… Now With Chicken!

I made this little piece for Father’s Day :) it’s very important to me because the irl relationship between me and my dad. He’s a great guy, I’m so thankful I have him in my life. But sadly, this post is about my fictional dads.

So, Ren and stimpy huh? How on EARTH did these two characters from a gross out 90s cartoon become so important to me? Well, it’s a long story. All the way back in my early preteens, I decided to watch the show out of curiosity. I always saw clips and was aware of the shows existence, and I figured it was time for me to check it out. The very first episode i remember seeing was “a yard too far”, I’m not too sure why I picked that one. But regardless, I was absolutely hooked.

I began drawing them a lot, it got me into the art of cartooning more and more. I felt like my expressions and poses felt flat and safe. Thanks to artist like Bob Camp, Jim Gomez, Chris Reccardi, and Bill Wray, I pushed myself to be more open to being “ugly” and strange with my art style.

I got really into selfshipping around a year later, when I was just starting high school. Things were… really rough for me during those years. I don’t really look back on those moments with a lot of fondness. But there was little nuggets that made it a little bit more tolerable. During this period, I decided on a whim to make Steak for the sake of fun. I saw many people making Rempy fan kids, so I really thought it would be a little funny to insert myself as it. I thought that it wouldn’t be something too important to me, but I was quickly proven wrong.

I don’t think they’re two characters in all of fiction that mean as much to me as these freaks. I mean it. No matter what these two stuck with me. Either I was rewatching the show, talking about them with friends, or even just mindlessly doodling in one of my old sketchbooks. I’m really happy for all those times. The show really has given me so many fantastic memories.