December 24th, 2015

Merry Christmas, everyone!
And a happy new year! Hope you all have a great holiday, no matter what the weather. 

(Shoot, I just noticed I forgot to draw presents under the tree. What's wrong with me?)

Seriously though, may your holiday season be a wonderful one. It is the most wonderful time of the year, after all. Billy will be turning two years old soon!

December 22nd, 2015

I kinda like this strip. It's very simple. It's not necessarily a super-original idea, or even a super-clever one, but it sort of works, I think. Not the funniest strip, but a pretty charming one.

December 18th, 2015

AT LONG LAST, the holiday season is upon us! Hot cocoa! Candy canes! Fireplaces!
And what better way to celebrate it than with a somber environmental-message comic strip? Yaayy. . .
This strip was inspired on a real experience I had in Maine. We were hiking along this astoundingly pristine stream. It was so clean and untouched that it was as if no one had ever even been there before. But what did we find right in the middle of the stream? A lone cigarette butt. Sigh. . . It did make a funny strip though.

What's your favorite part about the holidays? Tell me in the comments!

December 16th, 2015

This punch line is a really old one that I came up with. It dates back as far as second or third grade, and is probably the most clever thing I came up with during that entire period of my life. That's not saying a whole lot though.

December 14th, 2015

This concludes Thomas' stay in the Billy house. I think the punchline here is funny.

December 12th, 2015

If you're just tuning in to the story, click here to start from the beginning.

Yet another one of Billy's failed pranks. Was a shame.

If you'll notice Thomas' shirt in this one, you'll see it's very black. That's because a while ago I bough a brush pen , which lets me fill in large spaces entirely with pure black. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but it is for me. It lets me do a lot more than I could before.

December 10th, 2015

And we continue our story! If you're just tuning in, click here to start from the beginning.

The pacing in this one is way off. I should have put another panel between panels 3 and 4. Hopefully you don't mind though!

December 8th, 2015

As with last week's "Sunday" strip, this week's was drawn up in Maine during the summer. It clearly has a summer vibe; it's a little awkward to be talking about buying peaces in December. (That's one of the downsides with drawing strips way before they show up -- you never really know when they're actually going to run, and it can be hard to plan ahead.) But those were just the sort of things I were feeling at the time, and so they carried over into the strip.

December 6th, 2015

If I remember right, these first three panels were drawn entirely with my left hand. That was a lot of fun. I should do that more often.

Also, this is the last of the three Billies-in-a-row. We hope you enjoyed this exclusive programme.

December 5th, 2015

The story so far: Thomas, Harley's brother, is over at Harley's house for a brief visit.
And you know what that means! Billy's gotta prank him!

This is the second of the three Billies in a row. The third comes tomorrow!

December 4th, 2015

Hey y'all! Sorry for the short wait; we've been having some computer problems. To make up for it, I shall be posting three Billies in a row! That's right, no more having to wait two days for a strip, you'll only have to wait one! Just for these next three, at least.

Anyway, on to the strip. For those that have only just started reading, Harley's brother Thomas is staying at their house for a while, and as such he has to del with Billy's obnoxiousness.

The design on Thomas' shirt here (The hatching at different angles) is a pattern I've always liked to draw. I don't do it too much in this strip, though, because it doesn't quite fit the style. But since Thomas is a bit of a "foreigner" in the strip, and because he has a different shirt in every strip, I found a way to sneak it in.

November 30th, 2015

For those just tuning in to the story: Harley's brother Thomas, first shown in a long-ago Billy series, is visiting Billy and the gang and witnessing Billy's weird behaviors.

I tried to emulate pirate-speak in this one as best as I could, with Billy saying things like "I be bearing" and "meself." It's not perfect, but it was fun to write! Also, I think Billy's line in the last panel is funny.

November 28th, 2015

For those just tuning in to the story: Harley's brother, Thomas, who first appeared in the very first Billy the Pop storyline, is back for a visit to the Billy household.

To me, Thomas represents how a normal person would react to Billy and his antics. Harley lives with Billy, so he's pretty much used to Billy and doesn't find him so weird as he does annoying. Thomas, on the other hand, doesn't see Billy often and is certainly not used to him. Thomas' reactions are basically what I think would happen if someone from the real world stumbled into the strip.

November 26th, 2015

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! You know what I'm thankful for? I'm thankful for you guys. You all are the reason I draw all these strips all the time. Let's keep the Pop Culture growing!

This strip reintroduces Thomas, who is Harley's brother. He was introduced in this very mediocre Billy the Pop story that I made towards the very start of the blog. It was actually the first Billy story I ever made, which explains its less-than-satisfactory writing, but I thought I would bring back Thomas just to show that he wasn't just a one-time character.

November 24th, 2015

 Everyone has their own version of a good time. I'm fairly certain that this is the first-ever Billy to feature no written words! So that's pretty neat.

This strip was drawn up in Maine. I think I was subconsciously incorporating Maine vegetation into this one, as there are a fair amount of conifers in the second and seventh panels. I really do love it up there.

I think the colors ended up nicely in this one. I tried to use a limited number of colors per panel, in order to save time and also to stretch my creativity.

November 22nd, 2015

I like this one. The whole "did it even happen" things was just a thought I had and I think it fits well into the strip.

November 20th, 2015

This is the first poem I came up with when I tried to come up with a limerick on the spot. That probably says something about me.

This strip is sort of a continuation of a few older Billy strips I drew way back, towards the first days of the blog. Here they are, if you want to see them:

http://billythepop.blogspot.com/2014/02/february-8th-2014.html

http://billythepop.blogspot.com/2014/05/may-18th-2014.html

http://billythepop.blogspot.com/2014/08/august-5th-2014.html

November 18th, 2015

Hey everyone! Today is a very important day for me, because 30 years ago today the very first Calvin and Hobbes strip came out! As some of you may know, Calvin and Hobbes is a huge inspiration to me and everything I do, so I'd just like to take this time to thank Mr. Bill Watterson, the cartoonist behind it, for everything he made and everything he made us feel. Without him, the world would not have known one of the best comic strips ever made, and I would certainly not be interested comics the way I am. So thank you, Bill.

November 16th, 2015

Pardon me for talking about excrement so much in a comic strip, but it worked for the joke.

November 14th, 2015

Usually when I draw these kinds of strips, they're based on some thought I was having that day and just converted into Billy format. I must have been thinking about evolution the day I drew this.

Jeez, that's a lot of lines in the second panel. . .

November 11th, 2015

I'm fully aware that they do call them trash bins in some places, but I had no other joke ideas at the time. This one isn't very good, sorry.

November 9th, 2015

This one is based off of a certain someone (he knows who he is) that is always dropping obnoxious puns. This is my retaliation.

November 7th, 2015

I always listen to music while I draw Billys. For the record, I know next to nothing about music theory, but I've heard of chord progression, modes, etc. I like this one, personally.

November 5th, 2015

Of course! Now I get it!

November 3rd, 2015

For most of my strips, I always try to fill in the backgrounds with furniture and other household items, just so the backgrounds don't look so empty. But sometimes I'll decide not to put anything in the background, and it turns out looking more pleasing visually. It's actually nicer to look at something that's less cluttered and claustrophobic  But it still looks empty to me, so I add shading anyway, but I try to remember not to overdo things more now.

November 1st, 2015

Harley sure lives a hard life. It was fun to write all those "I'm bored"s.

October 30th, 2015

Happy Hallow's Eve, everybody! Tomorrow night will be full of spooks, scares and. . . um, something else that starts with 's,' I guess.

This strip is basically the same as the very first colored strip I posted on this blog. Things have really changed since then.
Also, I think it's funny that Billy's sign just says "good business" on it.

October 28th, 2015

This fact is true! So now you'll think about that the next time a fly lands on your meal. . . Muahahaha!

Jeez, I got the perspective way wrong in that first panel. Pete looks like he's bigger than that desk in the background. I wonder how big that makes the fly. . .

October 26th, 2015

Okay, I'd just like to clear something up. This list is compiled by physical complexity, not intellectual complexity. By saying that writing is underneath visual art on this list, I mean that  physically, all writing is is just ink arranged into letters, so looking at it that way, it is much less complicated than, say, a painting, which physically is an intricately formed layer of paint, organized into a picture. I'm not saying that it takes a smarter person to paint a picture, or that it's easier to write a novel than to draw a comic strip. I really didn't mean any of this that way, so I hope this strip doesn't offend anyone.

With that out of the way, this really is how I feel about video games. In my opinion, no other medium really had the level of interactivity than games, but I can definitely appreciate all other forms of art to some extent.

October 24th, 2015

Billy's line in the last panel is sort of a stab at people who think pugs are inbred or "too ugly." Trust me, pugs are awesome. Look at this and tell me it didn't make your day. :)

October 22nd, 2015

This is something that occurred to me one day. There are actually way less seconds in a year than people would estimate (31,536,000), so it really isn't that surprising that that many needles would be in a small forest. Of course, that's kind of a depressing thing to think about.

Halloween is fast coming up! Are you ready for some spookin'?

October 20th, 2015

This one sort of reminds me of the older Billy strips, in a way. It's really odd for me to look at the very first Billy strips and see how different everything was (my drawing skills especially, haha).

Speaking of comparisons between the past and present, if you didn't already know, tomorrow, October 21st, 2015, is the exact day Doc Brown and Marty McFly traveled through time to in Back to the Future II. If you've ever seen that movie, it's pretty insane how much different the 2015 predicted in the movie is than the real 2015.

October 18th, 2015

Yeesh, Harley's legs are long in that second panel. Obviously I have some issues with perspective I've got to work out, hehe.

Nature really is beautiful, though. Makes me feel like I shouldn't be spending my entire day inside drawing comics.

October 16th, 2015

I haven't made papier mâché in a really long time. If I tried it now it would probably end up like Billy's is. This is certainly not how I feel about art, by the way. 

October 14th, 2015

Billy has no appreciation for home décor.

October 12th, 2015

Guess what, guys! It's my birthday today! Wahoo!
Just as it was last year, today is National Billy the Pop Day. Today is the day to spread the word about this website! I would really appreciate it. Forward the link to some friends! Post a strip or two on Facebook! Dress up as a giant popsicle and hold a sign with the URL on it! Well, you don't have to do that last one. It would be great if you did, though.

I'd also like to hear from you today. Let me know what you think of the strip and how I could improve. This is my comic, but it's also yours!


About the strip today: I like strips that have this sort of irony in them (e.g. Billy saying it was a mosquito and then having to face actual mosquitoes later). I believe I've done the same sort of thing before in the strip a couple times, but I'd like to try it more often. Also, I think the water in the first panel turned out really well.

October 10th, 2015

This one played out better in my head. When I was coming up with the idea I'd thought, "He'll have a bunch of dominoes, and they'll get progressively bigger until they're huge!" But then I said to myself, "Wait a second, why would they have a random gigantic domino in their house?" So I had to make it using several household objects. It doesn't have the same effect, though.

October 8th, 2015

It was sorta difficult to find an effective way to write an english accent. Words like 'part' were pretty easy to convert (paht), but others, like 'care,' aren't as easy to understand in accented form (ceah). So I just used a lot of stereotypical English phrases to make it seem more English ("Say, old chap," "'Ello, govna," "Spot 'o' tea"). A lot more thought goes into these things than is usually apparent.

October 6th, 2015

Well, you see Harley, Billy will do anything you don't want him to to. It's his driving purpose in life. That's why, Harley.

October 4th, 2015

As I said a couple posts ago, these strips were drawn at a lake in Georgia, at which we would do a lot of fishing, and thus this strip.

October 2nd, 2015

Well, it's a new month! Now it's going to really start feeling like fall, especially when Halloween comes around. Oh boy.

September 30th, 2015

This next two weeks' worth of strips were drawn in Lake Hartwell, Georgia. It's a pretty great place. You'll probably see a couple fishing/boating/forest strips, because that was just the scenery I was in.

On a different note, I think "If you can't beat 'em, confuse 'em" is a pretty good quote.

September 28th, 2015

If you'll notice, there's a window in every panel of this strip. I did that to show it was slowly changing from a clear sky to a storm. Just a little detail, but I like adding 'em.

September 26th, 2015

. . . Get it? Laugh up a storm?! . . .

. . .

September 24th, 2015

This one really isn't that funny. It's hard to choose whether to go for funniness or actual semi-profound things to say. Of course, I'm still a kid, so I'm not necessarily inclined to talk about life like this, but I try to when I make these kinds of strips.

September 22nd, 2015

Did you get this joke? I wasn't sure if I made it clear enough.

(If you didn't, it's just the fact that they're still sitting after learning this information.)

This fact is very true, by the way. Those who sit down for a large portion of their day can suffer major health problems, which kind of makes me want to get off my computer now. . .

September 20th, 2015

Fun Fact: I like toast the way Pete does. 
If that's not interesting, I don't know what is.

September 18th, 2015

I like the lines in the last panel here. When I wrote Billy's, I kinda thought to myself, "Wait, drive the point home. . . hmm. . ." and Harley's line was created. That was a case when writing slightly improvisation-ally worked out.

September 16th, 2015

The difficulties of filmmaking.

September 14th, 2015

There's a sort of green-orange-magenta color palette here. I thought that was pretty cool.