Hello everybody! Today we're expecting a new set of viewers: seniors. The reason? Well, just look at today's amazing illustration, brought to you by the fantastic LoboTom. We wonder how many points "FML" will get you when you play Scrabble. Let's say a zillion. That seems right.

 

 

-What are your name, surname and nickname?
-Thomas Emil Jakobsen aka LoboTom.

-Why did you choose this nickname?
-When I was 10, a friend and I were out graffitiing. I fell down, hit my head real bad and he started calling me 'lobotom'. The name stuck. 

-How old are you? 
-40. 

-Where do you live?
-Kristiansand,Norway.

-What's your job?
-Illustrator and cartoonist. 

 

-What's your journey?
-Hmmm, I'm on a constant journey into my unconscious mind trying to recreate the idolized world of childhood by drawing strange and surreal comics about suicidal teddy bears. Go figure.

-What are your inspirations?
-My daughter, movies, dreams, music, coffee. Norwegian cartoonist Christopher Nielsen, Pink Floyd, Don Martin, Peter Bagge and David Lynch.

-Do you read webcomics? 
-Sometimes. The Perry Bible Fellowship, Dry-Shave, Pandyland and Three Word Phrase, really cutting edge, dark stuff. 

 

-Tell us more about your website.
-There's little more important than an online portfolio and all the Facebook page changes was driving me nuts. I also needed a simple, self-hosted website. I am satisfied with web platform from Indexhibit.

-How do you work?
-Late, usually and never without my lava lamp turned on. I sketch and ink old school, scan and color digital. I sometimes ink with a tablet and Illustrator but it never beats the feeling of real paper for me.

-Why did you choose this FML story?
-I've had a similar experience and the FML story really made me laugh.

 

 

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ILLUSTRATED FML

 

Thomas's website: http://www.lobotom.no/

 

 

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!

BREAKING NEWS:

WE HAVE OUR 3 MILLIONTH MEMBER!

The FML members meet up for a party on a beach

 

So, who is it? It's someone called hannahbananahann. Yes, odd name! She's actually called Hannah, she's 19 and is from the UK! She says she's studying Mathematics at University, but we have no proof of that. But then again, who would lie about something like that? Exactly. So well done Hannah, you are officially our 3 millionth member!

As we promised, member number 3,000,000 wins a prize, so Hannah will be sent two FML books just as soon as we're done with Xmas meals, and all the booze has worn off!

See you all in a few days then!

Until then, keep your eyes peeled on what's going on over here...

 

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It’s been an eventful 4-and-something years since FML was launched; some weird-looking babies were born; some famous couples split up; the whole world and his dog went bananas for One Direction while everyone turned their backs on the poor old Jonas Brothers, and Maxime, the benevolent creator of FML, has been invaded by a bunch of cats. It’s been a heck of a ride. But despite the ups and downs, we’re still here, fighting the fight for the little guy, the (wo)man in the street who has had enough of life’s lemons and who needs to fight back by throwing those lemons back at life by letting off steam on FML, spilling the beans and… OK, that’s way too many mixed metaphors. All you need to know is that we’re always here whenever you need to talk to someone about your shitty day, a bit like a trustworthy friend or an old sweater that smells vaguely of dog fur.

In any case, our user base has never ceased to grow, much to our amazement. We never expected that this whole shebang, which was initially created in our garages with sticky tape and badly painted cardboard boxes, would become so popular. We’re overjoyed to have so many of you on board; it’s like having an extended family. A weird, creepy, dysfunctional family, but a family all the same. Every day we garner new members: an odd looking uncle here, a strange cousin there. We’ve even got a randy second-cousin who likes to eat his own toenails, but we’re naming no names.

 

(the original FML book, cat not included in the prize)

 

We’re now rapidly approaching the 3 million members mark, which is so astonishing that our minds are blown. Not literally, that would be disgusting and we would have even more trouble than usual remembering where our keys are. We thought we’d mark the occasion by offering someone the chance to become the actual 3 millionth member; a bit like in the movies when someone wins a prize in a supermarket for buying a tin of cat food at the exact right moment, and pandemonium breaks loose. All that you need to do is create your own user account on FML; even without the added bonus and glory of being the 3 millionth member, the benefits of doing so are numerous, and are listed here. If you become member #3M, our system will single you out, and we will send you a book, as well as our warmest congratulations! 

If you are already a member, tell your friends and family about FML! You could be our ambassador, introducing new people to the FML experience, spreading the word. After all, we're a family united by the ability to laugh at ourselves and the crap that happens to us in our lives, maybe your nearest and dearest would benefit from taking part.

 

3160414

 

As you have probably guessed, the number above is the amount of user accounts currently on FML. Pretty obvious. If you refresh the page, you can watch the membership tally go up, so hurry if want to be the one and only! All you have to do is sign up for an account, so get cracking.

Hi everybody! New week, new illustration, new sensation. Today's comic is brought to you by the one and only Mario Garcia Arevalo. Delicate, sensitive and retro without being outdated; these are a few words that can describe his amazing style. We're lucky enough to have him today on FML, so everyone get on board, let's take the interview train!

 

 

-What is your name, surname and nickname?
-When I started my career as illustrator, I didn't have any nickname, I used simply my own name and family name. I would have liked to use a name not related to me or my work but it was too late for that because everybody started to know me as Mario Garcia Arevalo. Anyway, I am happy because it comes with me. 

-How old are you?
-I am 25 years old and getting older.

-Where do you live?
-Nowadays, I live in Valencia (Spain) where I have my study with other five illustrators (you can visit us at www.yunque.es). I have no intention to move but I guess London will be my next destination. 

-What's your job?
-I work as a freelancer. I have some projects in development such as an illustrated album or stage design for a spot. I try to choose the projects because it is impossible to carry out all of them, so I choose the projects that I feel comfortable with.

 

-What's your journey?
-I would like to travel to Australia, which is really far from Spain but I hope to visit it someday. 

 

-What are your inspirations?
-I have some basic references, from animators to comic designers (Mary Blair, Headless, Chris Ware, Mike Yamada, Glen Keane, Aurore Damant...).

-Do you read webcomics? If so, which ones?
-I don't read comics very often on the net because I'm a devoted defender of the paper format. Nowadays, I'm reading The Wolf's Whistle by Bjorn Lie.

-Tell us more about your website. 
-In 2012 I began to move through social networks showing my work, thus you can find me on Facebook, Behance, Pinterest, Twitter... I also sell a most of my prints through an Etsy shop, where you can find some of my more popular works. Now I don't have enough time to updating all my web-places due to the amout of work I produce.

 

-How do you work?
-My whole work is done in digital, with Photoshop, working with my great friend Cintig who helps me in everything she can. Firstly I do all the sketching, after that lines and finally color.

-Why did you choose this FML story?
-I chose this story because it seems very funny to me. It's the typical story that can be found in many different families. I have always imagined peas as little green kids, and it was the perfect story for drawing what I'd always wanted to draw: a pea kid!

 

   

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ILLUSTRATED FML

 

Mario's website: http://www.mariogarciaarevalo.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!

I was a teenage werewolf. No, not really, I was a teenage twit with acne and a bad haircut, but I’m guessing being a teenage werewolf was a bit more fun than my own ghastly condition. It certainly seems so, judging on the goings-on in the classic movie of that name. Anyway, as you may or may not know according to much you enjoy dressing up as a bat or a slutty gravedigger, it’s Halloween. In celebration of the agoraphobic pedophile’s favourite day, here at FML we’ve got an endless list of horror movies, scary situations and monsters that strike fear and unwanted urine ejection in even the most calm and collected person. 

Today, I was called to a house for a devil possession. I wound up getting covered in a young girl’s pea-green vomit and told that my mother is sucking cocks in hell. I need a new career. FML

Sent in by Father Karras

OK, I made that one up, sort of. This is from ‘The Exorcist’, the classic horror movie from the 70s. What could be more of an FML than being on the business end of a hissy fit from the Devil himself, set to Mike Oldfield’s wonderful ‘Tubular Bells'?

I already wrote an article about Halloween last year, with many examples of FMLs (click here to read it if you haven’t already), so I’m not going to do that again. Besides, I’m a bit frightened of Halloween. Well, not exactly frightened, more suspicious. I’m not saying I’ve become superstitious or anything, but last year’s Halloween was pretty rubbish for me. After I’d posted the article, I went out to a Halloween-themed party in a nice English pub in the south of France. I hadn’t worn a costume because I look pretty strange on the best of days so I was counting on my natural features being odd enough to let me off the hook with regards to the mandatory scary costume. The pub was decked out in all the classic Halloween trimmings and looked great; the staff were all in full costume and it’s owned by two of the most charming landladies ever so they all looked great, and the turn out was pretty impressive. I met up with my friends, and all was OK. Unfortunately for me, the night was about to turn a bit sour. Or should I say “bitter”, because beer then started flowing freely down my gullet as I tried to wash away the pain of being a sad sack single man who lives with two domineering cats. Everything was going fine up until closing time, and I got back to my place. Now, I know that drinking booze is not big, and it’s not clever, but I enjoy it so sue me. No, don’t sue me, please, I'm poor. 

Walking home, the streets were spinning around and I managed to push my sleeping cats out of the way and crawl into bed, alone again, naturally. Flashback to a couple of years before: I’d had surgery done to my nose due to a deviated septum, and one of the drawbacks of this procedure meant that I got a load of nosebleeds afterwards, which required me going back to hospital to get it fixed again and again. Back to present day: I fall asleep in my inebriated state only to wake up in the middle of the night with a nosebleed. I start to panic, thinking, due to my booze intake, that I’d have to go back to hospital to get it patched up, so I rush into the bathroom. For some reason, I decide to put my nose over the bathtub to avoid getting blood everywhere, and in my haste I hoist one foot over the side of the tub a bit too quickly. I slip, due having missed the bottom of the tub, my ankle goes "crack", I go crashing into the wall, smashing my nose in the process, then fall backwards onto the sink, hitting the floor like a sack of drunken potatoes. I decide to call it a night, and crawl into bed.

The next morning, my right ankle was killing me. I hobble about, crashing into the walls and doorframes, avoiding the cats who are typically terrified of anything out of the ordinary, so they’re hissing at me while I’m swearing at myself. Thinking I’d sprained it, I start calling doctors, but the 1st of November is a holiday in France, so nobody is available. I manage to get hold of a friend who takes me to hospital: one X-ray later, I’m told that I have broken my ankle and need to have an operation to get it fixed. The next morning, they knock me out and put metal parts into my bones to hold it together, telling me that I have to stay on crutches for a month and a half. The upside is I get to take some morphine home with me, but a limited supply and I’m in pain and very embarrassed about the whole thing. Remember, this happened on Halloween night. Was I cursed? Had I been staring at a witch’s cleavage for too long in the pub and she put a spell on me? Or was it just my fault for drinking beer? In any case, I spent 45 days in discomfort, hobbling about my apartment, having food delivered to me and having to get injections every day to avoid bedsores.

It made me realise that living alone can get pretty depressing if you can’t get about, stand up to cook meth or even go out to buy a newspaper. I won’t start getting all philosophical about the meaninglessness of life, love and how fragile we all are when faced with a slippery surface, I’ll just say to everyone to be careful when getting into a bathtub on Halloween. Oh, and extra bang to my FML here is that since I was an idiot and told everyone I know about what happened, now I can't get away from jokes about bathtubs. I'm a bathroom health hazard. I'm constantly reminded that I fell over and broke my ankle due to a bloody nose and a tub. 

That is all. Now go out and enjoy yourselves, it’s later than you think. This year, I'm spending Halloween dressed as the invisible man. As in, I'm not going to any parties or any social gatherings where the curse could strike again. Bring me some chocolate back; I’m staying home tonight to avoid spells, further injuries and humiliation.

 

Hi gang! This week’s illustration is brought to you from Berlin, via Lyon, Stockholm and many more. It was created by Claire Webster, AKA Clarikine, who is 26 and ¾, and as you can tell, she’s a bit of a nomad. As she states, “I constantly navigate between different cultures, different communities and different languages, and that all ends up in my comics.”

She likes switching between different tasks and workplaces. “There’s a part of me that is still 9-years-old and jumps up and down whenever I settle down to draw.” She would however like to have 36-hour-long days.

At the moment, she’s getting ready for the Berlin Zinefest and she’s also working on an order, which is Franco-German themed.

She went to school in Lyon in France, studied German, and then moved to Nantes to study international communication, and then a German town called Görlitz. Berlin next, where she ended up working in customer services, all the while honing her drawing skills. Since then she’s freelanced her way around the circuit.

Her main projects for the moment are the second part of her autobiographical comic book “Master of Survival”, which tell the tale of her first 9 months in Berlin. It should eventually become a book. “I’m also working on “Noémie, there and back”, a comic book musical project that I’m doing with Sarah Ehrenholz. It’s about an awkward teen who goes on a school trip to Germany. The idea is to "create a hybrid object with the comic telling the story and the music as accompaniment.” She’s also working on a webcomic about her caracters Anaé and Sasha, who were created between two lessons.

Right, onto the next part of the interview, the quickfire round!

Cats or dogs?

I prefer cats, by far. A cat can live its life, without asking you for anything, just a few biscuits every morning. A bit like me.

What were the latest things that you liked in movies, music, books and comics?

I don’t often go to the movies, due lack of time and money, so I’m more into TV shows. The latest one I liked was Elementary, the American adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. In music, I really liked the new Arctic Monkeys album, which managed to replace the last Tegan and Sara album as the album I most played to my roommates. I also recommend the new Phia single, who is from Berlin, as well as “All the way thru” by JD Samson & Men. As for books, I’ve just finished Max Dubinsky’s writings, an American author who drove around the States looking for God. In fact, I used his stories about homeless people as inspiration to illustrate this FML. For comics, see below.

Who are the main artists you appreciate, and whose blogs you check out regularly?

For the past 4 or 5 years I’ve been fixated on the Portland scene, in particular the work of Erika Moen and Natalie Nourigat. They gave me they impulsion to talk about my own life in comic book form. Through Erika Moen I discovered Lucky Knisley’s work, whose work is autobiographical too, and Sam Orchard as well, who draws a comic called “Rooster Tails” about his life as a trans man* in New Zealand. And finally, via the Periscope studio in Portland I came across the work of Lucy Bellwood, an artist who draws ships and whose motivation is 100% contagious. Other than that, I read Octopus Pie, Girls with Slingshots, Nimona, and Kate or Die.

Tell us what you enjoy in life, your passions, pastimes, vices and everyday pleasures.

I enjoy cycling around the city, around the Siegessäule, le column to the west of the Brandenburg gate. It reminds me that victory is close. Other than that I like cooking and watching TV shows with my roommates, the Feierabendbier (the beer drunk after work) and long walks with an iPod and a sweater. I write in an almost compulsive manner since school in a notebook that I carry everywhere.

Tell us a crap joke. Or failing that, tell us your worst FML.

I couldn’t get in touch with my friend Apolide (not his real name) so that he could give me a crap joke, so here’s my FML:

Today, my first day at a new job. My boss comes to my office to say hello. As we are shaking hands, I introduce myself: Frau Webster. He replies, “Thanks, you too.” He thought I was wishing him a happy new year in German. FML

Do you have a phobia? If so, what is it?

I have the phobia that my phobias will happen if I talk about them on the Internet.

To finish off, ask yourself a question you would’ve liked to have been asked, and then answer it if you want.

Q: Is there anyone in the audience you would like to say hello to?

A: Yes, my parents, my brother and my sister. “I’m not quite dead! I’m getting better!” Thanks!

 

And to see Clairikine's illustrated FML, click here!

 

That's it for this week. We're off to party the night away, and we hope that you are going to do the same. Take care and as always, be excellent to each other.

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!