Taking pleasure wherever we can, this time we take great pleasure in presenting the second installment of the FML web series. Now, as you can tell by that introduction, this time it’s a bit sexual, so you have been warned. But don’t worry: no children will result from these fantasy sequences; we do however hope that a few smiles will be born into the world.

Here we have the first few scenes shot by Logan Burdick and produced by Small Red Cape and The FML crew. It’s from these scenes that our collaborative work started between the shoots in L.A. and the finishing edits and sound design in Paris. You will probably recognize famous FMLs that you’ve already read, but augmented by the talented acting work of our friends Ben Giroux and Ray Chase. Enjoy!

Directed by: Logan Burdick
Starring: Ben Giroux and Ray Chase
Guest Starring: Kelly Huddleston, Emily Goss, and Scott Burman
1st AC / Gaffer: Alex Darke
Grip: Matthew Little
Location Supervisor: Aaron Ehberhart
Art Department: Karissa Barney
PA: Elissa Weinzimmer
Edited by: Logan Burdick
Post production: Noside Production
Sound Design: Gizmo Deluxe
Sound Engineer: S Joly /  JL Fauvel
Creative Director: Didier Guedj
Special thanks to Morgan Prêleur and Steve Maisel.

 
Logan Burdick and Morgan Prêleur 

No, you're not dreaming, the illustrator, creator of those lovable fluffy cats you can find on DeviantArt is our artist of the day. Rihards, that's his name, is also the proud creator of Boggarts, another kind of cat, cheekier than anything you've ever seen. But oh, so adorable. Let's not wait a minute more, here's the program, read the interview, go on the artist's DeviantArt gallery, and find a new desktop. Deal? Let's go!

-What are your name, surname and nickname?
-My name's Rihards Donskis and I tend to use Apofiss as my internet nickname.

-Why did you choose this nickname?
-Well, long story short - I took it from TV-series called Stargate-SG1 back in year 1999 I think. If I'm not mistaken Apophis was one of the villains and I thought it sounded neutral and cool. And no, I didn't know the name Apophis comes from Egyptian mythology, specifically an evil god - the deification of darkness and chaos. Now how sweet is that!?

-How old are you?
-I'm 28.

-Where do you live?
-I currently live in Latvia.

-You're officially our first artist from Latvia! What's your job in Latvia? (Latvia is such a cool word.)
-Basically my job is to do things I love to do, most of the time at least which is drawing, painting, designing, 3d modeling and everything art related.

-What's your journey?
-I have been into drawing and creating since my very first days where many inspirations like Disney ( The Lion King, etc ), 5th Element and few more very inspirational content shaped my path. I didn't really drew all the time... there was a long gap in between before I actually picked up pencils and brush again! Back in 2008 I got my first tablet and a whole new and more serious journey began. :)

-Do you read webcomics?
-I don't really read comics much in general, but I do notice and enjoy few popular ones like Stupid Fox or alike. -Tell us more about the amazing DeviantArt gallery you own. At the moment I don't really have a proper website yet one can follow me on DA or even Facebook and buy lots of nice prints featuring my original artworks. :3

-How do you work?
-Considering my way of doing things, I tend to work on my own ideas instead of doing commercial commissions thus I feel more creative and productive. Sometimes whenever I have more free time I offer personal commission works. (Check out this amazing video of Rihards illustrating)

-And now, last but not least, why did you choose this FML story?
-The one I chose was a matter of few seconds and I got the basic idea right away which would fit the awkward nature of Boggart ;D

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ILLUSTRATED FML

 

Apofiss's DA: http://apofiss.deviantart.com/

If you want to be the next published artist, send an email to alice [at] fmylife.com including a link to your website/blog/DeviantArt. But DON'T send your illustration right away! You need first to get in touch with me, and I'll tell you what you have to do!

The story begins in a small café in Paris; Ben Giroux has just arrived from LA to grab a few days vacation in Europe. Sporting designer stubble and a wooly hat, thanks to his piercing blue eyes and wicked-child grin I immediately recognize him from numerous TV shows (House, Bones, Happily Divorced, Unhitched…). 

We order coffee and start talking about movies, creativity and comedy; we soon realize that we want to work together on an FML video project. However, an important question soon arises: an FML is short, snappy, and draws on the reader’s imagination. How do we set about reproducing this effect on-screen? We ponder this question as we go about our separate ways, ready to get this thing started.

A few weeks later, the FML team turns up in Los Angeles. Over a few beers and some organic salads we came to an agreement with Ben and his associate Ray Chase. These guys are pros, but we see them as friends due to the fact that we seem to crack up at the same daft things. This means that we are ready to get to work. From this point on, things will start to move very quickly. Ideas fly from Hollywood to Europe and vice-versa. Ben and Ray start to shoot scenes drawn from FMLs that make us laugh; they send us some initial rough material that we begin working on in Paris, giving it some rhythm and an original audiovisual imprint. We wanted the result to be as energetic as certain scenes from movies that stunned us in the past (Trainspotting, Rules of Attraction).

We get in touch with a video-whizz in Paris, Morgan Prêleur (Noside Production), who ends up loving Ben and Ray’s material and is driven enough to find the necessary solutions for all our image rhythm needs. He is so passionate about the video FMLs that he does the job for free between working on ads for L’Oréal. We insist on paying. He accepts (he still hasn’t sent us his invoice though). Somehow, we pull through, and the first FML videos are born. And now that everything is ready, we’re shoving the first results out into the world, where everyone and his dog can see what we’ve done. So be gentle, be cruel, be honest, be nice, be yourselves. We can take the heat, ‘cos we’re tough like that. Peace.

The producers: Small Red Cape (Ben Giroux, Ray Chase) / The FML Crew: (Maxime Valette, Guillaume Passaglia, Didier Guedj).
The actors: Kelly Huddleston, Emily Goss, and Scott Burman, Kelly Huddleston, Juliana Long Tyson, Lars Slind, Dave Shabaz, Anna Rubley, Erica Mathlin, Ben Giroux, Ray Chase.
On the other side of the screen: Alex Darke, Matthew Little, Aaron Ehberhart, Karissa Barney, Elissa Weinzimmer, Stéphane Joly.
The magicians: Logan Burdick (Director) / Morgan Prêleur (Finishing) / Didier Guedj (Art Director) / Steve Maisel.

Ray Chase, Ben Giroux, Logan Burdick, the FML video guys.

Hi there. (Hi reddit moderator.) Time to make an appearance. Add some special effects. Oh, and some cats too. In any case, I hope you are doing OK. Let’s get started and meet our guest.

Well, he’s a man, he’s 28, he lives in Paris, France and he’s called Frantz Hoffman AKA Ztnarf. “I’ll let you guess where that comes from. A hint: it’s easy.” He’s a graphics designer and freelance illustrator by trade, even though at the moment he spends most of his time on cartoon projects and creating a very nice illustrated FML for which I am very grateful.

“I have no room, money or time, but that’s nothing compared to the rest! Being able to draw all day is a childhood dream!” We understand the Frantz is happy doing what he does, working in the shadows at the moment, and you can discover a new cartoon every month on the website 30joursdeBD.

He has many projects bouncing around his head, mainly with an album in preparation, as well as some collaborations coming up. Of course, like all good artists, his mind is full of ideas and we have no doubt that a lot of them are good. Frantz wasn’t always self-employed since he quickly stopped his graphics studies to start work. He was a web graphics designer for 2 years before working for 3 years for a video game studio in Paris. “And now I’m self-employed.” Perfect.

Now that you know a bit more about him, let’s move on.

Cats or dogs?
A velociraptor, or a hermit crab.

What are the latest things you liked at the movies, in music, books and comics?
Well, there was “Twilight, Breaking Dawn”… no but seriously I really enjoyed “Super” with Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page which came out a year or two ago. Musically I’m pretty faithful to my old playlists. But I really liked (and listened a lot to) the latest Tenacious D album “Rize of the Fenix.” The books I loved were “The Zombie Survival Guide” and “World War Z”, both by Max Brooks. And in comics, if there had to be only one it would be “Alice in Monkeyland” by Keramidas and Tebo.

Who are the main artists you like and whose blogs you visit frequently?
If I start naming names, I’ll probably forget one. And if I know them personally they’ll be offended, so I’d rather not risk it. Basically I follow the ones I’ve linked on my blog, plus a few others, plus the classics, as well as a few American authors via Tumblr.

What do you enjoy in life, your passions, pastimes, vices, and your everyday pleasures?
I like playing video games, going to the movies, drinking and reading encyclopedias about dinosaurs. But at the moment, besides drawing I don’t do much. It’s my passion, my pleasure and my pastime. As for my vice, it’ll be the huge 1kg jar of marzipan in my cupboard. It’s closer to 0g than a kilo at the moment.

Have you got a phobia? If so, what is it?
I’m afraid of heights, and clowns… Same as everyone else.

To finish, ask yourself a question you would’ve like to have been asked, then up to you to answer it or not.
“Do you want a million dollars?” Yes please! Thanks!

To see this week’s illustrated FML, click here.

There we go. Isn’t that a great illustrated FML? And what about this week’s videos? Oh right, you haven’t seen them yet. OK, well, here they are. This week we have a guy who faints when he’s tickled and Jimmy Kimmel who had asked people to give their kids crappy presents for Christmas and then film their reactions. The results are pretty epic. Bye for now!

If you want to be the next published artist, send an email to alice [at] fmylife.com including a link to your website/blog/DA. But DON'T send your illustration right away! You need first to get in touch with me, and I'll tell you what you have to do!

Gooood morning! I hope you had a fantastic week, dear readers. Today we're all candles, cake and happy singing because today's illustration is all about that awful moment called "birthday". Emilie B, our artist of the day, offered us her own vision of one of the best FMLs we have here. So let's have a ball looking at her comic and check out her interview!

-What are is name, surname and nickname? Why did you choose this nickname?
-I actually have no nickname therefore I simply sign ''Emilie.B'' because, well, that's my name.

-How old are you?
-I am 22 years old.

-Where do you live?
-I live in Belgium, in the picturesque city of Namur, the capital of the French speaking part of Belgium, to be precise.

-What's your job?
-I don't mean to brag but recently I've finally allowed myself to answer that question saying that "I'm an illustrator" even if I do not have a lot of professional experience for the moment. Nevertheless I hope it will come.   

-What's your journey?
-I studied art for 4 years at the Academy of Arts in Namur then I went to Liege to attend illustration classes for 3 years. I graduated last year and now I'm sending resumes and letters absolutely everywhere hoping to receive positive answers! I'm thinking about following graphics courses to add a little something to my education and to open some more doors when it comes to getting work requests...

-What are your inspirations?
-I find many many artists very inspiring. I love girly illustrations and I especially like Margaux Motin, Roxane Lapassade, Sanaa.K  and Diglee. But I'm also inspired by animators like Aurore Damant, Julien Bizat and many more. I have kind of a “nostalgic” personality as I'm really into the 30's, 50's, 70's and 80's when it comes to music,colors, pinups and clothes and it is probably very noticeable in my illustration style.

-Do you read webcomics? If so, which ones?
-Of course, i do but as a French speaker I mostly read French webcomics. I do not, and cannot, spend one day without checking the blogs of the artists I've mentioned above.

-Tell us more about your website?
-I've created my blog because it's the perfect way to reach a lot of people and to get feed back about what I draw. Also, it might be an opportunity to connect with people I might work for, who knows ? 

-How do you work?
-I always start by sketching on paper, so pretty traditional and then it depends, sometimes I'd use indian ink sometimes I'd ink in Photoshop but whatever I chose, I always color in Photoshop because I'm way to clumsy when I use real brushes . 

-Why did you choose this FML story?
-Because it made me laugh so much! And a picture immediately popped into my mind when I read it, so it had to be this one!

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ILLUSTRATED FML