This is the first edition of JTPL Stories: a series of interviews with library patrons, staff, and partners. Continue below to meet the faces of JTPL with our Marketing Coordinator, Aliya!
If you’ve walked through the Makerspace at Jeffersonville, chances are you’ve met Justin at one of the work stations. For three or four days each week, he creates intricate designs of T.V. show characters and manga art for his clients from all over the country. One day he might be at the laser engraver making a wooden etching of a custom Pokémon card, and the next he could be 3D printing a reproduction movie prop. Last Monday, I found him making this commission above from the show Dragon Ball Z.
After seeing Justin come in for so long and learning how friendly and talented he was, I knew I had to get an interview so our readers could meet him too.
I might have also wanted pictures of his service dog.
“We would go to these conventions and see all the things [vendors were selling] and just go, wow, that’s terrible.”
As we spoke, Justin, also known as Goliath, got right into talking about his company, ARK Studios, that he makes his creations for.
“We really got started back in college,” Goliath told me, “my friends and I all got into cosplay, Twitch streaming, YouTubing… We would go to these conventions and see all the things [vendors were selling] and just go, wow, that’s terrible.”
Conventions were great places for fans of the anime and T.V. shows Justin liked to gather together and buy art and merchandise. Much of what was sold, though, felt like low quality money grabs that took advantage of the community. “They were making it just to make a buck because they saw we liked to collect stuff,” he said. “Instead of taking the time to detail things, they put no passion into it.”
Two years ago, Justin and his friends put together an LLC and began to create their own work. Justin’s goal was to create high quality commissions for fans similarly disappointed by the lack of effort and detail bigger companies put into their merchandise. With his new business, clients could contact him with an idea for a custom art piece or 3D print they wanted, and he could create exactly what they had in mind.
At first it was little projects here and there. The nine people involved with ARK Studios live all across the country and didn’t have the time or resources to put together a physical studio for streaming video or creating commissions. Then Justin heard about the Makerspace.
“I got Vincent and Stuart to give me the tour of all the things they had,” he said, “and I was like, I can use all of this. I can learn to use all of this.” He’s spent the last year and a half learning and experimenting with the equipment we have here, and he’s tremendously ramped up production with our resources. He has even told his friends how to find and use Makerspaces near them.
Justin told me his goal is to make ARK Studios his full-time job and one day host his own community space where other creators and fans can make their own quality, show-worthy costumes, art, and collectables. Having the money for his own equipment will take some time, but for now the Makerspace provides a place for him to experiment and continue to grow his business.
Justin finished our interview with some encouragement:
“The younger generation of nerds has a chance at something that my generation did not. When we grew up, we were all still black sheep figuring out things on our own going no-one understands me… Now there’s a whole generation behind [the new generation] saying we already went through all of this. Come with us young padawan and we will show you the ways of the Force.”
The Force, in this case, is how to create movie accurate lightsabers and replica starships that won’t fall apart on the way home. Justin hopes new access to resources like Makerspaces and popular culture’s growing acceptance of nerds will build the community.
I’m certainly excited to see him create that community here in Jeffersonville.
You can come by and meet Goliath or create a commission for your own projects by contacting him on his Instagram or email.
Want to try out the Makerspace for yourself? Reserve a timeslot for a certification class here. Goliath suggests new users start with the Glowforge and digital design tools.