About Tex
TEX was born during the pandemic. After leaving his job in 2021, creator Jesse Atwell made a plan to do what he had always dreamed of doing - creating a comic strip. For Jesse, everything felt brand new. And this feeling laid the groundwork for the premise of TEX.
TEX began as one-off, ink and watercolor characters on Jesse’s popular Instagram profile @jesselikestodraw. Jesse shared initial character designs online and drafted storylines in private, but it was an impromptu trip to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum and a chance encounter with MUTTS creator Patrick McDonnell that inspired Jesse to finalize the pitch deck for TEX. After nine months of development at the kitchen table, TEX was born.
The strip centers around Tex Clapsaddle, an imaginative eight-year-old boy, and his family as they enjoy every minute of the wild rollercoaster ride of life. Barbara, Tex’s mother, is the leader of the family. She has a short fuse and screams a lot. Tex’s father, Wayne, recently left a demanding job in the corporate world and doesn’t have a clue what to do with his time - or how to dress. Tex’s older brother, Austin, plays guitar, writes songs, and thinks he’s the coolest kid in middle school - and he’s dead wrong. The youngest of the family is five-year-old Missy, who is a wild, sarcastic handful. Everyone in the Clapsaddle family is entering a new phase of life and each passing moment feels brand new to them.
Jesse writes, draws, inks, and colors TEX at the kitchen table surrounded by loved ones and their incredibly loud noises. While he is inking, his children often scream at the top of their lungs or jab Jesse with a fork at just the right moment to create the perfect line. Jesse’s watercolor process is driven by a sense of urgency creating a modern, whimsical palette so he can finish coloring mere moments before a glass of almond milk spills all over the place.
TEX is inked with Dr. Ph. Martin’s matte Black Star waterproof India ink using a variety of metal and glass nibs on Fabriano hot pressed extra white watercolor paper.
The strip is colored with Lukas and MaimeriBlu watercolors.
TEX launched on GoComics on September 19, 2022