Herman History
A Fool is Born (April 1, 1993)While working at the bakery department of the local grocery store on April 1st 1993. I leaned over the doughnut counter awaiting customers while doodling on small napkins that we would put in the bags with the doughnuts. My thoughts were heavy and drab while I wallowed with a broken heart contemplating what I had done wrong in my most recent relationship, where my ex-girlfriend had cheated on me and left me the day before that year’s Valentines Day. When a Peter Cetera song “Even a fool can see” came on the over the speakers. The store played music over the speaker all the time, but for some reason I tuned them all out until this one came on. Certain lines within that song connected with me enough to turn my doodling into a pair of eyes covered in diamond shaped clown make-up. I think the title of the song said it all, “Even a fool can see” and the line, “Even a fool like me”. Being that it was April Fool’s Day made the feeling of being a fool myself more intense. I remember going home that night not able to shake off that feeling, so like any artist would. I let my artistic side of my brain begin the healing process to the rest of me by seeing where the image of these naïve but haunting clown eyes would take me.
Naturally I had to ask myself, what the rest of this fool looked like. How did he sound like? What made him tick? So I began to draw other sketches and after a few a rough versions, Herman the Jester appeared on my paper. Now that I had a visual of what Herman looked like, I began to give him his personality which was basically a direct correlation of my emotional state at the time.
After a while, I moved on from the heart break but I kept drawing and painting Herman the Jester as a consistent subject choice. One day I went to the local toy store and bought some clay. While playing with the clay I decided to sculpt Herman’s head to give me different reference perspectives and different angles to draw and him paint better. I still have that clay sculpture on my book shelf to this day. Many drawings and paintings later, I decided it was time that Herman the jester would no longer be alone.
Supporting Characters (1994)
Timmy Bear was the first character to keep Herman company. Ironically, the idea that Herman’s first friend would be a bear was inspired by a Jester teddy bear that the ex-girlfriend mentioned previously, had given me. The personality traits that Timmy Bear posses, however, came from my new found freedom when I moved out of my parent’s house…..and we will leave it at that LOL!
Wally Bear came soon after Timmy Bear. Wally Bear’s logical and responsible approach to everything was inspired by seeking balance for my inner Timmy Bear.
Mandrid the Wizard was inspired by my High School choir teacher (Papa G) a feisty and loveable older gentleman full of love and wisdom and the generosity to share it all.
The Evil Queen Negranya came from needing to have a conflicting character that stood for everything opposite that Herman and his friends did. So naturally, Negranya is made up of a combination of people that I have met throughout my life that may have not always had my best interest at heart.
Elena is Herman’s love interest and inspired by the beauty and elegance that I witness while working for Disney in Florida and learning about Cirque De Soli. Elena is blond because the strong empowered but nurturing characteristics she possess are inspired by wife who happens to be blond as well.
Other characters were born and inspired by the world that Herman and his friends belong to and that I’m still creating while writing a Novel /book “ The last words of a fool” (coming soon).
Hermans’ Gift (1994)
Herman’s Gift was my first attempt at creating a children’s book. Herman and his friends finally got to interact together in story. Not just as individual paintings and sketches. I made the images on acetate paper and painted them backwards like traditional animation used to be made. Set to bold solid primary colored background (inspired by the Charles Shultz’s Peanuts) Limited by my resources and tools, I would make late night visits to the local Kinko’s where they would make a scanned color copy of my painted cel and background. And presto I have a finished product. I did this until the demo book was complete. With my confidence on cloud nine I went to the local book store to study what kind of books were out there, and were similar to mine in content. This would give me the scoop on who was publishing that type of book for me to send a proposal and a copy of my concept book for consideration to publish. Much to my eagerness and ambition, I discovered that there was a book already out with a story line much like mine. Our approach although different, was still too close for me to keep pursuing that concept. Herman the Jester would just have to continue being an idea on the shelf.
A Partridge in a Pear Tree (1994)
During a commercial art class at Maple Woods Community College, the teacher put up a class challenge where we were tasked to develop a poster for Theater for Young America’s Production of “A Partridge in a Pear Tree”. The staff of the Theater for Young America would decide the winning design to be used as the promotional poster for that season. Herman the Jester would make his debut as the winning concept that displayed Herman holding a snow globe that encased a Partridge bird in a Pear Tree.
The Novel (1999 to present)
“The Last Words of a Fool” is a work in progress that I hope to finish in the near future. Here the world of Herman and his friends gets explained and explored. New characters will emerge, new conflicts for Herman to overcome in a magical world where nothing is impossible if you just believe and protect your dreams.
The ABC’s of Art (2003- 2010)
In 2002 my wife and I were blessed with the birth of our first son. Being a dad changed my whole world. It opened my eyes to the world around me all over again. I was discovering everything, but this time I was a witness to the discovery as I watched our son experience things for the first time ever. This made me realize the importance of the type of input that I would want my son to absorb. I began to think twice before choosing a book or a TV show that I would introduce him to. In the process of my audit so to say, I discovered that none of the books or concepts out there gave me the talking points to ideas that I wanted to introduce to my son. Such as diversity through understanding or awareness of different languages or customs, the art of communication, and my passion for art. And that is when it hit me and the journey to create the ABC’s of Art began. But how do I convey the message? While sitting at my art office (which means where ever my computer was stationed) I looked up at my book shelf for inspiration and that’s when Herman’s clay sculpture stuck out of the rows of books. “That’s it!” and so began a string of late nights working on concept and layout design and putting the book together. In 2004 we were blessed with our second child. The book is now almost complete. Jugging a two babies and dream is hard to do, but not impossible thanks to love and support I constantly receive from my wife. Even still the book had to take a back seat to the adventure of being a parent. By taking a step back to enjoy the blessings around me, it gave me time to reflect on how I was going to create a finished product that I can read to my boys. Would I have to do the whole Kinko’s’ process again? So I began to research how publishing really worked. I quickly found that many ducks had to be in a row and even then it was still very difficult for a no name author to break into the business of writing children’s books. The thought of what I wanted to do with my book was beyond any riches or joys that being published would offer. This was part of my legacy for my boys. That’s when I looked into self-publishing. Not to make a buck but to give my boys the best book I could give them. 2006 came around I decided I wanted to play Semi – Pro Football. That’s a whole other story, but in short my wife was inspired to be a cheerleader for the same team I played on and our boys love football because of the family bonding we had through that experience. I’m telling you the football story because that’s where Ralph Dumas (used to be in charge of filming game footage) and I really sealed our creative friendship. 2008 Football was more fun for me to watch my boys play than the pain in my knees so it was time to hang up the football pads and go back to finishing out the ABC’s of Art. In August 2008 Herman the Jester and the ABC’s of Art was published through Authorhouse and available for purchase through Amazon.com, Barnes&Nobles.com and Target.com. I read the book to my boys that night with great joy as they mimicked the ASL signs in the book.
2008 – 2010 was a whirl wind of book awards and recognition for Herman the Jester and the ABC’s of Art. Our third child has even traveled with the family (still in mommies tummy) to receive two awards at the 11th Annual Latino Book Awards in my hometown of Manhattan New York. Newspaper appearances, articles, reviews, radio interviews among others soon came like an avalanche after the release. 
The Show and Public Service Announcements (2010- Present)
As a kid, I always wanted to be an animator and create my own cartoons. During the mid 90s animation was transitioning from the traditional way of animation through cel making to 3D computer animation. I was confused as to what to do or what to pursue. But the yearning to watch my creations move and talk still swirled in my head. Now through puppets, Herman and his friends have a way to come to life and teach kids and parents alike the same lessons and conversation starters around diversity through understanding of communication, cultures and art. Filion Entertainment has joined forces with Black Armor Studios and we are currently filming the pilot episode for Herman the Jester and his friends – A is for Artist. Along with Bailey our human child host that will also do our Public Service Announcements to bring Art awareness to the Kansas City community and its’ visitors. We are really excited about the pilot episode. Hallmark’s Kaleidoscope was kind enough to be our first on location portion of the show of the pilot.
The Future
I look forward to the next chapters that Herman and his friends will take us to. I have ideas as to what I would like to see and do next with Herman but if I tell you now, then I’d ruin the surprise.
