Since its launch, Zen Pencils has garnered a global fan following on account of its heart-warming comic stories that tell you all about life.
Of the 183 ‘Zen Pencils’ comic stories so far, our favourite is the adaptation of the commencement speech of screenwriter, director and television producer Shonda Rhimes (‘How to Get Away with Murder’, ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, ‘Scandal’) delivered at her alma mater Dartmouth College in 2014. Rhimes cut no corners in her advice when she said “…dreams do not come true because you dream them, it’s hard work that makes things happen. It’s hard work that creates change.”
Thanks to Australian artist Gavin Aung Than, (the brains behind ‘Zen Pencils’), many such inspirational words from famous historical and contemporary figures, (Confucius, to our beloved Dr A P J Abdul Kalam) have received the special ‘Zen Pencil’ treatment. Obviously, Than took Rhimes’ words to heart. In 2011, he was working as a graphic designer before turning his passion for cartooning into a full-time job. By 2012, he left his job to launch ‘Zen Pencils’, a comic blog where he adapted inspirational speeches into heartwarming comic stories.
Always the ‘comic’ guy
Melbourne-based Than recalls, “I was obsessed with comics and cartoons. In primary school, I have fond memories of watching ‘Looney Tunes’ cartoons with my grandmother. Once I got to high school, I discovered superhero comics and my parents would spoil me and buy me lots of comic books. Some kids love sport, some love music – I was always the ‘comic’ guy.”
Than grew up to be a graphic designer, and by the time he was 30, he had been working in newspaper editorial design for eight years. By then, he had begun to ask himself, what next?
Zen Pencils, Eureka!
The answer emerged from Than’s parallel interest in biographies and inspirational quotes. “I would save some of my favourite inspirational quotes from historic figures and, at the same time, I also noticed that a lot of people were sharing their favourite quotes on social media.” That’s when he got the idea to base an entire website around such quotes and combine them with his cartooning to produce something new.
Than’s first attempt was an adaptation of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s ‘Make them cry’ in 2012, that has been viewed over 19,000 times on Facebook to date. An important part of the blog is the community section where he invites readers to share their personal stories. According to Than, that’s what makes the readers come back.
How to make good art
On his blog, Than has gone to the extent of documenting a step by step process of how he creates a comic strip. “I think about the quote for a few days while I’m doing other things. By then, a little spark of an idea comes, before I start doodling in a notebook to try and think of a story.” In an online report, Than had previously mentioned that he begins with rough sketches, working out the panel layout and story’s pace. Next, he does the pencil sketches on A4 paper, which he scans and prints on A3 boards for the final pencil drawing over it. Then he inks over the pencil, with a black pen and brush, before finally scanning them on the computer to add colour and special effects with the help of Adobe Photoshop. “There’s no magic to it, just a lot of hard work,” he says.
The end result is a blog that has built a global following entirely on word of mouth. For Than though, it boils down to using the internet to create a global village. He says, “People online are looking to connect with one another these days. By sharing my vulnerability — I wasn’t sure if what I was doing was the right thing — by expressing myself honestly through my comics and the posts that I would write, I allowed people from all over the world to connect with me. They could relate to my struggle to try and make a living by doing something I was passionate about. It is scary to share a bit of yourself online to strangers, but for me, the reward has been overwhelming and positive.
Since its launch, the blog has been covered internationally, and was named one of the top 100 websites of 2013 by PC Mag. Than is launching the second ‘Zen Pencils’ book collection this month. Did he have the faintest idea that the blog would get this far in just three years? The last thing he recalls, before Zen Pencils officially went online, was “Oh god, what if this doesn’t work?”