So, it was Spring 2007, and I was having the worst few months of my life. I mean, I had a great job doing sketches for a small furniture design studio in San Juan Capistrano (which unfortunately left me a creative desert after what were often very long hours). My wife and I had recently been inflicted with a profound loss to our little family, and I needed to feel sane again - inspired again. I toyed with World of Warcraft for a few months, playing around with local pals, doing the repetitive quests over and over... but it was the huge time sink I knew it would be. Then, one day, I find a story on Boing Boing on these kids who had put together a cable access D&D show in order to stave off the same doldrums. I was in.
The DM forums were a hive of rabid fans of the DIY-styled filmmakers, but, as with most forums, only a few dirhards would engage in any dialogue. Occasionally, a porn spambot would emerge, or a new face would pop in to acknowledge the talented filmmakers were on to something, and then lurk from then on. The group's REAL fans, on the other hand, were as you'd expect: vocal, chatty, exhilarated with the films and the analogue nostalgia they exuded. Animated gifs were traded little playing cards. Little sub-memes created with glee.
I dove into the world of DM with pom-poms waving. They, the group that would become known as Telefantasy Studios (after the BBC telecast genre birthed by Dr. Who), became my heroes - creating something beautiful with very little other than a couple bucks, whatever space they could scrape together, and passion that went for miles. I wanted, needed, to be included among the ranks of their fans, so I started drawing again, slowly, for me. I did some very simple "screenshots" for an archaic video game based on the show. Well-received. Requests were made. I did more.
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