30 Characters Challenger: Adam J. Smithee

These “who am I” posts seem to be all the rage, so I figure I might as well throw my biography upon the sacrificial pyre.  My name is Adam, and I am a webcomic author and artist, humorist, inventor, and geek.  I run the occasionally-controversial The Apple of Discord as well as an ongoing story comic called Apple Valley.  After a few failed comics back in the early 2000s, I rediscovered my webcomic aspirations in 2008 with AoD and have never looked back.  In addition to my own comics, I also occasionally frequent conventions, speaking about webcomics and Giant Robots.

Fun Related Fact – I really like giant robots.  Like, an unhealthy amount.  I have several hundred, and am a walking, talking database of anything coming out of Japan with rocket fists and laser eyes since the 1970s.  At a recent convention, I was supposed to be performing my “A Brief History of Giant Robots” panel on Sunday… but I wound up hijacking an abandoned Giant Robot panel Saturday night (the guy doing it never showed) and doing a nearly two-hour long imprompteau “comedy” version of the panel to a standing ovation.

Back to the fact sheet – I got into webcomics as a break from novel-writing, as a release for my neverending fountain of creative impulses, and to help loosen up my right hand, which has a double whammy of a badly broken wrist in my youth AND early onset rheumatoid arthritis (I’m only 31).  Due to my physical constraints (that, and the fact that I have had almost zero actual art training in my life) my work tends to fall more on the simplistic side, featuring strong, smooth, and bold lines and bright balanced colors. 

My weapons of choice are the Wacom Bamboo Fun Medium and Paint Tool SAI.  I also build things (like my buddy “Hal Servo”, a fully working custom puppet designed off of Tom Servo from MST3K), though I’m not sure if that skill is going to actually be useful in this contest.  I may surprise you.  Heck, I may surprise me.

A lot of my more popular work is parody-driven and derivative (and cynical and offensive and dark and disturbing and…), but I really enjoy creating and working with my own ideas so I’m looking forward to this chance to open up the flood gates and be as wonderful or horrible as the muse takes me.

Category: Participants