Hello, I'm Jason Brauncowski (fka Jason Braun)

Fair questions.

I’m a silly artist just trying to spread a little laughter and nonsense in this often shitty world.

I consider a piece of art to be successful if I cracked myself up at least once while banging it out.

If you happen to dig it, well that’s pretty cool too. It means you have a dark sense of humor and we’d probably get along.

Like you, I’m a tattered pile of hopes and dreams, triumphs and defeats — yadda yadda yadda — that have made me the imperfect man I am today.

But maybe by shamelessly flaunting myself I can spark a little sum-sum in you.

Fly your beautiful freak flag.

And make time to laugh every day.

Who am I and why should you care?

Check out this little
welcome video.

The Origin Story

LIFELONG ARTIST ON A NEVER-ENDING QUEST FOR FUN.

Once, during a tour of a prestigious design school in the opening days of the 1990’s, a dismissive student liaison scoffed, “Nobody makes a living drawing Conan the Barbarian.”

Man, screw that guy.

I’ve been drawing since I first figured out how to wiggle a crayon against a flat surface.

For me, creating art has always allowed me to escape into a boundless world, where realities can be formed with a splash of paint, a scribble of pen, or the swipe of a stylus. I have fun making art, and I believe that comes through in the final result. People pick up on that. Fun is a whole vibe. People want to live that story.

King Kong fan art, circa 1982.

Frequently Asked Nonsense

DID YOU GO TO ART SCHOOL?

What are your preferred mediums?

DO YOU USE GENERATIVE A.I.?

Art school is fine, but it isn't for everyone. And definitely not necessary! YouTube is a fantastic resource. Whether it's one of my dumb FAFO videos or one of (literally) a million other how-to's, there is so much useful information available out there. FOR FREE. Or check out fun, live classes in your community.

I really enjoy drawing in India ink using brushes and pens. For color, I find gouache to be very versatile and forgiving. Fun fact, I often sketch my drawings digitally in Procreate on my iPad and then print out the sketch to draw/paint over it with actual ink and paint.

Fuck no. Everything you see here or at my shows was hand-created by me using either traditional art media or illustrated digitally using Procreate on my iPad. While A.I. can have some legitimate administrative or logistical uses, art ain't one of them.

DO YOU TAKE COMMISSIONS?

IS ART YOUR FULL-TIME JOB?

WHERE CAN I LEARN TO MAKE ART?

I earned a BFA in Graphic Design from UW-Milwaukee. I felt that the non-art electives offered at a university could only help to inform my artistic development. I had the opportunity to study mythology, philosophy, anthropology, and even 4 semesters of Russian!

Sometimes. It's entirely dependent on my workload, availability, and how well the project jives with me personally. If I'm not excited about making something, we all suffer. Also, I do not accept new work between November and April — that's prime hibernation time where I can't be assed to meet "deadlines."

Maybe someday slapping silly shit together can be my full-time pursuit, but I currently do have a day job. Or as I like to call them, my corporate sponsor. Though my role there is in editorial illustration, so I technically -am- making a living off of my art. Just most of it is for "The Man."

ASK ME ANYTHING