A timeline of what I have been up to…
- 1979 : Hello world!
I was born (Gerrit De Bremme, 1st of January 1979, Vilvoorde, Belgium) and started drawing as soon as I could hold a crayon. - 1999 : Shellac Electric Boogie Page
In 1999 I was still working on my master degree in electronic engineering and one of my favorite bands was Shellac of North America. Hence I created a website called ‘Shellac Electric Boogie Page’ on the free Tripod hosting platform. The site was used to experiment with webdesign and to post music review - 2001 : Freddy
I got a flatbed scanner, drew a simple alien, and made him perform my jokes. Jokes that I had written because I had seen a Bill Hicks special and I wanted to become a comic. But there were no comedy spots in Belgium that I knew of. So Freddy became my drawn stand-up comic. - 2003 : Shellac.be
During my master studies in computer science I decided that nothing says ‘amateur’ like a website on a free host. So I moved the cartoons to a real webhost and registered shellac.be whille handing out prints of the cartoons in a local comic store. (Het Besloten Land, Leuven) There it was picked up by student paper VETO. Freddy replaced the famous comic ‘Fokke en Sukke’ by John Reid, Bastiaan Geleijnse and Jean-Marc van Tol (artist). The Freddy comic would run in this weekly publication for 7 years before making way for new, younger, cartoonists. - 2004 : A book is born
I published the first Freddy cartoon album in a fan-zine format. (240 sold) - 2005 : Repeat
The Freddy vol2. fan-zine hits stores. (260 sold) - 2006 : Improve
I published Freddy vol3. with a real softcover.(400 sold). Because I was tired of waiting for comedy spots, I organized and performed my first live stand-up gig. DIY and PMA. - 2007 : New firsts (and lasts)
I published the first full-color soft cover Freddy vol4. (480 sold) As winner of the Canvas Cartoon 2007, there was a one time, and one time only, publication in HUMO. To better manage all my creative activities Shellac was established as a one man bussiness. - 2008 – No holding back
Due to popular demand, full-color soft cover Freddy vol5. was released. (450 sold) - 2009 : Grand finale for now
The final Freddy album to date, the full-color soft cover Freddy vol6. was published. (450 sold) - 2010 : Discomfort
I always dreamt of performing stand-up in the USA. So, in 2010 I organized a tour in the open mic circuits of Pittsburgh, Seattle and Los Angeles. I filmed the whole trip and edited it into a 45min documentay called “Discomfort: stepping out of the comfort zone”. The focus was the process of writing a set: pitching ideas, testing bits, performing a set. The documentary was picked up (ok; I forced it on him 😉 ) by tv producer Patrick De Witte (PDW) who gave me the opportunity to record a 15min set as a backup comic for the tv comedy show Comedy Casino. Sadly enough none of the backup comics were aired. To even greater sadness, PDW died suddenly in 2013. RIP. - 2014 : Shellacdesign.com
While the Freddy cartoons run on shellac.be, a second website shellacdesign.com is created to showcase the paintings and designs I had been doing from time to time. - 2015 : Freddy on hold
After almost 15 years of running weekly, the last drop is out of the barrel, and Freddy goes on hold. Also I published “Burgerboy”. (200 sold) A silly comic about a guy going for a burger. Hilarious. - 2018 : Kurdt
After 3 years of work, I published my first full graphic novel called “Kurdt”. The story is a comparison of Kurt Cobain with my own struggles. By the end of 2018 there were 385 copies sold and the book is available in shops in Brussels, London, Hamburg, Lisbon, Cape Town, Seattle and Los Angeles. DIY and PMA again. - 2019 : 20th anniversary
All the Shellac Design activities becomes part of Birdview BVBA, but most importantly: Freddy is back. The green alien is just too much fun to draw.
…and I am not done yet!