I would occasionally fill in for a friend (Nick's name sake) at his job when he needed a day off or was away. He commented after one of these instances that I was always leaving drawings on his desk, usually doodles of dogs or wolves. So the next time I found myself his replacement I decided to mix it up and doodled a dinosaur. I was unhappy with the drawing and discarded it; it just wasn't very funny.
What would make a dinosaur funny? Perhaps a man riding down it as if it were a slide. To add to the humor of the visual, a caption that implies this is too often an occurrence and advisory signs must be made to protect the dinosaurs from constantly being slid down. Add all that up and you get this:
A cartoon simple in its genius and genius in its simplicity. I didn't think I would go any further beyond that point, but I was inspired by the form I had create. The "Do Not ___ the Dinosaur" formula was born. I guess I am a hero.
The drawings continued, still only meant to be an amusement for my friend upon his return:
The characters grew closer:
Relationship humor makes it's first appearance...
...and takes hold of the characters and starts to bring them away from the tried and true formula fundamentally changing the comic forever:
Back to basics:
And thats the way it crumbles, cookie-wise. Following these doodles I turned to the computer and created the first two comics seen here and here, and the rest is history. I did not leave the drawings behind, I greedily gathered them up and started churning out my new web comic. From humble beginnings to the highest of internet stardom.**
* Sorry, Ted.
** In Alberta, Canada and Delaware
What a joy to read how this all began! It's so simple. So human.
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