Brain-Blasted By The 'Kid Genius' Also Known As JamSTAR
By O.A. CARRY FOR: 65,000〡PUBLISHED: February 3rd, 2026
RedBugsLove profile pic (center), Joshua (left), and "I Depend on You" cartoon (right)
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There’s a room in Toronto that one kid, and every South Park plushie known to man, calls home. Literally. The kid barely leaves, and neither do they. Outside their door is a kitchen, bathroom, and a hallway, leading to a front door, but what’s the point of exiting it? There’s enough ephemera taped to the bedroom walls to entertain a small child from birth to age 17. And that’s how old RedsBugLove, also known as JamSTAR, is right now.
Their hand-drawn cartoons of mold-brained seals, ducks, dogs, dingbats, and other silly humanoids act as the room’s wallpaper in combination with Problem Solverz posters and other print-outs from fringe, cult cartoons. The interior design is reminiscent of Mr. Krabs’ house before the paint job.
In each of their cartoons, the character is cast in front of a loudly colored background, beautifully constructed, as if four fingers on the other side of the phone screen are reaching forward, warping the stretchy fabric of the plane.
This might sound overwhelming, but it’s not. There’s something calming about RedBugsLove’s work. Intentionally, it has the feel of wholesome, grandma clipart, and motivational posters hung up on elementary school walls.
RedBugsLove is what happens when a kid’s special interest is the old internet, and when a millennial mom makes Happy Tree Friends required viewing for her impressionable kid genius.
We spoke to RedBugsLove about their work, life, and inspirations. Our conversation delved into dreams, emos, and their viral “I Depend on You” artwork. If you’ve been following them for a while or have never heard of them before, this conversation will (hopefully) make you want to draw.
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Who are you?
I call myself a kid with a messy room, but I guess I make stuff on the internet.
What makes your room messy?
There's just stuff all over it. It's like bottles ... Well, not bottles, but stacks of art I did.
What is the most important thing in there?
Probably my bunk bed. The top bunk's not being used, and I don't have any shelves in my house, so I just put stuff I collect on it. I use it as a shelf. It makes my bed like my house, like I live in my bed. That's why my back hurts all the time.
What do you have hanging directly over your head in your bed?
The top bunk.
What do your parents think of your room?
My mom said, "Isn't this such a teenage room?” She called it a “teenage room.”
What's your earliest memory of going on the internet?
Probably, like, I have my mom's laptop, and it's just me going on YouTube. I knew how to type a few words. I’m probably watching “Nyan Cat” and probably “Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared.” Actually, before then, my mom showed me “Salad Fingers” when I was really little.
Why'd she show you that?
She just always showed me stuff like ”Salad Fingers,” Happy Tree Friends, and stuff like that. She just showed them to me. I don't know why [laughs]. I’m not complaining.
Does she like that kind of stuff?
Well, she just thought it was kind of creepy and wanted to see if I'd be scared or not.
What kind of character is your mom? What’s she like?
She’s a millennial. She likes tarot cards. She's also one of my inspirations for drawing because I used to see her draw all the time. She hasn’t drawn for a long time now but she's picking it up again. I remember when I was really little, she'd always make pictures. I guess she’s… quirky? I don’t know.
What kind of things would she draw?
Like He-Man… just random stuff. Can I send you a Twitter post?
Yeah, I'd do stuff like cats, bears, or any other type of small animal, but there was always a random, creepy twist, because that's the kind of stuff I was consuming a lot. I had this one character, a cat who looked really cute, but then it would suddenly kill people with its claws… I wasn’t very- That was just one concept I was really obsessed with, like, "It looks cute, but it's going to kill you.”
But, I’ve always felt that the art is more different than I am. The art is separate from me.
You feel different from your art?
Yeah, because I don't really do a lot, but the characters in my art do more than I could … I'm trying to get more to happen this year because for most of my time, I just never left my bed, and I've only started going outside in the past two or three years.
Why is that?
I'm just a really paranoid person, and I'm trying to push away the random thoughts. You hear on the news all the time, "Oh, some guy, he’s stabbed. Some woman's getting robbed.” Some average “fear the city” kind of thing. But then I went outside, and I'm not dead yet [laughs]. I think that’s got to count for something.
It used to be that if my mom would leave me for a minute, like if I had to walk to school for five minutes, I thought trees were following [laughs] and I kept looking behind myself ... I don't do that anymore, though.
It’s funny ‘cause I think a lot of your art is kind of violent. It's a lot of gunshots and stabbings. Do you think that's related to your fear?
I just find it really funny [laughs]. It's just funny to imagine some little creature snapping, or they're just naturally violent towards each other. It’s just random funny.
I started this style because I was trying to copy clip art. I love looking at clip art. At my old school, I stole some posters that tell you stuff like, "Don't forget to log out of your computer!” I like those older internet images, like graphics for children.
I think I'd describe my stuff as weird internet slop [laughs]. Other people have called it playful.
Do you have any other inspirations?
Parker Davis — he’s one of my inspirations. I really like his stuff, like, that’s how I remember the internet being. A lot of people, when they say “early internet,” they do "Nyan Cat," but they always forget about all that other stuff.
What's the other stuff? What does the old internet look like to you?
Mainly crappy stick figure animations and weird kind of ... It has a certain vibe. It’s a lot of violence. Of course, a lot of people were being offensive, which is not the best, but it adds to it.
Like, people used to really, really hate emos. They’d do videos where they're killing emos. People forget about that internet. There were a lot of little kids making hate videos. People were just making crap — childish crap.
Yeah, that reminds me of when I talked to the Dope Clown Comics guys, and they were telling me about how they take inspiration from Soyjak art. They said there’s “blood” in it. People really put raw energy into it.
Yeah, it’s kind of like a kid says, "Oh, I hate emos so much. I'm going to log onto my computer, and I'm going to make a stick figure animation on Microsoft Movie Maker about how much I hate them!”
Do you hate anything?
Just people who are mean. I don't like mean people. I don't have any reason to hate anything, unless I'm given that reason.
I want to know more about how you come up with your ideas, so I’m gonna show you some of your work, and you just explain why you drew each or where the ideas came from.
Oh, with this one, I drew Brendan first, and then I thought it'd be funny if Brendan was shooting something. Parker [Davis] did this video where a minion’s getting shot and it's saying some poetic random crap. So, I thought, why not a Minion? And I was listening to my Metalocalypse CD while drawing this one, so it's kind of like the violence was already there.
Also, you know those photos where they make them gangsters and stuff? I love those a lot.
Yeah, gangsterterfied versions of cartoon characters. That’s like when I interviewed Baby Alien, and he said one of his inspirations was Gangster Bugs Bunny. His earliest memory of drawing was going outside with his dad and watching him graffiti Gangster Bugs Bunny on things.
Oh, that one I drew because I was thinking about opposite day … Imagine you wake up and everything’s opposite, but the day continues as if it's always happened, except that it's not right. You wake up and then instead of your mom knocking at the door, it's your dog, and you're like, "What?" Then the dog just acts like it’s normal.
That’s very dream-like. Do you have any recurring dreams?
I used to have this one dream about a zombie, like a generic zombie. It used to jump scare me in my dreams. I'd be having a totally normal dream about something little kids like, like Elsa or something. And then the monster would come out of nowhere and start ripping my arms off.
But usually, I’m a completely different person in my dreams, but I just accept it and don’t question it. In one of my dreams, I saw my mom and I said, "Mom, it's me. I'm your son from the future!” It was a really weird dream. "Mom, it's me. It's me, your son. I'm your son from the future, mom!” Stupid dream.
Sometimes my art’s literally just stuff that kids in my class sitting next to me ask me to draw. So this is my friend, she's 13 or something. She walks a dog, but all the dog does is stand in front of his house and stare at the door.
She said that he's a creepy dog. So we started making up a little story that he's a killer. And while we were talking, I was just adding stuff onto the drawing.
What other drawings are from your classmates talking over your shoulder?
Oh, well, this isn't a classmate, but do you know the lesbian cow drawing? It's this drawing of this cow on a girl's lap, and the girl's going, "No more milk lesbian cow” [laughs].
It's because my mom was on a call with a friend, and we were joking about a woman using her breast milk to fight people. And then it suddenly devolved into lesbian cows wanting to drink breast milk.
Yeah, I posted that one soon after the “I Depend on You” drawing, which is the one that initially got people knowing who I am, and then everyone started making a bunch of theories about it.
Yeah, let’s talk about that piece. What was the inspiration behind it?
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So, I was in the mall with other kids. We had to sit with this lady, who was supposed to help us with math, but we didn't have any math. So, it just evolved into us sitting in the mall until 8:00 p.m. every Thursday [laughs].
It was very annoying. We just sat there, and the chair was hurting my back, and then I started drawing the picture, and all I thought about when drawing it was just having a shared mindset and being really close.
When I posted it, I was actually going to take it down right away because it didn't look old enough to me. I thought it looked too new because I thought the eyes looked too much like a newer style. The eyes kind of reminded me a lot of “Boykisser.” I was like, "Oh, no,” and I wanted to delete it, but then it got 10 likes, which was way more than I usually got. The next day it had 4,000 likes.
Then people started asking if they could draw it with their own characters.
Then the theories started rolling in. People started dissecting the image and being like, "This means this. This guy's eyes are slightly different shades; this must mean this. This guy's eyes are two millimeters up than the other guy's, so that must mean this ... "
Then conflict came when people started saying, "Why does this have so many likes?" Then I started getting death threats in my straw.page over it. I started getting blocked by random people out of something that I didn't even have any words on [laughs]!
I didn't have any say in it. There were also mini dramas, like people were drawing inappropriate content and quote-tweeting my post, and people started attacking those people, and being like, "This person is a minor. Why would you co-tweet this?"
Then I kept getting DMed, like, "What do you think about this? Is it okay? How do you feel about people making ‘rape art’ of your drawing?" And I'm like, "I don't know!” I was 15.
So overall, do you think it was a good experience going viral?
[Laughs] I’ve always known how the internet works, so I kind of expected this, but at the same time … Out of all the things I could have made, this is the one that got all this controversy?
Then it went viral on TikTok. People started making their own versions. But the one thing that kind of made me upset is that they made it into an “OC trend” of some sort. In some of them, their heads weren't even touching. I was like, “Well, that's not what it is [laughs]!” It just became “draw two stick men hugging with any caption you want.” Some of them were like, "I know you don't love me,” and the most popular one was, “I envy you,” which is not the drawing! It's two people in a shared, silent moment. It's supposed to be silence.
How do you view that kind of “OC” culture?
Well, I've always been in fandoms, but I stopped recently because I end up meeting other people who are fans of the stuff I like and they end up being a little weird. So, I’ve given up on fandoms.
But I've done redraw trends when I was 13 and stuff. I used to do those, so I don't really mind. It's good that it gets people drawing. I love it when people are inspired to draw, and I encourage it. It doesn't matter your skill level. I encourage it. I encourage it.
But I like the old internet style of drawing… Old ladies would just draw on MS Paint and stuff. People would just make stuff. Everybody's scared of drawing now. Just go out and make stuff!
I find that kids with autism are always doing the most old internet geared posting because they're just making crappy little DeviantArt recolors, and making their own little cartoons, and they're not caring about how it looks. They're just making it for themselves and their friends.
In a lot of new indie stuff, I see characters who are manufactured to be fandom characters, with the intention of them becoming a fandom. Like, you know The Amazing Digital Circus? That company, Glitch Productions, they're always making characters that have that certain personality that is meant to be a thirst trap for little 12-year-old girls. It’s a “fandom trap.”
I watched all of the Adult Swim shows in 2024, but I really liked 12 oz. Mouse because it's so simple. And I heard a lot of people hated it. I like how goofy the characters are and how the dialogue is. It's just really random.
I feel like it's so hard to make an ugly show good. Sometimes it's easy to make an ugly show on Adult Swim, but then it's not good. The ugliness of that show really adds to it, and that’s really hard to pull off.
It is. I actually find that Rick and Morty looks uglier than 12 oz. Mouse. It's just something about the way they're animated. It's like they can't move. But in 12 oz. Mouse, they barely move.
In Rick and Morty, they're always smirking like, “Don’t even trip, dawg!” It creeps me out. But I also never watched Rick and Morty [laughs].
What's your opinion on AI?
Not a big fan. I think it'd mean more if they actually designed a lot of the things themselves instead of waiting to see what it generates. It means a lot more if it came from the raw mind itself.
A lot of people bring up the whole, "Well, what if you're poor?“ But poor people have been making art forever.
I just wish stuff was a little slower. AI is fast. I'm more really obsessed with the slowness — maybe take life a little slower.
You make really fast art, though, right?
I do make fast art, but it’s more rewarding when you put it together yourself. AI is never completely in anybody's vision. If you want something in your vision, exactly how you imagined it, just try your best. It doesn't matter how bad you think it looks. If it looks bad, just keep trying.
So, for DWCF, I like making characters who are real losers. They just suck. They're the people you don't want to be seen talking to. I never do this, but other people are like, "I don't want to be seen talking to that guy,” because it could affect their social score or whatever."
So, they’re all that kind of guy, like a duck friend group of those guys.
But they have one friend named Troy, and Troy is the guy who can't really stick up for himself.
They always drag Troy along with them, and Troy doesn't get a lot of friends himself because he's always seen with them! They just keep dragging him along, like, “Okay, Troy, we bought you tickets. You're coming!”
Troy's like, “Oh," and then he's brought to crap he doesn't want to see.
Troy is an autistic character, but I don't explicitly write that in there because it's not really important. I like to give characters weird interests that I wouldn't have. I gave Troy an interest in niche erotica [laughs].
Because he’s an animal that can't do much with his hooves. He doesn't do much, but he's kind of around. I usually draw him smoking or drinking, and his name will change depending on what he's doing. So sometimes I call him “Smoke Horse,” sometimes I call him “Drink Horse” or “Beer Horse,” actually.
But I don’t do any of that stuff. It's just not worth it. There are addictive genes in my family. It just ends up being a big money waster and a bad impact on your body.
Are you afraid of getting older?
Kind of, yeah. Not because of how I look. It's just more of the complications. I already have a really bad back from drawing all day, so ... Yeah, it's kind of like, ugh. It just gets worse.
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Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Homeless [laughs] … Or, well, it depends because my mom says she's fine with me living with her. She said she would never kick me out. But I mean, maybe jobless. I don't know. I don't really have a plan. I just wait for things to happen. So if I'm presented with an opportunity and it's interesting, then maybe I'll take it. But if nothing happens, then nothing really happens for me.
What are you hoping comes from your art? Are you seeking success? Fame?
Just general friends online and people who will enjoy my art. Maybe make them happy or see a relatable post — something to make their day better, or maybe they'll think it looks cool.
And I’d like to make longer things. The “Joshua eats his fathers cigars” video is my personal favorite. It’s only two minutes long, but it's my longest video [laughs].
In that video, he listens to this machine, and he [eats a jar of his father’s cigars] because he thinks he's going to get something in return, but it really meant nothing at all.
Does this story come from somewhere?
No ... I just made it as I went along ... I was listening to ambient music ...
There are a thousand ways to dress
And 1
There are a thousand ways to dress
And 1
I'm going for that
And 1
You feel me?
You see me?
There are a thousand ways to dress
And 1
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