Then and Now: webcomic

My submission to the UMVA Union of Maine Visual Artists: Journal Fall/October Issue 2014

I have been asked to submit themed web comics to the UMVA Journal since 2013. The theme for this submission is "Then and Now" which asks the question: What happens to your artwork after it is created? 

Web Comics by William Hessian

William Hessian's Life as an Artist

An autobiographical web comic about William Hessian's life, including all the various artist jobs and situations he runs into. Including his bizarre imagination and goofy friends. All 100 comics are available to read on-line.

KING of the PILL

An adventure comic featuring Jasper the Face of Many Hands and a journey towards Immortality and Happiness. This bizarre tale features bright and conflicting characters and a host of odd powers that you get after taking pills called, Glorious Upgrades.

The Best Web Comic for Kids

A Web Comic for Kids
King of the Pill is the best web comic for kids. It can be hard to find a good PG web comic on the computer, and sometimes you have to spend a lot of time sifting through back logs of web comics to make sure the comic is actually safe for kids. This is why I am writing an entire post about King of the Pill and that it strives to be a kid friendly comic. The child friendly webcomic is updated daily, and provides some extra content like activities, free mazes, puzzles, and coloring pages (that you can submit and have as part of the comic). Everything is fun, free and family friendly!



The Story
The story in King of Pill centers around Jasper, who is bestowed with a pill that gives him the "FACE of MANY HANDS". Jasper, who loves his family, is guided away from his home and set on a grand adventure of puzzles, crazy powers, friendship and exploration. Along this journey he will learn about the mysterious pills, and meet some very bizarre creatures and monsters. Jasper makes new friends, but misses his home along the way. While the story has great sound effects and characters for the kids to read, there is a lot of content that the adults will also appreciate, including loss, loneliness and being lost in a confusing world.



The Art
Bright colors and simple cartoony characters make this comic immediately fun for the younger audience. Every few days one of the pages is animated and the images is glowing or moving. Sound effects, goofy dialogue and funny scenes also make it a fun ride, and a story that begs you to start over from the beginning and read it all again. There is something fun about a wacky adventure in a wacky world where things just do not really make much sense.

Todd Balthazor and the Walker Art Center comic

On three separate occasions I have been employed at the Walker Art Center, the famous modern art gallery in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The best part about working at the Walker Art Center was meeting and interacting with my co-workers. A large majority of these people are creative people, and many are visual artists. It seems you have to have a certain appreciation for modern art if you are going to spend 40 a week staring at it. So it makes sense that many people that work at the Art Museum are artists.

I could spend weeks writing blogs about all the talented people I have met at the Walker and talk about their works. And maybe I should. Today I wanted to start with and highlight the work of friend and co-worker Todd Balthazor. The timing is also relevant because he has just started a weekly web comic called It is what it is to be posted about being a guard at the Walker Art Center on mnartists.org:


It is what it is web comic by Todd Balthazor available on mnartists.org

My first experience working with Todd, was seeing him turn the break room into an art studio. Using his 30 minute breaks to paint, sketch or draw. I knew right then that this guy was good company. I spent many of my breaks doing the same thing, and it was encouraging to have another artist frantically working on projects during their break besides just myself.

Another reason his comic strip struck a cord with me, is that, basically the comic strip is about me. Since we have the same job I understand many of the inside jokes or double meaning of the work. It is all too true and funny.

Even beyond that, I have a strong connection to Todd's web comic because I spent a year making 100 of my own autobiographical web comic in 2009-2010 which often had content about my job as a security guard at the Walker Art Center.

Here is one of the comics I made about the Walker:

You can find all 100 of my web comics on my website

You can see why Todd's web comic project is especially exciting for me. Meanwhile, Todd Balthazor's illustration work is also something people should not miss:


Find lots more at www.toddbalthazor.com

Check out his work, and read the web comic. It will be a lot of fun.

relevant links:
If you enjoy web comics you should also see King of the Pill a web comic adventure about Jasper and his Face of Many Hands.

Check out other blog posts about the Walker Art Center

King of the Pill Starts January 1st!

In 2012 I will creating a 365 page web comic. Releasing one page every day of the year. You will be able to see all of the comics at the King of the Pill website. Bookmark it now, since there will be 365 updates you will not want to miss.

100 comics

This post is to announce the full collection of my 100 comics on williamhessian.com. I posted each comic here on my blog as I finished them, it took my almost exactly one year to complete.

To make it much easier to read through the comics, I have broken them into 5 sections of 20 comics. You only need to scroll down to see the next one, instead of clicking from one page to the next.

It's been a week or two since my last post, and since then I have moved from west of the midwest, to the east side of the east side. Read all about my move to Maine. I have been working on some new mazes, paintings and bunnies. They will all be appearing here in the near future.

comic 100

comic #100 of 100

my run of comics has come to an end. All 100">100 comics have been drawn, uploaded and shared on my blog. The enitre series took me a year to complete. I remember shopping in the East Side Co-Op in Northeast Minneapolis and stumbling on a collection of comics by Eric Lappegard left at the newspaper stands. I took it home and loved it. So much in fact that I decided to make my own. One year later I have 100 comics, and I am ready to be inspired by the next thing.

If you want to read the series starting from the beginning start with one of my jobs. As I mentioned previously, eventually my entire series will be ported to my art website, William Hessian dot com.

Thanks to those the appeared in my comics, left comments, encouraged me to continue, and simply support my art. Next adventure: moving from the Midwest to Maine

mental stress

comic #99 out of 100

the mental stress comment came after an argument with my girlfriend, Kelsey. It is common for us to get in petty arguments and say dumb hurtful things to each other. It is even more likely when one of us is stressed out. The comic is trying illustrate how frustrating it can. When emotions get involved, or when stress levels are high things seem so heavy and complicated when they usually are not. I am aware enough to realize it, and even draw it; now I just have to recognize it before it happens and end the whole sticky mess before it starts. in that particular argument I shut up (per Kels' request) and drew this comic instead.

its almost sad to be this close to the end of drawing these comics. although, it has been rough trying to get them done on a consistent basis. it took me just over a year to create 100 comics. Some were decent, some were pretty bad. You can see all of my comics on my comic collection, which is soon going to be on my actual website and not just my blog. It will be nice to have them full size, instead of small so you have to blow up each one you want to read.

If you want to read more about my mental stress and personal life, check out zombie robot frosting posts like A Foggy Mind.

Ax-Man

comic #98 out of 100
Ax-Man surplus stores is one of my favorite stores ever. They sell an odd assortment of objects for really inexpensive prices. You never know what you will find at an Ax-Man store. It is one of the few stores I have the urge to go to, even if I do not need something. Also, its the first place I go to look for something I need.

I do realize that reading this comic with zero knowledge of this store my seem very confusing. That is why I am giving a history of it here. Although, part of me wonders if the comic is funnier the less you know about the store.

The morkit I refer to is from a video I made a few years ago, where I invited groups of friends to my apartment to search for the morkit. The group that found the morkit first won artwork. To find the morkit the group has to decifer a series of clues that led them to open up vents, unscrew pens, go outside and dig under a tree and rip open a teddy bear. It was a blast.

Only two comics left!

Angry Candy

comic #97 out of 100
each time i sit down to draw my comics, I stare an Easter Bunny pez dispenser (unopened) that I got from either my brother or my parents (i forget which). the dispenser has been sitting there for months, and as I try to think of ideas of what to draw i keep remembering my childhood trying to load those darn things. It used to really make me mad. I assumed there was some brilliant method to which I was not privy, then I watch the Seinfeld episode and realized i wasnt the only Pez challenged person.

the other odd thing about this pez dispenser is that it comes with chocolate flavored pez. Yes, chocolate flavored pez. I am afraid to open it. The above comic features the imaginary scenario where chocolate flavored pez sounded great to me, and I rushed to open it and then found myself frustrated when trying to load the odd flavor into the dispenser. Our family used to collect pez dispensers when I was a kid. I have star wars pez dispensers, teenage mutant ninja turtle pez dispensers, holiday themed pez dispensers (like snowmen and santa), Looney Tunes pez dispensers, and some odd random ones like trucks or miscellaneous characters. Fun times.

AL wars

comic #96 out of 100

Al Wars. I love when I get these kind of e-mails. Commissions for new works, ideas for new projects, proposals for collaborations. Sometimes I get these e-mails a lot, sometimes I get zero. I was very happy when Al wrote me this e-mail.

This now leaves only 4 remaining comics to be posted. Then it will be on to these new bunnies.

cute but deadly

comic #95 of 100

see some real photos of Frasier the kitten. The cute has razor blade claws and a fearless slashing ability; all while being about as cute as any creature can be. The result, lots and lots of bloody gashes. The comic above is pretty accurate for both Kelsey and myself. Cats are worth it, even if it means you have scars all over your body.

the next few days will feature the final 5 comics. enjoy.

maze comic

this comic combines two passions, maze making and comics. I have a collection of free printable mazes available on this blog, and nearly 100 online web comics. in an odd way this particular comic pays homage to my childhood; reading 'Calvin and Hobbes' or comic books like 'Ghost Rider' and 'X-Men' and also endlessly doing maze books and creating my own mazes. I have always been a monkey see monkey do. The first time I saw a casino I came back and made my own slot machine out of a cardboard box. I remember one of my mini comics from grade school featuring the bloody battle between Spider-Man and Wolverine. My comic gave no reason for the fight, or why the two heroes seemed possessed by evil rage; in the end Sabertooth dropped out of a tree threatening to kill them both. A cliffhanger I will never follow up on, but funny none the less. It is funny to think I have never kicked the monkey see monkey do attitude in adulthood; if I watch a hockey game I want to play hockey. If I see people playing Pinochle, I want to play Pinochle. I've made a large effort to focus my concentration or prioritize my time. Thus, fighting the urge to do things I see and supplementing it with the urge to complete things I have started. I think most people call this 'growing up'. Seems unnatural, but I'm getting used to it.

Failed Comics

Over 90 comics drawn, so many more that failed (usually bad puns). I decided to honor those failed attempts with this comic. It is always sad when a great idea turns out bad on paper, but the crumpled paper usually looks pretty cool.

It is all of a sudden really hot out today. I look forward to drawing and cleaning on a muggy day. Its going to be a good one!

Vegetarian in Jamestown

Two years of being a vegetarian. Amazing how easy and enjoyable it has been. But certain places, especially small towns, make it difficult. You can read all about my adventures as a vegetarian on Zombie Robot Frosting.

Only 8 more web comics until I reach 100 and end the series.

Trying to Meditate

so true. curiosity killed the concentration.

but i love cats.

so its worth it.

this is comic #91 out of 100

killing canvas

you can watch video of me killing canvas or see my canvas kill live website. Sometimes I will do live web cam shows, create art, kill art, sell art, and then make videos of the results.

Inspiration

It really did inspire me to make eat love. Nothing like a little dog vomit to jump start a creative mind. Only a handful of web comics left until #100, and I end this web comic series. I will be able to get back to a lot of other things, like paintings, drawing, printmaking and new bearded bunnies.

Being a Vegetarian

this is a bad joke i've enjoyed since even before i was a vegetarian. i do think the actual funniest part of this strip is the oh-so-true reaction by people sometimes when i reveal i vegetarian. "He's a freak!" Not that i really mind much, it is more amuzing than anything, and i am glad to stand as a friend of the animals, instead of an enemy of them.

If you want to know what made me become vegetarian, check out this blog post. If you watch the video you will quickly see why I cannot in good conscious eat meat any more.

Brothers: WAR

The epic battle of the gem tummies took place on that fateful day. Hordak was off conquering the battle beasts, and April O'neil was interviewing Boba Fett. The world had no idea what was about to happen. It was the hair heard around the world when those trolls stormed castle grayskull.

My brother, Scott, and myself told epic tales on those carpeted floors.