mogly March 17th, 2008
Hello people. Read an interview with Lu, here: http://www.brainwashstudios.com/artist-of-the-month/aotm02-08/
He’s an interesting fella, and say, sat over a mohito, discussing broads, life and Tom Fulp, can be insightful and possibly even wise. In his own words, he has ‘his two pence’ about living life ‘in the trenches’ round the backside of the barracks. Enjoi~
Luis February 28th, 2008
It’s March, the bees are chirping and the birds are buzzing (is that right?) and all is well… actually no its still cold as shit outside! But one thing is certain, its time for another AOTM interview!
Today’s guest is none other than Tom Fulp, I know I talk about his site like every time I make any sort of post on this site but if you dont know who he is, he’s the creator of Newgrounds.
So without furth ado, on with the questions!
This is the typical opener question, I’ve obviously stolen your thunder but indulge us anyway…. who are you? how’d you get introduced to Flash? what were your pre-flash days like?
I’m Tom Fulp and I started tinkering with Flash back in 1998. My inspiration came from some designer’s site, I wish I could remember the name… The site didn’t actually DO anything, it was just a really fancy plug for the creator, and a hint at amazing things to come, although I don’t think they ever did. I wanted to take my html/javascript point and click celebrity killing games to the next level, and Flash allowed me to have point and click games with animation and audio. It was a dream come true! I had spent my early teenage years animating with Deluxe Paint IV on an Amiga and programming dial-up BBS games in Pascal. I had always been looking for something that merged animation and programming. I wanted to draw a character and attach some code to move him around the screen, without it being an ordeal like traditional game development. I essentially spent my childhood wishing for Flash, so when it came along, it was exactly what I wanted. I’ve always had confidence in the future of Flash because I know it’s all I’ll ever need to get my ideas out. I can imagine being 60 years old and still farting around with Flash.
I’m sure many of us feel that way. While we’re on the subject of humble beginnings, what did your parents think about all this Newgrounds craziness when you were still doing it out of your basement? We’re they like like the classic mildly supportive kind (yeah thats a really great idea tom, but lets find a real job just incase k?) or were they like full out behind your efforts? how has that changed (or not) throughout the 10+ years you’ve been at this?
I started NG in 1995 as a hobby towards the end of high school. My parents got a kick out of Club a Seal because they know how traumatized I was as a kid when I saw a seal get clubbed on TV (I love animals, especially cats). Even as NG began to find success, I was still very cautious and stuck with my day job. By the time I quit, it was pretty clear that exciting things were on the horizon, so my parents never really had to worry about me. They know that I work hard at whatever I do, and I’ll always be able to find work. They are still very supportive to this day, although I don’t think my mom has seen a lot of the stuff on the site. :)
Well what sort of job would you have persued if you hadnt done the whole Newgrounds thing anyway?
During college I started with a web development job at SmithKline Beecham and later consulted for them during the Glaxo SmithKline merger. From there I took up a consulting job with Quest, where I was doing a lot of html and javascript, but also some ASP database work - the sort of stuff that Ross and Liljim do now with PHP / MySQL, only on a much dumber level. In my spare time I was always working on Flash games and NG. If you completely removed games from the equation, I might have gone the Ross and Liljim route, which is funny, because now I wish I COULD work more directly on the backbone of NG.
Well you can’t have your cake and eat it too I suppose. Anyway being that this is an ARTIST of the month feature I should sprinkle in an art based question or I’ll lose the 2 people who visit my site. You’re mostly known for your programming / AS personality but you used to art your own stuff back then as well… one of the most beloved products of those years being Pico… how did Pico and friends come about to begin with? Are those kids actually based on real life counterparts?
Not really.. I just wanted to make something really offensive. :) I started with Darnell and Nene, but I wanted Pico to be the coup de grâce. I had been tinkering with a concept where Pico could fly around by crapping, but it just wasn’t working out (THANK GOD)… It needed to be something MORE. Then Columbine happened, and I got my inspiration.
Darnell and Nene aren’t based on anyone, but Pico is sort of modeled after myself. He’s that kid who basically just gets along with people at school but is never popular. He doesn’t look or act like a punk or a goth, but he’s still his own individual, despite “fitting in” to the public image. It’s part of what draws me to stuff like American Psycho and that show Dexter, the concept of “pretending to be a normal person”, which I think a lot of people feel. I’m in no way saying I’m a sociopath killer; that’s more like a metaphor for people who just don’t quite “fit” the idea of what they think a normal social person is supposed to be. I now realize that I AM a very normal person, probably more well-adjusted and normal than most… But that’s not how I felt growing up, and that sorta sums up Pico.
Actually Pico and friends is one of the few things thats survived from back in the ‘old days’ of the site where the mood of the site was about about being the internet’s guilty pleasure than the hub of flash activity… now that its been a good chunk of time since NG has adoped the ‘everything by everyone’ motto and you can play armchair quarterback, do you feel it was for the better? I admit, I was one of the ones that was hardcore against it, i felt it was taking away the site’s edge.
I still have those days where I miss the old slogan, but overall I like the more inclusive vibe of “Everything by Everyone.” The site was evolving, it was changing. I was always disappointed in myself because the site wasn’t living up to its potential, and I came to realize that pigeonholing NG as a cesspool of hate and bitterness was really holding back all the amazing stuff that NG REALLY was. The thing I love about NG is how everything sort of co-exists, like a big melting pot.
I also didn’t like how some folks would use NG’s vibe against it, basically looking down on us as a bunch of kids playing in the dirt and not something “real.” I want NG to be like a big bright angel with its wings spread, shining holy light and magic and rainbow farts on everyone and making their lives wonderful. But not housewives, they can go to hell.
I’m sure April Fulp will be pleased as punch with that last statement. It’s okay though, I’ll edit that out if she ever visits here. Ok on to a different and a rather unusual scenario. Do you have a Newgrounds will? Like what would happen if one day you were just done with the site for whatever reason, maybe you have kids or you died or something? What’s the chain in command or who do you think could take the NG tank keys and keep the motor going or whatever…. or would NG just get sucked into a black hole of mass hysteria… well it probably would anyway but AMUSE ME.
I don’t have an NG will, so if I died right now it would go to April and be in good hands. I would hope the team would stick around and make it their goal to see NG through to the end. Or April could just sell it to Google and fire everyone. I don’t care because I’d be dead.
No but really, I do care because I have a big goal that NG will be around in 100 years… I see NG as the “librarian” of the Flash scene. We’ve documented so much! When you look back at the late 90s, there is Flash that just fell off the face of the earth, because it wasn’t on NG. I’m not saying that every Flash HAS to be on NG, but it’s pretty neat that we’ve maintained an accurate archive going back to the start, with dates and authors and public feedback. I think the archive will be really impressive in another 100 years, when people can just soak it all in and go WOW. It’s a whole new type of human history.
I’ve never thought of it like that actually… In some respect, I kinda wish I never had. I just had a mental of image of a 90yr old Krinkels sitting in a tub reminiscing about his violent animating days.
Let me lighten the mood a bit after that last depressing question, do you have any unusual skills or hidden talents that most people probably wouldnt know of? Like can you apply your mascara with your toes or something of that nature?
I can do a thing with my arms that looks like ET… I’ll have to show you at Comic-Con or something. I can also grab a quarter off my elbow with the same hand, but anyone can do that if they learn “the trick.”
I’ll be sure to try and capture that on tape. Anyway I’m on a roll, lets continue the light and cheery questions. Ok so its June, Castle Crashers, a console game that you’ve been working on is done and outta here, you just shaved your beard… What now? whats your plans post Castle Crashers or have you not even gotten to thinking about that yet to avoid losing focus?
I really want to just sit on a couch and play video games and forget all responsibilities for a week. But after that I am gonna finish Pixel Puncher. From there, I have to decide between Pico 2 and two other ideas that wouldn’t be as daunting. And I need to write up a ton of design documents for Newgrounds features and get focused on what it will take to accomplish each one in a reasonable amount of time. There are some ideas brewing that I consider as big as the original Flash Portal was, but we’ll see how that goes.
What do you like to do in your downtime anyway, assuming you have some once in a blue moon?
I like eating at nice restaurants and trying different beers. It kills two birds with one stone because I have to eat anyway.
My life is a balance of different interests and moods, carried out in a way that advances the goals of NG (or the Behemoth, which itself is ultimately meant to advance the goals of NG). If I’m in the mood to program, I program games. If I’m in the mood to write, I write docs about features and ideas. If I need a break, I handle administrative BS and answer stupid interviews people send me. If I want to sing, I sing about you, Luis!
You are such a card Tom, a card!
So I was in the airport a few weeks ago and the security guard frisking me (lol) asked me about my Newgrounds shirt, ‘he was like hey i know that place’ and I asked him what his favorite movie was and he said Charlie the Unicorn, the problem was that he actually saw it on YouTube and had no clue that the better version and original home of the movie was indeed Newgrounds.. (he thought NG was some production company that uploaded that animation to YouTube).
The point I’m trying to make is… that’s actually becoming rather common and rather annoying to many NG artists, like the ease of syndication that sites like YouTube offer. What’s your view on sites like YouTube? Do you ever worry about sites like those eating away at NG’s bread and butter? Do you have any plans of offering an easier way for people to syndicate content via widgets or some sort of way of quenching that hunger people have nowadays to be syndicators?
YouTube already HAS been eating our bread and butter. NG’s traffic stopped its astronomical climb to the stars the day everyone started watching videos instead of Flash movies. But we’ve maintained, we’ve held our ground for the past few years and we’ve been sharpening our edge, to become something YouTube could never dream of.
And yes, we ARE tinkering with widgets and syndication. We actually had widgets back in 2000, but there weren’t any Myspace and Facebook losers out there to use them. We had a widget that played the movie of the day, and a widget that showed the daily top submissions. They weren’t even called widgets back then, they were just some crap we made that you could embed on your site.
Our big hurdle now has been the little things that don’t work when you embed Flash in a universal player, the way YouTube does with video. Things like the actionscript camera, which breaks the rules of how it’s SUPPOSED to work when played inside a container movie. YouTube can afford to give away bandwidth because every player is an ad for YouTube, and even then, they were burning millions in venture capital until they got that sweet sweet Google money. If we can’t have the same for Flash (a player, not Google money), we need something to cover the bandwidth expense; something such as in-Flash ads, which we’ve been tinkering with for a while now. The original “widget” back in 2000 had an embedded ad, but it didn’t matter because no one embedded it. Everything comes around eventually, though.
AAAACTUALLY while I’m on the subject of annoyed artists… I’m annoyed that you guys dont have any sort of high score table or some sort of NG native api that could be leveraged for peoples games… is that in the works at all? Or do I have to use ArmyBot or whatever the fuck that score table api is called…
All the NG API stuff is actually being developed by PsychoGoldfish and will come to support all that good stuff. On that note, we DID have a universal high score system back around the same time we were making “widgets”, only people hacked the hell out of it and we stopped supporting it. You can still find remnants of the score submission screen in some of my old games, although a lot of those vanished with the redesign launch. I really do sound like a bitter old man, don’t I? All the ideas that failed the first time will hopefully succeed the second time, because apparently their time has come. Then I can stop being sad.
Remember that party you once had at the Trocadero? Wouldnt it be so cool to have an NG based mini awards show at some sort of venue like that for the NG trophies youre always talking about? We could could have like Swain or Egoraptor host it and provide comic relief a la Jon Stewart… But yeah whats the status on those set of awards anyway?
I would love to have an awards show but I want absolutely nothing to do with planning it. I’m just not that sort of showman… I can make a decent front page post but I don’t feel any urge to get up on a stage and work a crowd. I would go up and do some formalities as a figurehead and whatnot, but the whole event would need to be driven by someone who is really passionate about putting on a show. Not just the hosting, but the whole setup process.
As for the trophies, I am really tempted to just make a post right now and announce some winners, but I know that won’t make them exciting. I need to post a list of nominees and get everyone worked up and crazy for a few weeks, before the anticipation finally ends and the winners are announced to much fan-fair and whining. I have a list of nominees, but I’m being really indecisive about it. I’m not sure how to break apart categories. I need to just do it and then fix it next year. Some day we’ll have our awards show, everything happens organically, aka slowly.
Ok laaast question. Lets make it something forward thinking and optimistic yet realistic. Where do you see Newgrounds and yourself even…. say 5 years from now?
I will still be here in the office and NG will still be hosted in downtown Philly. On-line, however, NG will be a utopia of creative energy and opportunities. People will create like never before. They’ll be making money if they’re interested. Some might even be able to make a living. A lot of it depends on how much the people embrace NG, but for that to happen, we need to earn it. That’s been my big thing lately, if we EARN IT, then it will happen. If we don’t earn it, then we didn’t deserve it. OKAY BAYE!
This is probably the most positive note that any of my interviews have ever had. You’ve reached a new low Mr. Fulp.
masterswordman February 5th, 2008
As you may have already guessed, this month’s AOTM is a little different than usual. The artist this month is Luis Castanon, who is the person this site is based on and the regular interviewer for this feature. Filling in for Luis as the interviewer is Josh B. Anyway, on to the interview. First question, how and when did you first become a part of the flash scene and what made you stick with it?
I got into animation at about 2000, I originally was intruigued by it because to put it bluntly, I was a piece of shit. Friends were hard to come by, I was really frusterated with my life and animation was sort of a safe haven, in the world of animation I was in control and I called all the shots, so as pathetic as that sounds it was encouraging and I found myself not so depressed about
things because after a shitty day I could go back to my room and make animations where i killed off everyone that pissed me off. Obviously I’m not quite that negative anymore, but I still find alot of power behind the medium. I’m a power hungry kind of guy I suppose.
Wow, I guess animation really helped you cope. Ok, what would have to be your proudest accomplishment so far flash-wise?
I dont think I really have a proudest ‘accomplishment’, I do have an animation I’m most proud of though, that would be One O’ Clock Jump. Years later I still am impressed when I watch it. It’s one of those collaborative projects that worked flawlessly, I always wonder if I’ll ever be able to create something that seamless again. The chemistry and execution of that piece was just top notch, and it was totally a novell concept in the world of collaborative Flash pieces. When I die I will have a url to that movie on my gravestone. Thats kind of nerdy isnt it.
SERIOUSLY THOUGH its that damn good.
The concept behind One O’ Clock was neat and the whole thing turned out really smooth. I definitely enjoyed watching it.
Your “specialty” is considered animating along with accompanying music. How did you start this habit of animating and why do you usually prefer it to, say, voice acting?
I like making animations weaved out of music. I find it more challenging, its like a ghetto approach to animation, you’re sort of
working with what’s given to you and making a masterpiece out of it. You could compare me to Mugato’s Derelicte line of clothing from Zoolander. You work with whats given to you and you breathe life into something that originally was never meant to be given life. Also theres the practical matters, I’m one guy, not a studio or corporate giant. I dont have voice actors at my disposal nor the budget to hire any so part of it is just practical reasons. There’s more challenge in telling a story out of rythm and music anyway. Voiced animations seem like an obvious way of getting from point A to B. I prefer to get to point B going the much longer and more scenic route. I think in a perfect world I’d hire my personal Danny Elfman and would just be like go in that room and just CREATE. No parameters, no scripts, no anything, just let artists go wild and then make something out of the bi-product. It’s much more organic and exciting that way.
Animating along to music certainly has a different feeling to it, and is a great inspiration for many artists.
People still recognize you for your older flash animations, such as Perverto. How do you feel about these ancient relics, and how do you feel it compares to a lot of your work today?
I dont mind them, I dont plug Perverto on my site simply because I’m not like an immature kid anymore. Back when I got started with Newgrounds it was like one of those edgy site’s who embraced and rewarded abrasiveness and so Perverto was deeply influenced by Brian Beaton’s Scrotum the Puppy, Will Stampers Street Life, and Tom Fulps Assasin series. As for how it compares to my work today, well I’d like to think my work now is more sophisticated both in execution and subject matter. I realize now that I dont need gratuitous violence and rape to make people pay attention to my work. Just an occasional cock joke maybe.
I still think those old films still have a certain charm to them. All the classic gore and rape to them.
One thing you’re known to do is host meetups for different flash artists to get together in places throughout the globe. Why do you organize these meetups and what do you like most about them?
Hmm.. well I dont know if that’s something I really want to be ‘known’ for. I just like to travel, and being able to talk to other Flash nerds and creative types is really motivating. I come home feeling refreshed and ready to hit the front lines. It’s also really cool to converse with artists you respect and have followed for so many years. It’s almost surreal in a way to sit there at the bar and know that you are talking to THE krinkels or THE guy who gave Pico street cred (Mindchamber).
Traveling and boozing it up with other flash people in real life certainly sounds a lot of fun, minus the hangovers of course.
Anyways, you recently finished up the Munny Project, tell us more about what that whole mess was about.
I’m a deeply collaborative guy and as of late I’ve begun extending that craving beyond the Flash medium. The Munny Competition was a nice little art project that was graciously sponsored by NG and allowed me to send out little blank figurines all across the world and then have artist create something with them and send them back. The whole ordeal can be witnessed here. It blew my own expectations and it was deeply rewarding not only for me but for the NG family.
A lot of the finished products turned out really great. There’s some really talented artists who joined in.
Another project you’re famous for organizing on a yearly basis is the NG Sketchbook Tour. Whats the big deal about this?
NG Sketchbook Tour is on its third year this year. It’s another one of those global art projects. A bunch of pages of a sketchbook are sent out. People draw on them and mail them back. It’s a simple concept that is very time consuming but also really rewarding when it all comes together. Again another instance of a collaborative project that Newgrounds sponsors and supports. The NG community is a very unique community, they are deeply creative, more so than people give it credit for. They just need someone to take some reigns and gather the troops. I like to think I’m that person.
I felt this project was another creative idea with plenty of talented artists a part of it. I hope to see this years’ filled with as much creativity.
Recently, some Newgrounds Flash Forum members decided to honor you with creating a Luis Day, where people made Flashes honoring, and insulting, your mexicanness. How’d you react to this celebration? With eternal gratitude or with raging fury?
Luis day was kind of silly. I’m a fairly soft-spoken guy believe it or not, so to have a day where I’m link under a blinding limelight was kind of strange. I really am flattered about it though, even the animations that diss me and take shots at my heritage (I am not mexican btw). It’s just cool that people take time out of their day to make something specifically for me. Even if its negative, I feel truly flattered that I can piss someone off so much that they are willing to burn even 15 mins to have a go at me. It’s a win for me on all fronts in my opinion.
I am flattered to have been an internet fad for a day, would i want that again on a yearly basis? Probably not. It’s just not part of my personality.
People just want to poke fun at someone like you for a day. Even if its about untrue heritages.
I’m done inflating your internet ego, do you have any real world interests or hobbies you like to partake in?
My real world interest is in travel. I enjoy going somewhere/anywhere atleast once a month. It gives me a chance to recharge my batteries and reevaluate where I am in my life and career.
Also, I’m a single guy and I’m doing okay financially so I want to like squeeze out the rockstar lifestyle out of these last couple years before i finally settle down and sell my convertible, buy a minivan and a ball and chain.
I can’t picture you as a married man. Mainly because you’re such an independent person.
What upcoming flash projects, meetups, or events will we expect from you in the near future?
Well in term of meet-ups, I’ll probably be in Montreal in March for a meet that isnt hosted by me but by my pal poxpower, then in April I’m getting together with Mindchamber to see if we can get a small NG prescence at the NY comic con. In June i’ll be back in Philadelphia to get together with the NG goons, the month after that I’ll probably pop my head in San Diego for Comic-Con, and in August I’ll probably be back in London. God I love that city. It’s a shame the dollar is worth shit overseas. But fuck it, if the opportunity is there i’ll be right back over there. I think that about wraps it in regards to meetups.
In regards to animations, I have my Pico Day animation that I will be starting up when I get back from the Bahamas next week, then I have a serious movie I want to get done and I’ll have some smaller collaborative projects sprinkled in as well. Most of which I havent put a whole lot of thought into, but basically 2 major movies and alot of little projects this year. I may do something for Madness Day also but we’ll see.
Hope you have a blast at the meetups. Can’t wait to see what movies you’ll have coming as well.
Time to bring this interview to a close. Any final comments or remarks you’d like to add, such as how terrible an interviewer I am, before we end this?
This was a terrible interview, you are a terrible interviewerrr
and thankfully I’ll be back in control of this feature next month!
CIAO.
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