How Myspace Was Born

Posted on 20/2/08

How MySpace Was Born - By Matthew Inman

I was working on some myspace-related stuff today which required me to draw the infamous photo of Tom, Myspace's founder. I got a little creative with it and decided to create the above webcomic.

We all know myspace is terrible, so I'll spare you a lengthy blog post about all the things that are wrong with that abomination they call a website.

Instead, I'll talk about designer stuff. I'm trying to get better at using simple lines and shapes to represent things visually. With Fireworks I'm at a slight disadvantage because I can't simulate pressure when drawing with the pen tool, so I have to kind of hack it and manually draw thicker lines where needed. Normally, when a line simulates pressure it gets thicker around curves in the same way that a pen would. Photoshop and Illustrator both have this feature, and if I'm serious about doing more of this type of design I really need to get on the bandwagon and start using Illustrator full-time.

I was particularly happy with Tom's head and face. It still looks like Tom, but also has a happy-go-lucky 1950's illustration feel to it:

Myspace Tom's Face - By Matthew Inman

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  • Ginny writes on 4/3/08
    Too funny. BTW, your site is beautiful.
  • Will writes on 11/6/09
    How Facebook was born: Same thing. Zuckerberg vomiting, but the vomit is more pretentious-looking. Just joking, Facebook fans.

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About Matthew

I am a 27 year old web designer, developer, and online marketer.

In early 2007 I built a full-featured online dating website, from concept to launch, in only 66.5 hours. The end result was Mingle2, and within six months the website received several million visitors and was eventually acquired by a competitor. Mingle2 now receives 40 million page views a month.

Prior to working full-time at Mingle2, I co-founded SEOmoz and acted as CTO, web designer, and web developer.

I now focus my energies on The Oatmeal, an entertainment site full of comics, quizzes, and other delights.

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