My name is Douglas Asselstine, a self-taught artist. I have been drawing all my life and have created a host of characters and creatures that are literally out of this world.

People ask, how did you come up with the name, 'Gorps'? For a long time I had no name for the style. So, I pictured in my minds eye, if I were in a beautiful country setting  and observed a lumpy-bumpy space craft land. A door drops to the ground and out come these weird creatures. They walk kind of funny as they examine their surroundings. That's when it popped into my head. When I was in my teens, what you'd call a nerd these days, we'd call a gorp those days.

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I dare say, ‘Gorps’ would attract people of all ages. ‘Gorps’ feature a host of unusual pets and creatures. A major selling point for this property is that it would target international markets because they are non ethnic in nature.

There is nothing on the market like the ‘Gorps’. Additionally, ‘Gorps’ would lend itself to children and adult humour books, toy production and animation.

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‘Gorps’ is just another way of looking and laughing at ourselves. They are alien cartoon creations that defy gravity, with body parts that are not connected. This lends itself to some rather humorous situations. Make the world go away or stop the world and get off! Step right into the world of ‘Gorps’ and experience the reality of another world. Where else could you discover that keeping yourself together might be taken literally, paying an arm and a leg for an item would leave you hopping on one leg. If the neighbours throw a barbecue, it’s with a different twist. On this planet the traps on a golf course are to be experienced. Their children don’t cause parents alarm because they can be put deep into a cryogenic freeze. Fish fly with wings and landing gear and small mouth-bass are small-mouse bass. Volcanoes are humorous comic beings and household pets are as unique. They have advanced technologies with cars like hot-rod Model T Fords with propellers. The ‘Gorps’ are like us in many ways as they mirror human behavior and culture. They have pets, Neptune flavoured ice cream, acid rain, in-laws, plumbers, lawyers, doctors; you name it, they have it and more. One day you might look into a mirror and find one shyly peering back at you.

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My newest style of cartooning is 'Thinking Outside the Box.' Cartoonists draw inside a box, but being obstinate I took it upon myself to break the norm and do it my way. I think this has a lot of appeal and has a more interesting presentation. Being from the old school, I used pencil, ink and paper. But these days I have been doing my artwork using art software programs and a digital tablet and just love the way I can use special effects and textures in my cartoons. This last year I have dedicated my time to producing a second cartoon book that I think I will entitle, 'Thinking Outside the Box.'  The book is well underway having close to a hundred cartoons completed.

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A friend once asked, 'How does your creative process work, to think and create your ideas?" I replied, "It's the way I don't think!"  Actually, most of my ideas come out of the blue. For every five or six cartoons that I create, I may come up with ten or more ideas. Some times I'm just bored and draw a situation. Place a character here, another there...now what? I just might add something abstract like a bolt of lightning striking the ground or a bystander. That's the way it happens,  I'm struck by a bolt of lightning and I have the scars to prove it. It doesn't really matter if you're at the top of your game, tired, worn out, or not feeling that good, it doesn't matter. The way I see it, your brain is on another frequency and I've often created my best work at times like that.

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Well, that sums it up. Hope you enjoyed our conversation...I did!