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

Hi there! If you’re reading this, it means that you’re on the latest version of the FML Official iPhone app. As you may have noticed, the app has changed a lot recently and we’d like to walk you through what’s been going on.

Why is there advertising on FML? The app and each of its updates are free. Ads are our source of income, which allows our readers to use our app for free, all the while keeping our team fed and clothed and able to bring you your dose of giggles every day of the year.

We can confirm that there are fewer advertisements on this version of the app. Mainly on the page that you visit the most, the one that opens up when the app launches and contains the latest FMLs. Previously, an ad banner would remain static at the bottom of the page and would be constantly displayed. Now, this banner is displayed amongst the FMLs (once every 4 FMLs to be precise) and by moving your finger down to read, it can so happen that no ads will appear at all.

We should remind you that if you do not wish to see any advertising at all in the app, it’s possible to purchase the ad-free version (see Settings). It costs $0.99 which is the lowest price possible. A small investment that could be interesting if you’re a frequent FML user.

You’ll find the other big innovation of this version on the page that you land on when you open the app. As of today, it works like a timeline (the same way Facebook and Twitter do) on which you’ll find diverse things like blog articles, illustrated FMLs, tweets, information and “FML, the follow-up”, FMLs where the author has returned to comment.

You’ll thus find out that FML is not just about the FMLs. The rest is very funny too.

Of course, this new timeline feature comes with a sorting option. A button has appeared to the left of the FML submission button. You can personalize your page and everything that is displayed on it by selecting or unselecting elements.

So, that’s basically what we had to say about this new version of the app. Our team works every day to bring you the best of FML. Our greatest reward is your positive reviews on the App Store, so feel free to take a few moments to go to app’s page and give us a nice appreciation. For each 5-star review, somewhere in the world a kitten gets a belly rub. And we like that sort of thing.

Yep, it’s time, let’s do this! 3…2… 1… GO! Dammit, missed my entrance. Oh well, let’s play the poke game instead. Messed that one up as well. Never mind.

Let’s meet this week’s artist. 33 and from France, Antonin Gallo alias Monsieur To is a freelance “unemployed illustrator.”

“Being unemployed is cool, it allows me to do other stuff, which is great because I work overtime trying to make it in the world of comics and illustration. I get up early and go to bed late. It has been said before but illustrating and comics are a cheap way to create whole universes. Well, theoretically anyway, because I work on an expensive Wacom cintiq. What I need: a bit more of a workload, for sure. Well, a paid workload, because in practice I work a lot.”

Our workaholic’s news of the week is a bunch of responses to job offers, positive ones if possible. And a comic book has just come out, “Etat des lieux”, which is available on Amazon. “A bittersweet story, about an idiot who can’t get over a mistake he made.”

Drawing isn’t always an obvious choice. This is why Antonin has diplomas in science/maths and literature/art. “Highly useless,” he points out, just in case we were wondering. He also has another diploma in art and started some philosophy studies but gave up very quickly due to the coursework being very rigid. He also worked for the national education system.

Projects? “Loads. At the moment I’m on a few comic book projects. One of them is about the lives of teachers, with Marlène writing the script. In it, a new teacher turns up at a high school where the colleagues are zombies, the principal a fire-breathing dragon, and where the pupils welcome the teachers by throwing weapons. Very realistic in fact. I’m also working with Minito, whose style I used for this illustrated FML, on a collection of vertical strips, which mix the absurd, the poetical, the cute and funny. I’d like to pay my respects to Marlène’s colours, without which this series would lose a lot of their attraction. I’m also on a website where I’ve published 2 digital comic books with Marlène (again?), one as a writer, the other as the artist. I’m thinking about two other comic books and working on two others that are published on the Internet and can be read via this profile. Other projects are underway, but need to be looked over, some collaborations, a story about a cherry tree, another with Jean Claude Van Damme, a Rom-Com, an adaptation of a Stefan Zweig novel and I must be forgetting some things. I won’t be slacking in 2013.”

Let’s see how well he does in the second part of the interview.

Cat or dogs?
Cats, definitely, who are elegance incarnate in all circumstances, except when they fall over which makes them exceptionally funny. But I do like dogs though, but at other people’s places. Cats too I suppose.

What are the latest things you enjoyed at the movies, in music, books and comics?
I haven’t been to the movies recently, so I couldn’t say. The last thing I really liked was “Love Actually”, which isn’t recent but I only saw it a year ago. I don’t listen to a lot of music, and only go by track, rarely by artist. And the last track I really liked was a long time ago. The last book that really shook me is “Letter from a stranger” by Stefan Zweig, the only man who could write so well about women. As for comics, I’m a big consumer. So I’d recommend Barrio by Carlos Gimenez, Habibi by Craig Thomson, Undercurrent by Tetsuya Toyoda and I can’t wait for the next volumes of Vinland Saga and Yotsuba&co.

Who are the main artists you appreciate and whose blogs you visit regularly?
There are very few. The one I visit the most is by Marlene, with whom I work. There’s also Jibé’s blog, who you already know. And finally I check out Eliascarpe’s blog, which is about to be updated. As a rule, I’m attracted to people who stand out without having to suck up to better-known artists.

Tell us what you enjoy in life, your passions, pastimes, vices, and everyday pleasures.
I like the smell of freshly ground coffee, misting my glasses with a hot drink. I like taking the time to cook because eating is boring so I might as well try and make the whole process as cool as possible. I like evenings with friends and trolling them about their musical tastes. I like telling stories and I’m a workaholic when it comes to drawing. And when I have the time I like taking the time to finish a video game. I’m getting back into reading after years without. I like bar peanuts with a good beer. I like the first step on fresh snow, and the noise it makes. And I like walking in Paris.

Tell us a crap joke. Possible Joker: if you don’t have a crap joke, we want to know your worst FML.
Do you know the joke about the guy with no thumbs? It’s great. Of course, without the gestures, it’s even worse.

Do you have a phobia? If so, what is it?
I’m afraid of leaving the gas on, the refrigerator open, stuff like that. I used to get up several times a night to check.

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

That’s all for this week! So what about a video before we go then? Here we go, have the skateboarding dog. See you next week!

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!