Years active 2011 - present | ||
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Similar Love Is, Get Fuzzy, Luann, 9 Chickweed Lane, Pearls Before Swine | ||
HJ-Story is a free and independently published webcomic illustrated by Andrew Hou. The comic strip centers mainly around two characters based on him and his wife. Although fans may feel they are following the artist’s love story with his wife, the illustrations mostly stand independently with no continuity between strips. Unlike traditional comic strips, there is rarely any verbal dialogue between the two characters, but more of suggestion of communication via emoticons.
Contents
The Illustrator
Andrew Hou is a Canadian-born Chinese married to Kate (a.k.a. HJ) who is Korean. The pair tied the knot in 2011 and now live together in Seoul, South Korea. Andrew began his career as a freelance illustrator in the game industry, and he graduated in classical animation.
Origins of HJ-Story
The HJ-Story name was coined with the combination of the initials from the name of the illustrator’s wife. It all began in 2011 as a series of rough sketches, sent through SMS by Andrew Hou to his then girlfriend (now wife), Kate, as an attempt to bridge communication barrier between them as he was not fluent in Korean then. At that time, Andrew admitted that he does not express well with words on his love towards her but began to draw instead.
In an act of love for his girlfriend’s, Andrew proceeded to compile all the art into a Tumblr site as a gift to share it with her. He also shared it with a few friends. One of those friends shared it on Twitter and it received a lot of positive response resulting in his work going viral on the Internet.
Andrew self-published a book under the HJ-Story brand through the funds successfully raised via Kickstarter. His book is into its 3rd installment as of 2015. In Malaysia, a local comic book publisher named Keropok Comics got the rights to publish HJ-Story's books and became an instant best-seller in that country.
In January 2015, Andrew was able to quit his full-time job to focus on the HJ-Story brand full-time. He feels bless and grateful and states that his main inspiration is his wife.
Platforms
The HJ-Story webcomic is distributed via several platforms. Though most platforms share the same content. Platforms like Patreon publish exclusive content or previews as a source of revenue to the artist.
Book and Products
- Books
- Self Published Origins, Vol 1, Vol 2, Vol 3
- Vol 1 published in Malaysia by Keropok Comics in 2015
- Merchandise (via HJ-Story Online Store)
- Magnets
- Badge
- Lanyards
- Stickers
- Postcards
- Prints
- Pocket Mirror, and many more
- Digital
- Line stickers (https://store.line.me/stickershop/author/74527/en)
- Various stickers on platforms such as Between, BBM, Jorte and many more
- HJ-Story E-books Vol 1, 2 and 3
Reception
HJ-Story has recently gained internet fame with the recent feature by Huffington Post and Buzzfeed writing on how the husband (Andrew Hou) shows his love to his wife via illustrations, a unique approach in the expression of love.
Press Coverage includes: