explodingdog is the name of an internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 web site run by Sam Brown

Sam Brown (artist)

Sam Brown, pseudonym of Adam Culbert, is an American illustrator and author most noted for his website, explodingdog. The gimmick of the site is that he draws pictures based on titles that visitors to the site send him via email or twitter...

, pseudonym of Adam Culbert. Viewers of the site e-mail Brown short phrases for inspiration and he picks certain ones to illustrate. The drawings are usually drawn on computer

Computer

A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...

 and are known for their simplistic style, and their poignant and sometimes unexpected take on the phrases on which they are based.

History

explodingdog was started in 2000.

Sam Brown has published limited-run print books of his explodingdog illustrations. He also sells merchandise with explodingdog illustrations and prints of the daily drawings to help offset costs.

Themes

Like many artists, Sam Brown uses many recurring themes and visual in his explodingdog work.

A short list of visual themes:

• Stick figures (why can't i remember your name?)
• Red robots (The Robots have taken me. Please send help)
• Fish (frequently yellow) (inside I feel really sad)
• Stars (i wonder what the moon is up to?)
• Clouds (so sad to go back)
• Monsters (there are somethings I regret)
• Menacing cityscapes (I can't do it)
• Snakes (I wish I had seen you first)
• Ducks (I'm getting fatter)
• Dogs (i wish i had a dog that could talk)
• Dictators (i wish i had a goat (etc.))
• Orange cones, which are, apparently, a game of sorts (wow this is fun....)
• Rockets (why are you gone?)

A short list of recurring themes:

• Loss (never really got to hold on to you)
• Love (...and even you can find love...)
• Joy (i am making it happen)
• Loneliness (i am not really stuck here, i just dont realize it)
• Menace (i got to do it my own way)
• Confusion (they don't know)
• Freedom (it never was a prison)

Influence

Over the years there have been a number of different artistic projects inspired by explodingdog. These sites usually utilize the same "submitted by random people, and selected for inspiration" concept that explodingdog pioneered.

Webcomics

• Whispered Apologies — An inversion of the explodingdog format in which artists submit comics to the site, and writers give the submitted comics text.
• Boring3D
• Diesel Sweeties
  Diesel Sweeties
  Diesel Sweeties is a webcomic and former newspaper comic strip written by Richard Stevens III . The comic began in 2000, originally hosted at robotstories.com...
  
  Traditional webcomic featuring a Red Robot.
• NatalieDee- Publishes a webcomic daily.

Music sites

• Song Fight!
  Song Fight!
  Song Fight! is a weekly online songwriting and recording competition in which amateur artists are openly invited to participate. Traditionally, a title and deadline are posted each week for which participants write, record, and submit a song in MP3 format...
  
   — Originally started as a musical explodingdog spinoff, now a songwriting contest between multiple artists.
• Request-A-Song.com The artists at this site took song title requests and turned them into original songs.
• Songs To Wear Pants To this site will take any user submission of text/genre and turn it into a song.

In the news

• July 2001 Interview at The Morning News
  The Morning News (online magazine)
  The Morning News is a U.S.-based daily online magazine founded in 1999 by Rosecrans Baldwin and Andrew Womack. It began as an email newsletter and in the fall of 2000 evolved into a news-oriented weblog with a New York focus...
  
  
• Three Imaginary Girls, July 2004
• gel talk, May 2003
• Austin Chronicle, March 2005
• Bostonist, July 2006
• NY Times, April 10, 2003
• Wired, Nov 2000