Out of the many popular memes on the internet, one of the most famous is the black and white smiling face. The mischievously smiling troll is there in almost every internet meme, with witty catchphrases about life that people identify with. It made its way into comics, t-shirts, coffee mugs, and even in some video games!
But did you ever wonder where it actually came from? What’s the history of the Troll Face?
It was an accidental creation of Carlos Ramirez, an Oakland-based artist, who drew this face on MS Paint in 2008 and uploaded it on 4chan. The then 18-year-old Carlos had no idea that his drawing would become an internet sensation on social media platforms, especially Reddit.
In an interview given to Kotaku, Carlos said:
I didn’t really have any intention to share it. I just posted it on their video game board and I went to sleep. I woke up the next morning and saw it re-posted in a number of other threads.
What followed was success and a lot of money! This accidental drawing brought Carlos a lot of fortune. In 2010, upon his mother’s insistence, Carlos got a copyright of his drawing, and began making profit out of it.
Overall, Carlos has made more than $1,00,000 through his drawing. At the height of the meme’s popularity, Carlos earned between $10,000 and $15,000 every few months.
That a random meme got popular is not so unbelievable considering how the most bizarre and unpredictable things can happen on the internet. But to think that Carlos made it on MS-frigging-Paint!
And here I am trying desperately to master Photoshop!
