By the time you are reading this, I will be in a car driving across state lines. My brother got married, and I’ll be driving him and his new wife back to their college town. As a result of all that wedded bliss, there is no new comic strip today. However, you will notice some really awesome guest art done by HUGE Raccoon Toons fan, Gabriel Reed. Thanks Gabriel for sending me awesome cartoons! Keep ‘em coming!
With no comic strip today, I have no real topic to write and vent about. So here is a list of 29 things that you probably didn’t know about Raccoon Toons.
1. Michael and Wendy Raccoon were first drawn back in 1991. But they weren’t the only raccoons drawn that day. There was a wild and crazy “Oggie Raccoon,” a nerdy “I.Q. Raccoon” and later, a young detective named “M.T. Raccoon.”
2. Michael has two younger brothers. Deke, who is often cynical and negative, and Todd who doesn’t do much other than play video games.
3. When I was a kid and started creating stories and characters, Michael’s best friend was a rooster named “Funky.” Yup. “Funky Rooster.” I thought it had a nice ring to it. It wasn’t until later that I finally realized it rhymed with “Punky Brewster.”
4. It wasn’t until I started developing the comic strip and the website that I decided to put the raccoons into a human world with Matt. I thought doing so would provide a more interesting dynamic, and I didn’t want to be a guy who only drew a bunch of talking animals.
5. The original comic strip and website was called “Matt & Michael.” I changed it because as other characters developed I felt the title didn’t fit anymore. The facebook fan page still uses the old name because facebook is lame and won’t let me change it.
6. I usually create broad story lines well in advance. Sometimes I have comic strips done well ahead of time, but usually they are created just a couple days before they are published online.
7. Comic strips are published every Wednesday morning at 12:29am, California time.
8. I have a little black notepad in which I write down ideas. I have sections for comic strips, sections for animated cartoons, and sections for things to write about. I’m getting better about keeping it with me.
9. About 80% of the comic strips I do come from observations or experiences from my life or the lives of people I know. 5% are just totally random ideas. The other 15% are also based on real life, I just lie about it so as not to embarrass myself or anyone else. Unless of course I’m TRYING to embarrass them.
10. I broke up Michael and Wendy’s relationship in February 2009 with the intention of getting them back together by Valentines Day. But Wendy became so much more of a individual during that time that I decided to keep her single longer than I anticipated. Let that be a lesson to you young ladies. Don’t let your relationships define you. I’m not telling what the future holds for the two of them.
11. Wendy holds characteristics of many women I have known throughout my life, but is not based on one specifically.
12. Everyone thinks that Matt is just me in comic strip form. But he’s a little more negative and anxiety prone than I am. Really Matt is a manifestation of our struggles to become a successful adult and meet our responsibilities. Michael is our inner carefree youth trying desperately to put off the boring responsible life for the undisciplined and appealing life of pre-adulthood. That’s why Matt is often influenced by Michael. It’s a comic strip about not wanting to grow up. Yeah. I just blew your mind.
13. The number of visitors and readers has really increased over the past year. I keep pretty close tabs on the number of visits and page views to my website. This is especially useful when random girls facebook stalk me and then claim to love my cartoons, without actually having read any.
14. The comic strips don’t generate a whole lot of income, but they do create more than enough to pay for the costs of owning and operating a website, and that’s pretty awesome.
15. I would make this my full time job in a heartbeat.
16. The first version of this website was built in 2003. It was pretty awful. It’s slowly improved over the years. I do it all myself, which is why things go drastically wrong on occasion.
17. I really should be a better artist than I am, and am often embarrassed by my poor artwork.
18. Creating a comic strip takes anywhere from 3-6 hours depending on how quickly things fall into place.
19. If you look closely, every comic strip is signed. There are also occasionally hidden messages or themes in my comic strips. Many times they are written in Matt’s newspapers, but that isn’t always the case. The number 29 is also a reoccurring theme.
20. The early versions of Michael had him without pants or shirts. But I thought it was weird that my other characters were clothed. So now Michael wears pants. He’s a long pants man.
21. Michael drives a blue Datsun 280Z. And it’s awesome, and I’m jealous.
22. My characters are all avid San Francisco Giants fans. But that’s probably pretty obvious.
23. My favorite part of creating comic strips is doing the shading. I find it very relaxing.
24. To date, there are close to 260 comic strips on this site. There are about 20-25 early comic strips that I removed from the site because I was dissatisfied with their stories. Basically I did a retcon. The remaining parts of those story lines still exist in the category titled “Really Old.”
25. I can’t write dialogue for comic strips while listening to any kind of music that has lyrics.
26. I enjoy doing holiday cartoons, particularly Halloween, so I can dress my characters in costumes.
27. I want to do more animated cartoons on the website, and I’m trying to move in that direction.
28. I started writing these blog posts below the comic strips because they generate more search engine traffic and are additional content for readers. I’ve come to really enjoy writing them, and often look forward to it.
29. More than anything, creating this little world is a great outlet for me, and the characters mean a lot to me. I am genuinely appreciative of those of you who come back again and again to let me share them with you.
You always have something to vent about, you just can’t do it in cartoon form this week. ;-)
Very cool insight! I remember some of your early sketches in trapper keepers from ’88 and solid character designs from as far back as ’93 I always wonder if I could have given you a run for your money in the artistic department I had pursued my own comic ideas. Funny how history plays out.
I’m sure you could still. I’m not as good as a lot of artists I know who just worked at it really hard. I’m often impressed by others’ talent and a little embarrassed that I’m not as good as I could be. But it’s still fun, so I enjoy it.