A Conversation With the Artist Behind 'I'm With Coco'

Did you imagine 'I'm With Coco' would go so crazily viral?
No, not at all. I just did it for fun. I wanted people to get behind it, but I didn't really expect them to. When I woke up the next morning and it had already taken off, I was really caught off guard.

Any idea how it exploded?
I just put it on Twitter and it got into the hands of a couple comedians -- Patton Oswalt and Paul F. Tompkins -- and they started spreading it around. That's really what got it going, I think.

And you've raised $25,000 for Haiti with T-shirts featuring the image?
I personally have raised over $20,000, and we did a couple 'I'm With Coco' comedy events and I think those together raised $15,000.

Have you ever been involved with anything so big?
No, not at all. We've been creeping up on a million Facebook fans for a while now and we're trying to get that final boost. As far as the Haiti stuff goes, it was really interesting because the poster went viral the same day the earthquake happened. It was this great moment for me and this terrible moment for so many other people. It felt natural, once I got the go-ahead from Conan to print shirts with his likeness, to do it for Haiti relief. Then we started selling wristbands purely for charity, and those have raised a lot of money.

Conan's sole Twitter friend has said Conan changed her life. How about you?
Yeah. I'm very excited. The first week, I couldn't even get a thought out, my brain was so clogged with all this crazy stuff going on -- but it's still going on. It's boosted my career as an artist. You can't ask for better publicity; it just doesn't happen. It's provided some freelance opportunities and raised my profile as an artist. It makes it easier to find work.

What was life like before 'I'm With Coco'?
I picked up a little bit of freelance work and quit my job at a video game company. I was miserable at the job, and it was like, "Well, I can either just totally hate every day of my life or I can quit and see what happens." It was a big chance I was taking. And before this Coco stuff happened, I didn't know what I'd do in a few months if I didn't start lining up some serious work. But now, 'I'm With Coco' is so huge. It's provided a nice little cushion for my wife and I.

What kind of interaction have you had with Conan?
I met him a couple times. He invited my wife and I to 'The Tonight Show' to meet everybody. They invited us back for the final show, and we got to hang out. I made a really nice, framed print of the 'I'm With Coco' image and gave it to him.

And how was it, meeting him?
It was great. It's really strange, because especially recently, I've met a lot of people I really admire, and you expect them to be super awesome, and a lot of times they aren't. But Conan is just really, genuinely nice and a funny, cool guy in person.

He tweeted yesterday advertising a chance for an awkward meeting on his tour.
Meeting him wasn't awkward at all. I've always wanted to, for however many years, and it was just this laid-back conversation. He's just like he is on his show -- he can't be serious for more than 15 seconds without cracking a joke.

We know you're not interested or able to say how much money you made from this deal. But give us this: Are we talking sofa money or new car money?
It's not new car money unless it's a really crappy car. It's not the most money I've ever made or anything. I made more from merchandise than from the comedy tour deal. They [Conan and Co.] are giving me a check and then some royalties on the merchandise. I can't say no to these guys -- they allowed me to make some money for myself and it was a fair deal. They just licensed the image for the tour -- I still own the rights.

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