About the cartoonist
Gavin Aung Than is a freelance cartoonist based in Melbourne, Australia. After working in the corporate graphic design industry for 8 years he quit his unfulfilling job at the end of 2011 to focus on his true passion, drawing cartoons. Gavin launched Zen Pencils at the start of 2012, a cartoon blog which adapts inspirational quotes into comic stories, and hasn’t looked back since. You can contact him here or read some interviews with him on the PRESS page.
FAQ: What is Zen Pencils?
It’s a website where inspirational quotes from famous people are adapted into cartoons.
It launched in February, 2012.
How often does it update with new cartoons?
Once a week, every Tuesday (Australian Eastern Standard time).
Who the hell are you, anyway?
My name’s Gavin Aung Than. I’m a freelance illustrator living in Melbourne, Australia.
Why did you create Zen Pencils?
I was working in the boring corporate graphic design industry for 8 years before finally quitting at the end of 2011 to pursue my passion for illustration and cartooning. At my old job, when my boss wasn’t looking, I would waste time reading Wikipedia pages, mainly biographies about people whose lives where a lot more interesting than mine. Their stories and quotes eventually inspired me to leave my job to focus on what I really wanted to do. The idea of taking these inspiring quotes, combining them with my love of drawing and sharing them with others led to the creation of Zen Pencils.
What type of quotes do you adapt?
Anything and everything. Poets to Presidents, comedians to colonels – anyone who inspires me, challenges my way of thinking, wakes me up or just makes me laugh.
I have the perfect quote that you should totally illustrate.
How do I submit a quote for you to draw?
I love discovering new quotes and learning about new historic figures. You can email me or post your favourite quote on the Zen Pencils Facebook page, where you can interact with myself and other fans. Of course, I can’t illustrate all the requests but I will add my favourites to my ‘To do’ list.
What’s your favourite quote?
Theodore Roosevelt’s Man in the Arena speech. TR is one of my heroes and I’ve had his famous speech memorised since I was a teenager. You can read the Zen Pencils version here.
What’s your process when creating a Zen Pencils cartoon?
I start with rough pencil sketches on A4 paper. I scan these sketches and print them at a bigger size where I tighten them up into a more refined version. Then I ink over these pencils with a pen and brush. These are scanned into the computer where I add the colour and words with Adobe Photoshop and InDesign.
Follow me on Twitter and Facebook to see sketches and more of my creative process.
Can I buy prints of your cartoons?
Yes! You can buy prints through my Society6 store. Some of the comics are not available though, as the quotes or words I’ve adapted are copyrighted. Read more about my prints.
I can’t afford those, how about some free posters?
Ok, you can get a free 3-part motivational poster series by Ralph Waldo Emerson when you sign up for Zen Pencils email updates. Each poster is a hi-res pdf download suitable for printing.
Hey dummy, one of your quotes is incorrect or misattributed.
I get most of the quotes from the interweb so I realise that some of my sources can be incorrect. Please contact me if I’ve made a major mistake and I’ll do my best to fix it.
(I sometimes make small grammatical changes to better match the flow of a story.)
