My First Book??!!!

And so, here it is, my first anthology of sorts, documenting 20 years of cartooning the Hairyer Parts Universe.  What??  Twenty years??  Where could the time have gone??

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 :-)

SpookyBear Weekend 2013 - Extended Bar Video

Now that SpookyBear Weekend has finally come and gone, I can finally post about some of the things that I had to keep under wraps for months leading up to the event.  We design an plan for months for every last detail of how the Paramount Nightclub will be transformed for the big party, and we keep it all top secret, so that the "big reveal" on Saturday night has the biggest impact.  This year's plan was to create the sense of stepping into a giant comic book.  The wall art, which I will describe in another post, accomplished this, but there had been a lingering desire to use the screen behind the big bar to bring the theme to life with light and motion.  The Event Coordinator, Chris Grasso, and I, plotted to what extent we would delve into the concept, listing out pages of shows and movies that needed some representation in our "Heroes & Villians" video.  At some point, the powers that be agreed that a 20ish minute video would be enough to give the crowd the sense that something new was on the screen every time they looked at it. 

After several weeks of research, and several near-sleepless nights, the video finally came together.  It included finished photography from PhotoBearNE, the original animation I produced as Hairyer Parts Comics, portions of the wall art set to motion, and lots of rapid-fire action shots of Superman, Batman, Avengers, and so much more.  If you were at the party and peered behind the bar, you probably didn't realize that the footage was all set to music so as to ensure a sense of timing.  I previewed the finished product a few hours before the party to the postcard models who made it to Provincetown.  They convinced me it needed to be seen online by the community at large.  Later in the evening, I wiggled my way to bar and noticed everyone waiting for their drinks were transfixed to the screen, which made my night. 

We wanted to create something that captured the spirit of the SpookyBear Weekend, that would be fun, sexy, and maybe even a little campy.  I think we succeeded in this.  So, here it is, the entire video.  Please enjoy.  And if you did, please share it, so that others can see it!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxBzoZLF7WU

Sneak Peek of SpookyBear 2013

For the last two months, I have been living on a steady diet of Superfriends, Arrow, and comics in general.  I must totally confess that getting involved with SpookyBear in my first off year was completely selfish on my part.  What cartoonist in their right mind wouldn't jump at the chance to channel the Justice League (with Wolverine thrown in) to a bearish audience??  So the interim result is this video which I am sure a lot of my friends have seen already, but for those who might be following me only on Blogger, please enjoy watching this.  If all goes according to plan, there will be even more to see behind the big bar at the Crown & Anchor at the Saturday night costume party at SpookyBear Weekend itself.  I am very happy with the results of this, and am looking forward to making more animation!  Cheers!!

 

This video can also be seen on the following pages:  Hairyer Parts,  Bears & Hunters - Online Express Edition, and of course, the SpookyBear Weekend page.  As of the time I'm writing this, it was uploaded 5 days ago, and already has 399 views!!  The first showing was last Saturday at the Ursamen member's only pig roast... it was a real crowd pleaser!!

SpookyBear The Weekend

So a couple things have been going on to slow down my posts on my creative blog.  First, I have been buckling down as any good ex-president would, and have taken the time to catch up on things around the house.  Second, and this is a big one, I had been sinking some time into co-designing and coproducing the next SpookyBear Weekend for the Northeast Ursamen.  The original idea last fall was to do a "Heroes & Villains" party, but that fell away in favor of doing a more sophisticated Alfred Hitchcock theme.  I had actually set down to sketch ideas for the Hitchcock party, but we all soon realized that a Heroes & Villains idea would allow for more creativity and participation from the crowd.  So out went the idea of "Alfred Bearcock" and back in went "Heroes & Villains".  I set out to draw a few designs with the mantra of, "what if they were bears?"  This is my normal take on any creative, bear-themed project.  With a few sketches in hand, Chris (the Events Coordiantor and I set out to recruit the personnel for our shoot.  The star list changed a few times in the interim, but in the end it worked out really, really well.  We sewed lots of costumes for the heroes (and villains too) and held a great photoshoot with stellar bear photographer Tom aka PhotobearNE.com.  Meanwhile, I have been working on some custom animation for this project, to be seen in its entirety at Spookybear itself.  Later this summer, I may offer up some "behind the scenes" images, but for now, the end results of the photoshoot leave me feeling very happy.  Please enjoy these, and consider coming to what's arguably the best Halloween Party for Bears and their fans.

 

Cell Painting Tonight

Tonight I am painting a new Hairyer Parts Universe cartoon cell. If all goes according to plan, this priceless baby will be auctioned off for charity at the Northeast Ursamen's Out Of Hibernation 2013 in Provincetown, MA next weekend.

FYI, Hairyer Parts Comics now has a Facebook page, at http://www.facebook.com/HairyerPartsComics.  The final image of the cell will be previewed there before being put up for auction.  The entire collection of behind-the-scenes photos of the "making of" the cell will be featured as a permanent article on http://www.hairyerparts.com/ after OOH.

Baseball & Anime

Back when I was president of the Northeast Ursamen (as if it were so long ago), Daddy Mike and I came up with an idea for an event to take place in Boston on a regular basis, called "Spring Training".  Knowing how much the Red Sox are loved in that city (and by many of us in other parts of Southern New England), we gave the party a Red Sox theme.  I mean, on any given night a game is happening across town at Fenway Park, you can see the game on big screens in pubs of all sizes, including The Alley, arguably the best bear bar in the Northeast, so throwing a Red Sox themed party at the Alley was a perfect formula.  So we needed an image for the poster, and after having done "Butch & Bruiser" and the "Nut & Bolt Party", I set out to do "Spring Training" but Hairyer Parts-style.  People often compared the finished product to Jason Varitek, though truth be known, I worked from a drawing of Youkalis to get the job done.

So I knew that baseball has been big in Japan, but it never occurred to me to look into baseball manga.  I think I was aware of one show whose name escapes me... so for kicks tonight, I put in the words "anime" and "baseball" into a Google image search, and found all sorts of great images.  This one particular article I found from Otaku USA gave a whole mini-course on baseball subjects in Japanese cartoons.  Do check it out.  It made me smile to think I may have been on to something when I did that "Sprig Training" drawing... now four years old!

Hairyer Parts - 2004 Auction Poster

Hard to believe it's been 9 years since the last Ursamen Valentines Day Auction which featured all sorts of creative talent.  These events were geared towards raising charitable funds for those who received HIV & AIDS services from the Springfield VNA.  These events raised easily over $1000 at a time... with my own handmade cartoon cels bringing in hundreds of dollars.  Following this period, I entered a life of public service, first for the Northeast Ursamen as newsletter editor for two years, then the independent scouts for another two years... then back to the Ursamen for four years as President.... so here is a flash back to 2004... this poster showcased the cel that was to go up on the auction block later that month.  The poster itself hung on the wall at York Steet for the Northeast Ursamen's 2004 Superbowl & Chili Cookoff party.  Happy Superbowl 2013 everyone!