Back in April I decided to use the unused company Instagram account I managed back in Brunei, cuz I assumed the company's dead, cuz the other admins never touched it. Started posting artworks there, met new people, yada yada.
Tbh I was surprised, some people I knew through Instagram thought I was obsessed with online bike cab services (ojol) like, always comparing Gojek, Grab & Uber (RIP) and later Anterin & GlaD, to the point of making comics about them.
I thought... "that wasn't me at all, I thought i've always been known for my bands & cartoons fan comics". During the first years of "internet recognition" i was known for my fanart & fancomics of emo & alternative rock bands (if you know me from deviantart or high school). I thought the impression would last but turns out in the later years, nobody still knew who i was.
Just another My Chem pic, 2008
farewell, 2013
In a second I realized this feels the same as when friends in college thought I was obsessed with graphic tablets. Back when my Wacom Graphire's pen broke and I had to buy a new one, I was browsing a lot of reviews on sites like Amazon, Goodreads, QQestore & even deviantART forums and discovered a LOT of other brands besides Wacom like Genius, Hanvon, Kanvus etc. and more importantly, the quality & current prices at that time. All that info, comparison & reviews from others motivated me to draw personifications of the tablets I've used around that time, and even comics around them.
"Buying A Pen Tablet" when my 3 friends convinced me on what pen tablet to buy after my Graphire 4 broke.
There's a similarity between all these so-called obsessions. So, y'all who just knew me or have been friends with me for a while & bear with my annoyingness, lemme tell ya that...
My real obsession...
is actually... *drumroll*
COLLECTING ALTERNATIVES.
Finding alternatives for certain brands, apps, or whatever, comparing them & sometimes making comics around them.
It was like this too when I found Twitter alternatives back in 2009, there was Jaiku, Identi.ca, & some others which I havent tried so I only tried Jaiku & eventually Qaiku in 2012, when most Twitter clones died out that time.
Adocu, Twitter & Jaiku owls. 2011.
Peer Pressure and Websites, 2011
Pros & Cons of being a Souper & a Tumblrite, 2013
It was like this too when everyone was on Formspring asking each other questions, and I found out about Chacha.me, which became my Formspring alternative until it died and Ask.fm showed up. [Now Formspring died & Ask.fm became the most popular Q&A app with Curiouscat & Tellonym as alternatives].
chibi Formspring.me & Chacha.me. 2011.
I drew personifications for these sites, & comics about them interacting with each other & discussing their pros & cons, cuz that's just how I roll.
Collecting & comparing alternatives is what pushed me to make this mini-series Those Damn Computer Programs, and the webcomic Web Cubecakes. Tbh I wanted to continue them but never got the time yet.
And to answer your question on WHY online bike cabs, of all things.
Just like how I indulged myself with pen tablets back in college, there's a reason why I did the same with online bike cab services. Back when I worked in Brunei there aren't any of these, and traffic has always been easy. Now that I'm back in Indonesia traffic is way more difficult but these guys (and gals) on motorbikes were sorta the solution to quick transport. Also they're a new concept, eventhough bike cabs have been around for years, but ride-hailing apps are still a new thing. It makes me feel less restrained cuz previously I've always been stuck at home unable to meet up with friends. Today with the help of online ojeks & trains I'm practically able to go anywhere & meet my friends here.
An animated version of this comic, which is a parody of an Indonesian Oreo commercial. Featuring my cousin & sister. Animated it because it's supposed to be a commercial. [I posted more about it in my revamp blog ...go & read it] p.s. Best. Panel. EVER.
A shower thought turned into a comic. Previously after coming across The Fishes again, I realized that back in 2004 this comic series got me thinking that Pisceans are fragile, sensitive, and bubbly (just because the theme of this comic is sweet fuzzy romance) and that kinda left me with a temporary soft spot for them, but as I got to college I realized that this WASN'T the case. I met quite a lot of rad-ass Pisceans who are tough as alloys (like this particular whimsy one whom I like to hang out with). Perhaps it's just the stereotypes people give to zodiacs. Now I'm not into starsigns & personalities and I'm probably incorrect, but according to the order of zodiac signs, Pisces is the last one so they assume they're like the baby sibling and needs protection (maybe that's why Ben Wong picked this starsign as the comic's theme but I'm not sure exactly), whereas Aries and Taurus being the top two first ones, act like the rebellious tough ...
Not a new art post, but a throwback and some news. Okay so I made that gif 3 years ago, based on one of the endings of GMM where R&L played in the park, & I only took the see-saw scene. Just recently, this month, someone in deviantART told me that this gif's featured in their Youtube Red show Buddy System, in season 2. I couldn't be more proud, this was the first time something I made actually got featured in a TV show. To clarify, a few months before this, one of the post-production crew contacted me via Ask.fm first, then email, asking for my permission to feature the gif on Buddy System cuz Link found it online & he liked it. tbh i'm not even sure whether i'm allowed to post his email address here. I'm still thankful for him, for reaching out to me and being an overall chill guy, and the crew, too.
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