Heard of Jenny Everywhere? Me neither, till I used to be on the lookout for media to make use of for an open supply character drawing contest I used to be concerned in. As I Googled my method across the web, I occurred upon Jenny Everywhere.
Creator of JennyEverywhereDay.com, Benj Christensen, says, “Jenny Everywhere has an organically grown mythology. Creators can take elements of previous works that inspire them and add their own twists and sensibilities which can then inspire someone else. Unlike characters that are beholden to a copyright and a status quo, Jenny is free to become a true amalgam of ideas. The open source license allows the kind of legal freedom characters like Sherlock Holmes and Robin Hood have thrived in. But, Jenny is still in her creative infancy; her core mythology is still mostly unwritten, and, to me, that’s what’s most exciting.”
According to Steven “Moriarty” Wintle—a comic book artist from Ottawa, Ontario—Jenny Everywhere is the primary “open source comic character.” Wintle created the character at the side of the Barbelith Underground neighborhood in 2002. Barbelith, a web-based discussion board named after a component within the comedian e-book collection The Invisibles by Grant Morrison, was initially conceived of as a spot for dialogue of Morrison’s works. The neighborhood has seen little motion since 2012.
Jenny is described as “existing in every reality and being able to shift between realities.” Jenny Everywhere can be known as “The Shifter” and was created, in accordance with Wintle, as a result of there have been no actually open supply or public area characters. This allows artists and writers to put the character into nearly any medium they select. On Wikipedia: “She has short, dark hair. She usually wears aviation goggles on top of her head and a scarf around her neck. Otherwise, she dresses in comfortable clothes. She is average size and has a good body image. She has loads of confidence and charisma. She appears to be Asian or Native American. She has a ready smile.”
There’s even a big day for folks to ship of their drawings and model of Jenny Everywhere yearly on August 13. At Jennyeverywhereday.com, creators submit their iterations of Jenny, and a few have posted for years, like Elizabeth Beals, a fan from Georgia, who options her as a fiery redhead in a big pink scarf.
“I found out about Jenny by luck, the creator of the Jenny Everywhere Day website contacted me in 2011 to ask if I’d contribute a piece for Jenny Everywhere day. I loved the idea of an open source character who only had a few keystone features, leaving the rest up to the artists’ imagination. Since then, I’ve contributed a piece every year, making little tweaks to my interpretation of Jenny as I go. (I’ve already got something in mind for next year.),” says Beals.
There are drawing submissions, comedian e-book submissions, and even a YouTube episode, “Mitigating Circumstances,” which options Francesca Aquilina as Jenny, in a Seventh Seal-esque quick that purports to take care of the on a regular basis problems with Jenny Everywhere’s time as a scholar.
A shawl and goggles
Jenny has solely two obligatory attributes: aviator goggles and a big scarf. Other than that, Jenny could be of any race, age, and even gender.
I made a decision that I wish to add to the Jenny Everywhere compendium of different kin. I downloaded a public area picture to make use of as base artwork and the general public area picture of the unique Jenny Everywhere drawing from Wikipedia. I merged the 2 photos utilizing GIMP and Inkscape on my Ubuntu laptop computer and exported the ultimate paintings as a JPG.
Wintle’s necessities of use state that every one utilization of Jenny Everywhere should embody the next textual content (this isn’t a typo):
The creators of the character insist that any work involving her should embody the next textual content: “The character of Jenny Everywhere is available for use by anyone, with only one condition: This paragraph must be included in any publication involving Jenny Everywhere, that others might use this property as they wish. All rights reversed.”
Jenny Everywhere can boldly go
Whether or not you contemplate Jenny the embodiment of open supply, Wintle and crew have given the world a novel character, which others can use and modify as they want in true open supply spirit.
In a previous article, I wrote concerning the open supply nature of Star Trek. For years, folks have tailored the characters and universe of Star Trek and created their very own net collection for public use, equivalent to Star Trek Continues. In 2015, CBS determined that it could not enable followers to supply “feature-length” productions tailored from Star Trek in what has turn out to be, as I name it, the “Axanar Decision,” primarily based on a lawsuit between CBS and the creators of the “Prelude to Axanar” Star Trek-based web-series.
CBS has the best to disclaim the open sourcing of the Star Trek universe, as unlucky as this determination is. But at the least Steve Wintle has given us Jenny Everywhere, whom we, within the open supply neighborhood, can adapt and use as we want, sharing with the better neighborhood to construct upon the theme and the character and creating a bigger, extra sturdy universe for our courageous, intrepid heroine. Jenny Everywhere is ready “to boldly go where no animated character has gone… before.”
We want her Godspeed in her future endeavors.
