Valenzuela And His Creation Baby Jones

Daniel Valenzuela is taking his love of animation and comics and creating something that is original, fresh and thoroughly enjoyable.

Valenzuela was born in Los Angeles, Calif., in 1980. His parents were immigrants from Mexico. His mother worked in a factory and his father was an amateur boxer. He lived with his family in Mexico for a few months and then they moved to South Chicago, where they lived for ten years.

“I grew up in a rough neighborhood,” said Valenzuela.

After living in Chicago the family moved to San Antonio, Texas, where his family still resides.

Valenzuela then moved to San Francisco, where he now lives, to attend art school.

“I moved here in my mid-twenties and fell in love with the city,” said Valenzuela. “It has a good energy,” he added.

Valenzuela never finished art school; he dropped out, but continued to peruse a career in comics and animation.

His love for animation started at a very young age.

“I started to pick things up with classic animation. My parents had a VCR and I would pause it to look what was happening in the middle, all of the little tricks,” said Valenzuela. “My father was obsessed with Golden Age Animation and turn of the century entertainment which I ended up falling in love with,” he added.

His father has had a large influence on his work. His main character, Baby Jones, is a caricature of my father.

“It’s an exact representation of what my father is like,” said Valenzuela. “And the little guy ended up consuming my life,” he added.

Baby Jones, is a very complex individual and can be best described in the description given by Valenzuela below.

“The unholy entity that has been with us since the beginning of time. Eternally trapped in a baby's body but blessed with a mustache that was handed down by the gods themselves. After gaining the title of Champion of the World, Baby Jones then dedicated his time to torturing humanity, time traveling and obsessing over the trappings of Pop Culture. 

His dead, hollow eyes are always watching.”

Baby Jones continues to keep Valenzuela busy; he is still self-publishing comics, which he started to do four years ago.

“My first comic was a horrible, sappy comic series titled, American Objects that sold 13 copies and I kind of learned the ropes along the way,” said Valenzuela.

Comics aren’t the only thing that Valenzuela has worked on. He does some random freelance illustration projects for small companies. He has also inked one superhero comic, which he won’t talk about.

“I did it for money, which was a huge mistake,” said Valenzuela. “I respect the work that DC and Marvel do, but it’s too machine like for me,” he added.

He also randomly contributes art work to various galleries around California.

Valenzuela keeps himself very busy and he keeps producing quality comics.