Explodingdog
explodingdog is the name of an internet website run by Sam Brown, pseudonym of Adam Culbert. Viewers of the site e-mail Brown short phrases for inspiration and he picks certain ones to illustrate. The drawings are usually drawn on computer and are known for their simplistic style, and their poignant and sometimes unexpected take on the phrases on which they are based.
History
explodingdog was started in 2000.
Sam Brown has published limited-run print books of his explodingdog illustrations. He also sells merchandise with explodingdog illustrations and prints of the daily drawings to help offset costs.
Themes
Like many artists, Sam Brown uses many recurring themes and visual in his explodingdog work.
A short list of visual themes:
- Stick figures (why can't i remember your name?)
- Red robots (The Robots have taken me. Please send help)
- Fish (frequently yellow) (inside I feel really sad)
- Stars (i wonder what the moon is up to?)
- Clouds (so sad to go back)
- Monsters (there are somethings I regret)
- Menacing cityscapes (I can't do it)
- Snakes (I wish I had seen you first)
- Ducks (I'm getting fatter)
- Dogs (i wish i had a dog that could talk)
- Dictators (i wish i had a goat (etc.))
- Orange cones (wow this is fun....)
- Rockets (why are you gone?)
A short list of recurring themes:
- Loss (never really got to hold on to you)
- Love (...and even you can find love...)
- Joy (i am making it happen)
- Loneliness (i am not really stuck here, i just dont realize it)
- Menace (i got to do it my own way)
- Confusion (they don't know)
- Freedom (it never was a prison)
Influence
Over the years there have been a number of different artistic projects inspired by explodingdog. These sites usually utilize the same "submitted by random people, and selected for inspiration" concept that explodingdog pioneered.
Webcomics
- Whispered Apologies — An inversion of the explodingdog format in which artists submit comics to the site, and writers give the submitted comics text.
- Boring3D
Music sites
- Song Fight! — Originally started as a musical explodingdog spinoff, now a songwriting contest between multiple artists.
- Songs To Wear Pants To this site will take any user submission of text/genre and turn it into a song.