The Russelling - The Origins
The Russelling started life in a psychology classroom, session one on a Monday morning, a practical breeding ground for creativity and boredom induced energy. The first ever drawings demonstrate exactly why it is that I'm never going to be the next Bill Watterson, Jim Davis or Gary Larson.
Below are some scanned in copies of the original drawings. Some of them are practically exact copies of what you can see in the archives, but there's a couple that I decided not to use. In some scenarios for example, I had Russell meet Chris in the street instead of Tom, and in a few she turns out to be a transsexual.
Note: It helps if you've actually read the episodes these go with, or they're very hard to read.
Some of these are hard to read if you haven't already seen the written up version. This is the first ever drawing of episode one - I'm a man. As you can see, the drawings are crap. But this is where it all started!
The second instalment, known best as episode two - Benny's. As you can see, I was using a rubbish pen and messed up the fifth slide. Even when drawing in rough, I had to get the right expression or I'd just forget what I meant later on.
Episode three - Still grabbing. More slides were added to this one later but it stayed mostly the same. I think by now I was writing this partially because David, who sits next to me in psychology, kept asking about them.
Episode four - Man enough. By now I was getting into the story line and less involved with the art which is why Russell is starting to look less and less like Russell.
Episode five - More balls. There's not a lot to say about this one. It was sort a summary of what had happened, and also a chance for Tom to get more than one line per strip.
Episode null - Something to ask. One idea that never got used was that it be Russell who met up with Chris again, not Tom. I know it's hard to read and there's no episode to refer to, so:
Russell: Chris! Hey Chris!
Russell: I thought I'd never see you again. I had a great time last night.
Chris: You left so quickly, I thought you weren't interested...
Russell: Sorry about that. My friend Tom was being a jerk.
Russell: All because some guy grabbed his arse!
Chris: That's understandable. Eric is a little intimidating.
Russell: Chris, there's something I think I should ask....
Chris: Hey, lets get some coffee!
Episode null - Faint. Although this idea was used, it didn't work out like this. In this version, Chris actually is a man, or used to be, but in the final result she wasn't. Translation:
Chris: Hey Tom! Tom, it's me, Chris!
Tom: Oh hi... uh, can I help you?
Chris: I meant to ask Russell for his number but you left so fast... could I...?
Tom: Oh right. Look, Chris, Russell doesn't think you were being serious about the whole 'I'm a man' thing...
Tom: And I'm okay with it, but you should...
Chris: I understand but you've got me wrong. I'm not a man. I mean, I was, but...
Tom: Ah, so what you're...
Chris: I'm glad we've got that sorted. I was worried you were going to freak out. Will Russell be okay with this?
Tom: Sure he will, he's very accepting (thinks: he's going to faint).
And that's all I have! If anyone wants to buy these when I'm famous and wealthy, feel free to email me with your highest bid. We'll start in the hundreds shall we? *Sniggers to self and goes to buy 'how to draw' book.