 After 3 full seasons, and many long summers, since the first episode of the hit television series LOST premiered, its become more and more difficult to find fresh, fun, and cool LOST related items on the web. The show has spawned thousands of websites, blogs, podcasts, and other creative outlets for its many fans, but as the years press on, the websites you find are becoming more and more of the same old stuff. However, every once in a while you can still find something unique.
Starting today, The Black Rock will have a syndicated LOST Cartoon strip on our front page featuring a weekly caricature parody of LOST brought to you by The LOST Boys PROJECT (or LBP as the cool kids refer to it). These fantastic toons have been seen and commented on by many, including Jorge Garcia (Hurley) and Gregg Nations (Lost Script Coordinator). Jorge Garcia even referred to the LBP creator with "Dude!" How much better does it get than that?
The weekly toons are available on the right side of the front page of this site. Simply click on one of the toon titles to be taken to the LBP website, or hover over the link to view a popup of the toon parody.
If you'd like to learn more about the man behind these toons and how The LOST Boys PROJECT started, then read on...
The LOST Boys PROJECT ( lostboysproject.com ) just launched their website on September 22, 2007, the third anniversary of the tragic crash of Ocenic flight 815. Their premise is a simple one, to post a weekly cartoon that parodies LOST and features fantastic cartoon caricatures of the cast. But after visiting their new website and speaking with the site's creator, James Boudreaux II (who goes by the screen name imfromthepast), I was surprised to learn that just how far he's come.
In an excerpt from his website, James writes:
One day I was trying to think of some kind of creative outlet I could
get involved in, something that no one had done yet, that could grow,
and keep me interested and challenged. That's when that Eko avatar
resurfaced and the concept of doing caricatures of the LOST Characters
popped into my brain. Only one problem.
I couldn't draw caricatures.
James goes on to tell how he then read a book about drawing caricatures that helped a lot. He began practicing his caricatures by doing co-workers and such and using a style of cartooning that he was confortable with after developing it years early while working as a graphic artist.
His first attempt, a Locke caricature, was posted on the Fuselage to gage the response by other fans. The response was overwhelmingly supportive, and so James continued. His initial goal was nothing more than to produce some cool fan art and share it with other fans of the show. As he gained more followers of his work, his ideas and goals for the Lost Boys Project changed, and eventually the idea behind his current site was underway.
But I had to ask James, why call it The LOST Boys Project?
"The name is a product of spontaneous generation. I started drawing
these caricatures with the sole intent of just having fun. I thought a
name would be cool, and so without really giving it much thought, I
came up with the LOST Boys, because of the Peter Pan reference. I added
PROJECT later to add a little mysterious zing and pizzaz. Originally it
was only going to involve the males in the show, as I find it difficult
to caricature women, but eventually that excuse got lamer and lamer, so
I now include women, but the name stuck. Besides, The LOST Persons
Project sounds stupid."
As was mentioned earlier in this article, James' artwork has grabbed the attention of both Jorge Garcia and Gregg Nations . In a post on The Fuselage Jorge had this to say, "These pics are awesome. I downloaded a few of them to add to my scrap book. keep it up dude." How many of us can say we've gotten a "Dude!" from the one and only Hurley. Jorge has also mentioned James' artwork on his blog .
The site that James built and runs himself is great as well. Besides the weekly cartoon parodies of Lost, the sites features other Lost sketches, posters, portraits, wallpapers and cutouts. The site offers a free membership for those of you who would like to check it out, as well as a VIP membership (for a small fee) that includes added benefits. Check out all the great details of this new site here: http://lostboysproject.com
And don't forget to stay up-to-date with the most recent toons each week at The Black Rock!
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