One a Day 2012! Inspiration behind the WEBCOMIC: King of the Pill

Five years ago, in December 2006, my friend Matt Semke started doing a drawing a day. He has not missed a day! Semke has been posting new daily content for 2000 days in a row! Before I continue you should check out his website: cats will eat you


Here is Semke in his studio. Photo by Loren Green for City Pages interview.

Semke's website and his drawings have been inspiring me for half a decade. During these last five years my high school friend Kris Ericson started a photograph per day project (which now posts exclusively on Facebook), he has been publishing great photos for nearly three years now. A few months ago I got to meet another inspiration for One A Day projects, his name is Stephen Georg and he publishes three youtube videos every day! No joke! I even got to meet him when he was visiting the midwest:


the day I met Stephen and Mallory. Learn more about StephenVlog

I also was inspired by Bridget McAlonan in Maine, who inspired me to do Fun A Day: One Drawing a Day for one month. The results were then on display in a gallery in Portland, Maine and in other galleries all across the country. Bridget McAlonan started Inventing Trees in 2011 and has just finished her drawing a day project. Meanwhile, she is now two days into her paper doll a day project!

And then there is Took Gallagher. She posted 461 blog posts in 2011! Prolific is an understatement. Her blog displays numerous photographs, great descriptions featuring a wide variety of projects from drawing, collage to giant sculptures. I got to meet her this year and see her commitment to her artwork first hand.


William Hessian (me) and Took Gallagher in Northville, Michigan

I am surrounded all these inspiring people taking on these really dedicated one a day projects. I watch them all post so much great content on Facebook ("LIKE" me on Facebook) and I am motivated every day. That is why I am starting a panel a day web comic project called: King of the Pill. A story that started January 1st, 2012 and will end December 31st 2012. 365 panels long and one grand tale.

Details and History of 5 drawings

In January of 2011 I drew one drawing per day for the Fun A Day art show. All 31 of the drawing can be seen on my original Fun A Day post. I have been selling these drawings for $30 each (if you are interested in purchasing art contact me) and have sold a handful of them. I was asked to give a few details about 5 of those drawings to better help an individual decide which one to choose. Thanks to Took Gallagher.

The image above was Day 31, and I was a little drained with coming up with a new idea every day and trying to execute it within a limited time period. I decided to make something simple, and something I would like to see. This led to a happy but creepy bald bearded old cyclops with a rock staff. I can imagine meeting him on a quest, and him giving my advice on the road ahead.

In my head, I often envision intricate geometric designs combined with a central image. I have done drawing like this in the past, but it is always a balance of both mathematical precision, which I often disregard, and repetition. The story behind the drawing is not much beyond just trying to honor the visual concept that often floats around in my head, and the process usually tells its own story. This cat creature seems to have importance, and some sort of story to go along with him/her, but I am not sure what it is. This was draw with a mixture of markers and colored pencils.
Another cyclops. This time its a hairy bigfoot cyclops. I used acrylics for this one. I have been a little obsessed with painting monsters lately, and there were 4 0r 5 times during the drawing a day challenge that I ended up defaulting to some big monster guy with dramatic shadows.
Television. This drawing is one of the most political, and also filled with history. I once started drawing a series of comic strips called Without Heroes. The comic featured normal people interacting in the world with a series of super villains running around making life difficult. One of the villains was this television guy. He could mesmerize and distract people and even brain wash them. The eyeball backgroup was an idea I used years ago in a Paris Hilton painting I did. Of course the eyes represent the idea that everyone is watching. This particular drawing combines a lot of ideas from past projects, and involves themes and ideas I wish to use again in the future.

Totem Bears. I wanted to create this king-like figure that had conflict within themselves. As I was making it, I have decided that it was, in a way, a commentary on human beings. How we are all good in some way, but also all bad in other ways. The struggle to be positive instead of negative and share love instead of hate. The drawing did not start out with that in mind, and the little word bubbles were an after thought. I think it become an interesting image.

Fun A Day: The Art Show

The big party, gallery showing, for the Fun A Day participants was a blast. Live music, food, and a lot of great projects to look at. Before I get to the show itself, here are the final three works for Day 29, 30, and 31. You can see all 31 drawings and read about my project on my original Fun A Day announcement. Keep scrolling down to see photos of the Fun A Day show itself!







On February 11th at the Apohadian Theatre nearly twenty artist showed off a series of work that was created once a day for 31 days. Two bands blasted some music and we all drank wine and enjoyed the company. I want to thank all of those who were in charge of putting on the show. I really only personally know that Molly took my submissions and did a lot to put the show together, but I think there were many more. So thanks to Molly and the others.

Here are the photos:

Apohadian Theatre and the view from the stage. You can see many of the installments on the make shift wall to the left, on the piano, and in the middle.
Here is what my work looked like all together. All 31 drawings hanging together for the first and last time. For those interesting in buying one of the drawings please contact me. A few have already been purchased.
Michael Higgins had a great idea....a haircut a day. Not much else to say.
Me.

Another view of the space and the set up. A good collection.

Fun A Day: Week 2

crying wicked cat

Bring on the flirty gas masks, the crying wicked cat, the space vet, the sad snowman, and other various drawings.

Here are my drawings from the second week for Art Clash's Fun A Day. You can view the entire collection as it grows to 31 drawings. The collection of drawings will then be mounted and put on display in February. You can also contact me to buy any drawing pre-show for $30, the drawing will then hang in February and be sent to you afterwards.

pac manson

you wish.

calvin

futuristic space vet

Another end of the blog bonus content. I've been getting a lot of people asking me why I am so far behind with the drawings. The thing is, I'm not. I am actually all caught up with only 4 drawings left to go. I am simply behind with the less fun, and less important task of photographing, editing and uploading the collection. I could talk in length about what each drawing meant to me, on each particular day. The task of giving that much info each day would actually probably put me behind schedule. If there is a certain drawing from any day you want to know more about I would be happy to tell you. Just leave a comment and I will most likely take your comment and write a brand new blog using your comment, my answer and the image itself in a fun little in-depth look into my drawing.

Fun A Day: One Drawing Per Day

A few months ago, during my first trip to Portland, Maine I picked up a little flier. This flier advertised Art Clash's Fun A Day and invited anyone to do one thing (make a video, do a drawing, make your bed) every day of January and then document and display them all in one big show in February. Of course, I love this idea.

The 2011 fun a day art show in Portland, Maine happened at:
February 11th @ Apohadion Theater
107 Hanover St.
7pm

I will be posting all of my miniature drawings right here on this blog post. This post, by the end of January, will feature all 31 drawings I have created for the Fun A Day project. Links to each drawing will linked to this collection.

If you are interested in purchasing any one of these drawings, they are be presold (before going on display) for $30 each. The drawings will be mounted on black card stock and mailed to the buyer once the art show is over. You can make payment via my contact page using paypal, or with check.

You can read more about the individual drawings here:

Week 2: Wicked Cat and the Sad Snowman
Week 3: panda dragon and ladder portals
Week 4: One Eyed Yeti and the Bird Cage Drama
Week 5: The Fun A Show

january 1st

january 2nd

january 3rd

january 4th

january 5th

january 6th

january 7th

january 8th

january 9th

january 10th
*sold*
(Alicia Boileau Brown)

January 11th

January 12th

january 13th

january 14th

January 15th

January 16th

January 17th

January 18th

January 19th

January 20th

January 21st

January 22nd

Janaury 23rd

January 24th

January 25th

January 26th

January 27th

January 28th

January 29th

January 30th

January 31st