 Happy The Hodag© www.HappyTheHodag.com |
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I created the character Happy the Hodag in the winter of 2006 as a pet project. I was looking to practice and expand my illustration skills and had decided to create a friendly rendition of my hometown mascot, the hodag. Traditionally the hodag is depicted as a fierce monster and is used in signage and business names all over Rhinelander, WI. I created many renditions before the final. It was a task to include all the 'known' physical attributes of a hodag while making him friendly. |
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The day I finalized the character was the day I realized that I had to do something more with it. Happy didn't have a chance of being accepted as part of the hodag hoopla if he didn't have some context, and thus was born Tales From The Trees. Introduced in the spring of 2006, Tales is a 6" x 6" full color book introducing the basic lore of the hodag to children; it stars Happy the Hodag and his best friend, Buddy the Bulldog. I wrote, illustrated and self published this book (which is a fancy way of saying I took out a big fat loan to produce it and took it upon myself to peddle my wares about town in hopes of recouping my costs.) Tales was well received in Rhinelander and has now become a local and tourist staple. The following spring of 2007 I released a second book titled A Monster Misunderstanding. This second book further explores the hodag legend and tells the tale of how Happy the Hodag and Buddy the Bulldog became friends. For those unfamiliar with the legend, hodags are known to eat white bulldogs, but only once a month and only on Sundays. My audience felt I had some explaining to do. Also in 2007 I found a vendor to produce a plush doll of Happy the Hodag, which was very exciting. I didn't release a new book in 2008 but rather spent the spring and early summer on PR for Happy the Hodag, hoping to reach audiences outside of Rhinelander. I did a lot of interviews for publications, radio, and television and received only a handful of online orders. (The hodag is a hard sell to those who have never heard of it before.) The one big thing that did happen in July, was Schwartz Bookshops in Milwaukee, WI decided to do consignment with me, but slow sales will have them dropping me after Christmas. They're keeping me on through Christmas mainly because the buyer's nephew apparently met me some time ago and the little guy really likes Happy. Kids really DO like Happy, it's so cool, and so fulfilling when I meet or hear of a Happy fan. I'm currently working on animations and will likely be starting webisodes this winter. I'm just getting my feet wet in the animation department and I'm still searching for that perfect output combination for YouTube that doesn't degrade the quality of the image, suggestions are welcome! Check out my first animation, which is a short introduction to the hodag. Also check out my second animation, which is a Christmas commercial.
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