Any self respecting sci-fi nerd spending the majority of their life creating office based digital collectibles is surely destined to make the obvious connection that a stapler actually looks like a xenomorph alien, aren’t they? I did, I haven’t looked back since! Get ready to learn how DC X Cinema became a thing, how I work and an exclusive look at the original concept designs.
Although originally intended to debut at Dygycon 13 in November 2022, the god of NFT time let me down and external pressures such as prep for Comic Con Birmingham meant DC X Cinema would be delayed until 2023 - and a stapler alien would have to wait.
A bit like Brian in Family Guy, it was starting to look like I would never get started on ‘that Novel’, then over the Christmas break, I found time and inspiration after producing the Nut Cracker Karen vs. Chris holiday special. The warm reception of which really spurred me on. It was great seeing our characters parody Die Hard in a trademark Drawn Company way and now evident this could be done on an industrial scale so long as I could marry up our characters with fictitious brands that complemented them.
I started by creating concepts and asking the community (a process started before Christmas) for ideas of which movies/scenes could possibly get the Drawn Company Treatment - as ever, we got lots of great suggestions (too many) and work began on the collection on 28th December 2022. With a deadline of just four weeks until NFTopia, work had to be done at speed, knowing I had to finish artwork and animation at least a week before the drop and produce a full promo drop (as has become the tradition for all our AAA launches) and pre-mint the NFTs.
As with all our other grand productions, the work on this collection was entirely organic. I would create something in an evening and then put it our on Twitter (or Discord) to gauge the reaction - as ever some stuff worked and some didn’t. Although this should remain 100% a secret, I always start marketing before I have completed anything - this makes things even more fluid for me and helps the design/creative process. For example, I created the VHS used of Chris and Karen Get Nasty (the sex tape) originally as teaser for DC X Cinema - this became its own thing and evolved through discussions with other creators; ‘oh you have a VHS… I bet it’s got porn on it’! It didn’t, but it does now!
Karen ‘Von’ Clutterbuck was the first character I created. It was either this or Dorothy (Drop II anyone?) and I had to start with her as Naked Chris was fast evolving from just being a Dygycon Mascot into one of our most popular character (Hence the sex tape). Once I had started creating characters, I immediately moved onto the branding and made movie posters/brands to provide further inspiration. Just to give you and idea of pace, I made one asset per night, but always got side tracked to doing something cool like starting animation or creating a social post for tomorrow’s GM! As I write this I am actually now more focussed on creating an AIMP for our NFTopia Takeover on Saturday…
As I said above, the Stapler became the Alien, the Photocopier is now a time machine and like every self respecting Movie Studio - we even have theme park rides. 98% of the artwork has been freshly made - with some clever uses of existing DC assets (can you spot the borrowed ones?). On top of this, we added a final cinema sheen by giving the office aliens a complete overhaul - I don’t think these look like they want to dance, but I guess that is what Hollywood would do to our little our grey fellas if they got their hands on them.
I really hope you get as much enjoyment out of the collection as I have had in making it and you enjoyed learning a little more about the process which goes on behind closed doors in the office at the start of the Metaverse. We will continue to create and innovate into 2023 and beyond as long as we have still have employees in our office collecting, trading and blending…
DC X Cinema is an NFTopia Exclusive drop coming to the WAX Blockchain/Nefty Blocks on 20/01/2023 @ 8pm UTC.