When Joshua Barkman decided to spread his wings as an artist, he opted for quite an interesting subject to explore through his illustrations. The mastermind behind False Knees invites you to fly into a realm where you can find birds at every corner—and they’re ready to ruffle some feathers.
Barkman has been passionate about comics for a long time, and he initially started drawing them while working for a university newspaper. His passion for photography and videography helped him polish his story-telling skills, but his love for drawing eventually carried him forward and kept growing as the years went by.
We’ve seen Barkman explore many different subjects since starting his Instagram page False Knees, which is now followed by over 700,000 people. The days of drawing humans are now long behind him, and he mostly focuses on the natural world, shifting our perspective about certain animals and showing them in a hilarious new light, starting with birds.
“Animals are way more fun to draw than me! It also gives me a chance to play on people’s expectations of common North American city animals. We share our space with these creatures who go largely forgotten, and I like the idea of giving them a voice,” he told Go Comics.
