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.
The other day I was reading this article on austinkleon.com about stealing like an artist (which he'll turn into a book eventually) and thought about number 3 on the list; "Write the book you want to read" and as he further explained this he wrote about how he wrote a fanfiction about Jurassic Park after the 1st movie, and then comparing it to the sequel which he thought sucked. So if he advised all the artists & creative people out there to write the book they want to read, draw the comic they want to read, act the movie they want to watch, etc. then this explains A LOT about all the fanart, fanfiction & fanmade animation of a lot of fandoms in deviantART or any other art websites with twisted storylines come from... Not blaming the advice; that is in fact a REALLY good advice. The sad thing about them is, nowadays most of the fanfictions roaming around the internet are either extreme yaoi (and yuri, but mostly yaoi) with crack pairings of two characters that a
Once again, a comic featuring my friends (even more of them this time) and another reason to waste my color pencils and some blue ink (which I managed, cuz I had to buy another blue ink cartridge for my pen halfway while doing this comic). I wanted to do a different story & concept this time, and seeing that my previous comics this year have certain color schemes with minimalized color palette, I wanted to fit several color schemes into one comic, and since that requires changes, the running gag would be the characters noticing the color change and constantly breaking the fourth wall, realizing that they're inside a comic. The inspiration that triggered this was Cookie Cat ice cream sandwich from Steven Universe [Episode 1: Gem Glow] buuuut the story for my comic turned out totally different instead. Plus I love ice-cream sandwiches and mint candies… also apples.
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