Issue 29: In The Doctor's Care

Squeezing in before year's end is Issue 29: In The Doctor's Care. Feeling quite accomplished with this one. I got a chance to throw in some drawings that relate to my real job in this issue. This one definitely was one of the funner ones to draw.

Here's wishing everyone a Happy New Year! Looking forward to 2009 and its possibilities!
-GH

Crazy Good!

Nothing pumps your blood full of sugary goodness like Pop-Tarts in the morning. I'm a fan of the stuff, but I've cut back considerably since my younger days. The recent commercials I've been seeing for Pop-Tarts has caught my eye though. The animation has a quirky quality to it that reminds me a lot of the Don Hertzfeld animation that used to consume my study times.

The folks over at Head Gear Animation are responsible for these cool little random clips. Check out the site and enjoy a Pop-Tart. Then go run a mile to work it off!

-GH

Issue 28: Back to Headquarters

And here...we...go...

I've planned to divide the Orchard Heroes issues into 30 issue volumes.

Why 30?

Because I'm taking a short vacation and it just happened to work out to 30 issues. It'll be nice to kind of refresh and have some time to work on this stuff so that my updates won't be so...delayed.

So much thanks to those who have browsed through my amateur attempt at comics as we round out the first volume. All the comments and fan art really make this kind of stuff fun and worth doing.
2 more issues to go!

Oh yea, here's Issue 28: Back to Headquarters!
-GH

A Birthday and a Symbiote

I got a few more pieces of awesome art to add to the Fan Art section. I think its kind of cool how when the same character is drawn by another person, the character almost takes on a different personality and feel. The hand-drawn birthday card was sent to me by my friend Annie, and the inspiring Symbiote piece was done by my friend Johnny. I must say, seeing the small changes and adjustments people make to my original design really opens up new story ideas...

Thanks guys!

-GH

Up!

The trailer to Pixar's upcoming film "Up" is now available. When I first heard about the premise, it intrigued me and just seeing this trailer now has given me that good ol' Pixar feeling again. Click on the image to see it! "Up" hits theaters May 29, 2009.
-GH

A Shirt Fit For A Hero

Got a nice gift in the mail the other day from my college buddy.

Presenting the first and only Orchard Heroes t-shirt!

There's a certain awesome factor in seeing something you created being printed on anything. Its too cool to wear, so I'll be putting it up on my wall to stare at with PRIDE!

Thanks Milpool.
-GH

Button Pins?

When considering different items to paste your characters or designs on, usually you'll come up with clothing like t-shirts or plush and vinyl toys. Along those lines, usually you'll find the ever impressive button pin. Not too sure when or if I'll even do anything with these, but I did the designs just to see what they'd look like.

Who wouldn't want six brightly colorful super hero fruit button pins on their favorite item of clothing? That's stylish right? No? Alright, fine.

-GH

Chloroville

Interested in more walking fruits and vegetables?

Check out this really clean and well drawn webcomic Chloroville. I like posting art and creations by other artists, and this was something that really caught my eyes. Webcomics of talking fruits and vegetables are rare, (to my knowledge), so I find it entertaining to see how other people take this on.

Good job Mr. Victor Wong! Keep up the cool work!

-GH

Audacious

A new piece of fan art by MLin. The title is awesome.

Presenting to you...Audacious by MLin.

-GH

Issue 27: A Diversion

Issue 27: A Diversion has just been uploaded. It's been really hard lately to work on the comics, but slowly but surely, they're slowly getting finished. Apologies for the delays!
-GH

Orangeman Beyond the Lines!

Here's Orangeman without lines. Perhaps the cape is a bit long, but I think it looks pretty cool.
-GH

Bookmarks!!!

Introducing the first ever Orchard Heroes Bookmarks! Two designs are available for multiple characters. Just visit the site or click here.

The bookmarks are just one of the crafts that I'll be making available for free. Just a simple download onto cardstock and then cut them out.
-GH

Tributes

When I first started to brainstorm the whole Orchard Heroes idea, the first person I bounced a lot of these ideas off of was my old college roommate. I'm not sure how we did it but we somehow were able to create a bunch of comics, draw multiple pieces of art, and even write and animate movie trailers and STILL graduate college. Anyway, I figured if HE hated it, I'd just toss the idea. Turns out he kind of liked it and even created some of the first Fan Art for Orchard Heroes. Below is a piece of his work he did in tribute to the Action Comics #1 cover by Joe Shuster. You can check out his other work at http://www.freewebs.com/roninpro/. Cool stuff.

Sometimes you just have to bounce your ideas off of a friend, just to to see if those ideas come back...I don't really know what that meant. Maybe, if your friend didn't like them, I guess he wouldn't throw them back? Anyway, enjoy.

-GH

Issue 26: Kiwi's Got a Plan

Issue 26: Kiwi's Got a Plan is up on the site. I tried to play around with perspectives a bit on this one, showing different angles of viewing the scenes. Hopefully after reading this issue, you get an idea of how musty, damp and...moldy the Mold Forest is. I also tried to use a "focusing" effect in that scene where Moldman stares at the "special" vial, an inspiration from movies.
Anyway, enjoy!
-GH

Free!

Been brainstorming a few ideas on what I could put on the "Fun Stuff" section of the site that would be fun and ...free. I kind of would like that section to be a place where fans could pretty much print out activities, or crafts and have cool little products. I worked out a few ideas and have been busy designing them so that the activities and crafts are both easy to do and create.

So look forward to seeing Orchard Heroes bookmarks, facemasks, coloring pages, and other crap!

I'll post some designs as well as rejected ideas here soon.
-GH

Reading Material

Just read "How To Write For Animation," by Jeffrey Scott, and I have to say it was a really enjoyable read. I bought this book for some insight on how dialogue is written and how character is developed, and I really learned quite a bit. The author writes in a casual tone that makes the more technical aspects of the business more understanding. I'll be trying to apply the things I've learned into future issues of Orchard Heroes and hopefully it'll be noticeable. Even though its written more for those writing scripts for cartoons, a lot of the things discussed are totally applicable to me.

If you need something to read, check it out.

-GH

Drawing Beyond Lines

Below is the first of many graphics of the Orchard Heroes that I've been working on. Sometimes, what's considered basic knowledge to most artists can be like an awakening to someone like me with no artistic background or training. I've recently discovered how great things look without the restricting black outlines after I started playing around on Illustrator. I felt like I had discovered something awesome until I started to realize that a lot of art out there avoid black outlines. Either way, I'm kind of eager to see how other designs turn out with this new discovery.
-GH

Issue 25: Another Way

Issue 25: Another Way has just been posted. Click on the link to check it out. A few other updates on the Character Page as well.

Had fun drawing them underground. Anytime I get a chance to change up the scenery and the background, I find it a nice break from the usual forest setting. Also guest appearances from members from the Orchard community are always fun to draw. I underestimated how hard it was to draw an earthworm and not make it look like a snake...I need to practice more...
-GH

The Princess and the Frog

Disney's much anticipated return to 2D animation begins with the 2009 release of The Princess and the Frog. I'm extremely excited to see Disney return to traditional animation especially if John Lasseter is in charge. He's now the Chief Creative Officer of not only Pixar, but Disney as well.

Those who don't know, John Lasseter was one of the founding members of Pixar and director of some of your favorite Pixar films.

Check out the trailer at the website linked above. Its looking good so far.

-GH

Anpanman

One of my biggest inspirations and influences are the stories from Anpanman by Takashi Yanase. I was 11 or so and my dad bought me an English translation collection of Anpanman comics and I remember I couldn't put it down. The art was so simple and colorful and the stories were childish, but it was awesome to me.

If you're not familiar with Anpanman, its an extremely popular Japanese comic for children. The main character, Anpanman, has a head that is basically a red-bean filled pastry. Anpanman's creator, Uncle Jam will often replace his head when it becomes damaged when fighting his arch nemesis, Baikinman, a germ. Weird enough? Gotta check it out, its great. Below are paintings that can be found at Anpanman World in Yokohama, Japan.

-GH

Development

I was cleaning out the email boxes and found some designs I had created with MS Paint. Orchard Heroes was officially created only a year or so ago, but I had been chewing on the idea for some time. Along with the idea chewing comes random sketches and drawings that I tend to do. The designs below were made back in 2005 and it surprised me how much the designs had changed. I wonder if artists often look back at initial designs of their characters and find them amusing. I usually keep all my sketches and designs, but for some reason, I had totally forgotten about these.

Anyway below are what the Orchard Heroes COULD HAVE looked like...don't ask me about why Appleman looks like he wears his pants up so high...he just did.

-GH

Applying Knowledge!

I had the privilege of attending Comic Con 2008 this year thanks to a co-worker who couldn't make it at the last minute. Being that I live in San Diego, I almost had to go. So my buddy Felipe came down from LA and we headed to downtown SD bright and early on Friday. I had a great time, the whole event was inspiring. Mainly I wanted to learn all the different mediums that are possible when doing anything related to comics. Took lots of pictures and took notes on all the different marketing and merchandising strategies...you never know right?

I also attended a really cool panel on webcomics made up of a really entertaining group of web comic artists. Through all the jokes and stuff, they actually gave a lot of really really awesome advice and tips. Hence this blog!

I got pretty excited after seeing all the other work that people are doing out there. Check out the awesome Mr. Toast, by Dan Goodsell. Pretty cool stuff on that site. Seeing work like this inspires me!

I think the main thing I took away from all of this was to "have fun." With 18 thousand webcomics out there, you've got to go into this thing with an attitude of fun and enjoyment. I end this post with a great piece of advice that just stood out to me, "Don't quit your day job." Yes sir.
-GH

Greetings!

Hello there! First post and first time blogging here. I'm going to use this blog to share more of the process and thoughts that go into creating the Orchard Heroes webcomic. I'll also be sharing bits of art or designs that I'm working on and also all other things that I find cool and interesting. Things that... tickle my fancy. Was that creepy? Sorry.

That's it for now, just kind of wanted to post the first post so I can see how it looks on the blog.
-GH