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Discover the beginning of my webcomic journey: How my comic diary began!

Dive into the origins of my webcomic that began in 2017. 

You may not know it but the webcomic diary that I've been drawing for years actually started out as a way to express my emotions after we found out my wife had breast cancer.

illustration of woman screaming and man sitting
Then This Happened... A diary about breast cancer

I had actually made the decision that I wanted to start drawing comics again and I went to meet my wife for lunch to tell her and she let me know she found out she had breast cancer.

illustration of a webcomic with four panels
This is my first webcomic I drew

The webcomic suddenly became my outlet to express my emotions, improve my art skills, and tell a story that people could relate to.

illustration of a four panel webcomic
Another webcomic from that first year

Over the years, the webcomic has become a huge part of my life. I put out a book every year that collects all the comics from the previous year. It's a different experience reading them all together like that, compared to just seeing them one by one on my website.

It also is a way that I've been trying to bring new people into the book feel free to jump in and follow the journey from the very beginning.

Then This Happened... A Diary About Breast Cancer

The first eBook is available on Amazon

Read it now on Amazon Kindle


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Artwork for the original Candy Land game by Milton Bradley from 1955.

I have a vintage Candy Land game from 1955 by Milton Bradley and I was about to sell it so I thought I would add it to my personal art history course concept I've been doing . I'm going to try and see if I can find out how this game was created, designed and why? Here is what I found out about this game https://candy-land.fandom.com/wiki/Candy_Land_Wiki Candy Land is a board game about children exploring a world made out of candy and other sweets that originally came out in 1949. In every version of the game, there are a group of children that go through Candy Land. In the earliest versions of the game, it was a realistically drawn boy and girl. Drawing of the Candy Land kids I did on my phone ☝ https://board-games-galore.fandom.com/wiki/Candy_Land The game was designed in 1948 by Eleanor Abbott , while she was recovering from polio in San Diego, California. It's rumored that Eleanor also did the original artwork but I didn't find anything that...

The Disco Artwork Of The Bonkers 1978 Parker Brothers Board Game.

I tried to find the origin of the artwork on this vintage board game. But came up short. I got this version of the game " Bonkers! " by Parker Brothers from 1978. I remember the game because of the super disco/burst design. Kinda reminds me of that pinball counting cartoon segment on Sesame Street back in the day where they counted to 12. Which if you remember the song, I always love to point out the people that sing it are  The Pointer Sisters . Ok back to the game. Here is some info I learned about it. Described as a race-style board game designed by Paul J. Gruen who also came up with the game Pay Day and was considered one of the era's top board game designers. And I'm pretty sure when they say designed it's referring to the concept, not the artwork. That seems to be the only thing I can find that talks about the design. I would have liked to learn more about who did the artwork or how it was conceived. The game was released three tim...

Board games.

I thought that was really cool how him getting this old game meant so much to him. This is the Bonkers! game that I'm talking about. -  https://amzn.to/2V0OQfK

Stephen Gilpin: Cartoonist and illustrator - Tom Ray's Art Podcast

Listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS On this podcast episode, I meet Stephen Gilpin . Stephen Gilpin has been working professionally as an illustrator since 2001. He’s illustrated numerous picture books, chapter books, graphic novels, and illustrations for a host of clients including Disney/Hyperion, Simon and Schuster, Harper, MacMillan, Scholastic, and others. Since 2016 he's done a regular comic strip page for Scout Life (Boys' Life) Magazine.  We talk about how Stephen is currently trying to break out with his own comic ideas these days and trying to set their own path. Links Stephen Gilpin's website https://sgilpin.com Stephen Gilpin on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sparkgilpin 📙 Get my webcomic book "Then This Happened... Going outside again" now on Amazon as an ebook or paperback 📬 Join my email list to get a call out for artists when I'm booking interviews! Join my email list