Early Development of Willie Nelson: A Graphic History

Early in the pitching and proposal process of Willie Nelson: A Graphic History, the plan was to do every part of the book myself – the writing, drawing, and everything that goes along with that. It’s a daunting and intimidating thing imagining the work that will go into a project before you start it. In 2017 and 2018, the plan was still to do it all on my own. It wasn’t until really feeling truly overwhelmed by it all that I considered bringing collaborators into the mix. I spoke with Terry at NBM, and he suggested I bring in different artists for each chapter – similar to NBM’s recent Beatles biography. This seemed like a great idea to me for a few reasons, but getting to choose collaborators I admired and friends I’d made throughout my career seemed like a great benefit. I could also devote more of my time to writing the script. The rest is history! Graphic History, that is.

Here are some very early art pieces I worked on while developing the project.

For more information on Willie Nelson: A Graphic History, go here.

Author: T.J. Kirsch

T.J. Kirsch is a cartoonist and illustrator published by Oni Press, Image, Archie, and NBM. His career began at Archie Comics shortly after graduating from the Kubert School in 2005. Recent works include She Died In Terrebonne: A Sam Kimimura Mystery with writer Kevin Church, and Lost And Found with writers Christina Weir and Nunzio DeFilippis for Oni Press. Pride Of The Decent Man, his first original graphic novel, was released by NBM in 2017. He lives in the capital region of New York state with his wife and daughter. See more of his work at www.tjkirsch.com. View all posts by T.J. Kirsch