You’ll Have A Gay Old Time
Early stages of the portrait of the late J.Giggles Flintstone
YouTube, in an effort to help our little channel succeed, often suggests that we cover the same current trends as everyone else, but put our own personal spin on it. This week, in response to this marketing advice, we made a video about a one-and-done, bit-part character from a sixty-year old cartoon that no one under the age of fifty talks about anymore. Nailed it.
Blending color by stacking layers
Top trending videos I run across most often? Countless, gushing reviews of whatever movie, song, or lifestyle trend is popping off that week. And these are balanced against the hard-hitting, public denouncement of whatever movie, YouTuber, or streaming show everyone is hate-watching. Fifty iterations of “I Watched Madame Web So You Don’t Have To.” Honestly, after the first one of those, the next forty-nine people really didn’t have to watch. And they certainly didn’t have to make a video. But I guess they’re just putting their own personal spin on it. Anyway, often the algorithm can push a lot of negativity, snark, and repetition.
Even on smooth paper, colored pencil will show the tooth
That’s why we here at Long Lost Friend Studio prefer to burrow deep into the comforting soil of obscurity and dig up the prehistoric bones of the late J. Giggles Flintstone, Uncle to Fred. It’s fresh and new by virtue of it being ancient and forgotten. It’s cool because it’s so corny. And should YouTube feel we’ve ignored their advice, they should ask themselves: is this really that far afield from the endless videos of Gen Z audiophiles reacting to hearing You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling for the first time? Old stuff, new take. Only difference is nobody else is putting their own personal spin on J. Giggles Flintstone.
A mineral spirits solvent can blend those colors smooth
And our spin is simple. We work toward improving our skills with a handful of different mediums (in this case, colored pencils and solvent) and try to have a lively exchange about the subject matter. In this way, we share what we learn and what we love. This week it was a private commission of this obscure, Hanna-Barbera character. Yes, you read that right. It’s a commission. That means we’ll have at least one viewer.
A before/after shot shows the difference the solvent can make
While I work on the illustration, we break down the plot of A Haunted House Is Not A Home, one of the spookier, kookier episodes of the Flintstones series. We discuss the story beats, and speculate how we might react in a similar situation. Our personal spin is that with a little effort and practice anyone can make fun, visually engaging art. And they can absolutely have fun doing it.
A page right out of history
Do people learn from watching our channel? We’ve been told they do. Do they have fun with the pop culture themes and the banter? We like to think so. Will the video be seen by more than fifty people? Yeah, no. Probably not. If you pushed really hard, you could squeeze our entire audience into the bathroom at a Denny’s. But the good thing about that audience is they’re all brilliant, and they know how to have a good time. And if you’re anything like them, take a few minutes to watch this week’s process video at the link below. You’ll have a yabba-dabba doo time. A dabba doo time.