Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Submitting my Comic to Newspaper Syndicates

After many months of waiting, I received only rejection slips and no offers to syndicate my comic strip, Hoxwinder Hall. I was very disappointed. Years later, I updated my comic and took another shot at it. Once again, only rejection letters followed. Again, the experience was very deflating.

(a rejection letter from one of the major newspaper syndication companies)

Monday, September 29, 2014

The Creation of My Comic Strip

In the late nineteen eighties, I created a comic strip about a kid who secretly brings a little alligator home from a family vacation in Florida. The alligator's name was Dozi, and the kid's name was Byron Hoxwinder. I called the strip Hoxwinder Hall. My dream had always been to be a syndicated comic strip cartoonist, and with Hoxwinder Hall I thought I had an idea that readers would love. Here is a sample of the strips I submitted to the national syndicates:

(10 black & white Hoxwinder Hall strips)

(color Sunday Hoxwinder Hall strip)

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Character Sketches

Some early character development sketches for my comic strip: Dozi the alligator, brothers Byron and Rowdy Hoxwinder.


 Dozi the alligator

Byron

 Rowdy

Saturday, September 27, 2014

High School and Art School

I wasn’t much of a student in high school. I knew I wanted to be an artist and that was that. I was accepted into George Mason University (GMU), but only because I was a pretty decent distance runner high school and my track coach put in a good word for me.

After my freshman year of college, I took a break from school and worked for a year. I then switched gears, and enrolled at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. It was during those years at art school that I first had the idea for a character that what would later become Dozi the Alligator, and a comic strip called Hoxwinder Hall

Here are some pics from those days. The other person in the photos is my roommate at art school, Scott Kristoff. Scott had a great sense of humor, and is still one of the most talented artists I have ever known.






Friday, September 26, 2014

Early Influences

Like any other artists will tell you, I wanted to be an artist as far back as I can remember. Specifically, I wanted to be a syndicated cartoonist. My dream was to be the creator of a successful daily comic strip. So… I began drawing. I would spend endless hours trying to copy the characters from my favorite comic strips.

In high school, my greatest influence was artist Frank Frazetta; the Michelangelo of fantasy art and comics. His work blew my mind. I purchased all of Frazetta’s art books and spent lots of time trying to copy his work. I also began teaching myself to paint. My favorite pastime was attempting to replicate Frazetta paintings. I also tried to copy the work of Norman Rockwell. Here are a couple photos of those painting attempts from those days, done when I was about 16 years old:


(copy of a Frank Frazetta painting)

(beginnings of a Norman Rockwell illustration. Rockwell reference in top left corner)

Hello


My name is Daniel Boris. I’ve been a professional artist most of my life. I thought I’d start a blog and share my journey. Here goes…