Alternative Comic Book Drawings

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comic Book Drawings

Damn Toronto was cod today, but the sun stayed on strong enabling me to enjoy my morning coffee sitting on the bench outside.  My fingers barely even froze. Otherwise I spent the entire day (and possibly a few more hours still) slouched over the computer doing menial design tasks I neither enjoy nor am suited to or trained for in order to update my NEW WORKS page on the website. It has been almost six months since I’ve added anything other than the weekly webcomic and things go stale online really quick. So I’ve been scanning, resizing and adding titles to my 2011 output and should have the thing up and running within the next couple of days. The image posted above is of a Neuroborg, a telepathic avatar projection of the human psyche as it exists in our current technological age. The term “Neuroberg” is the name of the place where these strange electric astral citizens currently reside. It is going to be a part of the new new works page. More Comics



The City of Gears Kids Comics and Cartoons

HEY APATHY! THE SERIES STARRING

Robots, Monsters, Superheroes and the City of Gears! A group of artists and musicians battle strange technological terrors in the City of Gears! I spent a few hours this evening working on these character studies for the imaginary television series. I did a quick concept sketch for this before Christmas and promised myself that I would work it up a bit after New Years. Well it’s already the sixth of January and I hadn’t found anytime for this yet, which resulted in a guilty little nagging voice acting out as a constant subconscious reminder of my unfulfilled commitment. I finally caved, boiled up some coffee a made the time I’d committed to, to work on the pitch. I made drawings of 5 of the 7 team members and did a lot of meditative orginazation of their origins and the story,. Anyways I’ve got some commission work, and appointments to do deal with tomorrow and I am so close to finishing a scene in the animation that I’ll probably won’t get to finish this roster ( and all the villains) until early next week.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the kids comic book characters shown above

1) Instructor Howie- art teacher, zen master

2) Timmy- young artist, tablet can project 4-dimensional avatars the Timmy draws on the screen

3) Argenta- computer witch can communicate and gets along with any electronic/digital/ artificial intelligence. In the City of Gears everything from the sewer system to the skyscrapers is automated, giving Argenta abilities surpassing the greatest of history’s sorcerers.

4) The Robot- a strange computer chip is corrupting peaceful robots. When Argenta discovers and removes the chip the Robot tells her that it not only had the device made him do bad things, it also made him feel bad. Thankful for his freedom the Robot re-programmed himself to join and protect Argenta and her friends.

5) The Flutist Gale- music instructor and majestic flutist whose notes conjure nature and whose music battles the machines….

That’s it for now, damn it 3:49 am and I have to be a train station tomorrow by 9! Good night. HEY APATHY! FREE WEBCOMICS

Surreal Artist FACES and BODIES

HEY APATHY! Surreal Artist Ink Drawings

Introducing the HEY APATHY! surreal “Face” pen and ink drawings, a series of disproportionate silhouetted metamorphosis’ depicting the transformation of man to machine and the telepathic ramifications of our artificial millennia. The images illustrate a strange comparison between the human psyche, the running teleplay behind ours eyes, and its detached relationship to our mechanical bodies of flesh and bone. The ballooned portraits reveal a dark omnipotent force meddled with an array of simultaneously emotional and technological features. The astral interpretations manifest themselves as large bleak forms hovering above and beyond the small vessels from which they originated. These separated bodies, though somewhat autonomous, perpetuate routine existence by means of mundane mannerisms and meaningless interactions with miniature electronic devices. “Faces” is an all new attempt to expose the modern man as neurological cyborg, who, though devoid of actual robotic body parts, exists entirely amidst a virtual construct.

NOTES ON MAKING THE INK DRAWINGS

These abnormal drawings of people represent the first body of fine artwork illustrations that I have worked on in over two years. The “Faces” are being produced through a creative process I tend to refer to as a “formula series” in which a restricted set of visual symbols, material, and techniques are repeatedly examined in order to develop a cohesive set of images. This is probably the most traditional approach to creating gallery works and one I used extensively from 2000-2008 prior to my increasing interest in comics and animation. There are several advantages as well as disadvantages to the “formula” approach as it offers an invaluable means of artistic exploration but often results in creative limitations and ultimately the commercial entrapment of the participating artist.

For the better portion of my career, leading up to the end of 2008, I utilized the aforementioned “formula” method to develop a series of large gallery installations. At that time I would decide on a particular theme, format, drawing tool and technique and proceed to experiment with multiple variations in a singular style. A good example of this can be seen in my 2004 works, “HARD RAIN”. In this collection I developed an unusual comic borders made of scratchy shapes, weird buildings, and ominous orifices. Within the strange borders I would then drawing little scenes of solitary chaos. The entire series featured over 300 illustrations all done using the same drawing technique, a large pen for borders and perpetually smaller pens for the comics themselves. By using a single approach I was able to masterfully explore all the possibilities of this particular visual vocabulary and eventually obtain a sort of meditative state while creating the works. Once the formula is achieved the artist no longer needs to struggle with his/her materials but may concentrate more fully on the ideas, messages and symbolic aspects instead. This meditative state of experimentation proves especially valuable when the formula involves minimal technical maneuvers and rapid production.

This manner of artistic processes proved especially useful during my live street art performances as I had little worry about my materials or approach and could give my full attention to interpreting the audience and determining the imagery accordingly. However it was also while working the streets that the formula style started to reveal several limitations. Starting from very simplistic visuals, each year I seemed to add more and more element to my drawings. This ultimately led to single bodies of work exploring multiple themes, characters, and narrations as opposed to one unified symbology. As time passed I started to bore with repetitious drawings and really wanted to produce work that moved through images, processes and concepts quickly rather than extensive studies of a particular theme.

At the end of 2008 I decided to forsake gallery style works and the “formula” method altogether in favor of producing comic books. Here I could weave my way in and out of themes, techniques and parables much faster as a comics page takes far less time to make than a large scale drawing. The comics also offered varied formats allowing for offshoots or impulsive changes in the creation that would not work well in a series of drawings. The comic can flash-black, change scenes or even intrude upon one another permitting, even necessitating the use of different techniques and approaches. In gallery works, the commercial representative tends to request a collection of replicated works at a marketable size and often similar to previously saleable images by the artist. This method of presentation can present infinite restrictions towards the artist’s whim and ability to progress.

Circumstances, mostly financial, put a hold on my intended devotion to comics and graphic novels last year as I was awarded some grant money to work on animations. In many ways this new direction appeared even more hampering than creating formula works as animation is the most repetitive and tedious of all artistic processes. Not only do cartoons require thousands of duplicate drawings but the production can leave ab artist working for weeks at a single scene of concept. Basically this turned out to be the exact opposite from what I’d planned for myself, nevertheless the opportunity to animate is certainly a rewarding one.

So it stood that I was trapped in one of the most extensive “formula” works of my life when all I wanted to do was dance through a barrage of surreal vignettes and strange dreamscapes. Well subconsciously all these creative desires started swelling and without realizing it I found my self, between hours at the animation stand, writing stories, sneaking in a weekly webcomic, and finally working on a new series of ink drawings. All of these little asides occurred naturally, without intent, and likely a result of the undeniable urge permeating throughout my existence.

I just started these new artworks a few days ago but was able to jump right into the meditative state, drawing freely and fluidly. I’m using two nib pens and a brush for flat washes. The works consist of a large tribal portrait and a small modern figure drawing. That pretty much the formula. The work seems far less restrictive after working in animation and the little non-formula-formula, in which one images is repeated and the other open-ended, allows for endless investigations. At any rate I plan to use this technique in small batches, 20 drawings maximum before attempting another new style. Though I’d grown weary of this way of drawing, I have found it useful again primarily because these quick studies can be produced with little set-up or effort and let me play around a bit after long hours of rigid animation work. Everything else I’m doing right now requires so much attention that whipping off a few creepy ink stains at the end of the day is proving rather relaxing and possibly even therapeutic. VISIT HEY APATHY!

TO BATTLE A BANKER! Weekly Alternative Webcomics

WEEKLY WEBCOMICS! Strange Adventures in Investing...

HEY APATHY! Free Comics Online! This week the odd assistants attempt to kidnap and replace their must insidious foe yet, the banker! Weird superheroes, unusual citizens, diabolical villains and nightmares personified, welcome to the city of gears! Follow this surreal art comic exploration of the mind and the metropolis as reality weaves in and out of television broadcasts and little difference can be seen between night and day. New pages every week.

Surreal Comics is my fourth, and absolutely most absurd, graphic novel in the HEY Apathy1 mythology. The story follows a mad scientist and his lackeys as they mysteriously replace a number of denizens of varied societal positions with Frankenstein-like duplicates with intentions unknown. At the same time an unidentified superhero protects the city from giant robot terrorist attacks. Using an unusual combination of single page, short comics and extended narrations, the goal of the comic is to reveal the weird fable in the most disorienting, albeit entirely legible, manner possible. How else could I legitimately entitled the story SURREAL COMICS? READ COMIC FROM THE BEGINNING

Toronto Art

HEY APATHY! INK DRAWINGS

HEY APATHY! Toronto Artist Gallery Drawings. These are some shots of large HEY APATHY! Ink drawings collected at the Cambridge Galleries. The Show featured a wide range of thematic explorations regarding the metropolis, chaos, people and the apocalypse. Most of the works were created with a hand made bamboo drawing instrument and black India ink. The drawings range in size from 2 x 3 feet to 10  x 16 feet. This exhibition also included an animated installation presented on a television screen embedded in the wall.  This exhibition was curated by Sascha Hastings in 2006 and remains one of my most elegant presentations to date. FULL EXHIBITION HISTORY HERE

Eyes in the Sky - Diaries of a Dead Man

HEY APATHY! Pen & InkDrawings

Though my limbs continue to sway, it is only the conglomeration of larvae and vermin scurrying beneath my flesh which keep this body in motion. Once a young and hope filled enthusiast, I threw myself into a world of optimistic activism. In this world every action, thought and deed was designed to satisfy an overwhelming concern and impulsive revolt which had permeated throughout my logic. I couldn’t understand existence but could see how a few simple changes, like a strategic twist of a rubix’s cube, would bring the whole thing together. So I fought the good fight in every respect. From the simplest of gestures to the most elaborate of affairs every move I ever made was a plea for change and an educated attempt to incite such occurrences.


For years my struggles went unimpeded. Each new season brought new success and the movement I’d become a part of grew stronger. Although at this point I see little reason in preaching of the various methods and means through which we’d achieved such successes, I will mention that the numerous enterprises involved had assimilated many of the techniques invented by our consumerist opponents. We had discovered a means of production and promotion equally as profitable yet completely void of all the manipulative and damaging aspects associated with commercial ventures. Absolutely no hazardous materials, inhumane labor conditions or corrosive advertising were ever implemented yet still our products flourished. As a result the project began to attract attention from a multitude of investor’s, producers, agents, Hollywood stars, writers and critics. A mainstream breakthrough was undoubtedly on our horizon. However time and again, the outside interests proved detrimental, forcing us to abandon seemingly endless avenues of opportunity to avoid the risk of turning into the very thing we despised.


All of this, of course, was to be expected and frustrated us little. We’d been fortunate enough to find smaller opportunities in abundance and were never truly tempted by manufactured success. Do not misunderstand this, for our mission depends on mass communication and every possibility was examined to the fullest. However at the first hint of corruption all negotiations ceased. It was through this process that we were able to discover many people in favorable positions who were not only willing to assist, but truly believed in the cause. So it stood that, around the winter of my fifth year in the organization, things were going according to both or plans and ambitions.


It was a late November evening that I decided to go for a stroll. I had completed a lucrative summer schedule and was nearly prepared for the upcoming winter event. This “event” through not necessarily crucial, was definitely a pinnacle accomplishment in the progression of my work. I was confident and pleased, knowing full well the potential advancements that this particular project might incite. It was by far the most intricate and intelligibly developed of all our attempts. I felt a plausibly invincible and had little fear of any complications. As I wandered the streets filled with decorative lights and shopping hordes, a sudden tingling inspiration struck me not unlike a mild euphoric shock. .All of the hairs on my neck stood up in attention as I stood on the walkway in unexplicable awe and excitement.




Now before I continue it is important to understand a little more about my personal beliefs. I am not a spiritual or religious person in any right. I do not believe in the supernatural, fate, unicorns, honest politicians, Santa Claus or pop music. In fact it has been a particular devotion to logic and reason which has propelled this mission to unfathomable heights. Yes, the things I have been striving for are not unlike those taught with such emptiness by people who claim to be godly (or in the service of deities by any other name). However those of us involved are motivated only by the world we live in, the quality of life and our children, not by any other worldly rewards or punishments.



So there I was a devout atheist, anti-spiritualist, ultimate-realist with little imagination for intangible apparitions, standing in the middle of a glistening windy metropolitan street. Struck by this inspiration, I looked up to the sky and impulsively posed a question unlike any I’d ever considered before. My thoughts ran as thus “If there is something out there watching over us, whatever you are, I wanted to say that this place is a real mess. I’ve done my best to fix things down here and well if you give me a voice I will use it to help.”




I didn’t have time to analyze the absurdity of my thoughts before the sky opened up strange above me. There, as if superimposed between the opaque clouds and glossy sky, appeared two giant red eyes. They were not those of a feline or serpent, but they were not human either. The eyes closed and faded instantly, almost as if I never saw them. Yet in that brief second the mocking glance had, like all eyes do everywhere, told me a story. The eyes were laughing and had said something like ‘boy have you got it wrong, this is not a world for those who’d help, this is the playground of evil. As long as you follow the subservient laws, you are destined to a life of suffering and torture.” I couldn’t hear, nor visualize the castrating cachinnation bellowed by the beast but believe me I felt it. Beyond embarrassment, beyond humiliation, beyond hope, it was like starring in the mirror only to realize that you don’t look anything like you did in any of your dreams or memories.




I tried to put the experience aside and thought very little of it at the time. Even to this day I believe the vision was nothing more than an idle thought which found it’s profanity in my excited exhaustion. Not even for a moment have I accepted the hallucination for anything more than that, yet something terrible has been growing inside me ever since that weird walk. At first it manifested quite slowly like some terribly acidic consumption easily mistakable as some physical ailment. However this repulsive hollowness thwarting my innards soon spread throughout my veins. The perpetually evolving sensation now inhibits my entire being.





A record snowstorm hit the city shortly after the aforementioned incident. This terrible storm hit hard annihilating our winter event. Not only did the snow shun our attendance and shut our doors, but an accident involving several of our transport trucks all but destroyed any hope quick recovery. The winter that followed was plagued by destitution and the mission failed to progress until late the next spring. By that time I was able to recoup to some extent, but had become restrictively ill after a long and poverty stricken winter.



To make matters worse another company moved in on our market, only they were not doing it right. Though they had plagiarized our public appearance and boasted our ideologies for promotional purposes, the competitors were still producing products in an unredeemable fashion. In essence they had staked a claim to all of our innovations but were in fact still selling cheap sweatshop plastics. Before long that company started exploiting the corporate and media relations we had been forced to reject. Within a matter of minutes they had risen to international acclaim using our titles and image whilst belittling all our ideals. Broken by fatigue and corrupted by a despairing stomach I began to lose initiative and shortly thereafter resigned from the revolt.





I’ve spent years now wandering and the world seems perpetually worse. All of the different old buildings are gone and the new ones appearing are organized. I can no longer stomach the sound of new music and even in starvation I can’t find anything of value to eat. Sometimes I muster enough energy to read, but here there is nothing that can rekindle my once passionate pursuits. No, despite all my efforts and foremost ideas, the wound inflicted upon me that November night was a fatal one. My life ended there and then. Still the maggots and rats push me about and around; feeding on meats and seasoned remorse, but do not let these movements fool you, I am merely a staggering carcass. These routines, my remains, all the ruins, are nothing except fitting, for this is truly the world of dead men.





more stories

comics online

Toronto Artist "A Paper-work Nightmare"

HEY APATHY! Comics Online

My Toronto artist studio floor is camouflaged with forms, essays, applications and endlessly bureaucratic pages of budgets and text. Hardly a drop of ink to be seen, the spots now entirely engulfed by the chaotic compilation of documents accompanied by randomly scattered brown envelopes and data discs. The theme to Gilliam’s Brazil echoes through the hallway as I dodge spelling errors, wrestle resumes and struggle to defeat the deadline horizon of this years granting season. The accumulation of two months worth of typing, reading, writing and rearranging words, numbers, pictures and accomplishments shuffles about slicing my ankles, stifling my every move. Duplicates, triplicates, multiple copies and only 1 copy of each form, sent to various addresses, all labeled with the artist’s name and the title of the proposed program of work or proposed grants program, each asking for the assistance in the development of a socially satirical body of animated atrocities. A little odd isn’t it? As one who spent most of his life perfecting a humanist art form derivative of folktales, street performances and the inspirational chaos conjured out of random experience, the penetration of paper work made me feel as a surreal Sisyphus might if only the boulder was a cabinet of forms which could never be completed. But alas I conquered the nightmare and that work is done.

As the opening description might suggest, the completion of said task was not an easy one. In order to get all this stuff done, and to the best of my abilities, I decided to make a meditation out of the event. I refrained from all drawing, recreational reading, and leisurely use of the internet. The only exceptions would include a late night cartoon or two after I’d exhausted my ability to produce proper essays and forms. I did get into one short discussion about the Justice League on facebook, but it was completely by accident as I actually went there for business purposes (I don’t usually chat on that forum).Abstaining from these small pleasures wasn’t too difficult because they all involve using the computer. After 8- 12 hours of working on the machine the last thing I felt like doing was traveling anywhere online. The most trying factor of the ordeal was suppressing the urge to be creative.

I stayed focused throughout the work but was perpetually taunted by my imagination. As soon as I’d step away or lie down the stories would start to flow, ….a tale of a dead man kept in motion by larvae and vermin feeding on genetically ingrained experiences, missed opportunities, broken dreams and embarrassed emotions… and things like that kept popping into my head. The next page of the comic, the animations, an idea, all crashing at my psyche attempting to overthrow the mathematical and essay driven obligations I’d imposed upon myself. It is certainly a strange battle, the artist, itself an anti-established deviation who throws paint on walls and lives free from all anxieties, forced to wade knee deep through imaginary paperwork in order to continue his mission of making a mess.

Despite the contradictory nature of the artist seeking finance from a world that he/she cannot help but criticize, the process is actually quite logical and certainly fare. Most of the applications require a brief, yet succinct, written account, some visual support material and summarized budget costs. It is amazing how many forms and copies you have to fill out in order to convey that simple information, but in the end if one knows what they want to do, and the work is of any cultural value, then one probably stands a good chance. At any rate finalizing all this organization of materials proved far more rewarding than repulsive and seems to have ended much swifter than it began. Well the letters are all sent and the remaining papers brushed to one side, so I think I’ll spend a day or two cleaning before doing whatever it is I’m going to next. HEY APATHY!

Alternative Comics UPCOMING EXHIBITION! Ink Drawings/prints at URBAN SPACE

HEY APATHY! COMICS ONLINE

12 x 8 Foot INK DRAWING

will be included in upcoming exhibition

Urban Space 401 Richmond Nov 1/2010

To quote one of the great(est?) philosopher’s of recent times, “ GREAT GOOGILY MOOGILY!” I just started to relax following a long season of exhibitions and was preparing for a solid month of grants writing when out of nowhere I’ve got another show. Since February 2010 I have done 8 exhibitions including outdoor festival performances, comic book conventions and a simultaneous street performance and video installation at two locations during Toronto’s Nuit Blanche festival. That schedule worked out to be almost one show every month, all of which were convention style, meaning I had to transport all of my work, set up a portable gallery and tend the booth for two- four days. The Buskerfest was particularly exerting as it lasted for four 16 hour days in a row. Now that the busy season has past I was looking forward to some reclusive studio time and was glad to have the street gear in storage for the winter. Though as it turns out, not for very long.

At this time of the year the aspiring artist is generally chained to his/her computer conjuring proposals and budgets for the upcoming grant deadlines. My first submission is due on the 9th of Nov. followed by a few more applications due at the beginning of Dec. There for I had set in my mind to focus exclusively on these essays and forms over the next few days. The time so far has been divided between a lot of brainstorming, (though I know exactly what I intend to develop artistically at this stage it is more important that I cater the phraseology of said project to best suit each of my requests for funding and the councils reviewing those requests) and some preparatory paper work. I’ve had to make no small amount of inquires in order to ensure I create a proper budget and resume. I am still trying to get some answers out of the Toronto Arts Council, which is basically the only thing holding back the process right now. Tomorrow I’ll start the writings, likely between 6-9 pages worth depending on how much the conceptual approach differs from grant to grant. For example an animation might be more appealing to one council as a narrative film for festivals while another would prefer that same project to be called a media installation and shown in a gallery. Nuclear or Nuculear is still nothing but trouble.

As my obviously fragmented and slatternly expressions in the above block of text might suggest, the grants writing process is rather consuming and requires both extensive amounts of time and concentration. So just as I’ve initiated the rewiring of daily mental faculties and physical tendencies from creative production and performance towards academic and bureaucratic nightmares, I get an invitation to do a show, this coming Monday. While this has thrown me for a bit of a loop and surprise, especially considering the inexplicably short notice, the experience has proven improbably timely despite might current workload. Although I have to dig back into my storage unit and prepare another instant exhibition, this one will be in a public gallery space and this sudden connection has actually assisted me in the granting process.

One of the pending bureaucratic nightmares involved in the grant submissions is the inclusion of an authorized note of exhibition. The Councils expect the artist to have a gallery or space booked for the completion of the proposed project ( which ironically can not exist yet according to most grant regulations). This letter of confirmation has always been a struggle for me because I am a completely independent force with no gallery or representative to vouch for me and almost all of my shows are juried/ booked in the early spring. This means that there is no way for me to know if I’ll be accepted or to obtain the necessary letters until late spring when the results of the applications are released. Amazingly enough my meeting today about the upcoming show also resulted in a booking for next fall and subsequently the important letter of confirmation that I so desperately required.

Not unlike the unusually circumstantial obtainment of an exhibition space at a time when such an acquisition was vital, so to was the oddity of how the situation came about. A few months back I left a giant shared office studio located at Richmond and Spadina, just beside 401 Richmond (a giant Art Complex here in Toronto) in order to focus my studies on animation. Since I’d no plans of producing any original artworks this year ( and quite possibly ever again) in favour of small computer based cartoons and comic strips, I had no use for the grand studio and retreated to a home set up using the money that would have paid for the rental space to upgrade my animators electronics. I had some concerns about the relinquishing the commercial space but it has been one of the best moves I ever made.


 Shortly after leaving the studio I received a call from Urban Space, a major gallery located in the 401 Richmond Street complex. The gallery asked me if I could do a live performance at the main entrance of 401during this past October’s Nuit Blanche festival. Due to logistical reasons  (I RALLY WANTED TO WORK QUEEN STREET) I offered them my animations to project on the exterior of the building instead and the installation turned into a great success. So almost instantly upon my exodus from the shared studio which overlooked the professional building, I had moved into a bigger institution. Mind you that move was primarily symbolic as it was really just my projections that were being featured for a single night, but that night looks better on my resume (and in person) than 5 years of dealing with passively aggressive Machiavellians posing as young artists and studio mates.

The Nuit Blanche projections ran simultaneous with a live painting performance I did independently under a tent gallery on Queen Street West. These two events marked the end of my exhibition season and resulted in the slight moment of relaxation I mentioned at the beginning of this entry. Coincidently my symbolic entry into the 401 Richmond Street Building lasted for about as long as my rest period as I received yet another invitation by the Urban Space gallery, only this time it was to book two exhibits inside the gallery and (GASP) get paid for it. Earlier this afternoon I went down to gallery to see the space and confirm the exhibitions. I’ll be hanging some work in a group show this weekend and will have the entire space to myself in the fall. Pretty cool.

I think I may wait until tomorrow to discuss the group show, it only has three artist including me, and is going to awesome as well as an honour. I will however give a little credit were it is due and close this off explaining how these absurdist developments came about so suddenly. I got an email yesterday from a long time patron/collector Max Allen and though I’d no idea where or what the show was going to be I know Max’s style and was certain the exhibit would be intelligent, provoking and important regardless of any commercial viabilities and my tight schedule these days. It turns out that Max, already the founder and curator of the Textile Museum of Canada, radio producer and long time art collector just became a managing curator for the Urban Space Gallery at 401 Richmond. As one of his first duties in the new position, Max procured a showing of art about cities, in particular a comparison of physical and financial provocations regarding New Orleans, Detroit and Toronto and just like that my symbolic entry into one of Toronto’s most respected Art’s building transformed from a symbolic one to fully developed physical working relationship.

In delusion, er conclusion, I touched on a number of small topics here that require further explanation but have pretty much covered the basic sequence of events which occurred between Oct 2- 26 which have resulted in my first gallery showing in over two years and more importantly I am rambling out many, many words these days just to flex my essay-writing muscles which are going to be put to the test during the next few weeks. more at http://www.heyapathy.com/

Alternative Comics Surreal Webcomic

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics

Busy week in and out of the comics laboratory. I've been pounding away at the animation but had so many other odds and ends that  time is slipping by fast. I did a lot of research ( with the aid of my father) into getting proper prints done. I haven't been able to meet the needs of my customers because of various technical difficulties regarding print production. However this past week has been really successful and I've been able to find a few really nice prints at various price points. I got some glossy posters done, which will probably sell for less than $60 and some really high quality arcival giglee prints. The giglee prints aren't cheap, but damn they are striking. I am really happy with the work and will be making up a couple of new editions next week. This weekend is the Nuit Blanche festival so I also spent many hours editing the animations and music which are going to be projected on the front of 401 Richmond Street. I'll also be performing /projecting out on Queen West as an unofficial part of the program. The worst part about editing was that not only do I not know what I'm doing, but I installed a brand new video editing software in my computer that was totally awesome, until it crashed my system. Nothing, not even my documents folder, would work properly until I uninstalled the new system. That was a rotten 6 hours. Nonetheless I got the weekly webcomic finished and posted. The prologue or first vignette, is now complete. So that's one exhausting week with many other things still unresolved I move forward towards Saturday's exhibition, an entire night, from sunrise to sunset, of live painting and projected animations in the middle of the streets. OTHER STREET ART EXHIBITS

ALTERNATIVE COMICS Surreal Webcomic

HEY APATHY! ALTERNATIVE COMICS

I can’t believe it’s almost October already. Two days ago it was 30 degrees humid and warm all night. Today it is fall. The wind is howling the nice temperatures are hiding with the sun and we are all that much older. Without getting too morbid or macabre ( giggling already)I can’t help but to repeatedly envision my final breaths and I  feel closer  and more terrified of them than ever before. The end of the summer will do that to you. Working hard despite the ominous premonitions and got another page of the surreal comics up as well as this little promo drawing. I wouldn’t really call this the cover because it only took a few hours and was drawn in my sketch pad. I’ll take some time to do a real cover someday maybe when it’s not so cold out but hopefully before those horrid, gasping, conscious and absolutely enlightened last breaths…



ALTERNATIVE COMICS New WEBCOMIC

HEY APATHY! Surreal Webcomic

This is page 2 of the new Surreal Webcomic I'm making over at HEYAPATHY. The series is set out as a bunch of one page weeklies that sift in and out of a bizarre and terrifying larger story arc. New oneiric experiments  every Friday ( or early Saturday Night).   

Alternative Comics

DRAWINGS


ANIMATIONS

I hace been learning to write some html by decoding the codes in the Edit HTML section of this blogger site, then using them to fix the HEY APATHY! homepage. Thus this weird assortment of unrelated text links and photos. I'm just going to leave this as is and call it a post.

ALTERNATIVE COMICS Surreal Interiors #4

HEY APATHY! Surreal Comics

Alternative Comics Weird Interior #2

HEY APATHY! SURREAL COMICS

Following a round sample of a fashionably alluring strange elixir the board members slip into euphoric state awaiting the presentation. As they slouch into a woozy oblivion, the meeting room shrinks from comprehensive perspective take the shape of a small stage with the table as a platform while the southern drywall ripples like a drawn curtain. As the lights lower and the pit orchestra moans, an oddly unfamiliar rendition of Punch and Judy begins. Groaning ferocious the deviant headmaster reaches from behind the drapery, and from beyond the wall of sleep, demanding a living sacrifice from the disillusioned jester and his arsenal of hench-creatures. The horrific ceremony unfolds and the drug breathes a stimulated relaxation into the the beings of the board/ Without a second thought a conversation erupts and intoxicated means of marketing the weird terrors a hand fly freely from the brainstorming sect.

ALTERNATIVE COMICS

HEY APATHY! Surreal Comics

Alternative Comics

HEY APATHY! Surreal Comics work in progress!

Alternative Comics a Surreal Noir

HEY APATHY! Surreal Comics!

Another creepy comics panel from the upcoming web presentation. This noirish wanderer is plagued by horrific visions of a monstrous metropolis engulfing the seedy city he’s  so accustomed to. The whole collection will include a number of one page stories and about three extended adventures. I had no intention of expanding the comics beyond a single page but  funny things keep happening. After I finish the short I start thinking more about the character’s backgrounds and futures and little histories start to evolve. I don’t have time to draw them all so many are forgotten or written poorly as prose . Well one thought led to another and a couple of the strips escaped the single page infecting any where from three up  five others. These extended shorts however, still follow my original literary attempt at single page stories and can be read either compartmentally by page or as a collective vignette.

To sum up what I just wrote, Surreal Comics! is a collection of single page comics in which some of the strips are connected narratives and the entire catalogue reveals yet another story. It as though there were  strips inside of shorts hidden in a graphic novel, kind of surreal. Just wrote that for fun. More ALTERNATIVE COMICS

ALTERNATIVE COMICS Surreal Split

HEY APATHY!  Surreal Comics!

A surreal split instigated by a technological interface splicing communicative devices with organics, genetically separating the various facets of a human mind into individual physical entities. Hey what do expect from a web comic called Surreal! This is another panel from the ongoing collection of weird stories I’m making in between extended sessions at the animation stand. One of the bonuses of making the comics in a sketchpad is that it the book travels easily allowing me to enjoy some of the nice summer weather while remaining productive. The animation, on the other hand has to be produced in the studio and it seems unhealthy to be inside to much when I know that it will eventually be winter again. In the future I am going to schedule the comics in the summer time because I can make them out doors, and save the animating for the long boring indoor season. However this animation is being funded by the Ontario Arts Council and was created in accordance with to their granting schedule. Back to the drawing table… more HEY APATHY! ALTERNATIVE COMICS!

Alternative Comics an amorphous globular experience surreal

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics

 This is a little scene from the upcoming surreal web comic in which a somewhat unsuspecting shopper experiences the most horrific of hallucinations, maybe. This amorphous globular thing is one of the major symbols in a lot of my recent works. I won’t reveal it’s meaning here because it would spoil the fun and is clearly apparent in the short stories. The Surreal stories are illustrated fables combining comic book style imagery with the written word. It was really just a way to be creative when I was too busy to actually draw  comic pages last winter. Though I still don’t have the time for full explorations, some of the stories are being featured as vignettes in the new strips. The drawing posted above is based on the short story “ A Shopping Spree Nightmare”. Keeping this sketchbook of comics while working on the major animation, has really helped keep my mind flowing while tackling the enormously repetitive task of drawing the cartoon.

Alternative Comics Surreal Stories

HEY APATHY! Surreal Comics

A celebrity news broadcaster of perpetual influence and success had master the art of facial hypnosis. A regimented routine of mirror and video exercises has brought him to know his own face like no other. Drunk on the glory of his own magnificence the reporter reads mechanically while his thoughts are of himself. Of course this is when things get weird, but we have to wait until tomorrow to find out how…  more ALTERNATIVE Comics!