We’re glad to have you. Scott gave us our own section so I could tell you more about us. Unfortunately, we don’t speak your language, so he did us a favor by translating what we wanted to say to you.

My name is Clearcoat. I am viewed as the leader of the Dropas, but we are all very much equal. I’m just a little better at keeping the others in line when the time calls for it. There are twelve of us in all. I can’t tell you where we came from, but Scott will let you know in Book II. Anyway, you know my name, so let me introduce the others. They are Silver, Gold, Black, White, Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Indigo, and Violet.

We’ve provided you with information about how we were created. Synopses of the stories can be found by pressing the respective “Book” button under Dropas Scroll. To purchase the books, press the “Books & Music” button located underneath “Plaka.”

Return to Top


Creation of the Dropas

…the evolution of the Dropas’ adventure began in the fall of 1993. As with many things in life, they were created from an inspiration, or in this instance several inspirations. My brother, Timm, and I were opening our first art gallery and we asked a mutual friend to create some ceramic sculptures to add dimensionality to the art already in place. On some of her pieces, she had engraved simplistic little figures of which Timm and I immediately expressed our fascination. Timm recreated these figures, gave them a 3-D look, and then airbrushed a few T-shirts of the soon-to-be-named Dropas. Ironically, the shirts did not sell. I think the Dropas had something to do with it.

Over the next couple of months, Timm and I joked about what the Dropas might do in certain situations or how they would react under unusual circumstances. The jokes were not enough to fulfill my creative desire, but rather they began fueling something more deserving of these little guys.

While all this was happening, other inspirations began to play their role. I had been fascinated with ancient civilizations since taking Ancient History class in sixth grade. Having recently visited such places as Rome, Athens, Ephesus, and Cairo only the summer before, a story that included the Dropas began to form in a dormant part of my brain. This, coupled with observing Timm’s trompe l’oeil style of painting on a daily basis, allowed the story to take shape. After thinking that the story would disappear over time, it only became more apparent that the Dropas were manifesting their existence in our world.

In order to clear my mind, with the intention of coming back to my notes at a later time, I began typing my thoughts into the computer. Once I began, the future intention anchored itself in the present. The story began to unfold and the chapters began to appear. In the meantime, Timm and I began refining the Dropas’ outer features, his artistic talent eventually completing their physical appearance and my newfound passion bringing their story to life.

§ § §

As the evolution of the Dropas continued, we needed to name the whimsical creatures. One night while Timm and I were going over his most recent revisions to their features, I pulled out a dictionary and found the word ‘drop’. Because of their physical appearance, two drops coming together, I felt this was the most logical place to start. I came to the word’s origin; fixating on the Old English version, which is ‘dropa’. It seemed appropriate, but only with a long ‘o’, giving the name a multi-cultural, or even universal sound to it.

                                     — Scott R. Etters