Hopalong Camanshii and the Synaptic Kush is a graphic novel project that I created, wrote, and illustrated that explores mythology, cultural and ethnic stereotypes, and the effect technology has on our society. It’s told through the lens of a fantastical society where art is a superpower. Told over 100 Books, Hopalong Camanshii and the Synaptic Kush is planned to be published four times a year with book one currently on sale. I also create and distribute clothing and other merchandise to promote the graphic novel.
‘Hopalong Camanshii and The Synaptic Kush’ by Anthony Tyrone Howard, is a “techno hippie cyber sexual adventure” set almost 1000 years in a future Philadelphia – with the first book of the series focusing on the “effect that the cult of fame, the rise of memes and march of technology is having on our society’s evolution”.
I was looking to take on a project that would exercise muscles that I don’t normally get a chance to flex. I’ve been so busy building my career as a designer that I haven’t worked on a comic in over twenty years.
As I started working I realized how similar laying out a comic page was to design a piece of visual design. Things like leading the eye, color balance, typography, readability are all things that have to shine to create a good page of sequential art.
02. Analog to Digital
The last time that I worked on a comic I was using ink nub pens and an of bristol board. Although I still love the feel of analog art I needed to optimize my workflow.
Using Manga Studio Ex (now Clip Studio) I’m able to duplicate the ink nibs in a digital space to create art identical to hand-drawn art. After creating the linework in MS I import into Adobe Photoshop for coloring, lettering, and effects.
03. Printing and Production
Initially, my plan was to only release the comic as a series of graphic novels and special editions but my existing client workload made any reliable release schedule prohibitive.
This year I decided to release the series as a Webcomic so I could concentrate on improving my art and storytelling page by page with a reasonable bi-monthly release system. Once I finish a chapter I then pan to collect those into printed editions packed with additional sketches and freebies.
Expanding the Universe
I recently started the process of translating the series into animation form. Since the process of animation is so time-consuming, I’ve been developing the series in phases. The first step was creating a version of the characters that were easy to animate so I looked to series that I love including Adventure Time, Total Drama Island, and, of course, Rick and Morty.
The next step was adapting the characters to ‘Rigs’, a digital puppet, that I could then animate in Adobe After Effects.
For the first book, I held a launch party at W Studios on Northern Liberties Philadelphia. With a live DJ, Birthday cake, open mike, and a Burlesque dancer we celebrated the launch of Hopalong Camanshii Issue 1.
I also hand-delivered copies of the book to local comic shops as well as making the book available online via Amazon and Barnes and Nobel.
