June 4, 2025 • 24 mins
What happens when a robot begins to experience human emotions? This fascinating question drives artist John Windzilak (known professionally as J-Dubs) in his groundbreaking project that blends art therapy, storytelling, and community building in surprising ways.
On this episode, J-Dubs reveals how personal struggles with ADHD, heart issues, and childhood experiences led him to therapy, which ultimately inspired his character Voltage – a robot navigating the complex world of human emotions. What began as simple sketches evolved into a therapeutic coloring book that's resonating with people of all ages who struggle with emotional expression.
The genius of J-Dubs' approach lies in its subtlety. Rather than presenting itself as therapy, the book invites readers into an engaging story about a mechanical being confronting very human challenges. Through coloring, readers can process their own feelings while following Voltage's journey. "If a robot could do it, why the hell can't I?" J-Dubs explains, highlighting how this character provides a safe distance from which to explore difficult emotions.
Beyond the page, J-Dubs is building a community through "Bolt's Dream Masters," a platform where readers share their colored pages, transforming individual therapy into group healing. With plans to bring Voltage into schools and public spaces through murals, and a successful Kickstarter funding sensory toys to complement the book, J-Dubs is expanding this therapeutic universe in exciting ways.
As J-Dubs so powerfully states: "It's hard being human, but it's not impossible. If you can get out of your way long enough to see from someone else's perspective, you might actually find a way to heal yourself." Visit jdubsarts.com to join this unique journey of emotional discovery.
Want to be a guest on Living the Dream with Curveball? Send Curtis Jackson a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1628631536976x919760049303001600
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Living the Dream Podcast with
Curveball, if you believe youcan achieve.
Welcome to the Living the Dreamwith Curveball Podcast, a show
(00:20):
where I interview guests thatteach, motivate and inspire.
Today, I am joined by authorJohn Wanzelak, better known as
J-Dubs.
We're going to be talking tohim about his new book and we're
going to be talking to himabout how he helps creatives
(00:41):
connect with wonder by blendingstorytelling, art and community.
John is interesting, so let'sget into it.
John, thank you so much forjoining me.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Curveball.
Thank you for having me.
It's a blessing to be here.
I love finding anyone who wouldlove to hear about what I'm
doing.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Well, why don't you start off by telling everybody
about yourself?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Well, my name is John Wanzelak and I'm an artist from
New Jersey, born and raised.
I am currently 41 years youngand in the last couple of years
my wife and I have worked on mestarting my art business.
My wife and I have worked on mestarting my art business, tried
online to kind of publish thatand get my art out in the world.
(01:31):
It wasn't working so wellbecause my last name was
confusing and then I kind ofleaned into the name I now use
publicly, j-dubs, becauseWanzelak frightens so many
people that I had to shorten itmuch like actors do.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Yeah, you sound like some serial killer, John
Wanzelak.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Right right, it's a very serious name, absolutely,
we're a very serious family.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Well, why don't you?
Why don't you start off?
You know, do you want to getinto your family?
Or, if not, just start off bytelling people how you got into
writing and art.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Oh no, absolutely Everything.
Everything is on the table.
So I am actually.
The book itself is a product ofmy therapy.
That comes from all of myupbringing.
My parents split at a young age.
They were great as friends butnot as partners, and they did a
great job raising me but theydid better separate.
(02:35):
I now know that in my late 40s.
But growing up you know a lotof kids deal with the stressors
of that stuff.
So I kind of recently went intoa whole therapy journey and
that's how I kind of startedlearning about my feelings and
in learning how to deal with itmyself, self-soothe and kind of
(02:58):
find my way through stress andanxiety.
The book was born.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Okay.
Well, when the book was born,you chose a coloring book
illustration instead of aregular format.
Why is that A?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
couple of reasons, actually.
Number one I have ADHD and withthat I struggle to focus in a
big way.
So by doing a coloring book Itook the whole process of having
to not only illustrate andwrite a book, but then I'd also
have to color in all the pagesto make it entertaining.
(03:34):
So option one was to just dothat make it a coloring book and
it seemed like a lazy option.
But also with my therapy latelyI've learned that coloring
books are not just a children'stoy anymore.
It's a tool for therapy and itcan.
Spending a half an hour coloringin an image can take your mind
(03:58):
off of the things that areworrying you solve your problems
.
But it can unlock your mind toa point where you might, once
you're done, have stepped farenough away from an issue that
you can now maybe find asolution for that problem,
because your brain wasdistracted long enough that
you're no longer hyper fixed onit, like when you're trying to
(04:20):
find your car keys and you justtake I'll take a second Hold on,
all right, what was I doing?
And then all of a suddenthey're in your hand the whole
time.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
I do that all the time.
Where are my keys at, and spend10, 15 minutes looking around?
Where did I last put them inthere, right there in my pocket,
yep.
So oh, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Oh, no, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
No, I wanted you to finish your point because I was
going to ask you anotherquestion about the design of the
some of the pages.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Oh, by all means.
By all means, because I don'treally.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Because you know, I know that you design some of
them to resemble calm, you know,and self-reflection and stuff
like that.
Did you intentionally do that?
Talk about that.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
So I didn't originally intentionally do that
, but when I started drawing thebook right before January, it
just kind of happened because Iactually had a heart issue that
I've been treated for for thelast couple of years.
I'm an AFib patient, but everyonce in a while my heart will do
weird things and you know whenyou start focusing on what's
(05:33):
bothering or what's going onwith your body.
There's actually a point in thebook where Voltage, our main
character, is hiding from astorm, an electrical storm,
because you know, a robotwouldn't survive through
lightning.
So he's trying to figure outways to hide from lightning and
he's just making all the wrongchoices because he's not
thinking logically, he'sthinking emotionally.
(05:56):
I had a very real situation likethat where I was in my backyard
with my dogs, my wife wasinside taking a shower, my
daughter was inside watching tvno one else knew where I was and
I I actually fell down in mybackyard and I had that
realizing moment of I'm on myown and if I go someone will
(06:18):
find me.
But there's nothing like.
It was a very, very.
I then decided to write theseries scene with it was like
five pages of the book wherehe's just trying to navigate the
storm and deal with theidentity of what happens to me.
(06:41):
If something happens to me, youknow what happens after I
stopped to exist.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Well, how did you come up with the name Bolt
Voltage for a book?
That's interesting now.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
So originally Bolt was a little art project I had.
Again, I said I started off asa painter and I was just trying
to learn some new techniques soI always doodled.
I love illustrating.
So I drew the robot holding theumbrella and that was my first
picture of Bolt.
So I drew the robot holding theumbrella and that was my first
picture of Bolt.
Everyone loved it so much LikeI say everyone.
(07:17):
I have a decent social media.
Following on an app calledClapper, I'm at 216 followers
and a lot of them ask questions,craving more information about
this character I created.
So it went from one picture tomaking 13 paintings, selling
eight of them, then making aseries of Christmas themed
paintings, selling one of thoseand starting a Christmas version
(07:43):
of the robot now.
But they got so enamored by thecharacter that the more they
asked for it, the more I had tomake more stuff.
And then someone said John, youshould really like make a book
of all of your pictures of therobots so that I could buy all
(08:03):
of them, because I can't affordto buy all of your paintings.
Now, mind you, this person hasbought five of my paintings at
this point on top of otherartwork in the past from me.
So that's when I started workingon the book.
I started just doodling and Iwas like you know I can make an
actual story that can helppeople because in the five years
I've been on social media, alot of the people that I've come
(08:26):
across have a big problem withtheir emotions and we see it in
viral videos online all the time.
You see kids that areconfronted by a security guard
and they just lock their arms upand scream at the top of their
lungs because they don't knowhow to use their words to tell
them I'm embarrassed, you caughtme, and can we do this
(08:46):
somewhere else where I'm not aspectacle?
So this book aims to givepeople those tools, but it does
it in a way that's soft andgentle and you don't feel like
you're being therapized.
You feel like you're justreading a story about a book,
about a robot who suddenly juststarts feeling emotions and has
to figure it out.
And if you don't know youremotions, you kind of got to
(09:09):
figure it out with him.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
I kind of got to figure it out with him.
And is that why you chose tocover topics like self-doubt and
anxiety in a children's book?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I mean absolutely, because as an artist I deal with
that all the time I put myselfdown I tell myself my work's not
good enough.
But I know that children andagain we aim at 12 year olds and
up know that children and againwe aim at 12-year-olds and up.
But children deal withself-doubt, especially children
whose parents are strugglingwith life themselves and they're
(09:40):
having fights or if they'rehaving some kind of a just any
marital dispute that tricklesdown on the children, and
children will shelter themselvesand they won't talk about their
feelings and they becomefreaking sociopaths or they
become abusive adults themselvesor they become emotionally
(10:01):
unbalanced people.
So I just I I'm not a medicalprofessional, but I went through
the therapy and I'm stillstarting to heal myself and I
know that some of the stuff I'velearned really, really helped.
So I'm just touching on thesmall stuff that someone who's
afraid to go and talk to atherapist can read in my story,
connect with my character andsay, well, if a robot could do
(10:25):
it, why the hell can't I?
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Well, how do you hope that kids and adults both will
will be able to connect to thejourney of boat?
Speaker 2 (10:38):
voltage that's.
That is the beautiful thingbecause, like I said, we aim at
a 12 and up audience, but thebook is so much more than just
12 and up.
You can definitely bring thisdown to an eight, even a
seven-year-old level, because, athe school lingo is starting to
change a little bit and, b thewhole point of this book is, yes
(11:01):
, it's a coloring book, but it'salso a storybook.
I grew up with my parentsreading stories to me at night.
It was a way to wind down.
You turn the television off fora little bit, you read a story,
you relax, you go to bed andit's a way for the parents to
bond with the children.
Mom, I don't understand whatthat word means.
What does that mean?
Well, it means this, and thenyou have a conversation.
(11:21):
It's a way to create a bondingexperience for parents that are
already trying to figure it out.
I had a child at 19 years old.
I tell you, my two childrenwould have been completely
different.
I'm not going to say they'd bebetter.
They'd be completely differenthad I been better prepared to
(11:45):
raise children when I did.
But I raised two fantasticchildren that are well-rounded
and they have dreams and jobs,and I push them towards their
dreams and jobs as much as Ipossibly can.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Well, walk the listeners through the
illustration process, you know.
Walk us through what it waslike to design Boat's journey.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Well, I'll tell you, it was long.
I decided a couple of times.
I've done this and I noticedthat you know, with with images,
you have to, you have to shrinkthings down, you can't blow
things up.
So I drew the entire um book onan 18 by 14 pad in pencil, each
(12:34):
page.
Then I would go over it in inkand then I would erase all the
pencil, clean off all the eraser, run a vacuum cleaner and move
on to the next page.
After I did like 15 drawn pages, I started writing the story
and taking my notes and writingan actual story to go with the
pictures I had.
And when I struggled withsomething I would actually lean
(13:00):
into a robot.
I asked questions to an AI chatbot to try and ascertain how a
robot would navigate humanemotions, and it was a really
weird conversation that led tosome really beautiful moments
(13:21):
that made me very hopeful fornot only this book but the
series that it hopes to line upfor.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Ah well, ah well.
Do you feel like coloring is away for relaxation and and
emotional healing?
Uh, so you know why.
Why not?
Speaker 2 (13:44):
right and absolutely.
And the best part is because theway I set the book up, like I
said, story on one page,coloring page on the other, but
it kind of looks like a graphicnovel, almost like a manga, and
at the end of the page, at theend of the page, at the end of
the book, I leave two blankpages with a QR code.
That QR code leads to a Facebookaccount that I've created
(14:07):
called Bolt's Dream Masters, andI ask all of my readers, when
you're done reading the book andyou've colored in your pages
these pages are here for you togive Bolt his dreams to share on
the page, so that when I writethe next book, I have a
community who is nowcontributing their thought going
to draw one way, I'm going todraw another and your neighbor
(14:28):
will draw a different way.
And when we all start sharingour stuff online, it stops being
self-help, it stops beingself-therapy, it starts being
group therapy, it starts beingjust a discussion.
(14:48):
You know, why did you choosegreens where I chose blues?
Why do you choose yellows wheresomeone else chose purples?
And it's stupid littleidiosyncratic conversations like
that that can lead to realhealing and that's one of the
points behind the book.
That's where I said I couldblend community with art.
(15:09):
That's the community.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
With art.
That's the community.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Well, let's talk about some of the challenges
that you face when you weretrying to create this book
that's visually engaging as wellas emotionally meaningful.
Well, I would say the biggeststruggle.
January 3rd 2025, I had juststarted drawing the pages and my
friend sent me a link to a newmovie that is just releasing in
the theaters the Wild Robot andI looked at the trailer and I
(15:46):
was like, wow, that looks anawful lot like my design.
I mean not to say that theytook my design.
I would never say that, mostlybecause I don't want them coming
after me, but robots are very,very popular right now.
If you go to any streamingservice, there is at least five
to seven different robot TVseries and or movies that are
(16:07):
available.
So once I realized that thewild robot had no real like, I
wasn't, I wasn't infringing ontheir idea and they weren't kind
of taking away from mine.
They're two totally differentstories, I would say.
The only challenge I had was Iwanted to make sure that my
character didn't blend in toomuch but also didn't come across
(16:34):
as only a self-help book.
It needs to be seen as a book,a storybook that you color.
The therapy comes afterwards.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Speaking of therapy, how do you feel?
Do you feel like teachers,parents and therapists can
benefit and use this book and,if so, in which ways?
Speaker 2 (16:57):
So I feel like this book would actually be great in
a middle school setting and Iactually have tried to set up an
appointment with my school'sboard of ed and my town's mayor,
because I would love to do somecommunity outreach, get the
book into schools so that atleast the mental health
(17:17):
counselors that have certainstudents maybe not every student
, but there's at least a smallpercentage that may benefit from
introducing the book to them,even if it's just to give them
something to color take theirmind off of a bad day, or if
it's something that the themsome color take their mind off
of a, you know, a bad day, or ifit's something as the story
might actually connect with them.
(17:38):
Um, I would love to see all ofthat.
I also, like I said, I'mreaching out to my township
government because we have a lotof local parks right now that
are being revitalized and Iwould love the opportunity to
take some of the students fromthe high school and then have
them meet me on site so we coulddo some murals based off of my
(17:59):
character and the pages of thebook as a community mental
health outreach.
So these are all programs I'mtrying to currently work off of
this character and really takethis further into the
stratosphere.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
And really take this further into the stratosphere.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Who do you feel is your ideal audience for your
book?
Well, I mean, the idealaudience is going to be teens
that are struggling with stress,anxiety, depression or identity
issues.
Adults who are struggling with,uh, connecting with their
(18:44):
children, or maybe moms and dadswho just have some very, very
active kids and they themselvesare, are are exhausted because,
you know, not for nothing, butbeing a parent is a hard job.
Um, I know this because Iraised two of them.
But there's some people outthere that have more than two
kids and it's, it's rough, andsome of these kids they don't.
They don't feel for theirparents the way me, on the
(19:06):
outside, I could look and say Ifeel sympathetic for them.
So I think that exhaustedparents, I think that overworked
professionals, people who loveto say the title of your show I
used to use it all the time howyou doing John, living the dream
, one nightmare at a time.
Dreams are nightmares that grewup and I think people who say
(19:32):
that they slightly believe thata little bit, you know.
So I think they would also be agood target audience, because
they're all people that arestruggling with life just a
little bit and this could justtake away a little bit of that
weight for a small amount oftime, you know.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Yes, I do know, Living a dream, one nightmare at
a time.
Can you tell us about anyupcoming projects that you're
working on that listeners needto be aware of?
Speaker 2 (20:05):
well, aside from the one that I'm talking about, with
probably doing some hopefullydoing some murals in town, I am
running a Kickstarter thatcloses in two days, but other
than that, we are workingtowards building a second book.
My followers have alreadyreached out and they would love
to see Bolt with a companionanimal.
(20:28):
I'm an owner of two Huskies, soI'm thinking about making a
robotic Husky a possiblecharacter in the near future.
Our Kickstarter actuallyreached its goal and went over,
so every dollar that went overwent into developing sensory toy
(20:50):
prototypes.
So we're going to be doingprint-in-place fidget toys of
the robot to companion with thebook so that it again is a
sensory experience.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Okay, well, just for the record, how big are your two
Huskies?
Speaker 2 (21:08):
The one's a short, stocky guy, but the other one
when he stands on his back legs,I'm 6'2" and we see eye-to eye.
He's part shepherd.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Wow, Well throw out your contact info so listeners
can keep up with everything thatyou're up to.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
So anybody that wants to know what's going on in the
Dubbosphere.
You can hit me up on Facebook,instagram, any social media.
You will find me at jdubsartsthat's J-D-U-B-S-A-R-T-S, and
you can also go straight towwwjdubsartscom.
Sign up for a mailing list soyou can get stuff in the moment,
(21:48):
including, but not limited to,my exclusive content blog that I
post on my website Anywherebetween seven and 21 blogs
monthly.
It just depends on how busy themonth is, but we do try to put
something on at least once aweek so that even if it's just I
like to.
I like to post some resourcesfor people that might be in
(22:11):
distress sometimes.
So if there's anything likethat, I like to post it on my
site.
You can find it at jdabsartscom.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Perfect.
Close us out with some finalthoughts.
Maybe, if that was something Iforgot to talk about that you
would like to touch on, or anyfinal thoughts you have for the
listeners.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
You know it's hard being human, but it's not
impossible and if you can getout of your way long enough to
see from someone else'sperspective, you might actually
find a way to heal yourself.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Well said.
Ladies and gentlemen,jdubsartscom, please be sure to
check it out.
Follow rate review.
Share this episode to as manypeople as possible.
Check out Voltage Journey.
Check out John's book.
Follow us on your favoritepodcast platform.
Visit wwwcurveball337.com formore information on the Living,
(23:16):
the Dream with Curveball podcast.
Thank you for listening andsupporting the show, john, thank
you for all that you do andthank you for joining me.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Curveball.
You have a wonderful evening.
Thank you for having me on.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
For more information on the Living the Dream with
Curveball podcast, visitwwwcurveball337.com.
Until next time, keep livingthe dream.
Welcome to the Living the Dream Podcast with
Curveball, if you believe youcan achieve.
Welcome to the Living the Dreamwith Curveball Podcast, a show
(00:20):
where I interview guests thatteach, motivate and inspire.
Today, I am joined by authorJohn Wanzelak, better known as
J-Dubs.
We're going to be talking tohim about his new book and we're
going to be talking to himabout how he helps creatives
(00:41):
connect with wonder by blendingstorytelling, art and community.
John is interesting, so let'sget into it.
John, thank you so much forjoining me.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Curveball.
Thank you for having me.
It's a blessing to be here.
I love finding anyone who wouldlove to hear about what I'm
doing.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Well, why don't you start off by telling everybody
about yourself?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Well, my name is John Wanzelak and I'm an artist from
New Jersey, born and raised.
I am currently 41 years youngand in the last couple of years
my wife and I have worked on mestarting my art business.
My wife and I have worked on mestarting my art business, tried
online to kind of publish thatand get my art out in the world.
(01:31):
It wasn't working so wellbecause my last name was
confusing and then I kind ofleaned into the name I now use
publicly, j-dubs, becauseWanzelak frightens so many
people that I had to shorten itmuch like actors do.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Yeah, you sound like some serial killer, John
Wanzelak.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Right right, it's a very serious name, absolutely,
we're a very serious family.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Well, why don't you?
Why don't you start off?
You know, do you want to getinto your family?
Or, if not, just start off bytelling people how you got into
writing and art.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Oh no, absolutely Everything.
Everything is on the table.
So I am actually.
The book itself is a product ofmy therapy.
That comes from all of myupbringing.
My parents split at a young age.
They were great as friends butnot as partners, and they did a
great job raising me but theydid better separate.
(02:35):
I now know that in my late 40s.
But growing up you know a lotof kids deal with the stressors
of that stuff.
So I kind of recently went intoa whole therapy journey and
that's how I kind of startedlearning about my feelings and
in learning how to deal with itmyself, self-soothe and kind of
(02:58):
find my way through stress andanxiety.
The book was born.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Okay.
Well, when the book was born,you chose a coloring book
illustration instead of aregular format.
Why is that A?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
couple of reasons, actually.
Number one I have ADHD and withthat I struggle to focus in a
big way.
So by doing a coloring book Itook the whole process of having
to not only illustrate andwrite a book, but then I'd also
have to color in all the pagesto make it entertaining.
(03:34):
So option one was to just dothat make it a coloring book and
it seemed like a lazy option.
But also with my therapy latelyI've learned that coloring
books are not just a children'stoy anymore.
It's a tool for therapy and itcan.
Spending a half an hour coloringin an image can take your mind
(03:58):
off of the things that areworrying you solve your problems
.
But it can unlock your mind toa point where you might, once
you're done, have stepped farenough away from an issue that
you can now maybe find asolution for that problem,
because your brain wasdistracted long enough that
you're no longer hyper fixed onit, like when you're trying to
(04:20):
find your car keys and you justtake I'll take a second Hold on,
all right, what was I doing?
And then all of a suddenthey're in your hand the whole
time.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
I do that all the time.
Where are my keys at, and spend10, 15 minutes looking around?
Where did I last put them inthere, right there in my pocket,
yep.
So oh, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Oh, no, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
No, I wanted you to finish your point because I was
going to ask you anotherquestion about the design of the
some of the pages.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Oh, by all means.
By all means, because I don'treally.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Because you know, I know that you design some of
them to resemble calm, you know,and self-reflection and stuff
like that.
Did you intentionally do that?
Talk about that.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
So I didn't originally intentionally do that
, but when I started drawing thebook right before January, it
just kind of happened because Iactually had a heart issue that
I've been treated for for thelast couple of years.
I'm an AFib patient, but everyonce in a while my heart will do
weird things and you know whenyou start focusing on what's
(05:33):
bothering or what's going onwith your body.
There's actually a point in thebook where Voltage, our main
character, is hiding from astorm, an electrical storm,
because you know, a robotwouldn't survive through
lightning.
So he's trying to figure outways to hide from lightning and
he's just making all the wrongchoices because he's not
thinking logically, he'sthinking emotionally.
(05:56):
I had a very real situation likethat where I was in my backyard
with my dogs, my wife wasinside taking a shower, my
daughter was inside watching tvno one else knew where I was and
I I actually fell down in mybackyard and I had that
realizing moment of I'm on myown and if I go someone will
(06:18):
find me.
But there's nothing like.
It was a very, very.
I then decided to write theseries scene with it was like
five pages of the book wherehe's just trying to navigate the
storm and deal with theidentity of what happens to me.
(06:41):
If something happens to me, youknow what happens after I
stopped to exist.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Well, how did you come up with the name Bolt
Voltage for a book?
That's interesting now.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
So originally Bolt was a little art project I had.
Again, I said I started off asa painter and I was just trying
to learn some new techniques soI always doodled.
I love illustrating.
So I drew the robot holding theumbrella and that was my first
picture of Bolt.
So I drew the robot holding theumbrella and that was my first
picture of Bolt.
Everyone loved it so much LikeI say everyone.
(07:17):
I have a decent social media.
Following on an app calledClapper, I'm at 216 followers
and a lot of them ask questions,craving more information about
this character I created.
So it went from one picture tomaking 13 paintings, selling
eight of them, then making aseries of Christmas themed
paintings, selling one of thoseand starting a Christmas version
(07:43):
of the robot now.
But they got so enamored by thecharacter that the more they
asked for it, the more I had tomake more stuff.
And then someone said John, youshould really like make a book
of all of your pictures of therobots so that I could buy all
(08:03):
of them, because I can't affordto buy all of your paintings.
Now, mind you, this person hasbought five of my paintings at
this point on top of otherartwork in the past from me.
So that's when I started workingon the book.
I started just doodling and Iwas like you know I can make an
actual story that can helppeople because in the five years
I've been on social media, alot of the people that I've come
(08:26):
across have a big problem withtheir emotions and we see it in
viral videos online all the time.
You see kids that areconfronted by a security guard
and they just lock their arms upand scream at the top of their
lungs because they don't knowhow to use their words to tell
them I'm embarrassed, you caughtme, and can we do this
(08:46):
somewhere else where I'm not aspectacle?
So this book aims to givepeople those tools, but it does
it in a way that's soft andgentle and you don't feel like
you're being therapized.
You feel like you're justreading a story about a book,
about a robot who suddenly juststarts feeling emotions and has
to figure it out.
And if you don't know youremotions, you kind of got to
(09:09):
figure it out with him.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
I kind of got to figure it out with him.
And is that why you chose tocover topics like self-doubt and
anxiety in a children's book?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I mean absolutely, because as an artist I deal with
that all the time I put myselfdown I tell myself my work's not
good enough.
But I know that children andagain we aim at 12 year olds and
up know that children and againwe aim at 12-year-olds and up.
But children deal withself-doubt, especially children
whose parents are strugglingwith life themselves and they're
(09:40):
having fights or if they'rehaving some kind of a just any
marital dispute that tricklesdown on the children, and
children will shelter themselvesand they won't talk about their
feelings and they becomefreaking sociopaths or they
become abusive adults themselvesor they become emotionally
(10:01):
unbalanced people.
So I just I I'm not a medicalprofessional, but I went through
the therapy and I'm stillstarting to heal myself and I
know that some of the stuff I'velearned really, really helped.
So I'm just touching on thesmall stuff that someone who's
afraid to go and talk to atherapist can read in my story,
connect with my character andsay, well, if a robot could do
(10:25):
it, why the hell can't I?
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Well, how do you hope that kids and adults both will
will be able to connect to thejourney of boat?
Speaker 2 (10:38):
voltage that's.
That is the beautiful thingbecause, like I said, we aim at
a 12 and up audience, but thebook is so much more than just
12 and up.
You can definitely bring thisdown to an eight, even a
seven-year-old level, because, athe school lingo is starting to
change a little bit and, b thewhole point of this book is, yes
(11:01):
, it's a coloring book, but it'salso a storybook.
I grew up with my parentsreading stories to me at night.
It was a way to wind down.
You turn the television off fora little bit, you read a story,
you relax, you go to bed andit's a way for the parents to
bond with the children.
Mom, I don't understand whatthat word means.
What does that mean?
Well, it means this, and thenyou have a conversation.
(11:21):
It's a way to create a bondingexperience for parents that are
already trying to figure it out.
I had a child at 19 years old.
I tell you, my two childrenwould have been completely
different.
I'm not going to say they'd bebetter.
They'd be completely differenthad I been better prepared to
(11:45):
raise children when I did.
But I raised two fantasticchildren that are well-rounded
and they have dreams and jobs,and I push them towards their
dreams and jobs as much as Ipossibly can.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Well, walk the listeners through the
illustration process, you know.
Walk us through what it waslike to design Boat's journey.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Well, I'll tell you, it was long.
I decided a couple of times.
I've done this and I noticedthat you know, with with images,
you have to, you have to shrinkthings down, you can't blow
things up.
So I drew the entire um book onan 18 by 14 pad in pencil, each
(12:34):
page.
Then I would go over it in inkand then I would erase all the
pencil, clean off all the eraser, run a vacuum cleaner and move
on to the next page.
After I did like 15 drawn pages, I started writing the story
and taking my notes and writingan actual story to go with the
pictures I had.
And when I struggled withsomething I would actually lean
(13:00):
into a robot.
I asked questions to an AI chatbot to try and ascertain how a
robot would navigate humanemotions, and it was a really
weird conversation that led tosome really beautiful moments
(13:21):
that made me very hopeful fornot only this book but the
series that it hopes to line upfor.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Ah well, ah well.
Do you feel like coloring is away for relaxation and and
emotional healing?
Uh, so you know why.
Why not?
Speaker 2 (13:44):
right and absolutely.
And the best part is because theway I set the book up, like I
said, story on one page,coloring page on the other, but
it kind of looks like a graphicnovel, almost like a manga, and
at the end of the page, at theend of the page, at the end of
the book, I leave two blankpages with a QR code.
That QR code leads to a Facebookaccount that I've created
(14:07):
called Bolt's Dream Masters, andI ask all of my readers, when
you're done reading the book andyou've colored in your pages
these pages are here for you togive Bolt his dreams to share on
the page, so that when I writethe next book, I have a
community who is nowcontributing their thought going
to draw one way, I'm going todraw another and your neighbor
(14:28):
will draw a different way.
And when we all start sharingour stuff online, it stops being
self-help, it stops beingself-therapy, it starts being
group therapy, it starts beingjust a discussion.
(14:48):
You know, why did you choosegreens where I chose blues?
Why do you choose yellows wheresomeone else chose purples?
And it's stupid littleidiosyncratic conversations like
that that can lead to realhealing and that's one of the
points behind the book.
That's where I said I couldblend community with art.
(15:09):
That's the community.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
With art.
That's the community.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Well, let's talk about some of the challenges
that you face when you weretrying to create this book
that's visually engaging as wellas emotionally meaningful.
Well, I would say the biggeststruggle.
January 3rd 2025, I had juststarted drawing the pages and my
friend sent me a link to a newmovie that is just releasing in
the theaters the Wild Robot andI looked at the trailer and I
(15:46):
was like, wow, that looks anawful lot like my design.
I mean not to say that theytook my design.
I would never say that, mostlybecause I don't want them coming
after me, but robots are very,very popular right now.
If you go to any streamingservice, there is at least five
to seven different robot TVseries and or movies that are
(16:07):
available.
So once I realized that thewild robot had no real like, I
wasn't, I wasn't infringing ontheir idea and they weren't kind
of taking away from mine.
They're two totally differentstories, I would say.
The only challenge I had was Iwanted to make sure that my
character didn't blend in toomuch but also didn't come across
(16:34):
as only a self-help book.
It needs to be seen as a book,a storybook that you color.
The therapy comes afterwards.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Speaking of therapy, how do you feel?
Do you feel like teachers,parents and therapists can
benefit and use this book and,if so, in which ways?
Speaker 2 (16:57):
So I feel like this book would actually be great in
a middle school setting and Iactually have tried to set up an
appointment with my school'sboard of ed and my town's mayor,
because I would love to do somecommunity outreach, get the
book into schools so that atleast the mental health
(17:17):
counselors that have certainstudents maybe not every student
, but there's at least a smallpercentage that may benefit from
introducing the book to them,even if it's just to give them
something to color take theirmind off of a bad day, or if
it's something that the themsome color take their mind off
of a, you know, a bad day, or ifit's something as the story
might actually connect with them.
(17:38):
Um, I would love to see all ofthat.
I also, like I said, I'mreaching out to my township
government because we have a lotof local parks right now that
are being revitalized and Iwould love the opportunity to
take some of the students fromthe high school and then have
them meet me on site so we coulddo some murals based off of my
(17:59):
character and the pages of thebook as a community mental
health outreach.
So these are all programs I'mtrying to currently work off of
this character and really takethis further into the
stratosphere.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
And really take this further into the stratosphere.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Who do you feel is your ideal audience for your
book?
Well, I mean, the idealaudience is going to be teens
that are struggling with stress,anxiety, depression or identity
issues.
Adults who are struggling with,uh, connecting with their
(18:44):
children, or maybe moms and dadswho just have some very, very
active kids and they themselvesare, are are exhausted because,
you know, not for nothing, butbeing a parent is a hard job.
Um, I know this because Iraised two of them.
But there's some people outthere that have more than two
kids and it's, it's rough, andsome of these kids they don't.
They don't feel for theirparents the way me, on the
(19:06):
outside, I could look and say Ifeel sympathetic for them.
So I think that exhaustedparents, I think that overworked
professionals, people who loveto say the title of your show I
used to use it all the time howyou doing John, living the dream
, one nightmare at a time.
Dreams are nightmares that grewup and I think people who say
(19:32):
that they slightly believe thata little bit, you know.
So I think they would also be agood target audience, because
they're all people that arestruggling with life just a
little bit and this could justtake away a little bit of that
weight for a small amount oftime, you know.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Yes, I do know, Living a dream, one nightmare at
a time.
Can you tell us about anyupcoming projects that you're
working on that listeners needto be aware of?
Speaker 2 (20:05):
well, aside from the one that I'm talking about, with
probably doing some hopefullydoing some murals in town, I am
running a Kickstarter thatcloses in two days, but other
than that, we are workingtowards building a second book.
My followers have alreadyreached out and they would love
to see Bolt with a companionanimal.
(20:28):
I'm an owner of two Huskies, soI'm thinking about making a
robotic Husky a possiblecharacter in the near future.
Our Kickstarter actuallyreached its goal and went over,
so every dollar that went overwent into developing sensory toy
(20:50):
prototypes.
So we're going to be doingprint-in-place fidget toys of
the robot to companion with thebook so that it again is a
sensory experience.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Okay, well, just for the record, how big are your two
Huskies?
Speaker 2 (21:08):
The one's a short, stocky guy, but the other one
when he stands on his back legs,I'm 6'2" and we see eye-to eye.
He's part shepherd.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Wow, Well throw out your contact info so listeners
can keep up with everything thatyou're up to.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
So anybody that wants to know what's going on in the
Dubbosphere.
You can hit me up on Facebook,instagram, any social media.
You will find me at jdubsartsthat's J-D-U-B-S-A-R-T-S, and
you can also go straight towwwjdubsartscom.
Sign up for a mailing list soyou can get stuff in the moment,
(21:48):
including, but not limited to,my exclusive content blog that I
post on my website Anywherebetween seven and 21 blogs
monthly.
It just depends on how busy themonth is, but we do try to put
something on at least once aweek so that even if it's just I
like to.
I like to post some resourcesfor people that might be in
(22:11):
distress sometimes.
So if there's anything likethat, I like to post it on my
site.
You can find it at jdabsartscom.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Perfect.
Close us out with some finalthoughts.
Maybe, if that was something Iforgot to talk about that you
would like to touch on, or anyfinal thoughts you have for the
listeners.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
You know it's hard being human, but it's not
impossible and if you can getout of your way long enough to
see from someone else'sperspective, you might actually
find a way to heal yourself.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Well said.
Ladies and gentlemen,jdubsartscom, please be sure to
check it out.
Follow rate review.
Share this episode to as manypeople as possible.
Check out Voltage Journey.
Check out John's book.
Follow us on your favoritepodcast platform.
Visit wwwcurveball337.com formore information on the Living,
(23:16):
the Dream with Curveball podcast.
Thank you for listening andsupporting the show, john, thank
you for all that you do andthank you for joining me.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Curveball.
You have a wonderful evening.
Thank you for having me on.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
For more information on the Living the Dream with
Curveball podcast, visitwwwcurveball337.com.
Until next time, keep livingthe dream.
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com