Johnny O.

Hey! Here’s a little about myself. I’m a middle aged software engineer/artist/husband/dad. I draw for fun. I also like books, video games, technology and lots of nerd stuff. Here’s a self portrait of myself at age 14:

I had this Lego set sitting on a shelf for a while, I built it tonight for fun. It’s a pretty cool little set, I like the orange pieces over the eyes for the visor. I haven’t been posting much lately, still trying to mostly avoid social media. #lego #starwars #toys

Vacation beach book post 2: “How to Do Nothing” by Jenny Odell. Interesting, challenging read full of ideas. Birds, Diogenes, Hockney, I-Thou, Facebook; An ADHD style barrage of concepts circling around the concept of attention (and intention?). Good. Still thinking about it.

Vacation beach book post 1: #enshittification by @doctorow.pluralistic.net I started this in December, finally got around to finishing it today. Excellent explanation of why things are worse (on the internet) than they used to be, and maybe some ways to make things better. #booksky #book

Here's my June 2026 reading. This quite honestly was a month of bangers. Just about every book here deserves its own post. I will call out one thing (probably will start a fight). I did not love Dungeon Crawler Carl. It was ... fine I guess. I will keep going. #reading #booksky #dcc

Here's my reading for May 2026. Another month that was all over the place. Humankind is pretty great. It'll make you feel better about humanity. One part tells a story of a real life Lord of the Flies situation and it does not turn out like you think. Cultish also good. #booksky #reading #cults

Here's my reading for April 2026. Kind of all over the place this month. Restarted the Foreigner series that I lost track of like 30 years ago. Deadly Class was rad. Cults was good, but not new to me. Staff Engineer definitely worth a read (YMMV). #booksky #reading #cults #warhammer #starwars

Here's my reading for March of 2026. Continued with Iron Flame. Not as good as Fourth Wing but still decent. Ship Beneath The Ice is a great epilogue to Endurance. Tried some Warhammer 40k novels. Might not be my cup of tea. #booksky #novels #reading #books #warhammer

Here's my reading for February 2026. Short list. Making of the Atomic Bomb/Dark Sun are excellent, and horrifying. Endurance, a classic (reread) Fourth Wing I enjoyed. Slightly outside my usual genre reading, but I will finish the series and I might try some more "romantasy" #booksky #storygraph

I had been posting monthly reading updates, but the last one I did was for December 2025. I'll burn through the last 6 months of reading and note any highlights. January 2026 was a good mix of fiction and nonfiction. Bad Company and Rise and Reign of Mammals were stand outs. #booksky #books

I have been on social media break for about half a year. It's probably good for everyone to do so from time to time. I am going to start posting and interacting again, I think. So, uh, what's been going on in the world? Everything cool now?

Here’s a NASUTO­CERATOPS drinking an iced coffee. Drawn in procreate last night, maybe 20 minutes. #nasutoceratops #dinosaur #drawing

Here’s a drawing of a blobfish about to eat a cheeseburger. By request, for one of the random humans running around my house. These fish only look weird when they are depressurized at the surface. Drawn in procreate, about 20 minutes in a waiting room. #drawing #draweveryday #blobfish

Trying to draw more. One of the kids has been making little cube dinosaurs out of paper, so here’s a drawing of a spinosaurus one. Drawn in procreate, maybe 20 minutes. #drawing #dinosaur #art #draweverydamnday

Here’s a dinosaur drawing I did tonight while zoning out on the couch listening to an audiobook. Total autopilot, just doodling. Have not been drawing at all lately. #drawing #dinosaur #procreate #art #draweverydamnday

Here’s a cartoon I drew in more optimistic times. #resist #fuckfascism #noice

Started watching Johnny Mnemonic from 1995. Now Johnny has enough storage in his brain to download the latest Call of Duty! I am feeling old. #cyberpunk #callofduty #johnnymnemonic

Happy new year! Here’s my December reading. Lots of comics and audiobooks this month. #books #reading #comics #booksky

So I have been re-reading Y: The Last Man. It’s a great series, I really enjoyed it when it came out. One thing that jumps out at me is how jarring it is to see a certain “r” word. I used to use it casually back in the day, but I’ve trained myself not to. Times change. #comics #ythelastman

Here’s a cartoony animantarx dinosaur I drew the other day. The kids are really into this dinosaur at the moment, and I dont think any of us are saying the name quite right. I keep calling it the animatrix , which is a whole other thing. Drawn in procreate, maybe 20 minutes. #dinosaur

Here’s my November reading. Nothing super engaging this month. Absolute Batman was fun. Black Hammer is pretty great. The Cleric Quintet series was a nice nostalgia trip for me. #booksky #reading #comics #storygraph

Here’s my October reading. I forgot to post it at the beginning of the month, so here it is. Not really super engaged with anything I’ve been reading or listening too lately. #booksky #reading #graphicnovels #comics

So I haven’t drawn in months. Forced myself to. Drew from a “Draw Dinosaurs” book by a Doug DuBosque, with a 15 minute timer. Procreate, just the hb pencil brush. Trying to get kickstart some creativity. #drawing #art #dinosaur #camarasaurus #howtodraw #draweveryday

So I unintentionally listened to this album on repeat a couple of times today. It’s the only album i have on iTunes because they gave it away a decade ago. This occasionally starts playing when I plug into the car. It’s weird. I think U2 forgot how to write hooks or something. #u2 #music

Here’s my reading for September 2025. Lot of graphic novels and audiobooks. How Fascism Works by Jason Stanley is my top read of the month. Highly recommended. Paper Girls was a fun comics series. #booksky #reading #books #graphicnovels #comics #bookstack

I’ve got an old laptop that won’t update to Windows 11 for a dumb reason. It’s old but still has some life in it. I was just going to go Ubuntu, but I am curious what people using for Windows replacement in 2025. I’d like nvidia support (it got a 1060) with a minimal of hassle. #linux

Just finished reading “How Fascism Works” by Jason Stanley. Well, it is here in America now. Step by step like they were following this as a guide. I am so disappointed in my fellow Americans that they’ve been suckered into playing along with this. Dark days ahead. Now what? #resist #democracy

I am awake early on a Sunday. It’s quiet in the house. I had bad dreams. Like I was living in an authoritarian nightmare. And now that I am awake it still seems like the nightmare is still becoming real - day by day drip by drip. It is exhausting. We can’t give up. Resist. Do not comply in advance.

Apparently I have a dumb superpower. I listen to audiobooks at very high speed. I stumbled across this option by accident and I’ve cranked the speed up as high as I can. Depending on the narrator, I listen at min 2x max 3.5x. Headphones only. Anyone else crank it up? #audiobooks #booksky #books

Bootlickers. Spineless bootlickers. #resist

Here’s a drawing from a couple of years ago. A couple of kids with spears facing off against a #smilodon There’s a spot in the trees that is smooth right above the cat that I didn’t add branch detail and it annoys me. Maybe I will fix it. Still stuck in a creative rut and can’t seem to draw. #art

So somehow I missed the whole Hollow Knight thing and I am just trying it now. Seems kind of my bag, I do like #metroidvanias but none have held my interest lately. We’ll see. 30 minutes in, I dig it so far. Need a little break from serious books. #gaming #booksky #hollowknight #nintendo #reading

Soccer is starting back up. Where do the summer go? Here’s a #tyrannosaur holding a soccer ball I drew a few years ago. I haven’t drawn in over a month. It’s definitely a real problem now. #drawing #motivation #soccer #fallsports #dinosaurs #cartoons

Here’s my books read for August 2025. Lots of audiobooks and graphic novels. Some rereads. Working through two serious non-fiction books that are probably going to take a while. Fav fiction: Monkeywrench Gang Fav non-fiction: Desert Solitaire Both by Edward Abbey. #booksky #books #graphicnovels

I’m sure this was an innocent mistake. This timeline is stressing me out. techcrunch.com/2025/08/06/k...

More beach reading, Underground Empire by Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman. An interesting overview of America’s recent uses of economic power as a policy tool/weapon. For a 2023 book, it’s delusionally optimistic about the future. Needs a 2025 chapter on why arbitrary tariffs are bad. #booksky

Here’s a bumpy little motivational #dinosaur I drew a few years ago. I am still in some kind of creative rut and can’t seem to pick up a pen to draw. It’s pretty bad.

Here’s my reading for July: Lots of audio and graphic novels. Fav. Fiction: Saga: Compendium One Fav. Non-fic: tie Careless People and Age of Surveillance Capitalism. 50/50 fiction/non-fic ratio. Being on vacation at beginning and end of month helps with reading time. #booksky #reading #books

Here’s a random Indiana Joes dinosaur I drew a while ago. Still haven’t been drawing. Just burnt out I guess. #art #artist #comics #drawing #draweverydamnday

I read this over the weekend. It’s a re-read, I read it originally like 20 years ago. It’s a nice graphic novel comic memoir of a little girl growing up in Tehran during and after the Islamic revolution. It has a really nice clean cartooning style. #booksky #graphicnovels #cartoon #iran

Here was some of my weekend reading. This is the 3rd in the middle grade Star Wars High Republic books. I have enjoyed this series, it’s light and fun. I am still kind of lost in the whole High Republic setting. I’ve read some comics but only the first adult novel. #booksky #starwars

Happy #caturday. Here’s a panther about to ruin some poor Neanderthal’s day. Drawn in #procreate a few years ago.

It’s Friday. Let’s kick something, again.

It’s Thursday. Let’s kick something!

Apparently it’s #PortfolioDay or something, at least judging by all the art posts I’m seeing. I draw mostly for fun. Monsters, dinosaurs, cartoons and caricatures. Have been in a bit of a creative rut. Here’s some monsters chasing someone who looks suspiciously like me! #art #fantasyart #monsters

There’s a Maya Angelou quote: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” This isn’t the first time, but do we believe them now? They are bigoted, racist, xenophobic fascists. www.msnbc.com/top-stories/...

Here’s a painting of a #sinosauropteryx I did a few years ago. I’ve been having a creativity crisis recently. I’m usually bursting with ideas for drawings, but I have nothing lately. My usual cure is to start drawing from observation or doodling, but I can’t seem to get out of this funk. Blah.

My second beach read of the year, “Picks & Shovels” by Cory Doctorow. A fun and light techno-thriller set in 80s San Fran. Has the same vibe as the show “Halt and Catch Fire.” It’s a prequel to Red Team Blues which I enjoyed, and apparently there was a book in between I missed “The Bezzle”.

This was my first summer beach read. This is a gossipy insiders look at the inner workings of Facebook. It’s a great read. I thought Facebook was pretty bad. It’s so much worse than I thought. From classic sexual harassment to literal fucking genocide, they are terrible. #booksky #carelesspeople

It’s Wednesday. Here’s a mutant ninja turtle. #drawing #fanart #tmnt #leonardo

Here’s my books read for June 2025. Lots of #graphicnovels and audiobooks this month. Mixed light and serious stuff. Couple of rereads (Maus and Difference Engine) Favorite #fiction: Lost Cause by Cory Doctorow Favorite #nonfiction: They Called us Enemy by George Takei #booksky #reading