Jesse Baggs

If you see this, post an Image Comics cover you love

Digital painting of an anthropomorphic elephant walking down a city street that has been ruined by war or some other disaster. The skyscrapers in the background have collapsed, steel girders poking out of concrete frames. The sidewalks are cracked and littered with rubble, the street full of holes. Smoke and ash drift in front of an orange-glowing sky. In contrast, the elephant wears a spotless blue top hat and suit, white shirt and gloves. The brown band of his hat matches the color of his tie, shoes, and cane, which is topped with a sand-colored stone. The elephant grins and winks at the viewer, gesturing proudly at the destruction behind him. A pink, rat-like tail emerges from under the back of his suit jacket.

New digital painting: “Show Them What They Won.” Adobe Fresco.

Visit my website to see a blooper reel of my CrockerCon promo video, which took a few tries!
jessebaggs.com/2025/09/30/p...

Interacting with art- and comic-book lovers in the beautiful Crocker Art Museum is like a dream come true. Thanks for sharing it with me.

ran into former coworkers and middle-school classmates! Even if you hoped to make it but couldn’t, I felt and appreciated your support. And of course big thanks to everyone who stopped by the table to buy something, say hello, or take a postcard.

becoming a teacher and which was one of my very favorite jobs. I also got to meet the super-talented Eric MacLachlan and buy one of his pieces, along with Error on Mars cartoonist Lexi Eugene, whose book I can’t wait to read! A bunch of my immediate family came out to see me, and I also …

catching up with old friends and making new ones. This year, Antoine of Impound Comics gave me a McGriddle and I got to meet the respective children of Jared Konopitski, Chris Alvarez, and Kristin Silva! Rodoman creator Jason was there, as was the crew from Studio 700, a place I worked before …

Photograph of a gray-haired, middle-aged man sitting at a table for CrockerCon 2025, a comic book convention at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California. The man wears a brown floral shirt and blue jeans and is writing something with a red pen. The table is covered with multiple art prints and stickers; in the background, various people can be seen walking through the convention.

all their wonderful staff for having me and doing such a great job of making everything come off smoothly. Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo of myself at the table this year, but I was able to get this screen shot from one of Kyrun’s videos. One of the best parts of CrockerCon is …

Photograph of a gray-haired, middle-aged man sitting at a table for CrockerCon 2025, a comic book convention at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California. The man wears a brown floral shirt and blue jeans and is writing something with a red pen. The table is covered with multiple art prints and stickers; a placard bearing the name “Jesse Baggs” emerges from the middle. In the background, various people can be seen walking through the convention.

Another CrockerCon is in the books! Having the event on a Sunday was fantastic and allowed for the show’s biggest attendance level yet: approximately 7,000 people! I was so pleased to be a part of things; big thanks to organizers Eben Burgoon, Kyrun Silva, the Crocker Art Museum and …

Read my column, “The Lesson History Is Screaming Now About Silencing the Black Vote,” and let me know what you think. open.substack.com/pub/charlesm...

A digital illustration of a white bat with 2 heads, no eyes, and 8 wings in flight. Each wing is a different colour. It is framed by pastel sparkles and a gold ring border with a pattern of eyeballs around it, with purple feathery wings in the outer corners.

A cover illustration for Fusion Fragment magazine, featuring a giant whale swooping through space, patterned and coloured like rainbow nacre shell. It trails swirls of colour. Below it is a crumbling gothic inspired space station.

A digital illustration of a purple figure with a flat expression and their hands up grasping weakly at colourful and boldly lined looping shapes with eyes in them that obscure most of their head and neck. This is intended to represent my experience of Overwhelm with ADHD.

A digital illustration of a moth with rainbow body segments and rainbow hued patterns in its wings. It is framed by a circular border with rings of different scale patterns on either side of a ring of large crescent moons. In the four outer corners are medieval manuscript sryld dragons with spiral tails and feathery wings.

It's my birthday! I would love some reposts to share some of my favourites of my illustrations today! 😊
#digitalArt #commissionsOpen

Poster for the Crocker Art Museum's 2025 comic-book convention, CrockerCon, depicting a giant robot made up of the Crocker building. The robot is light gray with purple shading and has yellow eyes, blue windows on its chest and mouth, and red antennae, fingers, stomach, and feet. It steps over a road nestled among triangular pine trees; behind the forest is a cityscape of purple skyscrapers lit up by yellow windows in front of a dark blue sky dotted with gray clouds. The painting sits in an oval against a yellow background containing the following text: CROCKERCON│FREE ADMISSION│CROCKERTRON 2025 illustrated by Matt Crouch in collaboration with the Short Center DDSO.│11th ANNUAL│CROCKER art museum│SEPT. 21, 2025│10 to 4PM│A Full Day of Comic Books, Costumes, and Gaming!│Guests of Honor│Mike Norton - Shannon Wheeler - Mark Badger - Mary Shyne - Malachi Ward - Eddie Ahn - Nooligan - Yasmeen Abedifard - Melissa Pagluica - Chris Wisnia - Jonathan Way$hack - Justin Greenwood - David Andry - Laroid David - Robert Love - and more!”

But you know where people WON’T be super-mad at each other? That’s right, CROCKERCON! The only wild unpredictability you’ll encounter will be the mad creativity and talent of attendees and exhibitors, so make sure you come check it out on Sunday, September 21st from 10am to 4pm. Admission is free!

It’s only been four days since my last post about CrockerCon at the Crocker Art Museum & somehow the world has gotten EVEN MADDER. And I mean “madder” both in the sense of “wildly unpredictable” & “wow, people sure are mad at each other right now!”

Thanks! It’s a nice spot :)

Ink drawing of a group of roots or branches arranged in a slightly web-like pattern.

Ink drawing of a river bank and the roots, trees, weeds, and leaves growing from it, all heavily dappled in shadow.

Ink drawing of a river bank and the roots, trees, weeds, and leaves growing from it, all heavily dappled in shadow.

Ink drawing of trees heavily dappled by the surrounding leaves.

Ink drawing of a profusion of leaves that cover the nearby ground and trees in shadow.

Ink drawing of the north bank of the American River near the Watt Avenue overpass in Sacramento, California. Leaves hang thick from the trees, hiding trunks and limbs in darkness, although on the right side of the image, weeds and a few trees can be seen growing near the water’s edge.

The river grossed me out but it was also the perfect subject for a new ink drawing. “American River and Watt.” India ink on paper; 9” x 12”. Details in the replies.

YouTube video by CINEMATIC ESCAPISM "Maybe that's the real Punk rock" | SUPERMAN (2025)

… than by being around like-minded creatives who believe in the power of art to make the world a better place? As Superman himself once put it, “Maybe that’s the real punk rock.” youtube.com/shorts/2LivE...

Okay, so I’ve gone to CrockerCon at the Crocker Art Museum every year for the last few years, but the world sure does seem mad these days, doesn’t it? And what better way to deal with those feelings of emptiness and despair …

The ocean is probably just as dirty as any river but oceans hide it better. If someone mentions the ocean, what words come to mind? “Beautiful,” “mysterious,” “calming.” But if someone mentions the river? Well.

Photo of an unknown creature’s leg bone lying a few inches underwater in a river. Some flesh, skin, and ligaments still cling to the bone, although it is mostly decomposed. At one end of the bone there are even protrusions that look like teeth.

Not just the dead things that belong in the river, but also things that don’t.

Photo of a dead crab or crawdad underwater. The creature is difficult to see because of the rippled surface of the water, but its body is light blue and its claws red.

And then there were the dead things.

Photo of a hand holding a round river rock approximately five inches long and three inches tall. Someone wrote on the rock in permanent marker but the rock is broken, eliminating some of the text. The remainder reads, “[ … ] guy [ … ] my Grandpa [ … ]t my Ass [ … ]ove’s it smooth [ … ] his balls [ … ]ick them[.]”

Then I saw a rock someone had written on with a sharpie. What interesting message did they have to share?

Photo of a hand holding a plastic stripper toy approximately two or three inches tall. The toy has long blonde hair, blue eyes, red lips, large hoop earrings, and wears a white midriff-exposing top, blue hot pants, and white high heels.. It looks over its shoulder at the viewer, squatting on its heels with hands on its thighs. There are cracked holes on the toy’s forehead and under its left eye; there also appears to be a piece missing from its bottom, as the buttocks are flat and a beige color instead of the blue of the hot pants. There is a hole approximately where the toy’s anus would be, as if that is where the missing piece would attach.

What was it?

Photograph of a plastic stripper toy laying among some rocks underwater. The stripper’s head is turned at an impossible angle so that its long blonde hair falls down over its chest and its face can only be seen in profile, mouth open. It wears a white midriff-exposing shirt, blue hot pants, and white high heels. It squats over the heels with hands on its thighs.

No, there was a toy in a shape I had never seen before, so I pulled it out to get a better look at it.

Photograph of a black-and-gray hiking boot in a shallow creek or river.

We went to the river over the weekend and I saw all sorts of things in the water. And not just the cartoon cliche of a boot (although we saw that too).