Free Comics Online Shadow Creatures

Hey Apathy! Free Comics Online

From the skyscraper’s towering over the monstrous metropolis to the deepest corners of unexplored nature, an indescribable relationship between all things on this planet exists. No event is ever singular, though few are aware of these connections, and fewer still have ever actually travelled amidst these hypothetical waves. Shannon Lilde, a young scientist for the Making Life Perfect Corp., discovered a means of doing exactly this. During a series of product tests involving light manipulation, solar power and cybernetics , the aspiring lab assistant developed an unpatented means of teleportation. Her formula enabled one to enter and exit a molecular expressway hidden in shadows. Though the destination was not limited by any geographical obtrusions, the routes which could be conquered followed a distinctly logical repetition. The shadows would only connect to places affected by each other. For example the shadow of a table might lead to the factory in which it was assembles or to the forest where the wood originated. In fact this it exactly what happened the first time Shannon tested the technique. It was a combination of terror, incited by the factory conditions, and wonder, a result of a forest unlike any she’d ever seen, which caused her to excessively investigate the world behind the shadows without permission from the company. On the morning of June 10, 2010, Shannon, her formula, and research vanished without a trace. There was little reported in the press but word of a bounty has since spread amongst those who are concerned with such things. There is also a bit of a whispering around the offices about a Shadow like phantom disrupting certain shipments as well as a rumor that last week a CEO vanished during a meeting and was found 15 minutes screaming like a mad man in a sweat shop in Peru.

13 Stories, Forbidden Tales of the impending Apocalypse

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics

In even the most pessimistic of tales, therein lies the brilliance of hope. For the act of putting pen unto paper is expressively optimistic, presenting others an opportunity to grow. That being said, I made a goal for myself to create 13 short illustrated stories before this upcoming New Year. I’d no real intention towards developing such nasty and hopeless fables as I did, in fact I’d no inclination towards writing anything at all,  it just sort of happened. Having abandoned street art performances as a means of promotion/communication in favor of working online and with arts councils & committees, I discovered a sudden and urgent dependency on the written word (stumbling through these poorly conveyed thoughts it’s a wonder I’ve survived this long!).

At first this meant endless hours of essay writings attempting to explain myself and persuade investors or patrons to give me money. That got boring but I knew my writing needed a lot of work so I started making things up. I decided to practice writing the same way tht I approach the development of visual artworks and decided on a series of 13 stories which, theoretically, could be compiled as a print publication. The process then involved a lot of sketching, unedited writing done directly in this blog. After a while some of the stories sort of stuck with me so I’d proceed to do drawings and prepare them for the “online book”. I went through a number of my drafts this evening and think I’ve all the shorts sorted now. Very early this January I’m going to take a few days to edit the h—l out of them and post all the work in it’s intended  format. Inspired by the prospects of completing this little experiment I laid down a quick pen and ink illuminated text drawing and a couple of weird faces (above). The rest of my day was spent working on animation stills and thinking about the “City of Gears” cartoon show pitch.
Here's an index/blurbs of the 13 stories:

1) SEEDS A commercial traveler searches the world over for new and marketable anomalies. His investigation eventually leads to a tribal village hidden deep within the jungles of Africa. Here he learns of secret vegetations capable of unimaginable feats. The discovery may prove enormously profitable, but can these surreal vines be safely transplanted back in the City of Gears?


2) THE ELEVATED CITY A sociological imperative to exist beyond earths’s capabilities has driven the soil barren and left the air void and toxically malodorous. In our infinite brilliance, man has moved upwards, away from his mess, developing a new architecture sprawling heaven bound. Levels upon levels of strange apartment communities annihilate the skyline as the sun fades into myth and nature is a forgotten word.

3) A TALE OF TWO TREES As the all encompassing MAKINGLIFEPERFECT Corp. reaches new scientific heights, useless and manipulatively destructive lifestyles rein supreme. However the industrial success has attracted unexpected enemies. Hear the cries of nature for two trees have assimilated a mechanical foliage battle armor in order to survive these terrifying technological times!

4) A SHOPPING SPREE NIGHTMARE A Surreal shopping spree incites strange nightmare visions of an amorphous globular macroverse. Enthusiatically overwhelmed, an unsuspecting shopper engaged in a world of unobtainable satisfactions becomes psychically imprisoned in a sanatorium padded with buyer's remorse!

5) BRIDE OF THE WORKHORSE An unusually surreal comics adventure involving a genetically modified centaur romancing a artificially ameliorated runway model. Can the fated love affair consummate or will mechanical deviations consume the once illuminated passion? Another strange and unrealistic interpretation of the way things actually are.

6) SHADOWS A young artist experimenting with shadow and light accidentally unleashes insidious creatures of the night. Are these nightmarish forms a merely imaginary brushstrokes or has the painter depicted something far worse?


7) THE AMORPHOUS GLOB MACROVERSE An apparently insignificant opaque puddle spilt in the night malignantly mutates proceeding to commit horrific telepathic invasions. The irregular and intrusive messages sent from the glob, reveal the most damnable and unforgettable of all unwanted insights, agonies and revealing reflections.

8) FASHION SHOW NIGHTMARE A Fashion shoot turns monster as the latest trends reveal mutilated depravity, terrifying trims, and people turned inside out. A step by step must read for all young upstarts entering the fashion business!


9) DIARIES OF A DEAD MAN An excerpt from an anonymous diarist regarding an extraordinary and hallucinogenic experience as a devout atheist witnesses firsthand the power of the almighty. A frightening account of religious awakening and the prowess of true faith.

10) NOTHING MATTERS An aging litterateur reaches an inexplicable enlightenment through a life time of meditative studies. Having finally read all there is to read and written his dissertations, the man becomes ill and for the first time, realizes how lonely it actually is inside the old and extravagant library.

11) THE BRAIN WORM THING Following an exclusive invitation a skeptical consumer attend the unveiling of an intriguing new digital breakthrough. The MAKING TECH PERFECT company is introducing the worlds smallest, most advanced and intelligent, virtual serfing technology. But will this new device impress our disgruntled protagonist or simply turn out to be another scam.

12) ANDROID MAN In the span of a few short weeks a successful landscape painter finds his business and his life going digital. With the aid of modern computers the artist rises to fame and fortune discovering, piece by piece, that he no longer needs his paints or even the landscapes he once rendered.

13) AFTER THE HARVEST Surreal Aliens invade earth only to question whether or not our planet is fit for assimilation! What will these beings make of mankind and what are their diabolical plans for earth’s future? Beware, these extraterrestrial vegetations having been plotting for millennia from way-outer space to the skyscraper skylines of our monstrous metropolis!

Just made this as a personal checklist but it's kind of interesting so why not share. I didn't actually "finish" all these but I do have at least solid 1st drafts and artwork  for every one. A few of them have been polished but I am happy that I got 13 of them done, I've had so many more important ( less amusing/ more lucrative) things to do over the past 10 months. Lot's of editing and more than likely a few new fables before I try to put the whole thing together proper like. See more work Heyapathy!

The City of Gears Kids Comics Online

HEY APATHY! Comics Online!

Maybe today was one for dreaming, but something about the holiday season, and in particular my 2year old nephew, has got me thinking a little more about comics for kids. As a public performer I have been interested in communicating to both the intellectual and younger viewers. Prior to my street and festival interventions, the artwork had a tendency towards a bleakness and horror much more nihilistic than the playful monstrosities I draw today. The last time I made something that was really geared towards younger audiences would have to be HEY APATHY! Book Two. While Book One, using superhero type imagery to tell a silent and symbolic parable, is vary borderline and can likely be appreciated by all audiences, Book Two was modeled after kid’s comics and cartoons. This sort of story telling might alienate “artsy” audiences (one artbook publisher laughed at me for making kid’s books) but they are not nearly as interesting or exciting as kids are anyways.

A little time before making the Samurai Comic (Book 2), I scripted and sketched out a children’s book entitled “The Sound of the City” based on one of my ink drawings of the same name. Although I haven’t gotten around to working on it yet, the script keeps making its way to the top of my pile of things to do and is really tempting. I think this book will happen soon.

Yesterday I did some drawings for my nephew. He likes to tell me what the pictures are,” Fish! Truck! Mommy!” and so on. It is really fun. These scribbles got me thinking and I decided to give a quick whirl at designing a “HEY APATHY!” kids cartoon. I did the sketch (above) in about a half an hour during which time I pretty much sorted out all the details. To make a long story short, these superheroes are basically vigilante law enforcement in the over-industrialized imaginary City of Gears. The city is on the brink of annihilation, though the denizens don’t realize it and the team has to fight various evils villains trying to destroy the metropolis. Sounds dull I know, but I was inclined to approach this as though it were a real show. This means within a set of rules and formulae. The fun will be in the symbolic narratives which I are festering in my sick mind.

The team consists of two kids, an artist and a book-worm computer whiz, a superhero, the old wise one, a female adult with musical magic, Audu & Jungle Cat (from Book Two). They have a giant robot which, once a diabolical business drone, has been reprogrammed for the better of mankind. The Robot is a key representation of the necessity to use, and not combat, technology despite all the inappropriate programming. The MachineHead corporate villain is continually trying to over-do consumption frequently threatening the well being of the city. Lastly the heroes know that they can not disturb the flow of the city for fear of chaos and must work entirely in secret. Blah Blah. Anyways I’m having fun with this today. I think I’ll flesh it out with some more drawings the next time I have free time. I think it would be cool ( and likely wise) to have a whole television series worked out. You never know when  opportunity might arrive and more importantly this is  just something I always wanted to do. READ WEBCOMICS!

Android Man -Comics Online

HEY APATHY! COMICS ONLINE

This may sound odd to many people, especially to younger audiences, not that I’m old or anything it just happens. Suddenly most of your hair is gone and what is left is grey, you get tired and can’t move so well on rainy days. Without warning all the new music and movies seem stupid but it doesn’t matter because you can’t remember them anyways. You also begin noticing that supernal luster of life and vitality in the skin of the young though you’ve no memory of such a glow in your own youth. But here I go jabbering like the old fool I’d sworn never to be! What I meant to say is most of you might find this strange, being accustomed to such things, but I have finally become an android.




For the better part of my long life I have earned an honest living as landscape painter. As you can imagine most of my time was spent outdoors. I passed hours messing with thick paints on some of the world’s most striking hillsides. Many of these subjects were quite isolated but frequent trips to towns and cities kept me satisfied for both supplies and socialization. One of my favorite excursions was to the artist’s district where I used to have professional slide photography taken while I mingled with the creative denizens of the west side lofts.



After the travel friendly season of sketching and experimentation was completed I’d return to the metropolis to hold up in studio for the winter. In the middle of the city it was easy to get around regardless of weather and the frequent trips about kept me in touch with reality until the bright spring time sun returned. This lifestyle suited me for a long time and the probabilities of anything else seemed nil.



Again, sounds silly doesn’t it? I mean we all know there aren’t any landscapes anymore. Nevertheless after the forests were all gone business actually improved rather drastically. People longed for nature scenes and even though I couldn’t actually visit them anymore, I didn’t really have the time anyways. The paintings sold for what ever I asked and as often as I felt inspired. Soon the business was at such a pace that I started having my supplies and groceries delivered. With seldom a break nearly six months had past and I never set foot outside my building.



After the extended period I completed enough of the work for an exhibition. I got very excited about the event because it meant going down to the old artist district for some slides and a few pints. However when I called in for an appointment I was told the lofts had all closed. My art dealer told me it didn’t matter and sent me a small camera to do the shots myself. He said he’d come around to gather him but on the date he was expected I received a package from him instead. Inside was a computer and instructions on how to email him the photos. So I did and that was that.



Some time passed and I continued working alone and indoors when one day I received a phone call. It was an automated message from my dealer requesting that I mail him a signed copy of certain form I’d find in my email. I then realized that I didn’t have a printer and finally had an excuse to leave the house. I got dressed and strolled down to the nearest internet café. I thought about how this would be a nice part of my routine. I’ll go for a walk and a coffee any time that I need something printed. When I got to the café it was closing, they said business wasn’t any good. The movers handed me a free printer and continued to clean out the shop.



Some more time passed before I received further news from my agent. This time he’d struck a deal to mass produce prints of the art. I was instructed to do away with my painterly materials and given a state of the art drawing tablet in their place. All of the work is now done directly in the machine.



Still business is booming and all I ever have to do is paint. There was a time when this would have been a dream come true but the repetition and isolation is growing wearisome. I thought that maybe I’d go seem a movie or peruse the local book shop. I might entertainment shipped me another device. This time it was a smaller computer designed exclusively for reading books. While I examined the thin and foreign object, he set up a “stream” on my desktop (from his remote location) which endlessly plays movies. Now I never have to go out.



It is absolutely incredible all these machine around my chair. I can access anything I want or need to within a 3 foot squared space. All my business, all my pleasures, all my necessities, available in this tiny room. I know it all seem so normal to most, but to me it has been sudden and strange. One minute I was standing in nature’s open valley and the next in an electronic world. I realize I am now an android; a prisoner … at least the landscape business has never been so damn profitable.

MORE PEN AND INK ILLUSTRATIONS

Strange Stories - The Deceptive Window

HEY APATHY! Alternative Comics & Art

My miniscule and angular apartment boasts no luxurious features and has only one small window overlooking the outside world. The window is exactly 2 feet 8 inches wide by 3 feet and 6 inches tall except for when it is not. Sometimes the window is much smaller though it has never been any larger than it appears. The varying size of the portal is however manageable and of little concern. The truly disconcerting qualities, the sensations of uneasiness and disorientation, are coming from the things I see on the other side.

The view is a clear and basic one, facing an empty skyline with few buildings or really anything at all. Oddly enough I am located in the heart of the big city, surrounded by corporate skyscrapers, condominiums, clubs, restaurants and malls, yet the placement and dimensions of the window have left me staring at an empty sky. There is however the top of a maple and a grouping of electric wires. At night the moon sits in the corner but the sun herself never passes me by. As such the scenery offers little more in it’s usefulness than a representation of seasons and possibly the weather.

The particular alignment of the buildings facade in conjunction with the sloped major road ways and metropolitan tower labyrinths has obscured not only my vision by the ability to listen too. With one of the few open passages amidst the entire urban landscape, the window sits directly in the center of a strange wind tunnel. The gusts travel to and from all ends of the city carrying unusual signals in uncertain waves. The sounds, combined with the rumbling from traffic below, sing through the apartment but bear no semblance to sense. It may sound like a massive parade going on but when I’d inspected, the street were all bare. Sometimes crystal clear conversations take place in this room and on other occasions I could’ve sworn my neighbors were partying excessively. Of course in each of these cases, the noisy culprits were only riding the winds.

Like the sonics it carries, the winds also move deceptively around. Often dancing with the tree just outside as well as stomping throughout my room. The patterns are so erratic that once with a swoosh I’d been blown off my chair. In another instant I battled with a pounding rainfall only to find a mere drizzle occurring outdoors. The opposite is also quite ordinary and days that appear still and beautiful turn out to be frozen by storms. Occasionally the window properly predicted the true conditions, but only often enough to keep me confused.

Even at this very moment things appear quite and the sun is shining. There is little noise and no winds blowing, even the tips of the tree are standing still. No, I won’t be fooled this time, I can see that misty stream of smoke. It is almost invisibly faded, yet most certainly there. That opaque smoke is from a furnace, and the speed with which it vanished must mean angry northern currents. I’ll stay here where it’s warm and cozy, but what if I’m wrong? What if it is s beautiful day? Maybe the streets are paved with music or spring blossoms and I am in here, trapped indoors? You never really can tell from this window. At least there is one thing certain in all this trickery and that is that the window always wins. No matter how I examine or analyze the situation, it incites in me an inspiration to get up, dressed, and outside to gaze firsthand into a world in which one never knows.

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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.





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comics online

Jenny Everywhere

Jenny Everywhere is a public domain super-herione, despite my satirical interpretation, I'd say one of the coolest characters ever.

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 WEBCOMICS The Improbably Shrinking Woman ...

HEY APATHY! Alternative Webcomics!

An unassuming office working's daily routines incite a perpetual reduction in her size and psyche! Part of the Surreal Comics Chapter 1 "The Replacements!" in which a group of people of various sociological positions are strategically and systematically replaced. New pages every Friday! You can also read Book 1 and 2 in the  online comics section of my site.

Alternative Comics Street Art and Performance Video

HEY APATHY! Surreal Comics

Just finished putting together this video of street art, performances and mural painting. The video will be projected tomorrow night on Queen Street West as an unofficial part of the 2010 Nuit blanche celebrations. Officially a selection of my animations will be included in the outdoor installation taking place at the main entrance of 401 Richmond Street ( a huge arts complex featuring galleries, studios and office stuff.Here's the write up for the video:

HEY APATHY! is an ongoing investigation into the monstrous metropolis. In the earliest works the city was announced as a giant gear propelled by an endless sea of faceless denizens. In order to best understand the phenomena in question I developed a particular artist's process involving outdoor festival performances, public murals and street art. By means of this unconventional interview I have since talked to thousands of people from all over the globe and of all walks of life. As a result both the artworks and myself have evolved immensely. Today my comics still depict the city as an ominous gear, only now it is up to all the strange and unique characters, not anonymous cogs, who fuel the machine.

This video features several timelapse documentations of my live performances and graffiti work as well as a little animation. Artworks 2002-2007, video by Slavek Smeigel and Craig Boyko. Experimental Soundtrack by Narsen Osutei, Mark vanZyl and Mike Parsons. All new surreal animations, weird comics, and cursed contemporary art at  http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/



Alternative Comics Animation Stills

HEY APATHY! Surreal Comics!

Still plugging away at the apparently endless ( unlike the finances) pile of drawings for the new animations. Also found some time this week to get the next pages of the online comic ready and handled most of the bureaucratic chores which bog down the unrepresented artist.

ALTERNATIVE COMICS Surreal Interiors #3

HEY APATHY! Surreal Comics

A potted tree and the robot gardener.

Alternative Comics Surreal Streets, Buskerfest 2010

I just got in from my second day at the Buskerfest. I'm filthy, exhausted and have been painting for 11 hours. It will probably take just as long to get the black grit out from beneath my nails. The thing was a freaking party, amazing music, thousands of people, 30 foot tall rampaging dinosaurs and the most striking venue I have ever had the pleasure of performing at. Can’t get the pictures off the camera, am to tired to recollect the events any further, and I get to do it all over again tomorrow, good night!

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 Weird Interior #1

HEY APATHY! Surreal Comics

A handsome sum was paid in advance not for the tickets themselves but for information regarding whereabouts of the ticket agent . The amount paid by the ticket holder is somewhat open to speculation though it can be ascertained that if you aren’t aware of the price for such things, you simply do not have that kind of money. Having said all that, the stubs are checked and a small unassuming door opens. Behind the façade lies a room of the most peculiar sterility. Metallic panelling and the large overhead structure of lights and wires from an operating room are only embellished by a festive curtain covering the unseen subject. No one knows for sure upon entering , and absolutely no one breathes a word after exiting, about those unusual items which entertain the most elite. Beyond power, beyond violence, beyond carnal, cruelty and beyond reason, lies the horrific atrocities which have no function but to combat cases of multibillion dollar ennui. Pen & Ink 4x 4 inch detail  This is one of the panels from the Surreal Webcomics cover I finished this week. Thought I'd take some time to do  write ups for all the little panels in the drawing over the next few days while I get to lettering the story which I will start posting next week.

ALTERNATIVE COMICS Surreal City Nightmares

HEY APATHY! Surreal Comics!

I just finished the gatefold cover page for the upcoming SURREAL WEBCOMIC. The image features  an attack of the amorphous glob techno verse on a group of unsuspecting denizens in a high rise building. On each floor, and the ground below, other strange events are unfolding. Some of the images are from the first story arc but several of them never existed before. That means I probably have to incorporate them into the mythology or else this would be one of those crappy covers that shows things which aren’t actually in the book. I had originally planned on a cover image featuring an amorphous globular attack inside a mad scientist’s laboratory but my desire to draw some mock-perspective ache texture resulted in the sky rise landscape instead.

Thematically I’ve been toying with the idea of a high-rise cross section for many years but have never actually taken the time to try it in the studio before. This was a good test run as I plan to use two similar scenes in the new comics. Through this first attempt I worked out a lot problems and will have a much easier time render the future artworks. Two of the biggest problems I encountered have to do with the size of the original drawing and the resizing of the image for the online portfolio. First I learned that an image of this complexity requires a large drawing surface. I tried to do the image at 11 x 17 inches but found some of the small rooms in want of finer detail. There are eight rooms cover ¼ of the surface. For the most part an entire comics page would have a maximum of nine panels and would have been drawn at almost twice the scale I used for this piece. The second major, major, major, problem I have to deal with is scanning. All of my detailed and smooth line work is turning into ugly Lego block pixels when I post them online. I have to deal with this because most of my work looks a lot crappier than it really is.

SAMPLESOF MY BAD SCANS, the lines are all pixelated

and get worse as I retrieve the original tones

I’ll be starting the weekly instalments of the new web comic next Friday. Hopefully I’ll have my scanning issues resolved by that time but the show will go on regardless. The Weird Tales title is just wishful thinking but really helped me put my own project in perspective. I now realise that I really need to edit my writing and adjust my low quality images before I’ll be happy with my new Surreal Comics series. more at http://www.heyapathy-comics-art.com/

ALTERNATIVE COMICS Surreal Monsters of Time

HEY APATHY! Surreal Comics

Today was a day of revelation. Often times in our lives we mark occasions with celebrations as a signifier of growth, change, existence or triumph. Although us westerner’s seldom openly attach the quest for satori to our festivities, like a first nations adolescent seeking a spirit guide our rituals also conjure new perspectives, thoughts and ideas. Does the newly appointed CEO not feel a surge of super-humanity following the announcement and subsequent round of drinks? Strangely enough though these ceremonies seem to have an equal tendency to resurrect feelings of despair as they do joy. Take for example the New Year’s Eve ceremony. While many look forward, shedding past misfortunes and breeding future prospect, other’s still are forced to wallow in shame for missed opportunities or paths mistakenly taken. As the ball drops lover’s mingle, entrepreneurs plot, children stay up late and a few of us who can’t take it anymore send the old year off the side of an unguarded bridge.

As the surface water breaks with a crescendo splash, one can only wonder if the party was actually so dull as to instigate the early exit. However, from what I have observed it is seldom the physical affair but rather the psychological implications regarding the celebrations which initiates despair. Of course there are many whose social anxieties and fear of coloured balloons have sent them over the edge ( Party Clowns seem also to be notorious in this fashion), but for the most part it is the comparative significance of judgement exemplified by a predetermined ideal lifestyle which brings about the darkness. That is to say that each festivity marks a certain stage in the subjects life whereas a certain number of specific achievements should have been accomplished. A two year old should talk, the eighteen year old should drive and the twenty seven year old must be wealthy.

These sorts of standardized expectations are intrinsically attached to almost any celebratory event, whether it be consciously or otherwise. Enter the more horrific of them all the dreaded birthday. On this lovely day several people get together to share stories, gifts, and marvel at the fact so and so hasn’t been hit by a bus yet as so many of us had anticipated. Here the victim of nature gets an entire day with which to grade his or hers success in life up to that point and in comparison to others who’ve lived as long and done well for themselves. At first these days appear joyous but as the years role by the weight of ones past failures begins to gain mass. And this is where I have found myself and unsettling revelations, today.

I was born on this very day at this exact moment 159 years ago. Obviously I’ve not lived my life accordingly as one, I’ve been alive far too long, two I am not yet showing my age, and three I never followed the rules known and accepted by society. No instead of following the regular treatments, my life has been entirely devoted to the pursuit of dreams. Not once, in all of those years did I compromise my hearts desires in order to achieve what most claim as success. I never studied anything I wasn’t interested in, I’ve never worked a job I didn’t want, and I have never succumbed to the mass systemic programming which passes for satisfaction in the guise of purchase. I have taken and extended all my of life to practice and perfect my dreams.

As rewarding as this may sound, it has also become of the most terrifying significance on this my 159th birthday. Despite all my dedication and devotion today I have finally accepted the final fact, these dreams will never come true. For all my hours in the studio I still cannot write a poem, sing a song , paint a picture or star in a movie. I’ve tried, lord knows I’ve tried, but in 159 years of attempts not a single success. Not even in private. In fact rarely did I ever see fit any of my “talents” to introduce them to the outside world. Not that I’ve ever cared about fame mind you, only in the perfection of the art. The attention could only be a resultant of exceptional work and never the goal itself. Perhaps therein lies my downfall? Regardless no matter how skilled I became a small voice in the back of my mind kept repeating “ you’re just not good enough”.

I never really listened to the voice nor assigned it’s criticism any merit before but today, today, my bliss has broken and my ignorance shattered. I’ve seen people rise and fall, and even rise again, over and over while, stubborn as I am, I kept practicing, hoping to someday live out my dreams. I don’t know why but today the dreams passed and I came to an intolerably monstrous revelation. It’s like for a long duration of my life all the people of importance were older than myself and I would one day grow to be one of them. There was potential in my youth. Now, and seemingly suddenly, I am over 125 years older than almost every person of note and have never done anything noteworthy, or at least I shunned to share any of it with the outside world.

So the deep dark revelation that has overwhelmed me as I stand on the edge of this unguarded bridge is age. Time has passed me by regardless of my decided inability to acknowledge it. Today I have a wrinkled forehead and tomorrow I will be dust. Today I am no one and tomorrow I’ll be even less. No stage, no band, no movies, no museums. There is nothing to be done about it though for I’ve tried everything I ever wanted to try. It simply didn’t work. 

more alternative comics

alternative Comics Surreal Nightmares of a technological nature

HEY APATHY! SURREAL COMICS

Oh how sad a day it was when on this, Friday the 20th of August 2010, the heat finally broke. For weeks now the city has been sweltering under a blazing sun and suffocating humidity. The effects of the climate on my own little existence have been vast and varied as my studio apartment has been less than tolerable during the hot season. Despite air-conditioning, several fans and attempts at an open window, this top floor lodging refuses to resist the extreme temperatures which were amassing outside. In fact on numerous occasions I nearly passed out at the keyboard, dripped sweat over animation stills, or simply gave up and had a nap. For the most part however, I resigned to developing a work schedule accordingly so as to remain productive throughout this summer spell.

As a street artist’s I paid particularly acute attention to the weather. Alas the livelihood of a busker or vendor depends on the sun. Shoppers are like weeds, if the conditions are right their bags just grow and grow. I’ll never forget the time one of my prints went into a London tourist’s large plastic bag which had two other items in it; Frank Zappa’s Orchestral Hit’s and a Spider-Man comic. What an honour to join such magnificent purchases (there is no escape). At any rate as I worked the streets for five consecutive seasons, I became quite familiar with our city’s weather patterns. Each year, between 2004-2008, Toronto would suffer a brief humidity strike reaching temperatures in above 40C heavily influenced by humidity. These waves always lasted for about two weeks before a more reasonable climate would settle in. Oddly enough this summer set out in a common fashion, only at the end of the two week duration always haunted by the heat wave, we saw little relief. I can estimate that the wave started around July 10, and only let up in the past couple of days based on my journal entries. Since the city and my studio heated up I have had absolutely no desire to write and can trace the forced paragraphs back to the aforementioned date. Not to say that the writings are any worse ( how could they be) than those written before the humidity, but they are shorter, generally technical and inspired by commitment rather than by muse. This entry marks the first time I’ve gotten an “urge” to actually do this in quite a while.

Like the disturbance of my daily journal, the heat has also dictated my drawing schedule over the past few weeks. In order to maintain a comfortable work environment I’ve had to rearrange my practice, location, and hour operation. During the day I retreat to a shady spot in the park were I read and sketch. Unfortunately the animation cannot be produced in an uncontrolled setting and I’ve had to limit my daytime drawings to short comics and small pieces for the website ( the ones posted hear over the past couple of months). Though nothing could be more pleasant than an afternoon in the park doodling, I often got frustrated by the limitations of the park process but could not bare the hellish studio. This problem was solved simply by rearranging my molecular structure and forcing my self onto an unusual sleeping schedule. After the park I tend to sleep a few hours off before dark. Then went the cooler night arrives I brew a fresh pot and hit the animation stand. These late hour have proved immensely productive but physically draining often putting me out of commission during the day. During those exhausted hours following a hard night’s work, I’d take to reading in the park as opposed to drawing. The days have had a tendency to work like this, 10 am rise, 11-5 sketch or read outdoor, sleep until 8 and work in studio from 9-4am. Weird? Yes I feel a little weird and sleepless but I’ve conditioned my self well and have been extremely productive.

So after all this complaining and inconvenience why, might you ask, would I mark the end of the heat as a sad day? Well, I suppose I’m really enjoying the freedom to work, read, sit outside, and create. So I’ve had to risk my health and compromise the work a little, summer air is fleeting and not to be taken lightly. The park weather will be gone soon and so will the money. Everything is about money. I made mine in the spring and soon I’ll have to make some more. Life is very different as a legitimate professional than it was on the streets. Sure I get up 50 time as much for some of the work but the money comes in distanced chunks as opposed to a steady flow. The streets were very reliable and constant, as long as the weather held. I guess the big difference between the two techniques of marketing could be defined by a sort of “putting your eggs in one basket” analogy. The streets offer multiple chances at reasonable rewards, if one day is bad you get to try again on the next one. Doing shows, on the other hand, often brings in much greater rewards although if a presentation fails, it could be months until the next one. As silly as it seems I spend far too much time selling and budgeting that sometimes I think it’s a wonder I get anything done. Stronger men than I would have choked and gotten a job along time ago, but I’m way to stupid to do that. Besides the shows always go well and I don’t stress nearly as much as I used to (flashback in my mind to me sitting on Queen Street selling drawings on a cold February morning 4 years ago) . On that note I’ll be performing / exhibiting at the Scotia Bank Busker’s Festival from the 27-29. I’ve never done the show before but am aware of it’s reputation and expect an amazing festival. Did anyone actually read this whole thing? Well I’m sorry if you put yourself through all that, I suppose I’ve been collecting a lot of ramblings behind my eyes and I’ll try to make a regular effort of typing again so this doesn’t happen again.

Oh yeah the drawing is a new illustration for the Amorphous Glob Macroverse, one of 13 stories I am  making as a part of the new HEY APATHY! Surreal Comics.

Alternative Comics Surreal Monsters

HEY APATHY! Surreal Comics

Another Amorphous Glob talisman for the 13 stories. I think this one is going to go with the little poem in "The shopping spree nightmare". I have extremely limited knowledge and tools when it comes to web design so quite often the images are not fitting where I'd like them.

Lot's of improvising and compromising but sure enough the site is growing. It's not what I want but I'm learning. Eventually the damn cursed online representation of my life and art will actually look good, one day. Anyways spent most of the hot day scribbling in the park and took a rest from the animation, full force again tomorrow.

Alternative Comics Strange Plants

HEY APATHY! Surreal Comics

Two diagram drwings of a strange plant assimilating human form from the HEY APATHY! 13 stories, A ciollection of illustrated works and weird tales from the city of gears. In my spare time between drawing animation stills I've been scribbling some small icons to enhance my surreal stories pages on the website. These images are from the SEEDS fable, one of my favourite ramblings from this blog I tried to edit into a story.