ABOUT ME
“Whether fate be foul or fair,
Why falter I or fear?
What should man do but dare?”
-from The Green Knight
Bio
Kip Henderson is an artist, writer, and adventurer, who spends most of his time learning, strategizing, designing worlds, and coming up with clever things to say after the moment has passed. Currently, his primary focus is creating prototypes for different videogames. He loves learning, drawing, reading, drawing, playing games, drawing, as well as sculpting and drawing. He’s as handsome and witty as he is humble, and claims to be hard of hearing to disguise the massive amount of time he spends inside his own head instead of being aware of his surroundings. His end goal of becoming a billionaire is for the sole purpose of commissioning the research and development needed to bio-engineer a pet fire-breathing flying dragon for himself that he would then name Goose.
Artist Statement
I believe in magic. Magic is absurd, profound, and inspiring. Humans are absolutely delighted to encounter something they can’t explain. True adventure is an encounter with something with a little piece of magic; a brush up against a larger, spiritual world. It’s an invitation into the great unknown.
There are many things on this earth that I can’t explain. One of them is the magic of transfiguration. If caterpillars and butterflies no longer amaze you, you need to put in some real effort to rekindle your relationship with wonder. Quick! Go on a hike! Find some bugs! Watch the sun set every night this week before your soul hardens forever!
Have you ever shown a Zach King video to a child? Their faces light up and they grin with amazement as he takes a glass of water and turns it into a piece of cake. There’s something inside every human that longs for and desires the magic of change, impossible though it seems. And I believe it’s because we as people are designed to change.
That’s why I’m so passionate about stories and artwork. A story takes its tool, be it the panel of a comic, the screen of a movie, the page of a book, and uses it as sort of wand to work the magic of transfiguration. What are we transfiguring? You, the audience! Every narrative thread, every character arc, every art piece containing beauty is meant to change the heart by offering an invitation to mystery and adventure. When I create something to share, what I created contains within it a prayer that some small element of truth, of beauty, or of hope would make its way from my soul into the soul of another and work the awe-inspiring magic of transfiguration, even if its a tiny change.
Disability
Henderson was born with a multiple joint-disorder called Larsen Syndrome. With this one-in-a-million genetic mutation that results in extra-flexible connective tissue, Henderson is able to clasp hands behind his back, thus eliminating the need for a back scratcher. The disorder comes with a myriad of less attractive quirks that amounted to a childhood filled with surgeries, but if there were no downsides, everybody would want in and we’d put the poor backscratcher company out of business.
Thanks to a hospital accident at 22-months old, the adventure doesn’t end there! Henderson’s other prized ability is the trach-toot. Using the tracheotomy in his neck designed to help him breathe, Henderson is able to create a wide array of delightfully musical fart noises out of his neck. His musical repertoire consists of “Mary had a Little Lamb” and the Cantina song from Star Wars. Henderson is entirely g-tube fed, and with all the time gained from not eating, he is working hard on refining the musical potential of his trach-toot.
Oh, and he actually IS hard of hearing. The hearing in his right ear took off for a long-term vacation during college. Don't believe that "disguise" nonsense in the bio, but DO ask him about sign language!