When it comes to Chris Allison’s successful comic series, we can appreciate his distinct art style and dark, humorous gags. He started “ToonHole ” with 3 other cartoonists, a web page where he posted his comic strips in 2010. His Instagram followers adore the way he delivers his jokes and punchlines. He also has a story on DreamWorks Feature Animation in the works and does other animations in his spare time.
Are you tired of the same old boring comics with predictable punchlines? Well, brace yourself for a wild ride because ToonHole’s artist is here to shake up your comic-reading experience. Get ready for some unexpected twists and turns because these comics will have you laughing until your sides hurt. No spoilers here, but let’s just say you’ll never look at some things the same way again.
Influences
First, we inquired as to whether he had any key influences in his life that may have aided in the development and refinement of his style. He told us, “Tom and Jerry were my initial source of inspiration.
Chris Allison
Looney Tunes, Goofy shorts, and Fleischer cartoons were among my favorites. I will most likely spend the rest of my life attempting to sketch and paint in the manner of many of those artists from the 1940s.”
Teacher Support
Chris had a lot of support from his teachers in high school, who introduced him to the arts. He had an animation class run by Paul Messerle, who went on to receive a prize for the San Diego County Teacher of the Year in 2016.
Chris Allison
Chris also credits his life drawing teacher, Jacqueline Nicolini, as a great inspiration. After graduating, he attended California State University, where he continued to study and perfect his drawing skills.
It Takes Time To Produce A Comic Strip
Because art takes a long time to practice as well as produce, we asked Chris how long it takes him to complete one of his comics.
Chris Allison
He says, “In general, I think about 6 hours for most of my comics, but it’s hard to gauge. I’ll pencil 3 or 4 comics on watercolor paper in a couple nights, then ink them all in one night, then try to color a couple comics at a time.”
The Process
Chris continues to explain that it is easier with watercolor because you can move to the next panel while the last panel dries, and you can use the colors you just mixed to keep the panel colors uniform.
Chris Allison
He also uses Photoshop and other computer programs to produce comics. In that case, he tries to get it done in one sitting. The complexities are different in each format, and also the time invested may vary.
Writer’s Block
Being an artist is difficult; one can easily experience a lack of inspiration, exhaustion, and other issues. We asked Chris about his comics ideas and what happens when inspiration is difficult to come about.
Chris Allison
“Really classic artist problem: the blank page stares back at you blankly. My remedy has been embracing limitations. It’s a hard task to just “be funny” with no footing to hold onto. I pick on observable things from my everyday life.”
Carry A Sketchbook At All Times
Chris carries a small sketchbook in his back pocket, with all the topics written in the back, and a pen. This way, he can write or sketch down ideas wherever he is and not risk forgetting them when he gets home.
Chris Allison
He does most of his writing to avoid boredom when he does chores or menial tasks such as changing the oil, waiting for his accountant to do his taxes, or even while eating lunch.
Burnout
As we all know, creative work may occasionally lead to burnout, so we inquired if he has dealt with this as well. Chris goes on to explain that while this is a struggle common to artists, he doesn’t have time to be burned out.
Chris Allison
Since he works in animation for his day job, has a small record label, “King Volume Records,” and recently jumped to work on feature films, he doesn’t have much time left.
Simultaneous Different Projects
In his own words, Chris says: “We regularly put out ToonHole comics and have been working on animated shorts and pitching TV shows/movies of our own. Frankly, I don’t have time to be burnt out and I think that’s the thing that’s been keeping me going all these years.”
Chris Allison
It seems as if diversifying the type of work he does keeps the stress levels at bay. He never gets bored with all those projects.
The Creative Process
Although the creative process isn’t easy, it does have some enjoyable aspects. “I honestly like the whole process. Comics are fun because I get complete control, but they’re also stressful because of it.
Chris Allison
Writing is fun, to watch comics emerge out of nothing. Inking and coloring comics is phenomenal because I can put on music and get into a flow state.” Flow is a state of mind where you become fully immersed in an activity.
Collaboration With Other Artists
Working in animation allows Chris to collaborate with other artists and benefit from their experiences (and steal their secrets). Working with voice actors, putting drawings on a timeline to watch how they move, and adding music and sound design are all part of the process.
Chris Allison
When reflecting about this, Chris says, “Making things is simply fun, and it adds a lot of significance to my life.” The exchange of ideas between artists keeps them inspired and motivated.
Social Media
We asked him about the inspiration behind his Instagram account. He explains the beginnings, “Instagram was the dominant platform when I started. It’s been a tough go recently, as the algorithms seem to be changing and demanding a volume of content that I personally find a challenge to meet with any sort of quality threshold.”
Chris Allison
There is pressure to keep up with other accounts and a constant struggle to produce and upload new content.
Platforms
Good work takes time to make, and artists are known perfectionists; their art goes through various processes to achieve their minimum standard. Chris followed up, “A comic will be languishing in my sketchbook for a while, broken. Weeks later, I will figure out a way to reword or rephrase something that makes it work.
Chris Allison
So the next platform that really wants to showcase images will motivate me to start a new account on it, too.”
Digital Artist
Digital art takes a lot of patience, time, resources, and money. As a result, we were curious as to how Chris got his start in the digital art world.
Chris Allison
“I started my digital art journey in the art community that Tom Fulp started at Newgrounds.com when I was in middle school. It was a Flash community at the time, hosting a Flash portal that people could submit to and audiences got to rate them.”
Advice To Young Artists
It was good for him to have a place where he could get immediate feedback on his work and connect with and learn from other fellow artists. To this day, Newgrounds is still going strong, to which Chris strongly advises young artists and filmmakers to visit it and contribute their work.
Chris Allison
It is good training and practice for future endeavors without spending much money. Young aspiring digital artists can take advantage of this opportunity.
Stay Motivated
Artists tend to get motivated by many things, such as curiosity and the search for beauty. Chris says, “Most people around me had my passion for making artwork when we were young, excited to draw with markers and crayons and sculpt things with Play-Doh.
But they seem to have grown out of it, whereas I haven’t. It is still something that keeps me excited. I’m going to keep chasing it while the passion keeps burning.”
How ToonHole Started
ToonHole is a project that started back in 2010 by a group of 4 cartoonist friends: Ryan Kramer, Mike Nassar, John Martinez and Chris Allison. The comic strips are intended for adults, due to the subject matter and the level of sarcasm and irony.
Chris Allison
It has become very popular in the community; people find some comic relief during their stressful days at work. The comic strips are perfect: short, with few words and killer punchlines.
Chris Allison
Christopher “Chris” Allison was born January 16, 1986, in California, USA. He is a storyboard director/artist and writer who has worked for 11 years on television shows such as Looney Tunes Cartoons and Spongebob, among others.
Chris Allison
He was credited as a storyboard artist on two Spongebob episodes: “Food Con Castaways” and “Krabby Patty Creature Feature.” Chris has also worked in various other TV series: The Blubburbs (2018), SMBC Theater (2009), and Tito Yayo (2010).
Cross-Cultural Appeal of Toonhole
“Toonhole” by Chris Allison and Ryan Kramer transcends borders with its unique blend of humor that resonates across cultures. Despite being rooted in American humor, certain strips have achieved unexpected popularity abroad, striking a chord in countries with vastly different comedic sensibilities.
Chris Allison
This global appeal can be traced to their universal themes and human truths, communicated through relatable scenarios and characters. It’s a testament to their ability to create content that speaks to a common human experience, making their work not just comics, but cultural bridges.
Binge On ToonHole Comics
The ToonHole official Facebook page has 77k followers and comic strips are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. You can go check out the comics there and binge-watch the older stuff.
Chris Allison
Their Twitter account has over 2.2k followers, and you can comfortably share the comics with your friends. You can also follow each cartoonist from the project individually on Instagram. ToonHole is a fun little getaway from when you are commuting to work.
Advice From Chris
When we asked Chris for some helpful advice for our aspiring artist young readers, he said, “My advice for anybody looking to make comics to make people laugh is simply: do it.
Chris Allison
There is no shortcut or secret path to get good at making comics other than making comics. Do good drawings, do bad drawings, do whatever drawings you can.”
What To Do When You Flop
We also asked him how to deal with flopping from time to time, to which he explained, “Everyone falls flat once in a while, so don’t beat yourself up about it.
Chris Allison
Failure is part of growth, not evidence of your potential. Keep finishing comics, and just try to make the next one even better! I’m still trying to do this.”
