Behind the Scenes: Early Illustrations of Seth's Atomic County Comic Book!

Eric Wight's first thumbnail for Atomic County

Every great idea has humble beginnings, over time that simple idea evolves into something much more amazing - if you have the patience that is. The following images shows how Eric Wight's illustrations for Atomic County came to be. In case you didn't know, Eric Wight was the illustrator that created nearly every drawling/sketch in The O.C. - Seth's doodles, Art around his room and of course Atomic County. To the viewers imagination, the artist was of course Seth Cohen but it's all smoke and mirrors when it comes to TV..Eric Wight was the real man behind all that creativity! Learn more about him here.  

"My first attempt at the O.C. Insider magazine cover. It would ultimately become the cover to the graphic novel prop seen on the show. Note Seth's more superhero-ish outfit and rocket skateboard, both ideas that were ultimately killed." -Eric Wight

As you can see Seth was originally equipped with a rocket skateboard - how appropriate!

"My first attempt at the Atomic County graphic novel cover. Something wasn't quite working for me, so I killed it." - Eric Wight

"I was going through my files when I stumbled across my rejected thumbnail for the magazine cover. I dusted it off, made some modifications, and this became the cover to the graphic novel." - Eric Wight

No more rocket skateboard!

"The final inks for the Atomic County graphic novel cover." - Eric Wight

The final look that ended up being the prop in the show. 

Isn't amazing to see how Eric's initial idea vs final idea turned out? With that being said - don't belittle your small progresses in life because you never know, if you stick to it, it could become a huge victory! Check out our DIY printable section to print off your very own Atomic County comic book cover. 

If you're interested in learning more about Eric Wight check out the IGN interview below (we just included The O.C. related questions).

IGN: How did you first get involved with The O.C.?
Wight: I was selling a piece of my art on eBay from The Escapist, which was an adaptation of The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and the person who bought it was Alan Heinberg, one of the executive producers of the show and was a huge fan of my work and asked if I'd be interested in maybe being the ghost artist for Seth. They'd talked about taking him in the direction where he'd draw some comic books and they wanted that would literally become the artist and set the style for Seth. And immediately, it clicked and I could relate to Seth's plight on the show. It became really easy to fill in his shoes, and people really grabbed onto it; they really dug that sort of very minor sub-plot in the show. 

IGN: When you're watching the show and watching Seth trace the lines of your art, do you ever just cringe?
Wight: There's one scene where I think he gets into a fight with Summer and he takes some of my drawings in a rage and I remember just feeling this anger burning inside me, like, "How dare you tear up my drawings?" It's funny when, I'll lurk around and see what people are saying online and these arguments are like, "No; Adam Brody is the real artist!" But, it's all Hollywood magic.

The O.C. Fan Art: Ryan and Marissa drawling!

Here we have some original site created O.C. art inspired by the real photo of Ryan and Marissa below!

Announcements: And the Chrismukkah giveaway winner is....

Thanks to everyone that entered into our Chrismukkah giveaway! We really enjoyed reading so many great stories, the effort you guys put into it was fantastic! One major thing stuck out while reading through the submissions - this was that everyone really found safety and companionship in watching The O.C..Another interesting theme was that many of you had preconceived notions about the show being lame but then once you started watching you were absolutely hooked!

We also learned that you guys/gals watch the series religiously (every year or more) and feel like the characters in The O.C. are practically your own family too. That's exactly what makes The O.C. special compared to a lot of other shows out there, its just a very comforting and nostalgic show to watch! The O.C. captures a certain magic that no other show to date has and we think that's why new and old fans keep loving the show year after year.

But enough of all that! Now to the good stuff! We have chosen a winner of our Chrismukkah contest! Captain oats stampede drum roll please..*horse sound*..

The winner is The UBER, SUPER O.C. fan - (quite possibly the biggest O.C. fan ever) named Kameron from Seattle, Washington! We were really moved by his fan story, his upbringing really resembled Ryan's! Great job Kameron! Read his fantastic submission below to see what we mean! 

Here is Kameron and his cat

Dear Everything The O.C.

I discovered The O.C. when it premiered back in August 2003 the summer before 10^th grade. I’ve been a diehard fan ever since. At the time I discovered the show I was a 15 year old boy who had just spent his freshman year of high school getting his ass kicked at military school in Carlsbad, CA. Then my sophomore year I got to come back home to Seattle, WA but the stipulations for my return were I had to go to a private Lutheran High School, and I had to play a sport. Going from a real hostile environment like military school to a Private Lutheran High School was a bit of a culture shock. I felt a lot like Ryan moving from Chino to The O.C. so the show just really resonated with me. I was a bit of an outsider, even did a few days in juvie for a crime I didn’t commit, (LONG STORY, No you’re being defensive!). I took the case to trial and was found not guilty. Even though I didn’t have a Sandy Cohen for a lawyer though it all worked out lol. I connected with the show on such a personal level cause it was such a compelling fish out of water story. I didn’t feel I was a bad kid but coming from military school to a private Lutheran high school I certainly was treated like one at times. Also I was kind of a troublemaker but any fights I got in were mostly self defense, except for those ones that weren’t (Ok so I was kind of a resentful, ill tempered young man ). But it was nice watching this show and viewing this character just struggling to be a normal teenager under trying circumstances with family and school and having to navigate through it all and hold it all together. 

Kameron is quite the O.C. trivia king!

The show just really hit home for me. Also I love the music, the characters, the chracter development, really everything, I’m what you would call an obsessed fan. I listen to podcasts about it, I do a re-watch about once a year but I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve seen the series all the way through. I’ve included a few pics, one is of this trivia game I used to play and I would only play The O.C and was the best in the U.S. for a little bit.

How cool is that!!

Also included a hilarious pic of an art piece my fiancé had commissioned of me, Seth and Ryan! Thank you for the consideration!

Merry Chrismukkah!

Kameron Lo #1 fan

Seattle, WA

Isn't that an amazing fan story?! Kameron thanks so much for being a fan of The O.C. but furthermore a big fan of our site! We will reach out to you via email for your prize details - thanks buddy!  

The O.C. in the News: Peter Gallagher plays Attorney in the latest "The Conner's" Episode!

It has just been released that Peter Gallagher will be playing a guest role as an attorney named Brian Foster on the latest "The Conner's" episode. Dan (father in the show) is trying to be compensated for a hurt arm and Sandy Cohen, I mean Brian Foster comes in to try and save the day and make the whole family rich.

This is an interesting guest role for Peter Gallagher, Peter is seriously channeling his Sandy Cohen days here - I wonder if he had to go back and watch some episodes to get back in that lawyer groove? Whatever the case this may be the closest we'll ever get to seeing a Sandy Cohen-esque role in 2019! 

The O.C. Video Clips: Watch the O.C. like its still 2003 - commercials and all!

There is an epic vintage O.C. recording of "The Escape" we recently found on the web and it couldn't be more nostalgic! Not only does this episode feature that home-made low resolution VHS recording vibe but also includes the commercials from that early 2000 era as well! This is as close to it get's to enjoying The O.C. the way it actually aired!

Watch it here > https://archive.org/details/The_OC_FOX_WOC_2003-09-16 (YouTube would not allow us to upload it due to copyright issues)

Notice the Verizon commercial at 4:22 - we believe this was Bradley Stryker aka Ryan Atwoods first brother (before he was switched out for Logan Marshall Green). 

Rare Photos: Rare images from "The Party Favor" Season 3 Episode 23!

Ryan gives a half-hearted hand shake to Marissa's date Kevin Volchok..Ryan's thinking "alright she's your problem now buddy.."

Sandy attempting to get the whole family together for a group shot taken with his digital camera, yes an old outdated digital camera! When's the last time you used one? Furthermore a filming boom mic can be seen right above Sandy's head (whoooops)! 

Ryan holding Theresa's prom corsage, this almost looks like Ryan's putting a ring on her finger!

Lastly we have the whole group shot minus Volchok! It was nice that they included Anna and who forget the big K-POP star who was horribly paired up with Summer!?