James Burks

Some stop-motion to promote my new graphic novel series, Box Tales, that launches in September from First Second.

thanks!

Dance like no one is watching! Some new stop-motion animation with a character I hope to use in a future picture book idea. #stopmotion #animation

Agree!

You got this.

Cover reveal for the second book in my new GN series Box Tales. It'll be out on March, 3, 2026. But book 1 will be out later this year on Sept. 16.

If you're interested in how I make my graphic novels, I share quite a bit of my behind-the-scenes process on my Substack. #graphicnovels

A green sketchbook with a yellow painted tree on the cover.

The first step when doing thumbnails for a graphic novel about camping is to paint a yellow tree on the front of a new sketchbook. This very important step is also called PROCRASTINATION.

I haven’t had much time to post lately, I’ve been in my writing cave working on the story for BoxTales book 3 and revising the outline for my new graphic novel idea, which is going out on sub. I had some free time, so I decided to rig this character in Toonboom and do some simple animation.

I use bridge when working on my graphic novels. I can scroll through all the pages in a folder and then open them with one click into photoshop. I also use it to make pdfs when sending files to publisher. I’ve used it for ages.

Drawing of James Burks wearing a jetpack flying across the sky on the way to Rivervale, NJ.

Another week, another author school visit adventure. This time I'm off to New Jersey to visit two school this coming week. Looking forward to seeing the students and inspiring them to be creative. Onward!

That's how I started.

Every single school should have a school library & a school librarian, to help every single child find the books that will make them readers, and give them all the lifelong benefits of literacy. Libraries & librarians change children's lives FOREVER! #SchoolLibrarianDay #SchoolLibraryMonth

Some highlights from my two Indiana school visits. I was shown so much love and creativity by all the students, teachers, and librarians. Thank you! I'm always amazed that the books I've created have connected with so many people all around the US and the world. I don't take any of it for granted.

Every day. Sigh.

After a day of traveling and hanging out in airports, I made it safely to Indiana for my upcoming author visits. I also had an interesting interaction with the rental car person at the exit gate. I'm not sure what she was talking about because my hair is the same now as it was on my license pic.

Tomorrow, I'm flying to Carmel, IN, for two author visits next week. I had originally scheduled this school visit trip back in 2020, but that pesky pandemic got in the way. Well, 5 yrs later, it's been rescheduled, and I'm looking forward to entertaining the kids with my witty book-making banter.

I love this series. I just finished his jew book “We Solve Murders.” It was fun too.

If you live in or near New Haven, CT, come see me this Saturday at IC3.

A good way to get to know a character is to design their space.

As close as I’ll ever get to meeting one of my biggest influences. #charlesschulz #peanuts

This looks amazing. Nice work!

A boy with a wooden sword stands back to back with a dragon in disguise as they prepare to fend off a pack of hungry wolves.

Exploring some story beats for an idea I'm working on.

The wait is almost over!!! Can Do Book 2 is out next week!

Kaw!

This is the other main character from my dragon story. When I drew the original turn around, I wasn't sure how the hair would look from all the angles. The nice thing about modeling the characters in 3D is that I can see exactly how it looks now from every angle and adjust the drawings accordingly.

Finished the dragon. Now, I'd like to get my brain to cooperate so I can figure out the story they belong to and turn this into a book. How's everyone else doing with their creative projects?

Thanks, Debbie! They have been challenging but mostly fun.

The latest from my adventures with Blender.

Nice work.