Author Archive: jekief01
Jesse Kiefer at your service. I am a full time elementary art teacher in Nebraska. I teach grades K-5 for 2 schools. In my free time I'm a martial arts instructor, and I try to update a webcomic at http://www.tankmonkeycomic.com.
You can find me on twitter @jessekiefer
and on Faceboook http://www.facebook.com/vorpalarrow
Day 30: The Syndicate
Every great pro wrestling act has to have a rivalry… even Slamazing Sam When Slamazing retired from Wrestling, The Syndicate tried to find work but he was always just remembered as Slamazing’s foil.
Day 27: Cole
Contrary to be contrary… he’s always right and if your finger isn’t on the same pulse as his is? He’ll sure let you know your ideas are dumb.
Day 22: General Kirirk
what’s worse than an evil monkey? An Evil SPACE Monkey with his own army…. and a gun.
Day 20: Bingo! the Apoca-Mouse
Best friend to SPEEKS…Â Â Bingo! Tries to get Speeks to stay calm in the face of the Apocalypse.
Day 19: Gary The Angry Mitten
Gary is Angry…. mostly he’s angry that people keep naming cats “Mittens” (AHEM! ) Man he hates when people do that…
Day 18: Mister Tea
Mister Tea does have pity for a proper fool… especially when one is termed a “suckah” (oh and telekinetic power over tea based items… fool!)
Day 17: Mittens
You might remember Mister Mustache and Dash from such 30character posts as… THIS ONEÂ well his cat Mittens is usually setting the poor fool up… usually it is Mittens behind a good portion of the things that have Mister running in terror. Cats are evil… and dumb. (actually he’s clever…)
Day 16: Trained Bear
I came up with “Kapow Bears” with my carpool group when I went back for my masters degree what seems like yesterday but it’s actually been quite a few years ago now… oddly I haven’t given it much thought although they became characters in my first attempt at webcomics but it wasn’t till today (when trying to figure out a character) that I thought… huh… I suppose there were multiple “Kapow Bears” and rather than symbols of caring or compassion they all probably had symbols of ACTION! Like a Steam Train! Hence the very punny “Trained Bear!” shout out to the Blair 2 Car Pool! Just like being in a cloud car headed back to Care-a-lot!
Day 14: Shuttle-Monkey
most primates have only been in space one… Shuttle-Monkey? Man he’s in space more often than not!
Day 9: Gabe Aldren (awkward patron)
We’ve all seen this guy… he’s that guy at the new coffee shop who has to tell you why he’s awkward because he’s used to how it was when the old management ran things… and then wanders half in your way and has a comment for every time you walk by… cuz you know… he… knows things.
Day 6: The Boxicorn
One of my students brought me a picture that looked very similar to this and said that it was a unicorn in a box… I didn’t have the heart to tell her that if this was the case then someone decapitated her unicorn so instead… a box with a unicorn horn… he’s  a little disturbed by the similarity he bears to a decapitated unicorn head in a box…
Day 5: Andy Dandy- The Fly Guy
Andy Dandy likes to put his best foot forward… but the fact that he’s a mutant fly person seems to be standing in the way of his full potential… you could say that Andy’s kinda thick about that point… he doesn’t get what’s so obvious to everyone else… the fact that he throws up all over lunch before devouring it is just how business is done!
Day 4: Mister Mustache and Dash
In the time honored tradition of old timey silent children’s programing Mustache and Dash had a very simple formula. Most things looked scarey freaked him out and caused him to run away. Pan back to whatever scared him? Yeah it was actually something normal and not scary at all.
(Today’s character reminds me of my youngest brother… not that he freaks out or anything… just that this character sounds like the kind of thing he’d get a kick out of… If you like ambient chill digital music check out his stuff here)
Day 3: Park Ranger Colin Duggan
Often times Tank-Monkey is asked to do more outdoorsy type missions… cuz well… he’s a monkey. Park Ranger Duggan is pretty green when it comes to the world of super monkeys… he tries to understand… he’s a pretty quick study but… it’s a little much to take in sometimes.
Day 1: The Chicken You Would Not Eat
Character Concept by Josie Character Design by Jesse Kiefer
Okay this character was the result of a conversation my good friend had with his daughter… she told me “I’ll let you draw that!” I took it to be a challenge… so I did.
A CONVERSATION ON THE WAY TO SCHOOL
Dad: Josie, if chickens had heads that looked like a worm’s head would you still eat it?
Josie: No way! But I can think of something even worse?
Dad: What’s that?
Josie: What if chickens that had heads that were screaming, bloodthirsty clown heads? Would you still eat them dad?
Dad: Nope, I’d be too busy peeing my pants and I’m guessing petting zoos wouldn’t be very popular.
….
Dad: Josie
Josie: Yes dad?
Dad: You win.
Returning Challenger 2013: Jesse Kiefer
Jesse Kiefer’s back again doin’ a lil’ East Coast Swing!… wait… East Coast? Whoops that’s the lyrics to MotownPhilly… Hey everybody! I’m back for a third year of 30characters! I’ve been surprisingly successful with this challenge having completed it two years in a row! 2011 year I cut my teeth on this project thinking that I’d create characters for my webcomic Tank-Monkey), and while last year I stated that I hadn’t used many of them?… two years later SEVERAL have slowly trickled into the strip from that first year (even ones like the Wixits which I honestly never thought I would use…) Despite starting with an intent or a theme my characters in past years?… they usually devolve into randomness… either decided by a dice roll or inspired by the Elementary children I am lucky enough to teach.
Since last year I continued  vlogging on YouTube where I developed many of the puppet characters from last year and continued my role as a green screened Hologram Head.
I had my first public convention appearance with my partner in crime Axton Kahler of zombieoaks.com.
I co-created a #hastag game sorta inspired by the 30Characters challenge called #5thpanelguest which encourages creators to take any given comic strip to take it one step further in the form of a guest panel. I wrote a lengthy blog about it if you’d like to peruse that you can read it here.
And I finally published the Just For Kicks book I’ve been sitting on for almost 5 years! (Ironically one of the characters from 2011’s #30characters challenge will be indirectly responsible for the end of that webcomic… who knew… newbies? Be careful what you create! it might END your webcomic… just sayin…)
This year I have no plan… Whew… that’s probably not a good way to start… but let’s see what I come up with without constraints… let’s just see shall we?!
Click the link below to see my work from the last two years
http://www.30characters.com/author/jekief01/
Or read my Challenger Entry from previous years
2012: http://www.30characters.com/2012/10/30/2012-challenger-jesse-kiefer/
2013: http://www.30characters.com/2011/10/21/2011-challenger-jesse-kiefer/
You can find me all over the place!
https://twitter.com/jessekiefer
https://www.facebook.com/vorpalarrow
#30Characters Chatter…