Oliver the Oscar fish, in partnership with The Oscar Spot and in addition to his goodwill duties as web store guide/mascot/comic strip character of The Oscar Spot Shop, has added a new title to his resume, that of Charity Donation Director. With the creation of his own site, Oliver has set out to raise money for some very worthy causes by donating 100% of his Squidoo-earned royalties to the various and wonderful charity organizations you'll see at the top right of his site when you visit Oliver the Oscar Fish.
With the holiday season upon us, the spirit of giving is in the air and it is never a bad time to consider the less fortunate, even as we consider our own fortunes during these difficult times in the economy.
Things are still the same if you purchase directly from The Oscar Spot Shop, with portions of the sales going to help cover the costs of the website. Thank you to those of you whom purchased from The Shop, it is greatly appreciated. However, if you want part of your payment donated to the chosen charities of Oliver, you must make you purchase through Oliver's site. To see which charities you would be donating to, just visit his site and look at the top right of the page, beside the red charity bow. By the way, if you don't want to make a purchase but instead want to just donate directly, simply click on the bow.
Incidentally, the same thing can be done at The Oscar Spot's Squidoo lens. So if you do make a purchase through one of the two Squidoo lenses, take comfort in knowing that you get the benefit of three things. You get a high quality Zazzle product in return, you help cover the costs of the website and most importantly, you do your part to make lives a little easier and better for the people and animals that we share this big blue marble with. That's what Christmas and any holiday should be about. Merry Fishmas everyone.
Speaking of the shop, we have created a new embroidered hat called Afishinado. You can chose it in 3 different styles and several different colours. You can also customize it by adding text on the sides such as your name or initials in the colours you want. Just click on "Customize" on the product page to do so.
I would like to introduce my comic strip debut here today. Meet Oliver Oscar, to your left.
I had an idea about a year ago to create a comic strip/mascot for The Oscar Spot, a website that is run by a friend of mine. I had a working title in mind, the names of a couple of characters but not much else beyond that. I started sketching character designs, constantly revising them but was never really satisfied with what I was coming up with, so in frustration I would abandon the project only to come at it again with a fresh approach by wiping the slate clean. I worked on this on and off for the past year never really getting past the point of a rough outline for a strip. I still needed to figure what kind of setting the comic would be placed in, what the relationship of the characters would be and what the tone of the humor would be. This is always the hardest part of the creative process.
Last week, I was designing something for another project when I accidentally stumbled upon the character design I was looking for. It was pure luck or maybe it was fate, I dunno, all I know is I immediately saw the potential for a cartoon character in what I had just sketched. I immediately abandoned the project I was working on and proceeded to refine the character's look. Within about a half hour, I had my star character, Oliver Oscar. I decided that two other Oscar fish characters would look identical to Oliver, since as in real life, all fish pretty much look the same. The only way to distinguish them is by their colours. Oliver, as you might guess, is olive in colour. The next two characters I created were Red Oscar and Olivia. I think you can guess their colours. Red and Oscar are the best fish friends in the whole underwater world. Olivia is the sister of Oliver and is the object of Red's affections. So here is the first panel to be published.
The setting is obviously in an aquarium where we will be able to witness the daily (weekly?) ongoing lives of the core group of characters and their habits. Originally I was going to simply call the comic, "The Oscar Spot". Then I thought maybe something different would be less confusing from the website. I considered "Red and Oliver." Finally I settled on "Ri'cichlid'ous!", a play on the words, cichlid and ridiculous.
In this first comic, Oliver refers to Hole In The Head disease or HITH. HITH is a condition that can afflict Oscar fish and other cichlids, causing pitting of the head and erosion of the body. It is also known as HLLE, head and lateral line erosion.
I was fortunate enough to receive a TBA (Today's Best Art) ribbon award from Zazzle for this poster print of "Ri'cichlid'ous!" of which I am very proud and had the honor of being featured on their front page along with a dozen or so other Zazzle artists. That really made my day. Click on the image above and you will see the little red ribbon to the lower right.
The Characters: Oliver You have already met Oliver. Oliver is pretty much a regular kind of guy type fish who tries not to make waves (get it?) and is a good friend to Red. Of the two, Oliver is the more level headed and considerate but even he sometimes succumbs to his natural Oscar tendencies. He is the big brother to Olivia with whom he shares his olive complexion. Although Oliver can go through a range of emotions, you'll find most of the time he will have the same blank fish-eyed stare. Along with Red, Oliver will be part of the duel mascots for The Oscar Spot website.
Red Oliver's best friend and partner in mischief. Red is not only his name and colour, it is also the reflexion of his temperament, which sometimes gets the best of him or gets the best of others actually, specifically smaller, defenseless fish. Despite these flaws, overall, Red is a good fish and loyal friend to Oliver, acting as his confidant and sometimes bodyguard. Red has a crush on Oliver's sister, Olivia. He is the other half of the Oscar Spot mascot duo.
Olivia Olivia is the little sister of Oliver. She likes to wear blue eye-shadow and lime green fish lipstick. She also has long thick eyelashes. She is still in fish school and loves to hang out with her girlfish friends.
Pedo Pedo (Pee-doh) is an orange pike cichlid. Not much is known about him at this point except that he prefers the company of Oscars rather than other pikes and he sometimes likes to butt heads.
That is all the character designs I have done so far. I have more characters, I just haven't had a chance to design them yet. That will come with time and as the comic evolves, more characters will be added.
The gang's favourite hangout is The Oscar Spot, a fast seafood restaurant, where many of the young cichlids like to go.
In case some of you don't know what an Oscar fish looks like, have a look for yourself.
The Oscar Spot has unveiled new merchandise designs that are now available. Three Oscar Fish is a design based on the banner logo of The Oscar Spot website. It features the familiar three oscar fish in a watercolour style graphic and is featured on many products to chose from, including mugs, t-shirts, stickers, hats, stamps, greeting cards and more. Check them out and browse around for a while. Now that hits the spot!
Oh Oscar Spot! How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...with my new twelve month, The Oscar Spot calendar!
You can count the ways, days and months while admiring the beautiful fish photos adorning the pages of The Oscar Spot calendar, a different fish each month. You not only get an Oscar fish, you also get a Discus, a Firemouth, a Red Devil, A Severum and a Red Pike Cichlid among others. Remember, The Oscar Spot is not just about oscar fish.
We are a comprehensive Cichlid Web Resource Community focusing on the Oscar Fish (Astronotus ocellatus), as well as New World (South American) and African Cichlids. Our widely diverse members offer advice, help and information on our forums. We also have a wide array of forums that are dedicated to healthy and good fish keeping practices, for fresh water to hard to maintain saltwater aquariums.
The Oscar Spot has grown to be a place where everyone from beginners to the expert aquarist can visit frequently and be proud of the content that is provided.
For the avid aquarist in your family, consider The Oscar Spot calendar as a wonderful Christmas gift. It's the gift that keeps giving all year long.
Customize This Design You have several styles and sizes to choose from. If you wish, click on " Customize this design" button after you have clicked on the calendar link.
Spiral Binding: 7 "wire colours" to pick from Date Styles: 13 great styles Sizes: Small, Large and Huge in addition to single sheet Add Text: Want to add a message or name? Just click on "Add text". Several font styles and colours to choose from.
Buy: When you have finishid customizing The Oscar Spot Calendar, click on "add to cart" and you are done.
