# Toonlet

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**Toonlet** (stylized in all lowercase) was a free [website](/source/Website) that allows users to create their own [cartoon](/source/Cartoon) characters and [webcomics](/source/Webcomics). Founded in 2007 and opened to public [beta](/source/Beta_version) in 2008, Toonlet differed from other webcomic building tools of the time in that comics are published on the site (or embedded elsewhere) similar to [forum](/source/Internet_forum) or [blog](/source/Blog) posts, meaning they can be replied to.

## Description

The Toonlet character tool, which uses [Adobe Flash](/source/Adobe_Flash), allowed people to build up characters from pre-defined parts[1] which users were also free to supplement with their own. When their character was ready, they could save, and then swap out parts to build up a library of moods or poses to use in their comics. Completed comics were automatically posted in a forum format to the site. Others could reply with their own comic.[2]

Five to ten of the previous day's comics were added to the Top Strips section of the site daily. Comics could be sent to friends via email or embedded onto a blog or website. In addition to other users of Toonlet, art packs had been created for the site by comic artists such as [Peter Bagge](/source/Peter_Bagge).[3]

## History

Headquartered in [Portland, Oregon](/source/Portland,_Oregon), Toonlet was founded in mid-2007 by [CEO](/source/CEO) Craig Schwartz and [CTO](/source/Chief_technical_officer) Seth Ladygo. The two made a beta version of the site live to the public at the end of the year. Previously, Schwartz worked at the video game publisher [Electronic Arts](/source/Electronic_Arts) as a Producer for [The Sims](/source/The_Sims) and [SimCity](/source/SimCity) video games.[4] Because toonlet hasn't accepted [institutional](/source/Institutional) (i.e. [venture capital](/source/Venture_capital) or [angel investment](/source/Angel_investment)) funding, Craig also took a short writing contract for the highly anticipated [*Spore*](/source/Spore_(2008_video_game)) video game in late 2007.[4] In mid-2008, Schwartz and Ladygo asked friend Ian Schlein to join the company as part-time [Community Manager](/source/Online_community_manager).

## References

1. ["Cartoon You: Creating Easy Avatars"](https://www.pcworld.com/article/519609/article-5073.html). *PCWorld*. Retrieved 11 January 2022.

1. Lowensohn, Josh. ["Toonlet: yet another (good) comic strip builder"](http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-9854046-2.html). *[CNET](/source/CNET)*. Retrieved 2009-03-08.

1. Kirkpatrick, Marshall (January 18, 2008). ["Toonlet: DIY Cartoon Strips Made Social"](http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/toonlet_diy_cartoon_strips_made_social.php). *[ReadWriteWeb](/source/ReadWriteWeb)*. Retrieved 2009-03-08.

1. "Brodnitz, Dan (September 8, 2008). ["An Interview with toonlet.com's Craig Schwartz"](http://blogs.oreilly.com/digitalmedia/2008/09/an-interview-with-toonletcoms.html). [O'Reilly](/source/O'Reilly_Media) Digital Media. Retrieved 2009-03-08.

## Sources

- ["Make a quickie comic strip"](https://web.archive.org/web/20080517172324/http://blogs.usatoday.com/popcandy/2008/05/make-a-quickie.html). *[USA Today](/source/USA_Today)*. Archived from [the original](http://blogs.usatoday.com/popcandy/2008/05/make-a-quickie.html) on 2008-05-17.
- ["Start Me Up: The 10 Coolest Tech Startups You've Never Heard Of"](https://web.archive.org/web/20090225163947/http://www.oregonbusiness.com/.docs/_sid/fafa5d28ffe5a1dbed302fcd065050e7/action/detail/rid/33241/pg/10003). *[Oregon Business Magazine](/source/Oregon_Business_Magazine)*. July 2008. Archived from [the original](http://www.oregonbusiness.com/.docs/_sid/fafa5d28ffe5a1dbed302fcd065050e7/action/detail/rid/33241/pg/10003) on 2009-02-25.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Toonlet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toonlet) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toonlet?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.