Toonlet

toonlet

Company type	Private
Industry	Webcomics, Online publishing
Founded	2007 (2007)
Founder	Craig Schwartz, Seth Ladygo
Defunct	2015 (2015)
Headquarters	Portland, Oregon , United States
Key people	Craig Schwartz (CEO), Seth Ladygo (CTO), Ian Schlein (Community Manager)
Products	Cartoon figure design platform, webcomic creation tools

toonlet (presented in lowercase) was a no-cost platform that enabled individuals to design personalized cartoon figures and create webcomics. Established in 2007 and introduced to the public in beta form in 2008, toonlet set itself apart by displaying comics on the website using a forum-like structure, which facilitated interactive responses.

Description

Powered by an Adobe Flash-based application, toonlet provided users with the capability to assemble characters from a selection of preset components, while also allowing the incorporation of custom features. Users had the ability to store their characters and interchange parts to develop collections of expressions or stances for their comic strips. Finished comics were automatically published within a forum-style interface, promoting engagement through community replies.

Each day, between five and ten comics were highlighted in the Top Strips area. Comics could be distributed via email or embedded into blogs and other websites. Importantly, art bundles were supplied by well-known comic artists such as Peter Bagge.

History

Based in Portland, Oregon, toonlet was created by CEO Craig Schwartz and CTO Seth Ladygo in 2007, with the beta version launching later that same year. Schwartz brought prior experience as a producer at Electronic Arts working on The Sims and SimCity series. To avoid external investment, Schwartz briefly accepted a writing role for the video game Spore in late 2007 to financially support the venture. In 2008, Ian Schlein joined as a part-time Community Manager to assist in expanding the user community.