Going to Comic-con!!

 The title, and image above, say it all, but there's a lot more to it, of course. :0)

I'm going to Comic-con International... yes, THAT comic-con, and as an exhibitor!
The only people who have read the Ghost Pirate Skeletons of Three Craters Lake, besides myself,  are the fine people at Comic Con International.  Those wise and very esteemed judges of the Small Press Committee, after reviewing my application and the comic book, and comparing it to thousands of others.... have awarded me one of the few select Small Press Tables!

I'm stunned.  But very, very proud and excited! :0)

We're going to COMIC CON!!!!

So if Comic-con International found the comic book to be worthy, you probably will as well.  To see it happen, though, I'm really going to need that help I've been asking for.  Just like the telethons you see on PBS, we're having a fundraiser, and yes, you get some cool stuff for your money.  And unlike PBS, you don't need to pay an arm or a leg for a dvd or coffee mug.  Check out the fundraiser at the link below, and you can pledge as low as a dollar just to say that you support HappyGlyphs Comics and the fine work that we've been doing.

All pledges are appreciated, but remember, with Kickstarter, I don't get a penny unless we reach our goal. And the last day is less than a week away!  So please tell your friends who love comics made for kids of all ages.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/happyglyphs/the-ghost-pirate-skeletons-of-three-craters-lake


Thanks!    JOHN :0)

In Which I Make a Cool Pirate Video

While I'm holding off on cartoon news for the moment, I just had to share with you a cool little video I put together the other day.

Okay, so some of you are aware that I am slightly obsessed with Disney's so called 'dark' rides... an obsession that precedes even my first visit to the parks.  You see, long before there were Legos and snap-together kits, there was the model kit.  A kit that, no matter what the box said, required quite a bit of skill to put together and paint.  And I just love working with my hands!

Some of my many happy childhood memories involve putting together Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean model kits with zap/action!  The one I remember most is Condemned to Chains Forever, in which a pirate skeleton fights an eternal battle with an alligator that's trying to chew on his leg.  It's no wonder the comic book I'm working on is titled The Ghost Pirate Skeletons of Three Craters Lake, is it?

So, a few years later I have managed to get the same model kit, complete in it's box.  And now it will take me years to find the time to actually build it and build it right.  However, I had ten minutes free one Saturday morning, so over coffee I carefully removed the pieces from their sprues, and, like any good model builder, fit them together before any attempt at gluing. And being the show person that I am, I just had to video the attempt, and ad some animation to it. :0)

Please enjoy!

PS  As I kid I ripped the box open and started painting and gluing haphazardly until I had a sloppy mess that little resembled the picture on the box.  And I loved every minute of it. :0)

PSS If enough of you clamor to see more, I'll be forced to find the time to play, er... work towards making another video in this series.  Please? :0)

On my iPod?  Ariene Brunet, "Le pied dans ma bulle"    Nice!

The Game of Life

There are a lot of Artists on FaceBook... at least where I hang out. As an Artist, I looked into some of the very popular games on FaceBook like Pirates! and Castle Age, at first for the artwork, and then for the fun. And along the way I've made friends with other Artists who are also checking out the art and having fun! These games are very addictive, as you may know if you've tried them. But why?

First of all, the games reward you! Depending on the game, you perform quests to achieve certain goals, and when those goals are reached, you get Favor Points that you can spend on cool exclusive stuff that you can then use back in the game. There are random events that occur, where you might get cool stuff 'dropped' at random, and there are different layers of 'quests'. In Castle Age you can battle other players, battle monsters, perform heroic quests, and Demi-quests, and more, with each coming with their own requirements and rewards. That's right, you need to EARN the right to do certain quests, and by finishing a certain number of quests you can unlock monster fights and other stuff.

What's my point? Well, my point is that the games are fun, but also addictive. When you sit back to actually analyze the game, what are you actually accomplishing? Well, honestly, you're pushing a button and getting a treat. Just like a rat in a cage, or some poor monkey in an experiment. Yes, here we are, some may argue the pinnacle of evolution, and we're voluntarily acting like rats in a cage... and enjoying it!

But the game is fun, right, and there are levels of strategy, you argue, so for those two points we can say that gaming is good. But what have you got when the power is off, or your internet connection is gone? You're guessing 'nothing', right?

Wrong. You've got a pretty good business model for success!

Yes, you heard me. By taking what we learn from these games and applying them to real life, you might actually become more successful, and more fulfilled, for real!

Of course, the games are great because you know that as long as the program works, you will get a certain reward for certain behaviour, where as in real life, we don't get those guarantees. Still, what rewards we do get in life can't be taken away from us, and can lead to some rather awesome random events. :0)


So what the heck am I talking about? Suppose you want to be an Illustrator of Children's Books someday. To make that dream come true, you have to set yourself some goals, and pursue those goals until you earn some achievements, and eventually some rewards.

Goals should be something like, "Create 5 illustrations in 5 different styles", and "Create 10 illustrations in the same style". Aim for Achievements like "Send 25 submissions to 25 different Publishers" and go for the big ones like "Receive 5 replies from Publishers that are not photocopied rejections".

This last one has a great reward. You need to figure out why you are getting photocopied rejections in the first place. Did you follow the submission guideloines of the Publisher? No? Now you've earned a reward! Wisdom! Wisdom allows the bearer to submit at the very least professional looking submissions to publishers! Now you have levelled up! Your chances of getting a photocopied rejection letter have now dropped 20% or more.

Carry out this logic and you'll see that by setting goals and accomplishing them in a reasonable amount of time you will improve as an illustrator and become professional in the process. Extend your goals and achievements to running a business or getting an agent, and your chances of becoming successful have increased significantly. Of course, you still need talent, but if you can apply the discipline you have towards gaming to your art, well then! Good for you!

Of course, in a game, the computer automatically sets the clock, and doles out energy and tells you when to take the next step, so you sit there watching the clock, eager to take the next step.

To be a successful Artist, you've got to set the goals yourself, and watch the clock yourself, and make sure you take steps every day to achieve your goals. Heck, why not make that your New Year's resolution?

Hope 2010 is a great one! JOHN :0)

Return of Ghost Pirate Skeletons!

Well, since I'm not on my way to California for the big 40th Anniversary party at Disney's Haunted Mansion, I may as well do some work, eh? And grumble. Lots of muttering and grumbling going on here over not getting to Disneyland for my birthday, and for the big 40th anniversary.

New studio, new clients, new cartoons! Here's the latest toon, from The Inquiring Minds in The Ghost Pirate Skeletons of Three Craters Lake!



There's also a new Knight and Day comic... the first in a loooong time, but not the last. Yo can see that at HappyGlyphs.com, or check out the previous blog where you can also see pics of my new and awesome studio!

Cheers, JOHN :0)

Cartooning 101: Techniques and Art

It's harder to find quality art supplies, as more and more people move to the computer for illustration. Many still use traditional illustration methods, such as pen and ink, and some use programs like Photoshop and Illustrator exclusively. Somewhere in the middle, though, is where I am, and where I suspect most cartoonists and illustrators are: using traditional drawing and scanning into the computer for finishing, cleaning, coloring, or all of the above. And why not? Coloring especially is much easier on a computer, as is finishing and cleaning. Cleaning on the computer leads to laziness at the drawing table, so that the days of razor blades and white paint are gone, and your original might be quite messy.

Where does this leave the world of original art? I'm not sure, but I don't see much art out there these days, except of course with fellow Cartoonists. There are a lot of prints, however, since big syndicates have deals with online sites so that you can 'buy a print of today's strip', and many of us have art we are proud enough of to share by providing them as prints.

In my case, I work as mentioned above, drawing with ink, then scanning, then cleaning and finishing and coloring on the computer. I am embarassed to admit that my originals are not always complete, and sometimes I draw all of the panels separately, so that one cartoon may not have a piece of art worth displaying.

The upside of this is that sometimes I can concentrate on one panel and do it up nice, showing the whole scene where maybe the words might once have hid much of it. My strips are often verbose, so I struggle with the challenge, sometimes, of showing enough background to be recognizable behind the word balloons. This can be bad in black and white art, where the background may be nothing but a bunch of unrecognizable lines, unless there is a strong establishing panel for the scene. Sure, I know that this line is the top of a fence, and that squiggle is a tree, and that line over there is the side of a house, but how about the reader? Without room for an establishing shot, the background loses meaning.

With The Ghost Pirate Skeletons of Three Craters Lake, the scene is crucial to the story... at least the Pirate Ride is. To me, the idea of a Pirate Ride is cool, and I want the audience to feel like they can see it clearly. Also, by creating a good panel or two, I can visualize the ride better, and have some nice original art in the bargain. The illustration here is drawn much larger than a normal panel, and without word balloons, you can see the entire scene. Look at the finished product, and you can see how much background disappeared, and how much is covered, and maybe you can imagine how it would have been to draw this around the word balloons.

Extra work, surely, but worth it. I have a nice piece of art to sell or display, a scene I can use later perhaps, as extra art for a book, and a good establishing shot of the first part of the pirate ride.

Speaking of prints, I am making a large map of The Ghost Pirate Skeletons of Three Craters Lake ride, with much of the artwork from the story and website, and it will be available as a print when complete. It's a lot of work, but I think it will make a fine companion to the story.

And so, Happy Holidays to you, and Merry Christmas to those to whom that applies, and yes, I have finally finished illustrating the HappyGlyphs Holiday Card for 2008!

Better late than never, eh?

Have a Happy! JOHN :0)

Another Free Download!

HappyGlyphs Comics is happy to announce a FREE sneak preview of our current The Inquiring Minds storyline, The Ghost Pirate Skeletons of Three Craters Lake!

Sure, you can see the strips for free online right now, but due to the fact that my website is almost full, I may have to delete some strips soon. Also, the Free Download has better quality artwork, some of it remastered, and a new, really snazzy full color cover, as seen above.

The cover is also available as a high quality art print as well, which you can hang on your wall to show the world that you've got a little pirate in you. :0)



Meanwhile, the adventure continues at www.HappyGlyphs.com , where we're rapidly approaching the dramatic climax to this exciting summer adventure!

Free Download available at this link here.

Cheers, JOHN :0)

Truths Revealed and Surprising Insights!

First off, the not so big surprise is that The Inquiring Minds' Big Summer Adventure... which seems to be running through this Fall and Winter as well... was secretly in actuality The Ghost Pirate Skeletons of Three Craters Lake!

Also, not so big a secret... the entire story was inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean! No, not the movies, but the ride, and the pioneering spirit of Walt and his amazing Imagineers that created a truly virtual experience. And what better way to pay tribute than having my characters go through the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of creating their own pirate ride, from scratch?

Those of you who have studied the history of the ride will see quite a few parallels to the creation of Disney's ride, as well as some hopefuly new innovations that I've lovingly brought to the concept.





And now for the surprising insight that has revealed some hidden truths, and some help to those of you Cartoonists who want to create new comic strips. The above strip was a bugger! For some reason, beyond some personal issues I've been dealing with, I just couldn't get this strip together! I rewrote it several times, and redrew it several times, and kept second guessing myself, wondering why I was having such a hard time with what should be a fairly straight-forward cartoon. Okay, sure, the punchline had to be just right... you had to see that Albert's suffering a blow to the ego here, or it just doesn't work. Also, I had Iris origonally drawing with Bobby, and her drawing being equally as good as Bobby's.

First, this didn't work because it removed emphasis from Bobby's drawing, and second, it created a bigger wedge between Bobby and Albert than I wanted to create. Sure, this sense of isolation is what kept Albert from admitting Iris to The Inquiring Minds all along, right? This strip would just enforce that issue, but also pull the story in a different direction than I wanted to go. The kids are facing the Eleventh Hour, and teamwork is needed right now.

Then it occurred to me: Maybe it wasn't Albert's fault entirely that Iris wasn't in The Inquiring Minds, and maybe the answer lie in my difficulties creating this week's overdue cartoon?

Thnk about it. Calvin and Hobbes, Charlie Brown and Linus, Charlie Brown and Lucy, Pogo and Albert, Bobby and Albert.... Hold on. The best comic strips come from great dialogue and character interaction, which usually occurs between two characters. Given the space limitations in a comic strip, that is'nt so surprising.
Picture the famous Lucy pulls the football away from Charie Brown moments... would that work as well if other people were involved? First off, it would be a crowded scene, and second, emphasis would be taken away from the main event. Think of any great conversation between Calvin & Hobbes. Would that scene work as well with a third person adding their insight? Probably not.

And so, the real reason Iris hasn't been a full fledged member of The Inquiring Minds is all my fault. Subconciously I knew it would make better comedy to write for two characters... two different yet compatible characters who could bounce ideas and ideologies off of each other.

Of course, there are times when a third character works, but in many cases it is one character too many. The Ghost Skeleton Pirates of Three Craters Lake has turned into a comic book adventure, much as my Three Knights in India did, so Iris is welcome to stick around. The strip is changing, but there will be times when it will just have to be Bobby abd Albert. In this particular strip, I needed to bring Iris in, so I had a lot of trouble creating a scene which in my head should have only involved two people.



Which brings us full circle... The Pirates of the Caribbean ride had a terrific woman named Alice Davis creating the memorable costumes for the characters. In her spirit, I wanted Iris to be the one creating costumes for The Ghost Pirates. Alice Davis was the wife of Marc Davis, a Cartoonist and Imagineer who brought us much of the visual humour of the ride. Bobby's vivid illustrations are a tribute to the work of Marc Davis and the other artists and Imagineers responsible for the ride.

Hopefully my passion for the creativity of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride comes through in my own story, unique and challenging, and hopefully an engaging tribute to the Imagineers who have given me so much joy and inspiration.

Cheers, JOHN :0)

The Ghost Pirate Skeletons of Three Craters Lake!

Okay, so that's a long title, but The Inquiring Minds are known for their enthusiasm, not their talent for selecting titles. Besides, the title sounds really cool, so I can understand the kid's choice. As Bobby says, though, that's a lot of words for one t-shirt!

So we finally get to the heart of the story: The Ghost Pirate Skeletons of Three Craters Lake is really what the entire Big Summer Adventure is all about. When I was a kid, I was totally absorbed in building the zap-action Pirates of the Caribbean model kit that Disney put out... there just was nothing cooler than pirate skeletons with hooks for hands and clothing tattered with time to reveal the bones beneath... and when done right, the models actually moved! Whack! Down comes the sword! Why they didn't remake those models when the movies came out is beyond me... these days Disney pumps out tons of merchandise that ends up in the bargain bin for $1.99 a few months later, when they really should be concentrating on producing really cool quality items that people would treasure.

Anyways, first there were the models, and then my first trip to Disney World. I honestly don't remember my first time on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.. I was about Bobby and Albert's age, and I'm sure I must have loved it because I love it today. The ride is a truly virtual experience, and it's such a joy to be totally immersed in such an awesome environment that not only tells a story, but gives you something new to discover in every time through.

So, even though Iris is now an official member of The Inquiring Minds (see the recent strips) the idea of The Ghost Pirate Skeletons of Three Craters Lake comes from my love of Disney's Pirates, that I share with my creations Bobby and Albert. The Inquiring Minds has always been about the imagination and fun of discovery of these two guys, so it was only natural that this storyline came about.


Unconfirmed sighting of a Ghost Skeleton Pirate in Three Craters Lake!


I'm having a blast creating this, and hope that you are enjoying it as well. And there's lots more to come, including more terrific landscaping by Bobby as well as his crayon sketches and Albert's never-give-up enthusiasm and Iris' cool head keeping it all together.

Stay 'tooned, and please let me know what you think, eh?

Cheers, JOHN :0)

PS See the whole story HERE at HappyGlyphs.com.

On the Drawing Board

In lieu of a detailed post today, I'll just share what's on the drawing board right now. Since my last trip to Disney, I've been in a pirates mode... not just from the movie, but from the ride. So, to take a break from the freelance work, here's an image of the boys from The Inquiring Minds, doing what they do best... having fun, and going all out to do so. :0)

Cheers, JOHN :0)