Married to the Sea
| Married to the Sea | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Drew and Natalie Dee |
| Website | www.marriedtothesea.com |
| Current status / schedule | updates daily |
| Launch date | February 13, 2006 |
Married to the Sea is a webcomic by husband and wife Drew Fairweather and Natalie Dee. Both Drew and Natalie have creative input on Married To The Sea but the comic is not strictly collaborative.[1] Each has a personal webcomic project: Drew is also the author of Toothpaste for Dinner and Natalie Dee produces NatalieDee.
There is one new comic on Married to the Sea daily. According to the site, it updates at midnight EST, "without exception." The comics themselves are composed of public domain images (Victorian or otherwise) combined with new captions written by the authors. Despite its dated appearance, frequent anachronistic references to current events, as well as modern technologies and concepts, make it apparent that the comic itself is being written in the present day. Married to the Sea has been described by New York magazine as "brilliant" and "lowbrow".[2]
The comic draws its inspiration from many different domains, including popular music and entertainment, science, history, government, politics, and philosophy. The intentions of the characters are frequently ambiguous, and their actions and words are frequently (and often bizarrely) at odds with the opinions expressed in actual Victorian-era America.
The first Married to the Sea comic was posted online on February 13, 2006. The site now sells several t-shirts and prints based on comics from Married to the Sea.
In March 2012, Drew and Natalie created three new websites full of non-comic content. These are @drewtoothpaste, The Worst Things For Sale, and Stuff I Put On Myself.
NatalieDee
| NatalieDee.com | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Natalie Dee |
| Website |
www.nataliedee.com www.nataliedeemachine.com |
| Current status / schedule |
NatalieDee.com ceased updating as of December 5, 2013 NatalieDeeMachine.com is live as of February 15, 2014 |
| Launch date | September 17, 2002 |
NatalieDee is a webcomic created by Natalie Dee, one of the authors of Married to the Sea.
There is a new comic added daily to NatalieDee.com. The Webcomics comprise various sketches illustrating amusing or anecdotal situations from every day life. The comics do not follow a plot, but do feature recurring characters such as Natalie Dee's dogs, Chester and Charles.[3] There are a number of references to Natalie Dee's own life, for example her pets and previous jobs and family although the comics are not supposed to be autobiographical.
According to The Daily Gamecock, "Natalie Dee's comics are a daily dose of amusement, entertainment and, oftentimes, confusion," [4] while they are referred to as "unbearable cuteness" by Entertainment Weekly.[5]
The first Natalie Dee webcomic was published on 17 September 2002. At this point the comic was not regularly updated. The comic began being updated on weekdays from 29 December 2003 and then daily as of 9 May 2005.
Since these first comics the overall look of the illustrations has become more professional and polished. Natalie Dee has moved away from paper drawings and now uses software to create her signature hand-drawn style. She sometimes blends photographs or stock imagery with illustration.[6]
As of December 5, 2013, NatalieDee.com is no longer being regularly updated. The front page randomly shuffles comics from previous dates. [7]
In February of 2014, Natalie Dee launched NatalieDeeMachine.com, a random comic generator in the style of classic Natalie Dee comics.[8]
Drew
| toothpastefordinner.com | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Drew Fairweather |
| Website | www.toothpastefordinner.com |
| Current status / schedule | updates daily |
| Launch date | May 23, 2002 |
Drew Fairweather (born 1979), professionally known as Drew, is an American author and artist residing in Columbus, Ohio. He is notable for being the creator of the webcomic Toothpaste for Dinner, and the co-creator of the webcomic Married to the Sea alongside wife and fellow artist Natalie Dee.[9]
Drew was previously a research chemist and held several patents before transitioning to full-time work with his webcomic Toothpaste For Dinner.[10] For the first two years of TFD's existence, Drew worked as a cat photographer to "make ends meet" before it became popular.[11] In September 2006, Drew revealed himself to be the entity behind the electronic musician KOMPRESSOR, which was previously only known by the alias "Andreas K.".[12][13] Drew has since released other albums under the artist name Dog Traders and CRUDBUMP.[14][15] On 11 April 2011, Drew published his first novel, Veins.[16]
In 2014 it was revealed in a podcast interview[17] that "Drew" was actually the collective name for 3 cousins who worked together to produce the comics, writing, and musical work as Toothpaste For Dinner, Married To The Sea, Crudbump, Kompressor, Superpoop, and the other sites. Their last names are all Fairweather, thus the use of the common surname for credit.
References
- ↑ TechCrunch interview
- ↑ New York article
- ↑ Dogs Names Interview with Natalie Dee
- ↑ Daily Gamecock Article Issue:2 October 2008
- ↑ Unbearable Cuteness Entertainment Weekly Article
- ↑ Rumpus Interview
- ↑ End of archive, December 2013
- ↑ Natalie Dee Machine
- ↑ "Toothpaste for Dinner; A slide-show of the most addictive comic on the Web", Sam Anderson, Slate Magazine, June 24, 2005
- ↑ Slate.com slideshow
- ↑ http://www.iusbpreface.com/entertainment/interview-with-toothpaste-for-dinner-cartoonist-drew-1.2951171#.UjZYjrwSxe8
- ↑ Toothpaste for Dinner journals
- ↑ Kompressor website
- ↑ Amazon.com: Dog Traders: MP3 Downloads
- ↑ Amazon.com: CRUDBUMP: MP3 Downloads
- ↑ http://www.amazon.com/Veins-ebook/dp/B004W8D8JQ
- ↑ http://www.saveitfortheshow.com/episodes/ep83-toothpaste-for-dinner