- Source: Chill guy
"Chill guy", also known as "My new character", is a digital artwork and internet meme first posted by artist Phillip Banks on Twitter on October 4, 2023. The artwork consists of an anthropomorphic dog wearing a grey sweater, blue jeans, and red sneakers, giving off a "chill" expression by smirking with his hands in his pockets. While the artwork had some success after publishing, it only became viral about a year later on August 30, 2024, when a user on TikTok made a slideshow with the artwork, combining it with other popular memes at the time. In the following days, similar memes gained tens of millions of views, attracting the attention of larger corporations including the video game franchise Halo and the European distributor for Sprite, who used the artwork in their promotions.
The artwork became viral a second time on November 20, 2024, primarily on TikTok, inspiring the meme coin $CHILLGUY which rapidly rose to a market cap of $488 million, driven in part by a post by Salvadorian president Nayib Bukele on Twitter in support of the coin. The resulting popularity of the coin and unauthorized use of the artwork for commercial gain led Banks to copyright the artwork and issue takedowns of "unauthorized merchandise and shitcoins" trying to make a profit, not including fanart or brands using it in the trends. Following the announcement, the coin dropped to about half of what it was worth, and Banks was subsequently doxxed, prompting him to set his Twitter account to private to avoid further harassment.
According to some media outlets, the meme likely resonated online as it was regarded as a playful but relatable piece which encourages people to seek self-help, remain stress-free, and approach life with a "laid-back attitude".
Description
The artwork consists of a brown dog with a human figure, wearing grey crew neck sweater, blue jeans, and dirty red Converse shoes. He is smirking with his hands in his pocket, with the caption written by Banks that he is a "chill guy". His design was misreported to be based on a cross between the 1990s American cartoon Arthur and the character "Charlie" from the American adult animated television show Smiling Friends, but according to Banks, he was not based on anything in particular. As for the character's name, Banks tweeted on September 2, 2024 that he disliked the use of the name "my new character" for the artwork as opposed to "chill guy", which was his original intention for the piece.
History
On October 4, 2023, artist Phillip Banks posted the original image on Twitter with the caption "my new character. his whole deal is he's a chill guy that lowkey doesn't give a fuck". He later posted the same artwork on Instagram Reels. The artwork was used in a number of memes following its publishing, inspiring Banks to create an additional piece he called "Unchill gal" or "My old character" based on Chill guy, which he drew with an opposite color palette as well as more serious and less-carefree expressions. The artwork only became viral later on August 30, 2024, however, when a TikTok user under the username ".blitzerzz" made a slideshow with the artwork, utilizing other memes at the time including the Roddy Ricch song "Ricch Forever", and the American adult animated sitcom Family Guy. Another edit made on TikTok on September 4, 2024, using a quote from the American television series Dexter, gained over 4.5 million views, and a repost the following day gaining over 13.8 million views. Similar edits in the following days using "chill quotes" from other mainstream televisions saw similar success, especially on TikTok and Twitter. According to the Indian English-language newspaper Times Now News, the meme likely resonated online because it was a playful but relatable piece which "encourag[es] people to focus on themselves", remain stress-free, and approach life with a "laid-back attitude", alongside other relatable self-help. Between the two social media platforms, the original posts by Banks have received over 100 thousand likes, and over ten thousand reposts. Cosplay and fanart of the character also appeared online, inspiring some Halloween costumes in the year.
On November 20, 2024, the artwork made a third major resurgence online, in part due to a meme coin inspired by the artwork named $CHILLGUY reaching a $488 million market cap for trading on the platform Solana. The meme coin, which was launched two months earlier in September by anonymous creators dramatically increased in value from its market cap of $10 million on November 18, becoming the seventh largest trading meme coin from Solana, driven by a post of the artwork by Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele on Twitter, social media trends, and a fear of missing out. Due to this, a number of those associated in cryptocurrency have stated the coin's value is likely to drop significantly. Another reason credited to the artwork's increased in popularity came after the creation of "Chill Girl" on November 17 by TikTok user "stopscrolling_22", which features Chill Guy with superimposed long hair. The result was a sudden spike of memes using the artwork, which primarily on TikTok, saw a greater focus on male mental health. Large corporations, including the video game franchise Halo, UFC heavyweight fighter Jon Jones, American basketball bracket March Madness, American football channel NFL on CBS, American rapper Sexyy Red, and the European distributor for Sprite, all used the artwork in their own posts.
Despite the success of the artwork, Banks wrote on his Twitter account "I don't endorse or consent to my art being used to any crypto related things. Please leave me alone." He made a similar reel on Instagram soon after about the same topic. Banks soon added that he had copyrighted the artwork, and would be issuing takedowns of "unauthorized merchandise and Shitcoins" trying to make a profit off the artwork moving forward, but clarified this did not impact brand accounts using the artwork as a trend. Soon after, Banks set his Twitter account to private in an attempt to avoid harassment, after which he claimed to have been doxxed. Following these posts, the price of the $CHILLGUY coin dropped to about half of what it was worth ($220 million), but later somewhat rebounded. On December 12, 2024, the $CHILLGUY meme coin value rose between 22% and 30% after a Twitter account supposedly run by Banks announced he had consented to the use of the coin, despite previously claiming he would never do so. It was soon revealed the account was an impersonation of Banks run by a hacker, which likewise caused the value of the coin to drop by over 35% the day following.