Damon Albarn, A Legacy. Top 10 Songs

I'm a Damon Albarn nerd, always have been.

On many occasions I have listed my favourite songs in my head but never written them down. His work spreads across a multitude of genres and band names. From Seymour to Blur to Mali Music to Gorillaz...

Today, I'll be choosing my top top favourite songs and TRYING to be a harsh critic. He has made many many songs across his career, so can I choose THE BEST ones? My favourites anyway. 

Now for the record, my favourite of his projects is Blur but I'm trying to even out the playing ground a bit with this list.

What will Damon mostly be remembered for by an emotionally attached fan?

Here we go (In no particular order):

1. Blur - Beetlebum

Emotional, epic and blur at their best. 

2. Gorillaz - To Binge

The most beachy song on the Plastic Beach album, and a duet? Brilliant. Intriguing lyrics from both artists as well. It's a great sister track to 'Empire Ants' which almost made the list!

3. Blur - Young and Lovely (Live at Hyde Park 2012)

Great B-Side performed once again to better effect with some awesome guitar from Graham Coxon. Bit of an ear-worm.

4. Gorillaz - Dare

As much as 'Demon Days' is an epic album of choir and hip hop, I do admire a great dance song. This is the best dance song Damon has written. I may also be a little bias because this is my favourite of the Gorillaz animated videos.

5. Dr Dee - Apple Carts

This whole album/ musical is beautiful but Apple Carts really starts it off well. Unlike much of Damon's music, the lyrics really bring to life a sense of place and time... with matching instrumentals. 

6. Gorillaz - Stylo

Like Apple Carts, it sets a tone for the Plastic Beach album. Electronic, maybe simplistic? Melodic with big surprises. With two big name guest vocals, Stylo says a lot and just sounds great. 

7. Blur - Out of Time

This is my favourite song of all time, so of course it would be on my list. Lyrically beautiful, instrumentally beautiful, vocally beautiful... it even has an apparent Doctor Who sound bite shoved in at the beginning (Info via Wikipedia.) The title speaks to me a lot as well. Here is where the bias comes in, this was the first new blur song to release after I had initially discovered the band. So of course I was excited. You can't deny it though, it's a gorgeous song.

8. Blur - Country Sad Ballad Man

Might as well get all of the Blur songs out of the way...   This song is experimental with guitar, gritty, angry, sad, confused and distant. I love all that about it. It's a popular one with Blur fans and so it should be.

9. Good the Bad and the Queen - Nineteen Seventeen

This one might be a bit of a wild card. I go back and fourth on it, it must be a slow burner. Out of all of the tracks on this very well produced storytelling album, 'Merrie Land,' this song has always stood out the most. Great storytelling lyrically and Tony Allen's drums are brilliant as usual.

10. Mali Music - Sunset Coming On

10 on the list is always tricky. But I chose a song that most would agree is a quiet gem. Everyone wants a piece of this track.

Honourable Mentions:

1. Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood

2. Blur - There are too many of us

3. Gorillaz - Desole

4. Damon Albarn - Lonely Press Play

5. Damon Albarn - Particles

Let me know your top 10 fave Damon songs!

- The Daily Crumb

George Bothers Finale

Hi everyone,

Welcome to this humble blog. Today I am going to be writing about the YouTube series, George Bothers, and how it ended.

(Above: George in Cartoon Form)

Playing GTA5 Roleplay was an incredible discovery for me. For a long time I had been on the search for a game that suited the play I liked to play. Creating characters and telling stories. I've played various versions of The Sims games since it's original release in 2000 but, at the end of the day there were plenty of limitations. It never felt as alive, and of course you could never run over anyone with a car! GTA5 Roleplay gave me the opportunity to create new characters (Using GTA skins and my own voice) and improvise my way through roleplay and genuinely funny situations.
For me, it was a GOLDMINE for straight man, funny man. Working with some of the players that dedicate themselves to authority roles turned out hilarious. Watching them either break character or try and work out how to deal with a silly old man in the most realistic way possible.

The first half of the video series was recorded on various servers on FIVEM (The modded GTA). Each server has it's own community of people, and players really just need to find the one that suits them.
I created George on a server I was continuously kicked out of, named COPS RP. I'm not sure if they are still running today. I was kicked out for silly reasons, once for trying to react a scene from Back to the Future 3 where a car is on a train track. Surely a guy can play out his Back to the Future III fantasy!
Soon enough, I created George. I was the only one around, as far as I could tell that used this Civilian Skin. George was an old chap with a pink jumper and everyone loved him!
Suddenly, all the same things I was doing before, were no longer getting me kicked out! Because a funny old man was doing it all!

A community began to build up and George became everyone's friend. But these servers all have leaders, some more mature than others. In their defense, they pay to keep these things running, and that must be a challenge in itself.
There were conflicts and the server fell apart. COPS RP closed down and George was left as a floater in the great FiveM toilet.

I believe I made 11 episodes in a variety of different servers, never knowing where George's next meal was coming from. It was so difficult to find good players or interesting servers day by day. Every video you watch in that middle section of the George Bothers history is pretty inconsistent when it comes to story and funnies.
Saying that, this was a time of reflection.
I really enjoyed producing this sketch comedy video style and a George Trailer produced for my by Lesmovids inspired me to edit HARDER. I was keen to edit in the way, that the young whipper snappers of Youtube would understand.

Hanging onto the strands of COPS RP, some online friends gave me the opportunity to produce two roleplay/ machinima mixes. In these, I tried to build short films of George backstory and music. In short, his back story involved his involvement in a plane crash and his father.

Eventually I decided, I want to give George one more shot. I was eagerly hoping for his popularity to catch on at any point but it was not to be. After a friend of mine '''Sweet Anita', on twitch hit massive fame I was still hopeful for the old chap.

I created an animated version of George to enhance the branding, and hunted for a new server.
First off, I tried to get into one of the biggest FiveM servers known, 'DOJ'. Or at least, it was once one of the biggest. I think their military and cult-like nature may have scared a few people away.
I was accepted, but immediately walked away. After being asked to memorize various amounts of paperwork and do certain things certain people told me too, I told myself it WAS NOT worth it.

Soon enough, I came across a server that was a little bit more friendly to get into. While it did have the strong structure of a well-functioning server (Similar to DOJ), it seemed more friendly and welcoming to new players. They were more interested in seeing what fun stories and characters I was going to bring to them. The server was called Áspirant Gaming' and ended up being George's core home for some of the best George Bothers episodes I produced (In my opinion). 12 episodes were filmed using the Aspirant Gaming server and I hope one day there will be more.

Aspirant Gaming was not ALL bunnies and bowties though. After a successful first video, 'Celebrity Shop Manager', I was excited to continue my George's father story-line, set up in my previous episode. But doing so, It was required to bring my friend James (Who played George's father) back into FIVEM. As he was not a part of Aspirant Gaming I thought the best option was to find a nice quiet server (Preferably empty) and record some machinima based media.
Suddenly a red flag as a bot (or a person, or both), notified me on the Aspirant Discord, that I had been seen in another server. A few frantic personal messages I'd missed and suddenly I was banned from the server.

I was passionate about continuing my George back-story with James, but had to make a decision.

Aspirant Gaming had reliable players that offered me an opportunity to record some consistent video content and they were giving me a chance to return.
At this point I was enjoying the comedy editing and found myself watching a bunch of other GTA video content online. I hoped I had a chance of getting an income from my quest. I was really upset with my real life job taking up so much of my creative time and needed some hope. That sounds silly now, but tell that to those video makers online who have made it.

I decided to scrap the story video and create more consistently comedy based George videos (The ones people actually enjoyed watching).
I am proud of the episodes I created, though at some points it did feel like a job. Each video needs people interaction, and on this server, I'd usually have to wake up and play between 3AM to 9AM in the morning for that interaction. It was worth it, but difficult. Time-zones are a killer!

I met some wonderful people on there, and always loved adding characters into George's friendship family.
Unfortunately, due to the way I recorded videos, George's friendships never lasted. Whether it be players leaving servers or just plain old timezone issues. I suppose we can put it down to his memory.

I'm going to treat George Bothers like it is a legitimate program now, mainly because I enjoy writing lists.
The list below only includes GTA5 episodes, with no other George related videos included.


George Bothers 
Season 1

Episode 1: 
George is in a Bank Robbery

Episode 2:
George writes to the Council
Description: 
This episode cemented what I wanted to do with George Bothers and ended up being one of the most popular episodes. This episode also reveals the possibility that someone in George's family was named Jennifer.

Episode 3: 
Georges sees a Sand Wagon
Description:
This episode reveals George's love for animals when he meets a little birdy!

Episode 4:
George moves house and is on TV!
Description:
George gets some help moving from his old house to his new house! His old house was rarely seen in any episodes but was used in RP for a long time previous. The old house appears briefly in 'George gets his house back'. The new house is revealed to have Flamingos outside.

Episode 5:
George shoots an old friend!
Description:
I will always remember this episode as the one I rush recorded after I did a way better version of it and it crashed!

Episode 6: 
George becomes a Security Guard
Description:
Love this concept and some of the video I still find quite funny. Though I wished I could have done some more of George as a guard.
As a side note, this was the first episode where another character in the George universe was revealed (But never mentioned again). George's security guard friend.

George Stories: PROLOGUE
Description:
A non George Bothers episode. It is revealed George taking his first flight as a young pilot. He had been drinking and going a bit heavy on the biscuits before the crash. The plane was flying from London and crashed in Sandy Shores, USA.

Episode 7:
George makes dreams come true!
Description:
This was the last episode recorded on the COPS RP server before it closed.

Episode 8:
George goes Christmas Shopping
Description:
Jumping from server to server, the episode is a bit of a mess but still fun. He meets a little catholic Irish lad.

George Stories: PART 1 (George meets Cliff)
Description: 
I was lucky enough to work with a friend from the last remaining shatters of COPS RP, who was running his own server. With a few pals we shot the whole story in one evening. John, whose server it was, also played George's OLDEST friend, John, in game.
The story reveals the co-pilot from the doomed plane was out for revenge on George. At the last minute, George's good friend John comes to save him.

Episode 9:
George's Delivery Donuts
Description:
This is still one of my favorite episodes with one of my favorite titles. This episode, no matter how silly it is, introduces us to one of George's main recurring friends, The Texan Man (Dick Donnelly?) played by my friend James who came into FiveM to encourage me to make more videos.

Episode 10:
OLD MAN BURNS DOWN FIRE STATION??
Description:
First attempt at a click-bait title. That title honestly does happen though so it's pretty funny. The Texan Man returns in this episode.

Episode 11:
OLD MAN BUYS $500 JAFFA CAKES
Description:
The first half of this video is very funny and ended up as a large portion in the best of collection.

Episode 12:
OLD MAN ROLEPLAY AS TOUR BUS DRIVER??
Description:
First episode that subtly reveals issues with George's father. Also PLENTY of Flamingo love.

George Stories: PART 2 (Daddy Issues)
Description: 
A controversial second part! For my friends anyway. But at the end of the day, this is the story I wanted to tell. I suppose my only regret, now that I know how difficult it is to actually make these, is that I didn't push the grumpy Neighbour Lady to the side for the Dad story (Which needed a bit of work). Still, I had fun and some of the drama is great in my opinion. This episode reveals that the Flamingos were George's mothers. John, Dave and Barry. Barry was destroyed by his father.

It also reveals that no one was responsible for the plane crash, and that George's father had influenced the US police and pushed the co-pilot, Watson to imprisonment.  (This is a plot point I very much hoped to open up in a future episode, but not sure I will now)

I still enjoy the neighbor and her son story-line. There was an unanswered question though. The Texan Man says the Neighbours son is dead so no need to worry, but his death was never seen on screen....

Episode 13:
OLD MAN TAXI DRIVER BREAKS THE LAW!
Description:
Some okay moments but overall, shows my struggle to record good content when jumping from server to server. Does show off George's love for drawing birds, both real and metal.

Episode 14:
OLD MAN SELLS ICE-CREAM HOTDOGS??

Episode 15:
Celebrity shop Manager!
Description:
First episode recorded on new Aspirant Gaming server! It was very well received. Subtly revealed George's memory loss in one scene. Also played out George's love of Hip Hip and performance.
This was also the first episode to be based in the city (Outside of Sandy Shores)

Episode 16:
SPEED DATING CHAOS!
Description:
While in the city George meets a new recurring friend, Bea Landers! It was certainly nice for George to meet some people closer to his age group in this episode. This episode also reveals George's love for his magical pink bicycle, Sally. Sally returns in a few other episodes but not with quite as much passion shown here.

Episode 17:
OLD MAN ANIMAL ESCAPE!
Description:
Regarded as the best episode to some who like animals escaping! George makes friends with a boar he names Barry (named after his mothers Flamingo? WHO KNOWS). He also meets a cat.

George Stories: PART 3 (George get's his house back)
Description: 
While I was not able to bring James into Aspirant Gaming to continue the story with me, I asked him to record a goodbye letter I could play over the video.
This episode shows George driving past his old house and reflecting on the lives loss from the plane crash, as well as Watson's wrongful imprisonment.
It is revealed subtly in this episode, that the Texan Man is having to leave as he had killed the Neighbours son from PART 2.

Episode 18:
OLD MAN VS SNAKE! (AND FLAMINGOS)
Description:
George meets up with Bea Landers again (For the last time)

Episode 19:
George's Funny Hostage Adventure
Description:

Episode 20:
Grandpa's Last Crimewave
Description:
Some of my favorite funny moments are in this episode.

Episode 21:
Old Man Starts Gang War
Description:
At this point most 'George Canon' is not really important. These episodes are all just fun, jokey trolling.

Episode 22:
Hairless in GTA! Secrets Revealed!
Description:
George visits the medical centre after a tragic accident at the hairdressers! (It's a bad hair cut) This episode reveals George used to be a popular pink jumper wearing model for the Fireman's Calenders.

Episode 23:
Grandpa Snow Dog Rescue!
Description:
Honestly one of my favorite episodes. Very sweet, quite funny. George befriending fluffy mutt in the snow.

Episode 24:
Grandpa's Big Butt Adventures
(Also known as, George Stories PART 4)
Description:
The final episode begins as a typical comedy sketch episode, trolling people in the usual George fashion. But soon turns into a more serious story. George has some issues with his placement and his memory, and is soon revealed to have Dementia.
While trying to deal with this, George returns to the Lighthouse clifftop seen in George Stories PART 1. Here he attempts to call his oldest friend John, who had once stood on that clifftop with him. Unfortunately John had passed away. George deals with this, and when trying to move on feels a sense of optimism, only John could have given him.
Then George accidentally drives off of the cliff and has been missing ever since.


If anyone is curious as to what my favorite episode is. It would be the BEST OF collection I made of all my favorite bits. (Not including final episode)

The End

George Shambles' Day at the Library

George Shambles' Day at the Library

Written by Michael Shambles & George Shambles

Before I begin, I'd like to thank a few people. I'd like to thank Bobby Hunt from the local library for not getting too upset when I returned the book, 'Top 10 Teas that start with T' three days too late.
I know we didn't talk much, but your understanding lead me to oggle your name tag and mention you in this story.
Usually that lady with the dark hair is quite rude to me when I return books late, “She says, HOW DARE YOU GEORGE!” She likes to exaggerate. So do I. She's never really said that, I'm so sorry Imogen Perkins, I meant no harm and I'll be sure to keep your identity secretive.

If I'm completely honest, Imogen gave me a bit of a grumpy glare and then moved on. But for the rest of that day I was sat slurping my tea noisily in upset.

This week, while I was in the garden watering the pumpkins and feeding the Flamingos, it suddenly dawned on me. 'Top 10 Teas that start with T' was still on my bedside table, chaps. Not only that, I'd left my little light on. So I ran upstairs (I walked), crashed through my bedroom door! (I opened it gently, didn't even creak.) And I went for a nap on my bed. It was very comfortable you see. The duvet was so cosy and warm.

It was raining outside and I was just ready to slip into dream land. There was absolutely no other option.

Three days later I picked up the book and caught the bus to the library, dreading I'd see that nasty nameless woman again! Luckily for me, the sun was shining that day and Bobby Hunt was stood at the desk waiting for an old man to stumble through those electronic doors.

Can we just talk about those electronic doors for one second please? So on most occasions, they know when I have arrived. It's very good of them, I always tip my hat to the robots if I'm wearing a hat that day.

But sometimes, perhaps I step too far or too soon... sometimes the doors do not open. First I wonder, “Gosh, is the Library closed? That's very inconsistent with their window sign." I even check my personal folded up calendar I keep in my trousers. It's quite a big calendar, folded seven times down to a pocket fitting size. But once it's unravelled, blimey, it'll cover a whole Town Hall pinup board. The calendar answered none of my queries.

My next thought, after continued ignorance from the door ghosts, was “Am I banned?”

The problem is chaps, after one or six late book returns, who knows what these Libraries are capable of? I thought, 'Right! That Imogen has locked the doors for good. No more books for George.'

Just a little bit of information about myself before we move on. Sometimes, I like to not take the books out, but instead stick a little bookmark in it and put it back on the shelf. Problem is, I then forget which books I've read. Who knows how many books are ravaged by my bookmarks by now? Scattered across the bookshelves like a load of old books in a library full off bookmarks.

I thought this could well be the reason for this despicable shut down of my rights.

It turns out, the doors just do that sometimes. I was let in and took my book to the front desk.

Bobby was there, hardly even out of school he was. His face looked like a handful of freshly cut grass blades had been distributed delicately over a slice of pizza. He said he liked my pink jumper, I told him he should get one. Highly fashionable In 2020. He said he would think about it and took the library book from my giving hands.

“Ah George Shambles. Great name. You know this book is three days late?”

I pondered for a moment, could I perhaps use the dementia card? Yes quite an idea, George!

I replied, “Sorry sir, I seem to have left my dementia card AT HOME.” I winked at Bobby for a minute or two and waited for a response.

He stood in front of me, confusion creasing up his face like a wet sponge. “Oh...”

“That's okay George, it will just be a very small fee and you'll be on your way to borrowing more books.”

Bobby was a wonderful chap. IS a wonderful chap, and I'll never forget that delightful gesture he gave to me.

'Top 10 Ts that start with a T' was successfully returned and I was ready to stick my bookmark in the next unsuspecting gardening publication.

By the way, the question on everyone's lips is ,"George, what did you think of the book?" I thought it was very interesting. I'm not sure I would have gone for Tiramisu Tea as number one myself, but at least Turkey Tea came above Tissue Tea in the final countdown. If I were to write the book, I'd have shot Torchlight Tea RIGHT to the top, due to it's glow in the dark characteristics.  

Thank you for reading my short story, “George Shambles' Day at the Library”. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed living it and then telling my grandson to write it all down.

• George Shambles

27/02/2019

Dear Readers,

I've not updated this blog since 2017 when myself and a good friend released an Album on Spotify. I am still very proud of this album so please go and check it out!

But 2019 has come along and I'm hoping great things are on the horizon. I already feel like things and started well.
In my personal life, I'm living with my partner and 2 cats in one of my favourite places in the world, Fremantle, Western Australia. (Also with my family close by)

I can't really describe my love for Fremantle. It just has so much to offer. From beaches to old markets, from ferris wheels to festivals to art galleries in haunted buildings. Everywhere you go you feel like you're being hugged. This may just be me, I know there are a few negatives here and there but overall I'm pretty settled. It's not just Fremantle though. Due to work I'm rarely leaving my little part of the world these days but when I venture out to Perth (City) the hug is still around. Hiding in small art galleries and theatres.

So that's that!
But what else is going on?
After my Tomothy Comic Zine/Book was printed last year I was excited to do a proper release. Firstly, I did something pretty incredible. I was convinced to be a part of a 'Comic Arts Festival' in Perth. I had to be really convinced and I could not have done it without a bunch of friends and family.
During the day I slowly crept up from underneath the table and successfully sold my art. I was also placed at the very front of the building! I was one of the first stores in sight!
I had a wonderful experience and was so happy to share my comics with the community (And get an idea of what other local artists feel when selling their work)

Back to 2019!
This year has started with a little leap into the confidence chair. Firstly, as the new year came in I submitted a Stageplay I wrote to 'Murdoch Theatre Company'. A very impressive, student run theatre local to me. I've seen two shows from them previously and both of them blew my socks off.

My Stageplay was based on my short film/series, "Coby Charles Goes Home". It's an extended version of the script that was used in the video. It dives a little deeper into Coby and Coby2s relationship and what exactly Coby yearns for outside.

Anyway, short story short they really liked it! They were keen to perform it for their 2019 shows. Unfortunately, the whole thing has hit a bit of a speed bump but I am still hopeful. Whether this performance happens or not, I'm extremely proud that something I've written has to been enjoyed by these aspiring creators.
As a side note though, I do really hope it does come through. I've never really considered myself a writer, or a musician, or a live action film maker, or even sometimes an animator. The reasons for this is because no ones ever really appreciated what I've done (Apart from cartoons). So it would be lovely for something like this to happen and teach me that people appreciate my work outside of Doctor Who Cartoons.

Saying that though, something else has already happened this year. Every since the Comic Arts Festival, I've wanted to properly release my comic.
Every day the comic gets older and older. The strips in there are pretty old right now. (Due to various reasons explained elsewhere). But you know what, I'm still super proud of it. If I was not, it would not have been printed.

So I planned out an animated advert to finally release the book to the world. I called on my friend, James Berridge (Who I've worked with on various short projects now) and we got to work.
Very much inspired by some of the Gorillaz videos, Little Howard and that Simpsons Halloween episode where Homer goes into the real world... I wanted Tomothy to come alive.

After some nudging I convinced a local Bookshop to let me film the outside and window for my advert. (As long as I made it clear this book was NOT available in their store haha)

Then it was just me trying to squeeze production around my life, relationship, family and most importantly, my job. It was very upsetting, how slow my production would be working on my animation.

I produced 'Doctor Who Goes Gangsta' when I was JOBLESS. Going into libraries early morning and working all day and then spending other days searching for work. It was difficult for money and stuff but animation wise, it was amazing. It's still my proudest work animation wise I think.

Anyway, I was getting upset, knowing how short this advert was meant to be. How could it be taking me so long when it was so short???? Well, I suppose the truth is, even though I had less time I still wanted to challenge myself. And I think James wanted to challenge himself as well.
So while it did take a lot of time, it was all for good reason in the end. I'm pretty happy with the final product. Especially the excellent job James did on the compositing.

What happened next???
Well on advert release I created an event page on Facebook, made a new 'TomothyBooks' Instagram page and James organised a Kindle option for purchase.
Everything came together and in total 15 people from all sides of the globe ended up purchasing my Tomothy Comic. They are all sent out now.
While I would still love many more purchases I'm so happy to know that Tomothy will be travelling the world. Hopefully he takes some pics.

My book is still on sale, if you are interested. Just go to Tomothybooks.com/shop for more info.

So right now, what I'm excited about is growing in my loving relationship at home, getting a play performed!!>!?!?!?!! and working on my future creative projects.

I also forgot to mention my other album release last year! Microworld was also put on Spotify and has more of an operatic concept theme to it than the first. My partner and I produced a music video for it involving some old telephones. I'm also really proud of that! You can watch that here

Also! GEORGE. Everyone loves George. George is my Grand Theft Auto Roleplay character that bothers people while they try and Roleplay as police officers and garbage men. Something else, I was oddly very proud of producing last year was his episode, 'George writes to the Council' and 'George meets Cliff (George Stories)'.
The second one being a full Machinima made story using Improvised Roleplay. It even includes a chase seen! This is the sort of video you'll very rarely see and I'll probably never get to make again. So I'm glad I took that moment and produced something so silly and wonderful.
I've even made a dedicated page for George on TomothyBooks.com so it MUST be important.

Anyway! Go and watch the final Tomothy advert!
I should start working on the next book! (Or animation. I have no idea...... Animation is just too ambitious when you're on you're own. sigh. But maybe comics are as well these worky days...... )



- The Daily Crumb
- TomothyBooks
- Munch
- Nathan Viney
- Mr. Nathan

Music on Spotify: Artificial Colours

Hi everyone,
A few months ago I was lucky enough to discover that an old friend of mine was keen to record some cool tunes just for fun. I'd been playing around with music making and writing lyrics for a long time so it was interesting to get a real musician on board.
All together we made 10 tracks (3 being interludes). While we may enjoy some more than others, it was really a wonderful experience and sparked some real creativity for us both.

The thing I love most about music is the diary of time it can keep in the lyrics. I'll never feel exactly the same as when I wrote the lyrics for each one of these songs. So that makes each one a personal experience locked in music forever. With that, it's so fun to make tunes and really build the sound with my friend, Daniel Symons. who brought ideas, vocals, mixing and some showstopping Trombone.

It also gave us the opportunity to find collaborators to make the tracks feel more vibrant. Overall it was an exciting and somewhat emotional experience. And there was a lot of pizza.

One of those collaborators then went on to design our cover, which you can see below.

(Art by Jens Adria)

You can now listen to the tracks on SPOTIFY and ITUNES

(ITunes)

And here is a promo video I did!





Night night

The Daily Crumb in 2017

Hi The Daily Crumb readers!!

Oh okay, everyone has gone home I guess.
Well this is a quick 2017 update just giving the no-one-verse an idea of where I am as a person creatively.
I'm currently finding the world very interesting. Happy faces and interesting locations continue to catch my attention. Because of this I post a lot of random pictures on my Instagram account. There is no consistency there. There are photographs, drawings, animation previews, videos of atmospheric settings, short 'comedy' videos and more whatevers I experience. My Instagram seems to be kind of my visual diary, like this blog may have been once upon a time. Anyway, in short, I bit my tongue yesterday ouch.

Here are some of the sketches that have appeared.

You can check out everything at https://www.instagram.com/thedailycrumb/

A lot of the the little video sketches I've made for Instagram I have also put on my second YouTube channel, TheDailyCrumb2. There is certainly some very weird stuff on this channel so watch your step if you do venture there.

Like this


and this


and this (Scene from Toy Story 2)


and of course, this.


.

So I've been keeping busy. I've also ventured into some very new and very old areas.

I've recently just completed a super dumb animation about Donald Trump. And I love it because it reminds me of how stupid things can be in cartoons. It also reminds me of those good times in my teen days where I'd create many silly short comedy sketches just for the fun of it.

I have a full time job in the real life, so doing full animations is so difficult and I am certainly restricted from working at a good pace.

I would like animation to be my main thing going into the future. I have fun doing it and I have a lot I want to say, even if it is stuff people have heard already before from other massive properties...? what? My cartoons need to move I think, I' m not sure. I've done loads of comics in my life but after the 'no book' situation I feel like animation is a better place for my art. It takes so long but it's very fulfilling.

Going next I'm not sure what animation it will be, but you'll see. (Eventually) (In like 3 years) (Nah, hopefully not..)(I am so slow)

Next up is new thing! Well not entirely new....
The full story is I've made a lot of music in my life, but all on this non-professional software called 'Mixcraft'. I don't know how to play ANY instruments, apart from a tiny bit of drums. But I do play the laptop keyboard a bunch and find sounds that feel good in my ears. From there I make songs and write lyrics and do whatever. The ending of the Trump animation had a little music I did... though it is short.
Anyway. I joined up with my friend in Australia who I have known for many years who is an expert Trombone dude. He didn't care that I didn't know how to play actual instruments and decided he wanted to get involved in some of my music!

So we made 2 songs! They are scary and tromboney. So please enjoy.


Listen to that Trombone!

To end off, I've also watched all of Steven Universe and am playing some FreeSo (The Sims Online fan reboot) (I don't play official Sims anymore. SHOCK HORROR!)


https://www.instagram.com/p/BQo6NOWhXoG/?taken-by=thedailycrumb



- Thedailycrumb


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.. Oh you are still here? I knew you were curious! Of COURSE you were. Well, since you are so desperate I'll show you pictures of my Sim house.

- Thedailycrumb

Go to Inspiration

Hi.

I thogught I'd post sum vidoes of what inspries me sumtimes OR right now anwywyas. It's very difficult to find inspiraiton, extremely, youwouldnt believ it. It's incredible.
Butanywya
Some bad ppl are coming to get us, they called the ProcrastiNations and they hate everythin we trying to accomplish.
MAKE CREATIVE ENDEAVOURS GREAT AGAIN!
But anywya.

This talk is themost brilliant talk ever for an artist feeling like their work is nuthink

This is an old music video but I am excited for new Gorillaz stuff so it def gunnna be in this blog post. The Demon Days eera of music videos blewminds. All 4 of them were fantastic (amazing!) just gRREAT. But Dare I like because it remains fun and simplistic. The art style of Noodle in Phase 2 was great. Her clothing and hair inspired my character designs when I was younger and the brilliant animation continues to amaze.
Plus i luv dancing



Not this song in particular, but this song does show off exactly what inspires me about this show, Steven Universe.

What a show! It's fabulous, i have a fabulous amount of respect for Steven Universe, it's great. Believe me, all my friends think so. Well, one of them.

The show inspires me because of it's amazing human writing and representation of love in all of it's forms. Plus it's fun and the musics cool.



Thanks

Nathan of Crayblock (A Short Story)

Someone turned the music off... while I was still listening to it. It was a really good song, one of those ones that prepares your ears for a smooth transition into something quite delightful. But anyway, that's all gone. I hope I don't get a headache from that abrupt ending. All I could hear now was an icecream van play tunes in the distance.

Usually, I'd get pretty excited about that. ICECREAM! But you know, I can tell by the drifting melody that I'd never reach it in time. I'd run and run and I'd just see it soar off around some side street. Just like every single day when I miss the bus.
Anyway, someone turned the music off. Actually, I was alone. So no one there actually could have done it. My wifi was still connected so that was not at fault. I put total blame on Spotify! Of course I do. They probably wanted to throw an advert in there, begging me to give them some real moneys. The advert most likely glitched out and boom! music stopped.
But no, I was wrong.

Actually, I was right. The internet just cut a bit and then the music started again. Ha, I made that all sound way dramatic. It really was not that dramatic. But it did make me realise one, very important thing. I really wanted icecream.
So I went outside my house, locked the door behind me, realised I'd forgotten my money, went back in.... out again. Blah Blah Blah. The sun was going down now so it was like, URH Soon I won't be able to see. I was wearing my glasses you see, (Get it, SEE). Anyway, they are really old, I'd had them since I was like 12. Because of this, the lenses were incorrect for my deteriorating eyeballs. I usually wore updated contact lenses. But that day, I was slack.

And I heard this manic laughing come from behind me. It was from the house behind me (Which was mine because I was out the front of my house). But then I realised it was actually coming from the house BEHIND MY house. I made that uneventful event sound way too eventful.

I thought, that's odd. Who on earth would laugh so loudly and so embaressingly?
Then a man ran out from behind, laughing. I could tell from his laugh that he was from New Zealand. Though, that may have been the background sound of the icecream van's song mixing with the sound waves of his roaring screams (of fun). I'm getting off topic... AND FAST.

He stopped when he saw me, stopped laughing.. and stopped running. Stopped dead in his tracks and pebbles went in his sandles. He was going to regret not slowing down at a nice calm pace once that pebble started irrtating his foot. I did not say anything about the pebble, it was not my place to start stressing people out with nonsense ramblings.
"DIDN'T YOU HEAR? GOD'S JUST APPEARED! IT'S ALL OVER THE NEWS!" Whoa! He screamed in my ear. He seemed delighted actually.
"Hi, I'm Nathan." I said cautiously.
"HI NATHAN! YOU SHOULD GET INSIDE."
"Hi.. Um yeah, no I'm going to get icecream."
"Well, I've got icecream. Why don't you come in my house?" He asked.
"No. I... No, I don't go in strangers houses. What do you mean, God has appeared?"
"It's all over the news! It's on the BBC News! It's on the CNN and the SKY Sports News! It's on ITV and ABC and The Daily Mail! and all the important ones and NONE of the fake news sites."
"Now listen here, strange man that lives in the house behind my house... You standing here telling me that God has appeared and that it's not on any fake news sites is the equivalent of me actually reading a FAKE news site."
"Hey mate, I'm just trying to help. No need to get all up in my face about it. I was an Atheist yesterday and now I definitely believe in the letter A. AND GOD."

He was breathing heavily, his eyes were getting larger and larger, but not in any inhuman way. Don't get me wrong, you've most likely seen someone act like this before. He wasn't alien or anything. He was just your regular run of the mill crazy person. Uh.. from New Zealand. I'm not going to make any jokes about New Zealand people, they made that wonderful King Kong movie so no faults I say!

"So what did the newspapers say about God then?" I asked.
"Not the newspapers. This is very recent. The newspapers won't get the news until tomorrow." he replied.
"Oh yeah. Ok, So what did the online news say?" But before he could acknowledge what I'd said, he was off on another one...
"Oh no.. there it is again...." He started getted sidetracked. His pupils were dancing up and down... and his ears were twitching!" (Not streaming)
"What?" I asked.
"The icecream van music. God said, If we hear it for too long, we'll turn into dead people!"
"ZOMBIES?"
"No.. just dead people. We'll die. The icecream van music will kill us."

Ok, I'd had enough at this point, and the more this nut-case said the word 'icecream', the more I yearned for some.
"Ok, thank you. I have to go now."
I waved a goodbye and headed off down the street.
But I was not alone for long. The guy from next door was following me, doing this creepy walk. 'Patter' 'patter', light footed, like a cartoon burglar. Plus, more people starting drifting out of their homes and walking beside me.
I stopped and turned around. I was feeling rather scared really, what if they were part of some kids knife gang? Did they exist? Probably. My mind flashed back to when the Seventh Doctor got shot by some adults in the Doctor Who Movie. Then it occured to me how irrelevent that was ... not knives... guns.. not kids.. adults...
"Excuse me, you guys ok?" I asked them. There was about 10 I could count. Including one small child with her mother.
They all glared at me with worried faces. Maybe they were worried that they were all going to stab me?
"YOU HAVE TO GO IN YOUR HOUSE NATHAN!" It was the mother that shouted at me.
"YES! RETURN HOME CHAP!" This was a wonderfully posh man with a top hat and a cane. But not in any weird way. He was just trying to be real cool. But I'd seen him out and about at gigs and art gallerys, he just could never find a place to settle. So OF COURSE he'd join the mum and new zealand guy in this ubsurd little street group they'd set up. Groupaholic!
"Ok, I don't know what you guys all want. But all I WANT... IS ICECREAM!"
The kid giggled and asked, "What flavour, mister?"
"Not sure yet, cookies and cream? Mint choc chip? Plain ol chocolate? Maybe even toffee!"
The mother tripped up the child so it landed flat on it's face. "DON'T YOU TALK TO THE NICE MAN!" The mother shouted at the girl, spit spiraling out of her mouth. "I LOVE YOU CHILD, BUT YOU ARE NOT WORTHY."

This struck a nerve for me, for one, what she said made no sense and for two, you should not trip over your own child in most circumstances. "Hey! Don't do that!" was the only thing that came out of my mouth.
"I'm sorry 'Nathan, of CrayBlock'. I will never trip over my daughter again. For you." The woman pleaded on her knees.
"For HER you mean! And don't do that, you'll hurt your knees. The road is real bumpy and hard. Anyway. I appreciate all of this weird, I mean.. nice supportive stuff you keep saying to me but I really must be off."
I waved at the woman, the posh chap and smiled awkwardly at the New Zealand man. His nod was mechanical.

Of course the moment I turned around, a new face was in my face. A wrinkly old face, a wise woman's face. Or at least she sounded wise by the way she spoke. But I'm pretty sure dumb people
can have wise voices as well.
"Nathan of Crayblock, you must stay in your house. Away from the sound. God said you are the only one that can save us from this musical virus."
I sighed.. in my mind.
"Ok, Woman of ... the dustbin. What on earth is CRAYBLOCK? And if this icecream van music is SO BAD then why are none of YOU in your houses keeping safe?"

The wise woman nodded and with a calming notion, waved her hand toward the other folk. "Lord Nathan of Crayblock is correct. It is foolish of us to all risk our lives trying to save his. Especially with the child."
The mother just laughed.
The wise woman continued, "I want everyone to return to their homes while I remain."
And with that, 9 out of 10 neighbourhood nobodies left me and went back to their stupid homes and left me a blummin lone! Just that wise woman left then.

"Hey, thanks for that. I owe you one, how did you get all of them to leave anyway?".
"I am the owner at the community hall. I suppose they are just used to me talking for them at the podium. Haha, I moan a lot you know. About pot holes and people wearing offensive clothing in the town. It's all very offensive to me."
"Oh ok. Well thanks again, I'll be on my way now to the shop."
"I'm sorry Nathan of Crayblock, but that is impossible. You MUST return home. You've most likely already heard the icecream van music too much. If you do not return NOW, YOU WILL DIE."

And then I noticed the most horrible, annoying thing I could ever have noticed.... the sun had gone down. And you remember that thing I said about my eyesight? Yeah. I was stuck with a weird old woman with no real idea of how to get to the shop. My surroundings had become a blurred palette of colour. I was blind... mostly. Something about the night time just doesn't agree with my eyes.

"Ok... well, I've missed my chance to get to the shop now. So.. Great. Thanks. I Guess.. Damn it, I guess I'll just have to go home. I'll have nightmares and.. and I'll hate you and I'll hate myself and all I wanted was icecream and you took it away from me. I hope you feel happy old woman. I hope you, and your little neighbourhood pals all feel real proud of themselves. GOOD BYE!"

So I turned away in a huff, went home and slammed the blummin door behind me. WHAT A NIGHT.

So anyway, when I woke up in the morning God was on my sofa.
"Oh.. hey God."
"Hey."
"So you really appeared?"
"Yeah."
"Why are you on my sofa, God?"
"You don't know? Do you not even read the news?"
"Not really. Sometimes I'll read headlines. But the news is way depressing."
"That's true. Not my fault though." God shifted in the chair.
"I'm glad you cleared that up."

By the way, don't leave a comment on this post asking if God was a man or a woman ok? I have no idea what God was. What I saw on the sofa was a glowing feeling of power and the voice seemed to be my own minds voice with an echo effect added in audacity.
God smiled at me and then frowned, and then smiled. It was all very confusing. "So you left an old woman to die last night, Nathan."
"WHAT?"
"That old woman, you kept her outside so long the icecream van's music ripped her ears out, She's outside, no one has cleaned it up yet."
"That's horrible.....I.. feel so responsible."
"All because you don't read the news, Nathan." And that was the moment I got told by God.

"Ok, so what was all this about you on the news then? Why are you back? What's this stupid icecream van nonsense??"

God asked me to sit down so I could settle in for a rollercoaster of a story. But it ended up being pretty short actually.
God spoke, "Satan now owns all of the icecream vans in the world. His icecream van music will kill anyone that hears it for too long. You almost died last night. Which would have been a great tragedy because Nathan, you are The One."
"Like Keanu Reeves?"
"No, Nathan of Crayblock. You are Nathan of Crayblock."
"What does that even mean?"

God was really grumpy that I never read the news. Apparently he had explained everything in a dramatic speech on top of a mountain, everyone was there. He'd contacted all of the worlds media himself!

"Do you even know how many babies Princess Kate has had so far?" God asked me.
"No."
"FOR GODS SAKE NATHAN!"
"Jesus..."
"This story is all kinds of sacrilege." (I have no idea which one of us said that line.. possibly because of the mind voice confusion thing.)
"Basically, Nathan. For years now you have been stuck in a whirlwind of Creative Block. Am I right?"
"God yes. I have had so much trouble creating things, animations and such for so long. My drive for it has hit such a dead end. It's been depressing, it's been tough."
"Yeah, wah wah wah. That is because, all of this time. Your creative energy has been building to create one massive explosion that will wipe out all of the icecream vans in the world!"
"That sounds horrible, why would I want to destroy icecream vans?"
"Because Satan is in all of them."
"Oh man...But I love icecream. And although the icecream in icecream vans is always a bit disappointing, I would never want to destory them all."

I had a dilemma on my hands. Losing icecream vans, or everyone dies forever and Hell rises to Earth.. Hmm

"So, if I do this... If I use this Creative Block power, will I finally get my creative surge back? Will I be able to jump right back into doing what I always loved for so so long?"
God said "NO."

And I decided to save the world anyway, because that's the kind of guy I am. I mean, no more icecream vans and still no creativity but hey. people are alive. Annoying people like that guy in the house behind me with that weird laugh. And that wannabe posh guy and that mum that trips over her kid. Yeah, lots of annoying and horrible people are still alive because of me. And Donald Trump is gonna be president.

Maybe I should have just let the world die with Satan.. uh..

Oh and if you were wondering. The Creative Block mind explosion felt exactly like a brain freeze.


- Nathan

What year is this?? Who am I?

Why do i's always have to have capital letters?

So I'm here again and it feels odd returning to a blog I created in 2006. A blog I created to write completely fictional news (Which is very big now on the internet by the way) and update nobody about my animation, art and videos.

Well, 2016 has been the year of stepping back from most of my regular creative business. I have been doodling sure, but for the most part it's been 'earning money' and 'experiencing the outside world.' By outside world, I mean this place I am currently living, Western Australia. It is weird to say it.
But I've been here almost 2 years now. Today I was on the bus and some young men behind me started playing some loud Australian Rap Music on their phones or whatever (Not a boom box). So, I've heard Australian Rap Music before and I really enjoy it! But it made me realise, that I'm still not fully comfortable with where I am. I can't switch the TV on without feeling a little like, 'where am I?'. There's nothing wrong with that, but I feel like I am on a very long holiday.

I grew up here in Australia, so you'd think I'd be used to it. But I guess I was never listening to anyone back then... only Del Boy and Damon Albarn. In real life conversation I don't notice it that much. As I say, there is nothing offensive about it to me, it just makes me feel like my feet have never quite touched the ground.
In the UK, while I may have felt more at home with the accents I didn't feel quite at home with the flooded shoes.

I have been posting a lot on instagram since the end of last year when I went to Sydney to watch The Peanuts Movie. A lot of what I post is random pictures or videos of places I've been. One of my favourite places in the world is called Fremantle. I don't care too much about the rest of Perth, Australia but Fremantle feels like it's own place in it's own time. I have a job right in the centre of it. Also it's good to have my family around as well.

No matter whether I have a bad day or a good day I can walk outside and feel this natural relaxed vibe that flows through the town.
In Fremantle they have old style architecture, lots of coffee shops, charity shops, people riding on bikes everywhere, an old prison, a cool market, hippies and an art scene. Plus, almost every week some other crazy event is happening. I've seen random wooden castles appear for a week and then disapear, busker festivals, arts festivals, days where people just draw on the roads with chalk.... Even today I saw a whole road closed off for a charity christmas dinner event. There were dining tables all the way down the street.
Not quite in Fremantle, but I saw that in Perth City they were having a cow month.... ... not sure what that's about. There were Cow banners everywhere. And painted cow sculptures scattered around the city. (A bit like they did with Shaun the Sheep and Paddington in the UK).

Coincidentally a cow jumped off of a boat in Freo, swam to the shore, walked along the railway and eventually was caught (and killed). So much for Cow month! And on Facebook there seems to be two groups I've noticed. One is a group that just lets locals gossip about Fremantle, and the other is a bartering group. It's pretty cool, I personally have nothing to offer, but I've seen fruit exchanged for haircuts and bikes for wine bottles. Pretty cool!
Kind of makes me think of that 'Are you local?' thing from The League of Gentlemen though.

So let's get back to the core point of my writingz. What year is this?? Who am I? Well, it's 2016 and I'm older than i was in 2006. Which is a very important point. I yearn for that year and a few after that. But lives change and we must pitter patter on until death surrounds us and then takes us. Grim I know, but without bringing it up, how can we find happiness? If we don't think about death (In a non depressed way) then how can we appreciate life? So that's what I do. I look at the sun (Because we got that down here in Oz) and I look at the flowers and the smiles and I eat the food.

So that's where joy has been coming from. But if you know me, you'll know that all of my life I have created cartoons and stories. I started drawing comics when I was 10, moved on to animation when I got to highschool... made brilliant videos where I was a fictional detective and animated on a BBC kids show. So at the back of my head is the constant drumming (dr who reference deliberate) to CREATE. I used to animate a lot of cartoons. I'd also take breaks in-between to do fun, lazy live action videos with my friend/s. Well, things have changed a bit now. I'm not sure I have the same energy I had for making improvised live action videos. (I'd love to try again) but I think for now, those times are gone.
The reasons for my decline in doing animations (That i want to make) .. are..

The Internet
Since facebook turned up it really has become a massive part of everyones lives. For goodness sake, it was a huge influence on getting a cartoon character elected president in the US. That is HUGE. It stays avaliable to anyone at any time. It has replaced phones, it has replaced PEOPLE.
Up until now I have decided to avoid getting a smartphone. For a few reasons, but a main one being the fact that I'd be constantly destracted from life. I'd also be more stressed out by my social interactions (or lack of) and the current thundering news.
I've seen posts from friends who live on the other side of the planet reporting something massive just happened next door to them hours before it even hits the news. WHAT IS THIS? It's distracting is what it is. But even without a smartphone I still have my laptop and wifi connected Ipod. Ideally I would not have it.
But we're in an age where it is necassary.......
Look at youtube! They now have videos hours and hours long! When a video ends it fires up the next one in the *list* before you can even breath. These are massive distracting changes.
I know what you're thinking, if it's your passion then these things should not matter right?

Well I love animation, I love drawing my characters and making them do wacky things and say funny things. But getting over the first step of pen to tablet, and setting aside a few hours freaks me out. Also over the years I have become a lot more picky about what I release.

I've entered this horrible place where art wise I either have to be really happy with it or it has to be completely lazy (but still personal).
Because I expect so much quality and detail of my full length animations (On my youtube channel) I get totally freaked out by this massive mountain in front of me.

This is why most recently (If you follow my instagram/facebook) you'll see I mostly only upload doodles and sketches. The expectations don't exist there. I know no one actually has expectations but my mind tells me I do. Plus, the project I most want to produce next is one that weighs so heavily on my shoulders. I want to do a short film based around characters I've had since I was 10. Some of them feel like real people to me.
It's not just all that, I'm also just not happy with my art.... well I kind of am. I  like my own art but I don't trust my characters in MY hands, standing in front of MY backgrounds.

This is why Adam &  Kat exists as both the animation and comic. As well as those Nathan Ruins (Video Games) videos. I love them for their comedyness but I also love them for being pretty easy for ME to work on. Hardly much expectation. Lesmovids puts all the effort in and I just turn up. But creatively, I still feel like I've added something to my creative mind gallery that needs stocking every once in a while.

On a side note, I don't have too much time anymore. Like with any full time job, I feel exhausted by the end of the day.
But I am volunteering in a Perth Art Gallery called Paper Mountain on Sundays. It's relaxing, encouraging creatively and sometimes I'll meet some very kind people. The art scene is great in Perth, I'd go as far as to say there is too much of it. (What?? How can there be too much of ART?)

Well, in the UK, no matter what village you drive to there will always be an old church on a hill. Well in Perth and Fremantle, it's just gallerys. Gallerys everywhere.

So, to conclude, while I am enjoying life as much as I can (and feeling both settled, and hovering above the earth at the same time) all I want to do is bring Tomothy to life. (Tomothy is my character from childhood)

I have plans, i have animatics... i have a bunch of stuff. Tomothy is ready to erupt but life is busy. If i died before Tomothy did get his little animation I would not mind so much. It's still nice to be around. Hey James Berridge!

While writing this blog post, Youtube (Without choice) played a David Bowie Playlist. I suppose the internet is not SO bad... back to Blur now though guys.

(Above picture taken by James Berridge)

- Mr Nathan

On btw my instagram is https://www.instagram.com/thedailycrumb/

What is a Tomothy?

Hello reader.


You may have come across this little post because you were browsing the 'Tomothy Books Website'. Or maybe I sent it to you as SPAM. Or maybe you clicked the link Katy Perry posted on her Twitter page after I hacked it.

Oh, whoops, I forgot to link it... oh blimey.

Anyway... why am I here? Basically just to give you a little bit of information about how long Tomothy has been around.

I created Tomothy and many of his family/friends when I was about 9 years old. Every day at school, during every break, I'd draw comics in my sketch book. Over the years the characters aged and developed more interesting personalities. Though my jokes were always terrible.

Below are some examples of Tomothy comics from back in the day. I think all of these are actually set before Tom grew up a bit. I'll get some of the early 2000s drawings uploaded soon. 

But two things that you can clearly see from these early strips are the appearance of Tomothy's little sister, Ellie and the excited personality of Yo breaking out.

 

 

 

 

Then, around 2002 I discovered Macromedia Flash, which allowed me to make cartoons MOVE! (Not before I made some stick people bleed.)

I was really excited to bring some of my Tomothy comics and characters to moving pictures. The comics began becoming adapted in Tomothy Live Episode 3. 

You can watch all 3 episodes below.

I think I got a bit distracted after that, but soon enough I was back on track.
Next up I made Tomothy and Pals Episode 1. This is the only animation I have ever made fully with the LINE tool. This is why it looks the way it does. I have never used it since because it looks ugly to me.

You can watch Tomothy and Pals Episode 1 here (But not on your tablets I'm afraid because it is playable only in Flash Player).

What happened next you ask? why Tomothy and Pals Episode 2 of course! It looks and sounds completely different to the previous episode but why not?
Tomothy and his dad look for jobs? Finding a job has always been an interesting concept for me with the Tomothy comics (and life) and that's why I dedicated a bunch of time to it during the 'Summer' theme strips. Again, sorry but it is on Flash Player. A lot of these are....



Then AT SOME POINT along the line I found someone crazy enough to help me make a Tomothy game called FIGHT TO THE SAUSAGE. True story.
Check it out.

Then I got very desperate to win a Christmas Animation Contest on the 'Bitey.com' Brackenwood Forums. The prize was some Bitey artwork by Adam Phillips! It's a bad animation with even worse sound (Believe me, this has the worst sound EVER). But it won the contest and I got the drawings! They are now my precious.

This was my entry, and also my first inclusion of Tom's brother, 'Tadhg'. Though, his design has yet to take shape.

What happened next for Tomothy after his big win? Well I made another christmas short (That's right, Tomothy had 4 Christmas related animations plus Christmas comics). Tomothy really likes Christmas.
In this one I wanted to experiment with simple animated acting and awkward 'Ricky Gervais Style' acting. Watch HERE

I'm not sure when it was, but around this time I guess, I wanted to make comics again! I got that rush to stick Tomothy in some tiny boxes. It was around the time I was constantly working on my webcomic, STARGAZED.
Anyway, 23 Tomothy comics were made but nothing much came of it.

Tomothy, Ellie and Jerome made a short 'sketch like' cameo appearance in a cartoon I made called 'Munch's War'. They are at 2:05.

Then, for some reason Tomothy's dog sent a message to the British Prime Minister of the time, Gordon Brownies.

Next, it was time to get ambitious!!!!! But instead, I made a 7 minute Tomothy and Pals animation all about Jerome. It was titled, 'You can't handle the knowledge' and as weak as it is story-wise, and visually, I do like it. It has one or two moments I am proud of and I still sing that song today.

Then everything took a DARK TURN

I was in college and felt Tomothy was holding me back. I just wanted to make another stories and characters (That went really badly by the way) and Tomothy had to be gone! I'd keep wanting to do more Tomothy, I felt like I'd never achieved what I wanted to achieve with him. I still have this feeling today.

Anyway, I shot him dead. Well, I got a cuddly bear to do it.



There are actually jokes I really like in this cartoon but overall it was a pretty grim thing to do. Especially to my fictional son. Though one thing I will say for it, it does actually feel like a sequel to 'Knowledge' so at least that is something!.

Tomothy died in 2008. In 2012 he was REBORN. I started up the comics again with some new characters (and old), hoping to have them printed in a newspaper or book. The concept behind the comics felt a lot stronger now. I was to create comics that kids would hopefully enjoy reading, inspired by my school days, I wanted to make the stories and jokes based on relatable childhood moments.
Unfortunately my comics were not good enough for newspapers but interest did spark with a local publisher/magician. After agreeing that he'd publish my book he remembered he was actually a magician and disappeared his own company!

By then, I had done a lot of comics and it had really helped me become comfortable at drawing again. The last strips in the book (The Time Travel and Love Story) feel quite developed. BUT I am developing even further.

So the book went no where and I had loads of comics that had never been read. What happened? Well, they stayed hidden. Most stayed hidden until today actually. 08/06/2016.

But let's backtrack a little. Previous to this website update I did also pitch Tomothy and Pals as a BBC Television Show. It actually had a really positive response! The reply compared the idea to Arthur and they really enjoyed the characters of Yo and Vinnie. Unfortunately, they found Tomothy himself to be a bit of a bore, saying he worked well in comics but not in script. There was still a lot to be desired from our idea. I walked away feeling pretty happy with this result.

Yo and Vinnie had been developed quite a lot for this pitch, Yo, actually turned into a GIRL. Yes, you heard, YO is now a girl. One day I will hopefully explain this in some comics, it will be very jokey, But even if I don't, Tomothy died and was reborn so.... There really is no canon here dudes... (I'm sure there can be if I think too hard about it)

I made this animation test I am quite proud of for the pitch. (Though since then I have developed the designs even further). But this WAS the first time the characters had necks.... shh. You were not meant to notice that before.


So I guess that brings us to where we are now. Many of the comics are available to read online. I hope chuckles will be had and tears will be..... slurped back up into your eyes. (Since writing this, not all comics are available on the website due to clutter police. Please contact me for a link)

A few days ago I put Tomothy in a new jumper. This is a massive change, he's worn the same jumper
since about 2000-2001. So I guess it was getting pretty stinky. His new one looks warmer anyway. Hopefully we'll see some new stories with the new designs and characters soon.

26/06/2018 Update.

A book/zine is being released titled 'Tomothy and the Time Travel Shoes'. The book compiles the final story from the originally unfinished book. (Plus some new art)

I will be selling it at a local market event and then setting up the online store for all to buy!

16/09/2019 Update.

Hi everyone. The book release was successful. I had a wonderful time at the comics market (Find photos on NathanScribbles) and soon after produced an animated/live action advert for the online store versions.
You can watch it below!


If anyone is still interested in purchasing the comic, head back to the site and click on 'Bookstore'.

Since then though, the world of Tomothy has been quiet.
But behind the scenes my co-ideas man and I have been working on building up the world around Tom.
We've been developing characters, stories and designs all with a massive goal/ dream. There is nothing much to say at the moment, but I am certainly excited about what the future might hold for my creative endeavors.

Also, for my birthday this year, my partners mum made this for me! A felted Tomothy. It is so cute and incredible and traveled across the UK with us.

Thank you so much to her!


See you guys for the next Tomothy update!


Byeee!


- The Daily Crumb