Bearskinrug

“In which a the internet is despoiled by several hundred drawings and an animated bear.”

From 2000 to 2011 I ran the website www.bearskinrug.co.uk. Initially a site to house illustrations and portfolio pieces, it eventually grew into a blog, a store, and creative playground to casually explore issues ranging from preferred tools of illustration to recklessly irresponsible alternative designs for pizza boxes.

Highlights

The Bear

One of the earliest projects uploaded to Bearskinrug was the Bearskinrug Bear. The Bear was created in the early days of Flash, when drag and drop was the cutting edge of technology, and folk had yet to perfect the animated chicken. Though Flash animation has almost vanished from the internet, I am still able to keep the Bear working thanks to a pact with dark powers. You can view him for yourself by heading here and clicking the big orange play button on the right side of the page.

Vanity Projects Galore!

Mojo comics, Ambidextrous comics, and Six-Penny Anthems all found their origins on Bearskinrug. As did several collaborative art experiments, such as The Superest, Quadruped, and Birthday Street. Here’s a smattering of the projects took on over those years…

Compelling Amateur Entrepreneurship!

A variety of independently-produced products appeared here and there on Bearskinrug. This included several books, prints, shirts, greeting cards, and three magnificent Mojo-themed motivational posters. There was even a boat raffle one year!

Well, there was supposed to be boat raffle. But somebody crashed it into the pier and then told me it was stolen by pirates. Then spent twenty minutes acting out the whole story while covering one eye with one hand.

Design, Art, and Lackluster Humor

Bearskinrug contained more than 373 articles, each allowing the public to take advantage of the groundbreaking technological advancement called “The Comment”. Many a fine soul would come to Bearskinrug and leave thoughts both vivacious and droll, somehow avoiding the artless, confrontational, blowhard tone mid-wifed into the world by social media, thank you very much.

Popular themes included the advocacy of Smartness, advice on Entering Illustration, reports on my dog Ernie, musings on modern anxiety, ads for insane products, dissection of the Cubbyhole Mind, invention of The Doodle Association Game (to this day, one of my most pirated ideas!), and several drawing contests! All in all, some of the most frivolous, shallow, and pointless prose ever to grace the internet.

How I miss it so.

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