Post by Jeff on Dec 16, 2003 13:37:19 GMT -5
In the beginning, I was just another dork with a web site. Wait. I’m still just another dork with a web site. Oh well…
So I had this transformers web site. I’d started it in late 2000, and never really finished it. By “never really finished it”, I mean to say that it had absolutely no content, other than scattered pictures of my less than amazing transformers collection. By 2002, I’d begun adding an Alternate Modes section that was pretty darn cool, as well as a comprehensive links page, but I was looking to add more.
Did I mention I’d also always been an aspiring cartoonist who was great with story and humor, but had no artistic skill, whatsoever? Oh. Well I was an aspiring cartoonist who was great with story and humor, but had no artistic skill, whatsoever. I’d been raised on X-Men and Garfield, and somehow always wanted to create my own version of both. With my first published comic strip (in a college newspaper), Heimy Schmendrick: Intergalactic Neon Pig Extraordinaire, I’d attempted to blend the two genres. “Heimy” featured a witty and cute animal in six panel episodes who fell in with super heroes like The Atomic Moo-Man, villains like Steve The Rubber Ball, and had long-winding adventures that were always longer than the individual episodes. Most importantly, the adventures were intended to be just as funny as they were fantastic and adventurous.
BUT I was an aspiring cartoonist who was great with story and humor, but had no artistic skill, whatsoever. Each six panel Heimy comic took me approximately six hours to draw, which was frustrating as heck for a guy who likes to create at the speed of thought. And even with all that work involved, I could NEVER draw my characters consistently. Little features would always change noticeably. I resorted to cutting and pasting character images, which (surprisingly) became even more work, since evening out the pasted material with the background required a lot of work, itself. The whole thing was just frustrating, so I threw in the towel after only six months.
Soon after, my wife and I came across this software program for kids called “Hollywood”, which allowed kids to move preset cartoon characters around and type in what they would say, building scenes like “Want to get some Ice Cream?” and “Oh boy! You’re my best friend!”. We quickly perverted this into long episodes of over the top crudity and absurdity entitled “The Dancing Charlton Heston Show”. Charlton was an alligator with no relation to the famed actor, who slept with anything that moved, and had a knack for expressing overtly offensive opinions. Imagine Archie Bunker on viagra.
“Charlton” was a way for me to create humor without drawing, but characters who spoke in monotone with four poses and three facial expressions proved to be quite limiting. Subtle humor never worked with them, so every joke had to be completely over the top, and while this worked at first, it ultimately got old. “Charlton” made me determined to find a better way to create a comic/cartoon WITHOUT drawing.
So back to 2002, I’ve got this transformers web site that needs more content, I’ve got this desire to tell stories without drawing, and I’ve got this rash on my inner thigh (but you don't want to hear about that). One fateful day, on the Transfans discussion board, someone posts a link to this one shot comic done by photographing images of two Transformers toys (Soundwave and Buzzsaw). I’d never seen anything like it before. I’d never heard of Twisted Toyfair Theater, Twisted Kaji Theater, or Them Funny Robots at this point, so the idea of photographing toys and telling a story with those images was totally revolutionary to me. Wheels In my head started turning…
It was then that fame and success turned me to a life of sex, drugs, and self-destruction.
So I had this transformers web site. I’d started it in late 2000, and never really finished it. By “never really finished it”, I mean to say that it had absolutely no content, other than scattered pictures of my less than amazing transformers collection. By 2002, I’d begun adding an Alternate Modes section that was pretty darn cool, as well as a comprehensive links page, but I was looking to add more.
Did I mention I’d also always been an aspiring cartoonist who was great with story and humor, but had no artistic skill, whatsoever? Oh. Well I was an aspiring cartoonist who was great with story and humor, but had no artistic skill, whatsoever. I’d been raised on X-Men and Garfield, and somehow always wanted to create my own version of both. With my first published comic strip (in a college newspaper), Heimy Schmendrick: Intergalactic Neon Pig Extraordinaire, I’d attempted to blend the two genres. “Heimy” featured a witty and cute animal in six panel episodes who fell in with super heroes like The Atomic Moo-Man, villains like Steve The Rubber Ball, and had long-winding adventures that were always longer than the individual episodes. Most importantly, the adventures were intended to be just as funny as they were fantastic and adventurous.
BUT I was an aspiring cartoonist who was great with story and humor, but had no artistic skill, whatsoever. Each six panel Heimy comic took me approximately six hours to draw, which was frustrating as heck for a guy who likes to create at the speed of thought. And even with all that work involved, I could NEVER draw my characters consistently. Little features would always change noticeably. I resorted to cutting and pasting character images, which (surprisingly) became even more work, since evening out the pasted material with the background required a lot of work, itself. The whole thing was just frustrating, so I threw in the towel after only six months.
Soon after, my wife and I came across this software program for kids called “Hollywood”, which allowed kids to move preset cartoon characters around and type in what they would say, building scenes like “Want to get some Ice Cream?” and “Oh boy! You’re my best friend!”. We quickly perverted this into long episodes of over the top crudity and absurdity entitled “The Dancing Charlton Heston Show”. Charlton was an alligator with no relation to the famed actor, who slept with anything that moved, and had a knack for expressing overtly offensive opinions. Imagine Archie Bunker on viagra.
“Charlton” was a way for me to create humor without drawing, but characters who spoke in monotone with four poses and three facial expressions proved to be quite limiting. Subtle humor never worked with them, so every joke had to be completely over the top, and while this worked at first, it ultimately got old. “Charlton” made me determined to find a better way to create a comic/cartoon WITHOUT drawing.
So back to 2002, I’ve got this transformers web site that needs more content, I’ve got this desire to tell stories without drawing, and I’ve got this rash on my inner thigh (but you don't want to hear about that). One fateful day, on the Transfans discussion board, someone posts a link to this one shot comic done by photographing images of two Transformers toys (Soundwave and Buzzsaw). I’d never seen anything like it before. I’d never heard of Twisted Toyfair Theater, Twisted Kaji Theater, or Them Funny Robots at this point, so the idea of photographing toys and telling a story with those images was totally revolutionary to me. Wheels In my head started turning…
It was then that fame and success turned me to a life of sex, drugs, and self-destruction.