How did DinoToons® Start?
DinoToons® started as an idea for a class I intended to take in school. During a morning journaling session, I jotted down some quick ideas for "Character Design 2," and didn't come up with the working title DinoToons until a few days later.
Unfortunately, that class ended up being one of many that were canceled that semester, and I ended up dropping out of the art college I was attending in favor of independent study with a few professors. I designed the characters on my own, outside of school.
In Spring of 2020, I took a class with one of those professors now at Fullerton College -Children's Book Illustration, with Marshall Vandruff, who I still study with today. In that class, I started to really develop ideas for both comics and books. Of the five DinoToons books - "Here Comes the Moon," "Formerly Known as Ella," "Sam is Super ...Duper Picky!" AND "Under the Whether" - were all first thought up in that class! There, I laid the foundation work for "Here Comes the Moon," which was published over a year later in December 2021.
When it came to including the LGBTQ+ themes of DinoToons, I was uncertain. I had come out in 2016 as a transgender man, and I had formerly close family distance themselves with worries about "confusing their children."
I believe that there are simple, child-friendly ways to explain LGBTQ+ concepts - and I hope to make those a little bit more accessible for the people who want to understand.
Picture of the journal entries where I was first ideating on DinoToons!
What's available for DinoToons?
DinoToons has a series of books out - five for now, more to come if all goes well. I also do a monthly comic strip on Instagram and Patreon. There's hope for little Animated Shorts too!
There's so much you can explore in the world of DinoToons. Here's a link to the gallery so you can get started!