Behatted is a webcomic, presently released thrice a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, about some small hats. It is lovingly written and crafted by Nick Bryan, of whom more below.

And now, some information you can’t get from the site header: The comic concept was conceived in a flash of “genius” by the author (i.e. me) in early 2009, after I collected around forty small hats of varying colours being given away for free with Innocent Smoothies as part of their Big Knit promotion. I stored them on my desk to impress, intimidate or inspire passers-by for a while, but the webcomic idea, once it hit, couldn’t not be done.

Before I knew it, I had a whole cast of characters, and hours of my time were being spent photographing, editing, pasting and scripting the adventures of these small woolen hats. I began to expand my hat collection beyond its original members, with new hats being knitted especially for the comic. (Thanks Mum!) But, despite this up-swing in the ambition of the project, the backgrounds remain quick creations in the tool of all true master graphic artists: MS Paint.

I hope to be doing this for a while, as I have many ideas. For future news on the development of the project, or just the release of new updates, check the front page, or follow the Behatted Twitter account if you’re down with that technology. There’s even an RSS feed if that’s your poison.

That’s all for now, I think.

After upwards of twenty years of living in glorious Essex, dreaming his various dreams of writing novels, comics or anything else with a plot, Nick Bryan (i.e. still me) is thrilled to find this venue. In fact, happier than is really logical, considering it’s just photos of hats, plonked onto a basic MS Paint backdrop with Photoshop.

When not screwing around with hats and Photoshop, I can be found listening to indie music, watching any scripted TV show that I’ve been told is good, or lurking in Irish-Thai pubs drinking Dutch beer. Should you want to learn more of me, I have a blog and personal Twitter account, but I warn you, “self-indulgent” is too small a word for them. I can also be emailed at nick@behatted.com, althugh that is terribly Web 1.0.

Oh, and there’s a picture of me on the right, but please don’t look at it too hard. It is blurred for good reasons.

Finally, a few thank-yous to the people and products who (mostly unknowingly) made all this possible. I’ll try and stop this degenerating into an Oscar-acceptance speech, but make no promises.

• Should probably mention Innocent Drinks first, as their Big Knit (small hat) promotion set the wheels in motion for me.
• And Plasq, who make a software package called Comic Life. This is used to turn my doctored photos into some kind of comic.
• The font used in the comics (exciting territory innit) is Sunday Comics BB by Nate Piekos and is a free download from his website, Blambot.
• I’m tempted to include the make and model of the digital camera I use to photograph the hats, but I won’t.
• I will, however, give some kudos to Ross Davis, who has been pivotal in the technical set-up of this site, and as a general sounding board for ideas. He also has a Twitter account, which is approximately twice as much fun as being hit in the face with a spanner.
• And the rest of my helpful proof-reading team, including (but not limited to) Paul, Mark, Tom and Matt, who doesn’t have a Twitter account.
• Not to mention my mother, who has made me some lovely custom hats when my existing collection was lacking. And yes, the quote in the banner is authentic.
• Finally, Sarah, who has had to put up with more conversations about the finer details of small hats than any human should have to, yet still remains endlessly helpful.