Free Comics Online! Superhero Battles!

HEY APATHY! Free Comics Online

A giant terror machine attacks the City Square! As the mad robot battles our tiny strange hero the billboards capture and illuminate the drama. As the large flickering screens project and announce the thrilling scene the crowds turn impulsively to watch the event unfold. Staring wide eyed at the images the people watch with mesmeric paralysis completely unaware of the threatening chaotic destruction smashing through the streets only a few feet away. HEY APATHY! Weekly Webcomic featuring the Superhero, the Surreal, two Strange Surgeons and the City of Gears!.



The Bankers Battle Continues! Free Webcomics Weekly

HEY APATHY! Free Webcomics Weekly

The two unusual assistants of the mysterious mad scientist have infiltrated the office of an executive banker. As part of some weird plan the twins have been systematically replacing various denizens of the gear with laboratory made duplicates. Up till now the task has been a simple one, but the assistants haven’t faced any foes near as threatening as the almighty director of the city bank. New pages every Friday as part of the ongoing HEY APATHY! Surreal Comics mythology. HEY APATHY!

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

Free Weekly Comics Online! Page 11

Alternative Comics Online

Two unusual character’s dressed in surgical garments have been sneaking around replacing denizens with laboratory-made duplicates. In this segment, “The Banker” the strange assistants face their fiercest foe to date. Follow the surreal art misadventures every week as both the  audience and the author try to figure out what the hell is going on. READ THE WEBCOMIC!

I drew some of this pen and ink comic page on the train while travelling to my parents for the holidays. Not the most ideal place for a perspective interior rendering, or really any kind of drawing at all, so the page ended up kind of muddled. I really wanted to pay more attention to the line work, hoping to improve on last week’s image but kind of ruined my chances with the rush job on the bumpy track. I doubt anyone would even notice if I didn't mention it, but the dark planter on the right hade side, second panel, used to have all sorts of little details until I smudged the whole thing suddenly at a railway stop. Oh well there is always next week! 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

Thirteen Stories, forbidden tales of the apocalypse

HEY APATHY! Independent Comics and Art

A plant has attacked a corporate office, a mad scientist and his twin assistants have set about replacing people of varied societal positions, a centaur is still chasing the supermodel, amorphous nightmares runs rampant through the streets and the city of gears spins on! The past year has been, well different, but it always is. One of the most significant of these “differences” has been my dedicated, though feeble, attempts at writing stories. As a street artist, 2004-2008, I had little use for the written word managing all my interactions verbally and with an experienced eye for unspoken communications. The streets are all about the eyes and body language which I would then perceive and create a verbal approach accordingly. Around the fall of 2009 I started building a website and all of a sudden there were none of these options forcing me to use the only means available for online communication, words.

I made a number of failed attempts at essays and descriptions for my site but found the work overwhelming, scattered and ultimately poor. I put that project on hold and started with something smaller, little blog blurbs, but on a daily basis. I made sure to do about 200 words everyday and started working with little structures. I’d do 100 words on the story in the art, and 100 on the story behind the processes. Soon the word count doubled, and while still not satisfied with the finished paragraphs, the ordeal slowly became easier and was soon a regular in my daily routines.

Prior to this it must have been 10 years and the only writing I’d done was papers for an art school. Nevertheless what choice did I have? On Tuesday April 12, I ran out of things to say and started making things up. At this time I’d never actually written, or properly considered writing, a stories with words. When I “write” graphic novels I do so directly with the ink on paper. They are basically composed like silent films and the dialogue/text are the last thing on my mind. Animations are made the same way, I just make it up as I go along. Telling the stories on the streets is again, entirely contradictory to the written version. For example I can change my choice of words on the spot depending on the demographic of the viewer. You can’t do that online or in printed text.

The process of making things up proved immediately gratifying. Although I have been putting a some efforts into producing drawings this year, my primary focus has been on developing new animations. These things take for ever and you don’t really get to think about the narrative developments because so much attention I required for every 2/22 seconds of the film. Basically in the same time it takes to illustrated a single panel artwork telling a world of stories, the animation might only get the characters from one scene to the next (if I draw fast). Knowing full well that I can’t make animations and comics at the same time, the written stories really fulfilled a need to produce ideas rapidly while engrossed in such a technical process.

So I decided to write 13 stories with illustrations to use on my site. I think there are 7 posted and few more hanging around the blog. I maybe only edited 2 of them properly but I won’t start inserting scolding coat hangers in the veins beneath my toenails if that doesn’t happen before the new year. If I can get all thirteen ideas into pages, I’ll be satisfied for now. I’d love to see the work published in a little black hardcover entitled “Thirteen Stories, forbidden tales of the apocalypse” or something like that.

WEEKLY 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

Toronto Artist

HEY APATHY! Toronto Artist

Getting ready for a long winter in the studio.

What a beautiful winter’s day for a stroll. The winds are blowing a white dust around. The ground is slippery and slushy but repeatedly painted white, as was I after ten minutes with a coffee on the corner bench. The computer says it is – 8 with 44 mph winds but it doesn’t really matter I made my way obtrusively through all my chores. These obstructions slowing my route had nothing whatsoever to do with the weather but merely mistakes and poor planning on the part of myself. I made way to the pet store to get crickets for my lizard forgetting of course that they are closed every Tuesday. Half way to the art store I remembered using up my supplies but realized at that moment I’d not brought enough money. I made my way home through the snow and back to for the supplies, another quick coffee and I was settled in the studio by three. I actually enjoyed the mild weather making the travels rather pleasant. I hate being cooped up no matter how productive it can be. At any rate yesterday my face froze in minutes and I couldn’t travel without a protective hood.

The rest of the afternoon was spent cleaning and organizing all my upcoming projects. Throughout the pleasant seasons I tend to carry very few supplies and travel around creating work. It is really keep track of my materials this way but obviously affects the kind of work I can produce. Now, as the freezing imprisonment approaches, I find myself working on multiple tasks and all the equipment gets scattered. Today was my third three hour session in three days of tidying and I’ve finally got all this stuff together. When you need a ruler or eraser, it is really convenient to know where it is.

The next few months are going to be divided between three primary tasks. The first is more animation. For this I use two pens, two brushes, a light table, one stack of 8.5 x 11” blank paper and another with finished drawings. Because of the magnitude of this project I have (now) a small area dedicated to this production. It is always set up so anytime I feel inclined I need only pick of the pen. The second endeavor is the ongoing weekly webcomic. For these drawings I use the same two pens and brushes but work on larger illustration board. I only do this once a week so I’ve got the boards and long rulers stored in a easily accessible and visible place. The third, and somewhat terrifying, winter project is working on the website. I cleaned out my computer and have all the hard copies, photographs and drawings ready by the scanner. Found piles of unlabelled cd/dvds to go through also. (The picture above is from one of the mystery discs) I’ve got a lot of rebuilding to do. A large portion of my site was built before I even knew what miniscule bits I now understand about the computer. Anyways it should look a bit better than it does now.

That’s enough about my boring life. Probably a little hyper from all the coffees today but I think this little ramble helped me sort out my own mind. Hopefully tomorrow will be consumed less by trivial duties and more with the new animations. In the meantime check out the HEYAPATHY! comics online.

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.

Don't forget your weekly dose of surreal art comics! New webcomics every week!

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 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

HEY APATHY! SURREAL COMICS

So I’ve been into some books as of late, just something I always promised myself to do but never had the time. As I’ve tread through the pages of some of the most wondrous works, Kafka, swift, Dostoesky and Orwell I’ve noticed an alarming trend. The hero ( a mockingly absurdist titile) is always a social misfit, a trouble unable to coexist in a world of false faces, weird logic, and the devious empowerment of high society and government. The hero always exposes the fraudulent world representing humanity, hope, and generally common sense. However, as I’ve already mentioned, these heroes are misfits.

In almost every case we, the reader, are brought to identify with these abnormal visionaries and learn to be sympathetic with their outsiderness. We, the reader, learn from the heroes follies of the problems of our world. We learn about good, evil, politics, control and we see the problems in a new light. A light which inside each of our isolated existences appears to make sense. We understand these miscreants and we understand the worlds they preside in as if they were our own. Didn’t you feel the cold grey hard cinder blocks being piled around you as you enjoyed 1984?

Herein lies the dilemma. Can we all really be Winston Smith, the Idiot, or Meursault? I mean these books sell, more than that, they are immortal, they are read in schools, they are everything. and everywhere. But if that is the case how can the world still be a the beck and whim of the diabolical demon? How can we keep on keeping everything down if we alll understand the outsider? It perplexes me to think that anyone who has read these books is anti-sympathetic with the hero, yet have these works had absolutely no effect on our behaviour? Are these works beautiful for their collective expression or are they merely celebrated in jest as of the words of madman. Maybe the are appreciated simply for being completely different, insane if you will, from the standard thought processes related to the human condition.

It is just a little paradox running through my brain right now. How can so much intellectualism be awarded merit yet so easily disregarded in practical terms. All the best literature runs the same vein. They all say the same thing and they are all proffering warnings. Warnings that seem to be lost along a shelf of dusty books. At least Orwell’s work won’t make it to the next generation ( copyrighted off of kindle as far as I know) so they won’t have any excuse for nt undstdn @ txt or subtxt. Anyways I feel as many of those characters did and I’ve spent all my time working towards a better existence. Mostly because I am crazy but also because I’ve nothing better to do with my time. Ps I’m going to try to approach this subject again but really wanted to see what would happen if I started randomly jotting some points on the subject)

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 Sound and Visions (Update)

HEY APATHY! SURREAL COMICS

Some new music for the City of Gears timelapse video. This film shows a day in the life of a street painter following a 3.5 hour, 12 x 12 foot mural. The drawing was made on the corner of Queen Street and Soho , downtown Toronto in 2007. I’ve used various different scores for the presentation of this video but, like the animations, have been struggling a lot with sound issues.

I like this track because it was programmed entirely into an old synthesizer keyboard enabling me to add it to the video without any editing or degenerative interference. With my limited technology, or at least limited knowledge there of, I can’t seem to get a professional sounding recording consisting of more than one track.

This loop was created for my animation reel which will be featured at this years Nuit Blanche festival. It worked  so I thought to add it to this video as well. Sort of a theme song, but really it’s the only clean recording I have right now. There will be more. Music by Narsen Osutei, Mark vanZyl, and me.

Alternative Comics SURREAL WEBCOMIC!

HEY APATHY! Surreal Comics

Here's a panel from the SURREAL WEBCOMIC. Page three, entitled in transit, features a hideous globular orifice consuming unsuspecting subway travellers. One page ever friday over at http://www.heyapthy-comics-art.com/.  Just getting over the flu and have much animating to catch up on so probably not much else of interest til next weeks weird comics tale.



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 GERM WARFARE

HEY APATHY  SURREAL COMICS

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, the quality of my blog posts have been directly related to our strange Torontonian weather. During the summer heat wave I found it difficult to spend time at the computer but got inspired again as the temperatures cooled to a reasonably wam level. However since that time things have been topsy turvey and the temperatures fluctuated between a hot humid forty and a cold wet 25 several times during the course of one week. And like this journal, I was heavily affected by the weather. I have been so sick, fevers, coughs, conjestion, joint pains, you name it. This is the first time I've brought the fever down enough to actually type something. Damn it's tormenting to be ill when there is so much work to be done. New Surreal webcomic post tomorrow regardless of my health.  

ALTERNATIVE COMICS Surreal Magazine

HEY APATHY! SURREAL COMICS

Made this logo for the HEY APATHY! Surreal Comics Magazine. I've been posting all my new works from 2010 on my website in a sort of chronological yet haphazard manner so now that the year is almost up, I've started to clean up  the webpage and decided to turn it into a Weird Tales style magazine. The magazine features a weekly webcomic, a series of ink drawings entitled Creature Visions and 13 illustrated stories ( I think there are 7 unedited ones postde so far). Thought it would be fun to present t work as such.

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