a printer he knew. These were boxes of business stationary that the printer had made mistakes on and was tossing away. I would draw on the backs and eventually this hobby grew to the point I found myself going to the High School of Art and Design in New York City, taking advertising art classes in college and eventually behind a drawing board in an advertising agency in mid-town Manhattan doing work for clients like Pepsi, Maybelline and Malpaso films. It wasn’t till I turned 30 that I actually gave comic books a real try and eventually found myself working for Marvel Comics and DC comics in no time. Eventually, I started to sell publish my own comics, at first with Event Comics, co-creating Painkiller Jane, and then later with my current company Paperfilms. Since then, I have been publishing my own characters, have worked on and produced some TV, had my books developed for feature films and written video games, animated movies and shows along the way while staying freelance to help others with their Intellectual Properties. A lot of the work I do now is helping companies with world-building, taking their properties and creating backstory, helping with the look of the property and giving them a world of ideas for future projects involving their ideas.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Money was always an issue with my family since we did not have much and because of this, I was not able to go to the schools that would be best for the profession I want. I went to city college and worked a few jobs to pay for night classes at the Art Students League to learn what I could. A lot of the choices for work that I made were financially driven for many years because after my father had passed, I took care of my mother and had to work a few jobs at once to cover her medical expenses. I did the best I could to keep her comfortable and worry-free and don’t regret a second, but I had to do a lot of things that kept me away from what I really wanted to do for a long time.
When you meet me, the first thing that will stand out is I have never been able to shake the Brooklyn accent and because of this people were quick with the judgment of who I was and what they thought I was capable of. Because of this, I always worked harder than most people, always trying to prove myself and my worth. It was my Brooklyn upbringing that had me view everything I did as a competition and this gave me the drive to work harder and try to be better at what I do. I have made peace with all of this over the years, but the drive has never left me to this day. Because I looked after my parents at a young age, experiencing their loss, I have always been fully aware my time is limited in this life and I better stop screwing around and get to work on what I really wanted to get out of this life.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a writer and artist that writes and publishes my own comic books from my company Paperfilms. I also write for TV, Film and have written many video games. I am mostly known for characters like Painkiller Jane, Jonah Hex and Harley Quinn. I work with my wife Amanda Conner, one of the top artists in the field. We collaborate on a lot of the projects we do. We both own Paperfilms together.
I am most proud of the work I have done that has influenced and changed other’s life and perspective on things. With Harley Quinn, my wife and I came up with Harley leaving an abusive relationship behind and becoming her own woman which sparked interest in the character and led to the Suicide Squad movies and the Birds of prey feature, as well as the HBO animated series. With Painkiller Jane, we introduced one of the first Bi-sexual characters in comics back in 1994, and with each character and project we take on, we try our best to give them qualities a reader can relate to in the real world. With Paperfilms, I was one of the first mainstream comic creators to use the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter to fund our line of books and continue to break ground in new ways to deliver stories.
What sets my work apart from a lot of others out there these days is I always try to have a sense of humor about everything I create and make sure the fun I am having producing the work comes through in each and every page. It is also important to collaborate with like minds as well, which I do daily.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
My work is available on Paperfilms.com. You can download entire books to read on your computer or phone or purchase physical books directly from us delivered to your door. Our site cuts out the middle man and this gives us room to offer our work at a lower price than if you went to a book store or an online retailer. Part of supporting me is also interacting with me in places like Twitter and Instagram where I get to speak to the people supporting my work and show process photos of the books I am currently working on.
Contact Info:
- Website: paperfilms.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jimmypalmiotti/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/jpalmiotti
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChgC6VGV6_xbLsg2vPDE9fQ
Image Credits:
All photos taken by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti
