Bearded Bunny Blog

noreply@blogger.com (William Hessian) — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 08:52:00 +0000

A few years ago I released The Mind Sieve Maze. After considering reworking the image for a different project I remembered that I actually want to go in and make a few changes. Visually the maze is the same, but the solution to the maze is quite different now. Enjoy.

Launching a Patreon

noreply@blogger.com (William Hessian) — Sun, 16 Feb 2020 04:41:00 +0000

www.patreon.com/williamhessian

I am excited to launch a Patreon and ask for your support in my creative projects!

Mind Sieve Maze

noreply@blogger.com (William Hessian) — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 02:46:00 +0000

Mind Sieve Maze by William Hessian

Check out the collection of free printable mazes here Free Printable Mazes

Garland Maze

noreply@blogger.com (William Hessian) — Fri, 30 Aug 2019 05:55:00 +0000

A small little free printable maze. Feel free to print it out and give it a try. I have been drawing mazes since I was a little kid and I still love coming up with new designs. You can find a bunch of free printable mazes on this post, or on my website www.williamhessian.com

Parktacular Butterfly Art Hunt

noreply@blogger.com (William Hessian) — Thu, 31 May 2018 17:00:00 +0000

Starting June 1st, 2018 ten miniature butterfly artworks in the public parks of St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Visit www.williamhessian.com to see photo clues and learn more about the art hunt.

The original artworks are only 1.5 inches by 1.5 inches in size. They are hidden in for the public to find and keep.

Here is a behind the scenes image of the artworks being created before they were mounted and weatherproofed for the art hunt.

The Holy Donut Maze

noreply@blogger.com (William Hessian) — Wed, 30 May 2018 14:39:00 +0000

A local donut shop in Portland Maine called The Holy Donut asked for submissions to an activity book and I was contacted to participate. I put together a rather tricky donut maze. Feel free to print it out.

Also check out my collection of Free Printable Mazes

Head to head drafting card game

noreply@blogger.com (William Hessian) — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 03:35:00 +0000

PBL ROBOTS card & dice game is a head to head, card and dice drafting game where you blow up robots! You control a 100 foot robot, you select a pilot, slide him/her into your robot and build up your robot's armor by stacking cards on top of it. As the game progresses your robot either gets bigger and stronger, or gets blow up limb by limb. Check out: www.robotcardgame.com

To start the game each player takes turn drafting piles of cards to build their deck. Each player gets to craft their strategy and tries to assemble combos and a well rounded deck.

The game play itself is a mixture of Magic the Gathering and Risk, as you play resources down onto the field (crew, armor, pilots, hangars) and you roll dice for the combat. Each card in your hand can be discarded to buy extra dice during combat. At the end of the game, each starter pilot goes into critical mode and you get a special boost or power up.

If you enjoy table top games, and you enjoy complex competitive head to head battling games, this is a great one to pick up. In addition, if you enjoy games like Magic the Gathering, YuGiOh, Pokemon the trading card game, Netrunner, Mucnhkin, Risk, Hearthstone, or deck building games like Star Realms or Dominion you should give PBL ROBOTS a try!

Learn more: www.robotcardgame.com

Hidden Ladder Collective Art Tour 2017

noreply@blogger.com (William Hessian) — Wed, 15 Mar 2017 03:40:00 +0000

Between April 10 and June 2 Hidden Ladder Collective will be touring in Asheville, Nashville, Atlanta, Richmond, Pittsburgh, Philly, and NYC! Any connections or suggestions? We are looking to set up art, music (The Bumbling Woohas), and game (PBL Robots) events on the street and in venues.

Check out what Hidden Ladder Collective did in 2016!

"The Curse of Threes" by Bumbling Woohas live at Geno's

noreply@blogger.com (William Hessian) — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 11:08:00 +0000

The Bumbling Woohas live @ Geno's from FriendlyTea on Vimeo.

Filmed in Portland, Maine by Friendly Tea/ Seth Dussault

William Hessian Art

noreply@blogger.com (William Hessian) — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 10:33:00 +0000

William Hessian Art (https://www.facebook.com/William-Hessian-Art-231731100203668/) has swallowed most of the energy of the Bearded Bunny Blog. This blog was the home and backbone to so many projects, ideas and was a literally journal of ideas. It was also my soapbox to share with the world what I was working on. In this time I have also succumbed to the ease of a social media giant, simply because it saved me a lot of time.

A few years ago this site became a funnel to direct everyone to my artist website www.williamhessian.com and it still functions as that. I still get decent exposure from all the years of posting I did here on this blog and I still really enjoy the community of friends and artists that gathered around my work during those times.

I posted hundreds of weekly Sketchbook Friday posts and was very consistent. Eventually, like with the daily web comic which I was able to successfully complete, an end was needed for that project. For me, I needed to pour my attention into a new project called PBL ROBOTS card & dice game. I created my own card and dice game and started Hidden Ladder Games with John Sighless Supinski. At the same time I am on the board of the Union of Maine Visual Artists in Maine and also a founding member of the Hidden Ladder Collective, an art collective breaking down the barriers between artists and those that do not consider themselves artists (because we all are).

I really miss all the posts and still really appreciate all the support. I will still be posting here occasionally. I hope you reach out to me in all the other ways and say hi. Stay in touch. The bearded bunny is always here.

Painting on Wood: two new paintings

noreply@blogger.com (William Hessian) — Thu, 26 Nov 2015 09:45:00 +0000

Here are the two works in progress. I have not painted any large works in many months. It feels good to finally get to spend a little time on some bigger projects. Let me know what you think?

Happy Thanksgiving

Jamestown Buffalo Art Hunt

noreply@blogger.com (William Hessian) — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 11:39:00 +0000

Jamestown Buffalo Art Hunt is happening now in North Dakota. You can find all the clues to find hidden artwork at Jamestown Art Center blog. Winner get to keep the original miniature paintings by William Hessian and win additional prizes.

The art hunt is a celebration of White Cloud's birthday, one of the only albino buffalo in the world.

ROBOT CARD GAME Gallery and FAQ

noreply@blogger.com (William Hessian) — Sat, 18 Apr 2015 09:49:00 +0000

PBL ROBOTS card & dice game has just published the full gallery for all of the cards in the base set (the game will is released Summer 2015). You can find a gallery of Crew Members, Action cards, Armor Upgrades, Expert Pilots and Hangars. Some of the popular cards will be getting bios where you can learn about the characters and the back story. You can order PBL ROBOTS on the website.

Another excellent feature on the website is the extensive Frequently Asked Questions section which covers the questions that many first time players have when playing the game, and other interesting interactions that certain cards have with each other. If you enjoy card drafting games, PBL ROBOTS is perfect for you and the game comes with everything you need for 2-3 players to play over and over. The website is completely prepared to assist new players getting into the game, and will be adding new questions weekly as players submit them.

Wiggly Maze: Free Printable Maze

noreply@blogger.com (William Hessian) — Mon, 26 Jan 2015 19:00:00 +0000

A difficult maze to be printed for free. Print as many mazes for kids, or adults. A great puzzle for school kids and teachers are welcome to print as many as you would like. You can find more free printable mazes at free printable mazes on Bearded Bunny Blog.

Feel free to leave me comments and let me know how you enjoy my mazes.

UMVA Portland Chapter starting!

noreply@blogger.com (William Hessian) — Sun, 25 Jan 2015 12:44:00 +0000

Portland, Maine is starting up a new Union of Visual Artists of Maine (UMVA) Chapter. See the event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/830346420372528/

A network of artists committed to sharing resources and knowledge to learn, grow and inspire. The meeting is open to the public and will focus on:
Our goal at the meeting will be to:
1. Membership
2. Introduce ourselves and hear what people want UMVA Portland to be and why they are here
3. Planning first art show for April (themes /locations)
4. Planning the first lecture discussion with Robert Shetterly (early Feb)
5. Figure out future meeting times, studio visits, lectures, discussions and growing the group

Perhaps a short screening of Maine Masters Series: Imber's Left Hand (time permitting)

PBL ROBOTS: 24 left on Kickstarter!

noreply@blogger.com (William Hessian) — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 11:39:00 +0000

PBL ROBOTS the card and dice game is down to its last 24 hours on Kickstarter! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robotcardgame/pbl-robots-dice-and-card-game

William Hessian and John "Sighless" Supinski have spent the last two months playing demo nights in every game store in greater Portland area, calling game stores across the country, e-mailing friends and family and posting everything on social media. Their goal was to raise $22,000 to print their brand new card and dice game PBL ROBOTS! This last week they had to turn up the volume on their effort and make a trip with 3 friends to New York City on a mission to play PBL ROBOTS with as many people as possible, in as many places as possible. The mission was a success as the trip generated over 6 thousand dollars in new donations on Kickstarter.

William and John started Hidden Ladder Games in Portland, Maine a year ago after deciding to develop the game and turn it into a real thing. William and John both belong to the Hidden Ladder Collective, a group of artists and musicians in Portland. This artist collective helped develop the game from the ground up, inventing characters, play testing and editing. Other local companies like Walker Film Productions helped create the game play video for the company. R Choice 2 Gaming in Portland, and Weekend Anime in Westbrook has hosted weekly demo events during the last two months and have been extremely supportive.

"The card game itself is a blend of Magic the Gathering, Risk and Settlers of Catan: only with giant Robots!" says William when explaining PBL ROBOTS. Each player own a giant robot and builds cards on top of the robot to upgrade armor and increase the power. Other cards like crew members, hangars and action cards help develop a strategy. The game typically begins with a draft, where each player selects which card will be in their deck and not long after battles begin and the dice start rolling. Blow off all 4 limbs of the opponent robot and you win the game. The game itself is traditionally a 2 player head to head game, but has over 12 different variations, some for younger players and faster games and others for multi-player, tournament modes and puzzle modes. "The game can be played so many diverse ways that it appeals to wide range of people and a wide range of play styles."

Each game has 113 cards and comes with a variety of dice, a rule book and two control panel cheat sheet are also in the game box. This gives you everything you need to learn and play the game. With only 48 Hours left on the Kickstarter the pair of game developers are gearing up to place a giant order of 5 thousand games and will start to ship and sell them as soon as they arrive! You can find their Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robotcardgame/pbl-robots-dice-and-card-game

Space Battle All- Stars: Sketchbook Friday

noreply@blogger.com (William Hessian) — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 10:50:00 +0000

The Future will find us doing stupid things in space, see history: humans doing stupid things on Earth. Sports, reality television, fake products, and terrible social structure scams resulting in terrible injustices and unequal treatment of living creatures. Distract us, we will pay you for it! Distract us, and let us forget what you are doing to us. Space adventures, space sports and space mindgames will rob our space banks. We are already space slaves, and we havn't even got ourselves up there yet.

Each Friday at noon I scan in one new sketch or drawing from one of my many sketchbooks. You can find information about buying artwork, webcomics, performance art, miniature art hunts and new projects on my fine art website William Hessian dot com. Also like me on Facebook, or as projects right here on my Bearded Bunny art blog. If you enjoy these sketches make sure to also see all of the sketchbook friday posts.

The Future of Facial Hair: Sketchbook Friday

noreply@blogger.com (William Hessian) — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 10:48:00 +0000

Her breath tells us the future of facial hair. She is a naked shamanic lady who has cast a spell on her own face to re-arrange the components of a face to make her own body language more abstract. Many of us have irrational fears, and she knows that your irrational fear has mostly to do with the fear of facial hair becoming extinct due to evolutionary irrelevance (besides of course playoff Hockey). Her breath will tell us this future, but only if we donate money to her box. This box is empty.

Each Friday at noon I scan in one new sketch or drawing from one of my many sketchbooks. You can find information about buying artwork, webcomics, performance art, miniature art hunts and new projects on my fine art website William Hessian dot com. Also like me on Facebook, or as projects right here on my Bearded Bunny art blog. If you enjoy these sketches make sure to also see all of the sketchbook friday posts.

Kissing inside a Shoe: Sketchbook Friday

noreply@blogger.com (William Hessian) — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 10:41:00 +0000

Feet are odd appendages. Shoes are homes for feet. Shoes are odd homes. I often fantasize about kissing my partner while submerged inside of a shoe. It might sound smelly and a bit weird (and I promise I do not have a foot fetish), but it just sounds fun to me. Wiggles your toes and give me a kiss. I imagine both these two characters are hybrids between rock stars and hippies, activists and artists who found love inside of this abandoned giant shoe of a world.

Each Friday at noon I scan in one new sketch or drawing from one of my many sketchbooks. You can find information about buying artwork, webcomics, performance art, miniature art hunts and new projects on my fine art website William Hessian dot com. Also like me on Facebook, or as projects right here on my Bearded Bunny art blog. If you enjoy these sketches make sure to also see all of the sketchbook friday posts.

Infected City Shell: Sketchbook Friday

noreply@blogger.com (William Hessian) — Fri, 31 Oct 2014 09:33:00 +0000

I once played Golden Axe the arcade game with my brother and my dad. Once of the levels, which we never got to, you were fighting as a Barbarian, Elf and Wizard on the back of a floating turtle. The moment I saw that I instantly became obsessed with the concept of creatures so large that you could live on them. Insects, bacteria and colonization have since been fascinations of mine. Similarly, Street Fighter and the incredibly graphics with international stages, really began my fascination with other parts of the world, even as inaccurate and fictitous as they were. My sketches above is just a simple marker sketch re-exploring the idea of a giant creature which is the home to many smaller creatures.

Each Friday at noon I scan in one new sketch or drawing from one of my many sketchbooks. You can find information about buying artwork, webcomics, performance art, miniature art hunts and new projects on my fine art website William Hessian dot com. Also like me on Facebook, or as projects right here on my Bearded Bunny art blog. If you enjoy these sketches make sure to also see all of the sketchbook friday posts.

PBL ROBOTS is LIVE on Kickstarter!

noreply@blogger.com (William Hessian) — Sun, 26 Oct 2014 09:13:00 +0000

William Hessian and John "Sighless" Supinski have spent the last year creating a brand new strategy card and dice game called PBL ROBOTS! "The game is a interesting mix of Risk and Magic the Gathering, except this game has giant 100 foot Robots!" William said. The card game challenges each player to collect cards in a draft format in order to build their deck. When the battle begins each player slide their pilot card into the robot card, courtesy of a die cut cockpit in the center of the robot. Then players lay armor cards on the robot to watch the robot grow stronger and boost up the attack and defense. When players start attacking they roll dice to determine if the robot will blow of an arm, a leg or a head. Each pilot has a powerful critical form when you are down to one remaining limb, which gives the losing player a chance to make a comeback, but when a robot has lost of four limbs the game is over.

William and John have spent their free time at their apartment on the East End of Portland developing this intense card game consisting of 113 unique cards and 3 different game play modes. William is a local visual artist and activist, working at Preble Street, teaching at Rivertree Art in Kennebunk and volunteering at the Meg Perry Center. William did all of the artwork and design for the game and originally invented the concept for the game over ten years ago in Minnesota, but did not start finishing it until meeting Sighless in 2012. Sighless is a local musician in the Bumbling Woohas and works at the Maine People Alliance, and was the host of Turnstyle Thursday open mic at CTN Channel 5 for over a year. Once Sighless began working on the game he created a business plan, invented characters and began writing back stories. A group of artists called the Hidden Ladder Collective, which William and John helped start, began play testing the game in-between hosting art shows, art making gatherings and busking out on the streets. Other members of Team Robots, Abbeth Russell and Kara Oster made important contribution to the game.

Thursday, October 23rd the collective has launched the Kickstarter hoping to raise the $22,000 they need to print the first edition versions of the game. A Kickstarter video was created this September by local production company Walker Productions. Over 100 letters have gone out to game stores across the country. William and Sighless have been playing PBL ROBOTS demo events weekly at R Choice 2 Gaming on 449 Forest Ave from 6-9pm Thursday Nights which is a free event open to the public. They also have planned events to demo the game at Crossroads Games in Scarborough and Weekend Anime in Westbrook. "Many of the game stores have been extremely supportive and often have already asked to carry the game as soon as it is printed!" William said while praising the gaming stores in Maine.

While the game itself is optimal for players 12 years and older, due to the high level of strategy, the game is also very appealing to a younger audience. William teaches art and Lego Robotics classes at Rivertree Arts in Kennebunk and his 4th to 6th grade students have loved the PBL ROBOTS cards. "The kids come back the next day demanding to have another glance at the game, and their parents follow right behind curious to see what the kids are so excited about," William remarked. Because of the kids persistence William and Sighless invented a new way to play the game that makes it a little easier for a younger audience, but retains the fun and excitement of the longer game. The popularity of the game is already growing with over 800 Twitter followers and over 200 Facebook likes.

To check out their Kickstarter event poster (attached) visit their website at: www.robotcardgame.com and click the Kickstarter link (starting at 7pm Thursday 10/23). The group is hoping to play the game with as many new players as possible all around the greater Portland area, and invite everyone to stop by R Choice 2 Gaming Thursday Nights to try out the game and meet the creators of PBL ROBOTS.

Back PBL ROBOTS on Kickstarter today!

Futuristic Spherical Space Ship Designs: Sketchbook Friday

noreply@blogger.com (William Hessian) — Fri, 24 Oct 2014 09:21:00 +0000

Often times when I sitting still, I am thinking up the best possibly designs or creations for a specific thing. Recently, it has been spaceship design. I tried to clear my head of all the current existing spaceships. In my brain I destroyed the Millennium Falcon and the Slave I, Serenity was emploded, Zorg Spaceships vanished, and the Enterprise never happened. My designs were assuming I had endless resources. The designs I came up with were spherical snowflake mathematically symmetrical structures which had both rockets and cannons at every point. Meaning at all times it can move any direction and shoot any direction. The sketches I made at my work meeting are not entirely accurate to my specifications but was an illustration of two separate designs flying into each other. Can you think of a better design?

Each Friday at noon I scan in one new sketch or drawing from one of my many sketchbooks. You can find information about buying artwork, webcomics, performance art, miniature art hunts and new projects on my fine art website William Hessian dot com. Also like me on Facebook, or as projects right here on my Bearded Bunny art blog. If you enjoy these sketches make sure to also see all of the sketchbook friday posts.

Reiki Face Head: Sketchbook Friday

noreply@blogger.com (William Hessian) — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 10:57:00 +0000

Do you every wonder how many versions of yourself live in your head? Do you ever wonder how we morph from one version to the next in a seemingly seamless transition towards a new version of ourselves. The brain is an odd seas creature, living in the aquarium juices of our skull. I recently had reiki energy work done on me in an attempt to reset myself after some very difficult personal emotional losses. The reiki had a huge effect on me, I was cold, hungry, extremely fatigued and the next time I got very sick. It was like the reiki actually was pulling a mask off my energy, and a flood of real cravings, urges and needs can spilling out. It also seemed to unlock a series of versions of myself who were now battling each other in my brain for dominance. Meanwhile, my regular face was unchanged....indistinguishable from anything but the regular version. Yet, inside arguments were running rampant and the version of myself is still changing every day.

Each Friday at noon I scan in one new sketch or drawing from one of my many sketchbooks. You can find information about buying artwork, webcomics, performance art, miniature art hunts and new projects on my fine art website William Hessian dot com. Also like me on Facebook, or as projects right here on my Bearded Bunny art blog. If you enjoy these sketches make sure to also see all of the sketchbook friday posts.

Final Clues for the Common Ground Fair Art Hunt

noreply@blogger.com (William Hessian) — Sun, 21 Sep 2014 20:00:00 +0000

Every few hours this weekend a new blog post with the newest art hunt clues will be released. This will aide art hunters at the Common Ground Fair over the weekend, and allow for you mobile devices to take the clues with you as you search around the fair. Please make sure to stop by the Compost & Recycling Booth to see the clues first, and to see which artworks have already been found.

Here is the final batch of clues! Easy clues!

Common Ground Fair Art Hunt Clues (Saturday Night)

noreply@blogger.com (William Hessian) — Sun, 21 Sep 2014 02:00:00 +0000

Final clues for Saturday! Tomorrow will be the release of the Easy Clues! It will be a race to find the remaining fish art! Make sure to stop by the tent for the most recent clues, as the blog updates will happen later in the day.