Sorry the updates have been slow for January, there are new RockToons artists as well as a bunch of guest art all lined up. I got busy with another project, an all-ages comic collective called . There’s some really fun comics you can read online there so go check it out! You can read the launch article at.
]]>
Today RockToons turns 10 years old. That’s a whole decade of tooning the rock world on the web!
It was October 15th, 1996, that cartoonist Tyler Martin launched a very simple RockToons page in his personal webspace folder that came with his dial-up internet account. It only had a handfull of bands. Many people were creating fan sites for bands on the web and as an artist, he figured this was one way he could pay homage to his favorite bands on the web and share original content with others.
The toons were somewhat simple and crude, but back then the web too was simple and crude… and nearly empty compared to what it is now. Those old RockToons graphics ended up getting downloaded and used on several websites resulting in the RockToons site starting to get a little popularity. By April of 1997 RockToons upgraded and got its own domain name like you use to view it today.
Tyler plugged away tooning bands that he liked or that were requested by visitors of the site. He had never signed any of the toons but just included the RockToons name on them feeling like that credited him. But he came to realize that he alone could not be “RockToons”, he knew he could not fully toon the rock world without some help. In late 1999 he got some e-mails referring him to artists Nina K. and J. Axer who also had been doing some band toons and in January of 2000 they became the first official contributing RockToons Artists besides Tyler himself.
In the years following, more RockToons Artists were added to the list. Each one adding their own personal style and favorite bands to the site. To this day, 26 different artists have made their official mark on RockToons. To get even more toon activity going, guest artists were invited to join in the fun and a lot of great talent features their toons in the RockToons guest galleries as well, in fact that is where many of the official RockToons artists were “discovered” for the site.
The site itself has been through many design changes and formats to get where it is today, and it is still technically under construction (the new artist pages will be available soon as well as the updated guest artist gallery). Also the forum has spawned an active community that has grown as a family over the years, in fact, we are pretty sure some of the members don’t even know there is a site that goes with the forum.
So here is to 10 years of RockToons! Much thanks goes to all the artists that have contributed their creations to the site over the years to entertain us all. Also thanks to all the viewers that have visited, linked to and supported the site and all those long time members of the forum that have kept the site alive even in its times of rest. And here is to another 10 years of tooning the rock world. What bands would you like to see tooned in that next 10?
]]>We will be celebrating this event over the next couple weeks by posting new RockToons from a host of RockToons artists both past and present. Starting tomorrow…
There is also a .
]]>RockToons also has an RSS feed for those checking for site updates using RSS readers like .
]]>Part of keeping regular updates is having some guest art to share. There have been a lot of great guest artists and we are always looking for more, in addition to keeping eyes open on those that would like to be regular RockToons contributing artists. If you have some toons you would like to see featured here before thousands of viewers then head on over to the guest art page for information on submitting guest art.
Also please give us a bit more time to get the gallery back in order. You can still browse most of the toons, they just link to old pages.
]]>October of this year will mark 10 years of RockToons. That’s right, it will be 10 years old, that’s really hard to believe. That may be nearly as old as some of you. We’ll have to think of something special for a 10 year anniversary. Hope everyone is having a happy new year.
]]>