Artist of The Month for May 2012: Joe Parisi

When Joe Parisi isn’t flying airplanes, dog sledding across barren wastelands, vacationing at a hotel made entirely out of ice, and drinking beer he brewed himself, it’s usually because he’s busy designing an entrance Tee for a Shogun fighter, support Tees for biker gangs, or decals for a drift car. Companies like Pepsi and Footlocker pay him the big bucks for his expertise in design and production, while gentlemen’s clubs like Goddess and Diamond Lounge look to him for artistic guidance.

Before his career took off, Joe spent his days earning his associate degree in Graphic Design from Montgomery College, spent his nights attending rock concerts as a VIP, and mixing drinks for top business executives and retired major league sports stars. He did, and still does spend his artistic downtime designing award winning images that he says are inspired by passion—passion for zombies, rock lyrics, snowboarding, crooner culture, and pin-up girls.

His latest project is the love child between Mall Rats and Star Wars—an epic web comic featuring a mid-20s boy with the power of The Force… and the motivation of an Olympic swimmer in a kiddy pool. Joe uses this Slacker Jedi to express a love for movie knowledge while poking fun at pop-culture. If you want to bear witness to drunken force-lightning battles and sexy wookies, then check out www.SlackerJedi.com when you get around to it.

Joe is also a featured artist for sCrypt Comics. He has completed work in “Flesh And Leftovers: Zombie Incidents,” and “Blood The Second Helping: Legends of Vampire” (A sample page is pictured bottom right). Currently, he is working on art for a story in graphic novel #3, “Bones At Breakfast: In Case Of Werewolf.”

For a closer look at Joe’s legendary work, visit www.jparisi.org or email him directly at jparisi.art@gmail.com for help with your upcoming projects.