I won't deny that the dream of being published has always been in mind, but doing the work of actually producing a book, when one sets out to do it, is actually a LOT of work. I actually can't say it's my first book if you count that I've created a handful of comic books ahead of this publication, and I can say first hand, making those comics were a LOT of concentrated, hard work. That aside, this really is my first softbound collection, a restrospective of sorts. I actually started editing it about six years ago, and it got shelved for one reason or another. It was a momentary, passing thought the other day, that I needed some kind of prize to donate to a Mr. Connecticut Bear basket raffle. I said to myself, "Why not create a Hairyer Parts basket?" So you know me, I can't do anything with half effort; I decided that any basket of mine was going to need products, and no product like an actual book. So I went back to my original project, dusted it off, and looked at the date of the very first drawing.
1995.
<Momentary pause>
I first doodled the face that would become the lead character in my bearishly inspired universe on some unknown day in 1995.... which means it's totally appropriate to label the book as a 20th Anniversary Collection. The strip that eventually became "Hairyer Parts" first debuted in the Northeast Ursamen's "Bears & Hunters" newsletter two years later in 1997, which means the series remained in development for two years. There was a lot of trial and error in those early years. When I stop and look at where I started, as compared to where I am now, I realized that perseverance was the key, all along, to making a good book.
It feels a little unusual to put something like this out, directly for sale, especially when I've spent most of my energies working for charitable means. I pause to remind myself, that aside from the few cartoon prints that I sold more recently, I've never made any money off of my work. A large percentage of it has been donated to auctions, raffles, or advertising campaigns, all of which have gone on to make thousands of dollars either for charities or community organizations (and I mean, THOUSANDS). When you look at it that way, if I end up selling a couple dozen books and making a few bucks off of them, I guess I shouldn't feel so bad about it. There is this other philosophy that gets into how artists need to think in terms of what they are really worth.... it's something I ought to get better at, so in that spirit:
If you've ever enjoyed my cartoons, please go buy my book here!! Follow the link to get a preview. Share and enjoy :-)
