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Part-time instructor made graphic novelist by a high school assignment
The Advocate
In high school, Zach Hudson was given an English assignment.
His assignment was to write a short story based in truth and "blow it up past the limits of reality," he said.
Little did he realize that story would eventually be published into a graphic novel. "Minions of the Happy Aisles" was released Dec. 1, and is the first in a four part series.
The journey from writing a high school assignment to a final published product was a long one.
Hudson, a part-time instructor at MHCC and ITT Technical Institute, came up with the idea for his assignment after his friends recounted to him their struggle to return an item at Wal-Mart. They were told they needed to wait for the manager. They explained how long they were forced to wait and how they wished their friend, Hudson, skilled in martial arts, would save them.
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After his friends had sparked his creativity, Hudson imagined "Indiana Jones in a department store," he said, and wrote his assignment. Hudson continued to develop the story, making it longer during his college years. "Looking back on it, it wasn't fantastic but it was something," he said.
Hudson attended Southern Oregon University and, after spending time abroad, transferred to King Alfred's College in Winchester, England, where he earned his bachelor of arts degree in English and his masters in contemporary literature.
During that time, he continued to be involved in martial arts. "I met my wife in an Aikido class at college," he said.
It took awhile before Hudson's original writings would be shape into a graphic novel. "I brought it back out a couple years ago," he said. He had tried to write it as a novel and then as a screenplay, but it just didn't fit.
"It has visual humor that is hard to make into a novel," he said.
A friend introduced him to graphic novels. The illustrated format appealed to him and he began to think a graphic novel might be right for his story.
Hudson began composing his story for a graphic novel while being a husband, a father to his two young daughters and teaching writing, reading and composition classes at MHCC and ITT Technical Institute.
A crucial part in creating a graphic novel is having a good illustrator. Hudson said it was online that he found Mike Murphy, a Portland freelance illustrator.
Murphy grew up writing and drawing comics in Chicago and started working professionally when he moved to Portland in 2005.
To design the characters for Hudson's novel, Murphy said, "If he has a specific look in mind, I'll work up the character based on his notes. If not, I'll read over the character's dialog and actions, and then associate that character with an actor. From there, I'll make the character my own, change facial features, hair, etc."
Murphy, quoted in a Nov. 16, 2010, Gresham Outlook article, said, "For 'Minions' I wanted to take a very bare bones approach. The line work is more simple rather than dazzling, to get across the storytelling better."
He also said, "I thought it was really well paced and moved at a nice clip and that's something you don't see with a lot of people doing this for the first time."
Hudson decided to start his own publishing company, 5 String Press, to publish his work because "no publishing companies are looking for graphic novels. The market is saturated, but I didn't think the public was," Hudson said. "Minions of the Happy Aisles" is available on Amazon.com as well as most independent bookstores in Portland.
"The second book is coming along," Hudson said. Murphy is illustrating it.
Hudson is also planning on writing children's books.
"My dad, being an artist, is going to illustrate one of them," he said. His father was a public school art teacher for 26 years. "I think that it will be neat having him be part of that one. It is exciting to have a shared project," Hudson said.
Hudson's father, Jere Hudson, said, "I think that Zach's idea for his book, Grandpa Plays the Fiddle, is a great concept. I was pleased and flattered that he asked me to illustrate it."
Hudson and his father have been learning to play the fiddle. Jere Hudson said, "Our interest in the fiddle started with an heirloom fiddle handed down through my family from an Irish immigrant who came to the USA before the Civil War."
Hudson also plays the harmonica and bass as well as the banjo, the instrument that served as inspiration for his publishing company's name.
Hudson's father was not surprised that his son made his story into a graphic novel. "I knew that he had worked on the story line for a long time," he said. "I was glad that he published it and am confident that it will open new possibilities for his publications."
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