Artist Travis Hymel on Start Your Engines, Kickstarter & TMNT Covers

Travis Hymel (creator/writer/artist of Start Your Engines) joins Nerdy Mewzings to discuss his journey from childhood comics obsession to graphic design, anthologies, licensed gigs (TMNT, Trailer Park Boys), and launching his creator-owned Kickstarter!

Travis shares how his mom fostered his love of comics at grocery store spinner racks, his path through art school and graphic design, and learning the hard way through early anthology work. He breaks down influences like Phil Hester, Alex Toth, and Mike Parobeck, why he’s going all-in on his own book, and the challenges of wearing every hat (writing, penciling, inking, coloring) on a creator-owned project. Start Your Engines is a fun, Saturday-morning-cartoon-style prestige format with two complete stories (racing action + dinosaur adventure) in one book — no waiting for the next issue!

Share with a friend, leave a 5 STAR REVIEW, & Keep it Nerdy!

Back the Kickstarter Live July 14th: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1218790823/start-your-engines-1-a-48-page-action-adventure

Prestige format, exclusive variants, original art tiers, early bird deals

Follow Travis Hymel:

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/travis_hymel

X AKA Twitter - https://x.com/travis_hymel

Subscribe to Travis' YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/travishymel

Become a Nerdy Mewzings Insider on Patreon for only $5 a month and receive access to each week's episode 48 HOURS EARLY, a shoutout on the podcast, and more: https://patreon.com/nerdymewzings

Timestamps

0:00 - Intro & Travis Hymel Joins Nerdy Mewzings

2:00 - Childhood Comics, Grocery Store Spinner Racks & Early Art

8:00 - Graphic Design, Anthologies & Learning the Hard Way

14:00 - Licensed Work: TMNT Covers & Trailer Park Boys

21:00 - Influences: Phil Hester, Alex Toth & Mike Parobeck

27:00 - Why Creator-Owned? Challenges of Wearing Every Hat

34:00 - Start Your Engines: Racing + Dinosaurs in One Book

42:00 - Kickstarter Details, Tiers & July 14 Launch

49:00 - Storytelling, Composition & Thinking Projects Through

56:00 - Where to Follow Travis & Back the Campaign

61:00 - Outro & Support Nerdy Mewzings