One year ago today I created Grandpa T-Rex and his first ever cartoon. This is it...
Grandpa T-Rex...
...hates going to the Optician.
Basically this one year anniversary is an excuse to bring GT-R #1 out of the cupboard. After nearly 150 it's still my favourite, although a few have run awfully close. As you can see, he looks a bit different and a bit rougher round the edges to what he does now, but I don't mind that; it shows I've got better at drawing him. The fact is all cartoons undergo an evolution over a period; just look at early Dilbert or The Simpsons (not that I'm comparing to them in any way apart from to say that the more often a person draws something, the more they'll improve). The style of Grandpa T-Rex cartoons has always been deliberately crude - the idea I first had when drawing them was that they should look a bit like a caveman had drawn them - but over the hundred and odd cartoons he has become more refined, more expressive, and more 'T-Rexy'. He may be a year older, but Grandpa T-Rex is definitely looking better with age.
- colour it in, leave it uncoloured, give it stripes or polka dots or anything you like, there's no standard; every T-Rex is good enough (I mean, it's not like you'd have to try hard to outdo my efforts). And above all, have fun: put your T-Rex in a jaunty hat or glasses or give them a striking colour scheme. The more fun you have the better. All the T-Rex's will feature in the 100th Grandpa T-Rex cartoon, and you wouldn't want to miss out on seeing your prehistoric pencilled pride among them, would you? I've already got friends and family drawing their own T-Rexs, and everyone from young to old to very very old is having a go. The more the merrier! Get your friends and family to join in in they fancy: nothing brightens up one's day like drawing a dinosaur.
