The “Secret Origins” of Guilt-Bug!
So, this guy… As I said a couple of weeks ago, I figured I’d get into how Guilt-Bug came to be. He originated in my sketchbooks. A lot of things do. (Sidenote: I really don’t keep a sketchbook in the same way I always used to. They’re really convenient for having all of you ideas in one place, especially if you’re not at home much. I don’t have a job that requires me to leave the house much these days. All those ideas I’d usually draw in a sketchbook usually get drawn on plain old copy paper or a notepad, and I punch holes in them to put in three-ring binders.) I was actually a little surprised to see that Guilt-Bug was “born” very late in 1999. (I didn’t think he was quite that old! Time flies…) He was first drawn in this weird, sketchbook only, comic I started, Dorp Anid. (Whatever that means…)
Not sure whatever happened to Benny. Probably died like it says in the comic… Guilt-Bug (as yet un-named) went on to show up in various places in the sketchbooks, usually commenting on particularly badly drawn stuff, or just as a running commentary when I didn’t feel like drawing the cartoon version of myself. It wasn’t until a couple of years after that he first “spoke” to the cartoon me…
This is only funny to me because of the sketch you’ll see here in a minute, where we’re doing nearly exactly the same thing… Chris Yambar needed a one-page comic for something or other, and I recall I didn’t have one. He said, “Just do one with that thing that’s always yelling at you in your sketchbooks! What’s his name? Guilt-Bug or whatever the heck it is.” So, Chris Yambar named him in like, three seconds, as per his usual creation time for ANY given thing the man creates… Here’s the comic…
Guilt-Bug and I went on to show up in all sorts of comics and doodles in the sketchbooks…
These were some tough times… but our “relationship” grew and grew…
He’s usually the voice of reason…
Sometimes, we just chill…
or fight…
He’s totally become a part of who I am. When I wanted to do shirts a couple of years ago, I just put him on it to represent who I was. He became my official LOGO. A visual representation of all I am. He’ll be prominently featured on the new shirts also. (Maybe I’ll offer them up for sale this time around. The first shirts, I just made for myself… a very small handful of other incredibly cool people got them as gifts, but I’ve never sold one.) In January of this year, I had him tattooed onto my left hand, so he can see what I’m drawing as I hold the paper with that hand, and draw with the right.
and in this final doodle, you can see me still wasting time with video games, but he’s just used to it at this point… and I’m the one who is calling me out on my own bad habits. See? I learn. Sort of…
I AM back to creating NEW ARTWORK tho. This doodle was pretty much the “turning point” for me this past year, as I got over a LETHAL art-block I had rolling. My entire world kind of shattered, and I didn’t know how to cope with it, so I sat, and sat, and sat… I played video games, and read a TON of books, and finally picked up the pieces, and started to MOVE again…
The “other Guilt-Bugs” (my closest friends) were super happy with this! Hahaa
Okay. That’s it for this time. I’m thinking next time, I’d tell you about how I got into “comics” in the first place. I love reading other people’s stories of how they first discovered comics in their youths, and maybe my story of that will be something you’d dig hearing as well. Until then remember, Insanity is a virtue! 🙂
