Hourly Comic Day 2025

It took me what, 8 years? to realize it's easier to do Hourly Comic Day with a printable template so I don't get those ungoshly crooked lines for the frames. Special thanks to Arlee, my daughter, for inspiring me to do this this year. I would've forgotten otherwise. Enjoy a day in my life!

Hourly Comic Day 2024

I need to remember to do this every single year. Or possibly even multiple times a year. Such a fun way to practice drawing and cartoonistry, and a fun little journal entry to boot.

Hourly Comic Day 2020

There wasn't much going on while I was doing this, but more than that, my heart just wasn't in it, so I didn't finish. Work's been frustratingly boring lately and I think it carried over. At least what I did come up with was pretty funny, and I'm proud of the drawings.

Relic Comic: Invasion Aves

My best friend as a teenager, Jason Durfee, gave me the idea for this comic. I planned to make it go even more unnecessarily long, using all kinds of different birds that would have specialties in every aspect of a military regiment, but I think it's probably good it didn't go on much longer.

I think it's funny how it demonstrates my lack of shame of blatantly ripping off existing jokes word for word (Home Alone). It's also funny that I misspelled "aves." "Invasion Avis" would mean "Invasion of the Grandparents," not birds.

Relic Comic: Pie for the Guy

This is a weird one. Especially with that oddly philosophical border around the edges of the paper. Much like the Head of Osiris one I shared earlier, I seemed to start with some kind of idea and then devolved into just wanting to draw something else entirely but not abandon the drawing. Very admirable, actually, considering all the truly unfinished comics I've made. At least it ends somehow.

Relic Comic: The Frost Wyvern

I'm not sure why I was so into monks getting interrupted while writing when I drew comics back then. And I wish that the "lighting effects" I talk about at the end showed up better after scanning. The pencilwork is quite admirable.

Relic Comic: The Tamarisk Tree

I already had this comic uploaded on my computer, but I never put it onto Pretzel Lectern! Funny that this same situation made it into two comics, down to not knowing what the actual tree was called.

Relic Comic: The Head of Osiris

Clearly this comic was inspired by the PC game Age of Mythology, specifically the 18th level in the campaign, "A Long Way from Home." I called it the "Tree-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" because I forgot it was called the Tamarisk Tree, and I just thought it was funny.

I like the video game elements scattered throughout, like the damage numbers, health pie charts, and the line chart showing the unit populations. And of course, the fact that I got bored and settled halfway through is hilarious. I think it made it so much funnier than an actual full-length comic! 
Another funny thing is, I'm pretty sure I made another comic about the Tamarisk tree that had some Paper Mario jokes in it... I'll have to look for that one too sometime.

10 Calvin & Hobbes Strips I Don't Understand

Bill Watterson is one of my dearest heroes. His adherence to the integrity of art over merchandise, his excellence in the execution of comic drawing, his sense of humor, and his reclusive nature as an author all resonate with me and have been key points of inspiration for Knight Guy. And being a dreamer myself, Calvin & Hobbes's topic material focus on imagination, childhood, and nostalgia have always brought me joy and made me feel like I'm a kid on summer vacation again.

I had all of the Calvin & Hobbes books (or at least all the cartoons—some were collections of two books) by the time I was about 15 years old, and I've made it a tradition to read through the entire series chronologically every other year or so. I'm amazed at how year after year I can find new strips to laugh aloud at and other ones that bring tears to my eyes as I read the same strips at different points in my lifetime.

Despite my lifelong love for Calvin & Hobbes, there are still some strips that—even after all these decades—I just don't get. Going through the series this time, I decided to compile all the strips I don't understand here with a request for anyone who knows* they understand a strip to explain the humor or punchline of it to me in the comments below.

Hourly Comic Day 2019

I did it a day late, but knowingly (because a Friday at work was less interesting than a Saturday at home).

Hourly Comic Day 2017

I've never done this before, but this year I remembered just in time and was able to participate! Had a lot of fun and definitely exercised my punchline-making and observance skills. Enjoy a snapshot of my nerdy and somewhat boring life!

Knight Guy Strip #100!

Well, Knight Guy officially has 100 strips. I'm simultaneously excited, proud, satisfied, and daunted. The comic has come so far and is everything I hoped it would be (I can't believe how many punchlines I've made work—and only a couple of them didn't), and yet it's only about a quarter of the first of three acts that's finished. I'm still young, but I wonder if I'll ever finish the entire story, or even one act. It's taken two and a half years to get this far. Oh well. I guess that's not important.

Anyway, here is the strip in all its glory. I thought it was appropriate to have the hundredth strip finally bring Humdring and Corlis together after such a long time apart.

Visit the comic site if you haven't caught up with the story yet!

Caption Comic

I was asked at work to draw a comic that our hired writers could come up with a caption for as a contest. I'm happy to work for a company that strives to give each employee their chance to share their talents. They even gave me two hours of paid time to work on it. It's not much, but it was fun to draw. I was really impressed by the winner's submission and am glad they won!

Relic Comic: Adventure of Abel

I'm not sure where I was going with this comic, but I do remember that I had an obsession with monks at the time. For some reason the profession seemed appealing—writing, transcribing, simplicity—so I put myself in a comic about one. Many times, monks in my stories would be the heroes of the stories they were in, as if they were protecting the village without the village even knowing about it. I'm probably digging way too deep into my adolescent mind though. I think I just liked monks because of their robes and Gregorian chants.

Sorry about the size on this browser. Click on the comic for a better zoom. And don't ask me what that monster is... a giant thumb with glow worms coming out of it I guess?

Relic Comic: Revenge of Abelhawk

This comic is full of meaning to me. Drawing has always been my way of escape. I doodled in class to help me stay focused; I drew in my free time; and was always excited to find a new form of drawing or coloring, be it colored pencils, Photoshop, or markers. This drawing shows another way I used drawing—to relieve stress:

As the comic states, this was based on actual circumstances. There was a guy in my physics class in 9th grade who used to bug me and make fun of me a lot, mainly because I was shy and wouldn't defend myself (and of course, everyone in class loved him for his jokes). All I could do was ignore him in real life, but I was able to retreat to my drawing desk and draw a fictionalized version of a stronger, bolder me handling the situation in an epic (and admittedly excessively violent) way. I was also on the yearbook staff at the time, which explains me taking a picture at the end and putting it in the yearbook. A little Easter egg is the heart symbols on the caption of the photo above the beaten-up kid—I think that picture was implied to be a picture of me making out with my crush at the time. Classic junior high mind.

How far I've come indeed...

I found this while looking through the Ark the other day. I had almost forgotten all about it. As far as I remember I drew it in the same manner as I draw the Knight Guy comics today, but it's surprising how much my drawing skills (or perhaps just dedication) has improved since then. What's really funny is that I actually submitted it to Blizzard in their comic contest, hoping it would show up. Not only did Blizzard not accept it (and frankly, I'm surprised that I expected them to), but there was another comic that I saw a few months later that told basically the same joke, only better.

As a side note, the reward for that class is the choice of a weapon, not 30 copper.
I kinda like that imp though.

Knight Guy comic speed color!

I finally got around to doing this, though the quality of the screen recorder wasn't nearly as good as I had hoped. If I can find a better way to do it in the future, I'll also include a timelapse of me actually doing the sketch. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy it! And please check out Knight Guy!

Comic: Fatherhood

In honor of Father's Day, I present to you a comic. 

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I personally believe that God is literally our father, and such a knowledge can help us trust in Him even though He may not make sense sometimes. It can also give us insight on how to be good parents ourselves—God is neither too lenient nor too strict for us. His only interest is in teaching us the correct way, letting us choose for ourselves, and honoring our choice with relevant consequences.

Spotlight: How I Draw Comics

I've been having a blast drawing my new webcomic, Knight Guy, and I even spent some time outlining the entire epic story from start to finish, which is something rare for me. I sincerely hope that my motivation for this awesome project will remain strong till I finish; I understand it'll take me years to complete it, but I'm okay with that.

New Big Project: Knight Guy webcomic!

It's time to work on a project I've wanted to start for seven years: a Webcomic! I finally have all I need to get started: a decent scanner, Photoshop, and most importantly, a storyline. I've also discovered a comic book club at my university, which will help my drive to work on it even more.

"Knight Guy" is a comic about Corlis Cneet, a celery farmer who is unwittingly thrust into what annoys him most—adventure! Sound cliché? Maybe, but I'll make it work with my own twist on it. And plus, here on Pretzel Lectern you guys will be able to see behind-the-scenes stuff, such as a timelapse of me drawing a panel, or background information about the story. I'm still working on the layout of the site, but I have a bunch of comics already drawn and ready to be colored. I'll probably upload three or four just to get the series started, and then get a weekly upload going.

How will Corlis's adventure begin? Go to knightguy.the-comic.org to find out!