Colors Gallery, meet Rocky209
@Rocky209 is well known for making their funny & relatable comic strips! It's time for us learn more about them so we can relate them even more!
This Rocky209 seems like a really rock-solid person! What should the Colors Gallery know about them? Seems they've been posting for a while!
"I’m Rocky209! I’m a cartoonist. I’m mostly known for making comics and silly drawings here and there. Usually around meme-posting or funny things that come to my head but then finding out they’re not as funny as I imagined right as I pump out a comic about it ."
ayyy by Rocky209
What are your inspirations? Your style is so exaggerated and cartoony! It reminds me of classic comic strips like Calvin - Hobbies, Garfield and many others!
"I love that! I’m happy that I’ve managed to capture that style in fact, Calvin and Hobbes was actually a big factor in creating a series I did outside of colors called “Adults May Not Understand” (or The Sunday Paper on Colors!) during my high school years. It involved the silly antics of Rocky and their buddy Cowboy Payton. Rocky had these tall cactus plants who were actually their parents. Anyone, including the reader’s POV, who saw her parents would only see tall cactus plants but to Rocky, she saw them as real people and there were even instances where you see how they look in Rocky’s POV, just like how Calvin’s parents only see him with his stuffed Tiger toy when in Calvin’s POV, he hangs out with a talking tiger."
So how did you discover Colors? What "drew" you to the community? How does Colors compliment your workflow?
"I discovered Colors!3D through my older sister @Author . Her friend from high school was recommending an art program to her since she had recently bought a new 3DS and wanted to get some decent games on there. She loved it and from there she introduced the app to me. Right as she showed me the app, I was pretty much hogging her 3DS because I loved it that much until she forced me to get it myself but it was worth it! 11 years later and I still use it."
What do you like best about the Colors community? What's the biggest highlight for you? Are there any new features or changes you would like to see in the future?
"What I genuinely love about the community is how every art community has their own little micro communities. Like for example, there’s a section of people who draw cartoons/comics, there’s artists that drew landscape art, fan art, abstract, concept, realism, anime, etc! Even though my specialty was the cartoons/comics community of Colors, I was always a huge fan of artists in the landscape art community because of how talented they are at making backgrounds of different settings and how smooth they always turn out."
"I’d say the biggest highlight was getting to know the artists and their art you learn a lot from them and they end up being your bestest friends!"
"About the features, There is this one feature I would love for colors to bring back it was a feature back in the early colors days (around mid to late 2012) where once you connected to the online gallery and before you entered the follower feed or what is now known as “the new paintings” section, there was a “featured paintings” slide that would slide by paintings made by various artists picked out by the staff or they were randomly picked out by the computer? I say this because it made discovering artists more convenient seeing it once you logged in more than when you see it when you log out. Please consider bringing this feature back."
You've posted a lot of comics here in the gallery! Do you have any personal favorites or art in general that you're the most proud of?
"I think a personal favorite comic of mine has to be the one titled Introducing pure cotton and soft sweater . At that time some of my comics revolved around wacky relatable things. This one was probably the most painfully relatable thing I’ve published."
Top 3 favorite Colors artworks?
"One of my all time favorite Colors artworks has to be The Blue Death [FIXED] by @Speedyman . They really capture literal reaction of what it’s like to fall victim to a blue shell in Mario kart a little TOO well and I always get a good laugh every time I revisit their image. A timeless classic!"
"Another one would be Colors! Cup PART 2 by @Agent Mantis . This guy was my favorite and first comic artist in the colors gallery that I’ve ever encountered. it’s unfortunate that he decided to stop making content one day. Loved his colors cup series but this part of his series really stood out to me because the concept of Time Trail ghost being slime’s inner conscious was the most funniest thing to me IDK why."
"Lastly, THE DOT (just kidding but I remember that painting broke the entire gallery, LMAO)""
"Lastly, another colors favorite of mine would be Pingo Ergo Sum by @Lackadaisical . As a new artist on colors, i mentioned earlier how being a cartoon artist, I was a fan of artists who’s specialty we’re creating backgrounds/scenic paintings. I loved Lackadaisical’s artistic take in making visually creative artworks of that genre so much that I would spam his gallery. Every single thing he made was a hit As a kid, my drawings in 2012 weren’t the best and being a good artist in the gallery meant you got noticed or acknowledged more so at the time, my drawings were not the best to say the least but seeing one of my favorite big background/cartoon artists acknowledged my existence was the best feeling ever! I saw that he began to include my little OC in most of the drawings he made and it made my most mopiest days the best! Sadly, just like the others, he started to grow disinterested in engaging with the gallery with his fantastic artworks and eventually left. Wherever he may be, I hope he’s taking time in creating even more artworks outside of colors."
Favorite artist on and off Colors? How do they inspire you?
"My favorite artists have to be Craig McCracken, Lauren Faust and Genndy Tartakovsky. I was such a HUGE fan of the Power Puff Girls and Dexter’s Lab as a kid. I always wanted to draw and make my drawings move around just like them. I have them to thank for being huge inspirations to my art style cartoons were my life. For a moment, anime was super popular amongst my friends and they encouraged me to create more artwork of that style. Sadly, years of trying to perfect the anime style was not giving me the satisfaction I wanted and I mostly did it for them and not for my enjoyment :/ cartoons were in my heart and from there I made the switch from going towards an anime style to what I was meant to do all along and in the end, not only do I get enjoyment out of the cartoons I create, but my friends seem to enjoy them as well. It’s a win-win a colors! artist who no longer exists in the gallery by the name of @The Cartoon Guy gave me that clarity that maybe I need to go back to what I was meant to draw."
true heroes don't look back on explosions by Rocky209
What advice would you give to young artists? Especially those interested in making comics strips.
"To young artists thinking about leaning more into the comic strip community of colors or in general, reference reference, and reference! If you really want to capture the comic feel. It could be in the format of super hero comics, cartoon comics, newspaper comics, or manga style. Find your muse and take as much of it as you can but don’t forget to throw in half of your own style and ESPECIALLY do it for your enjoyment. Then take that enjoyment and share it with your friends and your following. But be careful. Having a consistent schedule of publishing comics online can really burn you out so make sure you communicate with your friends and following and make some time for yourself and refuel your energy and creative gears in your brain!"
When did jokes get too physical? by Rocky209
How do you come up with ideas for your comic strips? Do you ever get burnt out? If so how do you go about preventing it?
"These ideas are based on real life events that have happened to me that I find hilarious in my way or silly random thoughts that pop up in my head usually around the mid day or late at night."
"Yes I get burnt out. I’m still burnt out from making comics and I haven’t made a solid comic in almost a year. I’m not sure how you can prevent a long term burn out but my best advice is to enjoy yourself and take your time to refuel. If you get any good ideas for a comic but are still burnt out from creating them, I say write it down and save it for when you want to get back into it. Taking notes saves lives!"
We see that you posted a painting describing how how the Colors community made a huge impact on you! In your opinion what makes our humble community worthwhile?
"What makes the community worthwhile is the wholesome memories I create with my friends and followers through the years of sharing my art and seeing what my friends create. Getting together and even create more ideas for our artwork. It’s how I’ve made the friends I’m still with 11 years later and I wouldn’t trade them for the world You go through good times, you go through bad times but in the end, Colors! Is truly a magical and unforgettable experience and I wish to experience it for the first time all over again."
How Colors Destroyed and Saved Me! by Rocky209
How Colors Destroyed and Saved me CONTINUED by Rocky209
Do you have any plans or goals for the future?
"My goal is to one day make some time again and to go back to the colors gallery to publish my artworks again! But working has held me back unfortunately. Hopefully I get time to post here and there sometime like I used to! My plans for the future is to create more art that my friends and followers can enjoy and maybe we can inspire each other in the things we create!"
When life gives you lemons?...
I make beef stew!
Anyone you want to shout-out?
For this I like to honorably mention @A-Man 1502. Their colors account is pretty dormant now but they’re mostly active on Twitter, I believe! Please check them out if you have time
Twitter: @A_Man1502
And done! Thank you again and the colors team for all you do! Keep it up and am looking forward to seeing this posted up I seriously appreciate you all!
That wraps up our interview with @Rocky209 ! We at The Colors Team would like to thank you for for your time! Keep on cartooning and rocking on! Everyone keep an eye on them and their comic strips!
Check out our interview with our previous artist of the week @kaya_b here
http://colorslive.com/page/Meet-kaya_b
For those who may need a reminder
The Artist of the week will be posted every Friday so be sure to tune in! Prior to that, the artist may be contacted via email or other means at least a week or more in advance so be sure to check your emails( and spam) so you don't miss out on a chance to be featured. If you don't reply within 48 hours another artist may be chosen to be featured for that week instead and you will be in a future artist of the week update.
The announcement of who is the upcoming featured artist will be announced at least 2-3 days in advance or eariler so look out for that too! If you would like for any of your questions or comments to be featured in an upcoming interview please check out colorslive.com/discord and visit the official artist of the week channel to submit questions/commentary for a chance for those to be answered before Friday.
Suggest a new artist for artist of the week on the forum post on my gallery or by posting with the #heyzyik tag.
Inspired by this awesome interview? Show us your inner Cartoonist in #wc516 "Comic Strip"! The deadline is Sunday August 20th, 2023!
Stay creative!
Zyik & The Colors Team
