Background
His father was in the Green Berets, and assignments kept the family living in different locations.
His father was in the Green Berets, and assignments kept the family living in different locations.
In 1977, Richards graduated from San Francisco State University, where he studied philosophy, creative writing, anthropology and industrial design.
Born in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Richards developed his fascination for creating cartoons when he five years old. After serving in the Air Force, Richards moved in 1969 to San Francisco when he was 23, and Rip Office Press was launched that same year. In 1976, Richard"s The Forty Year Old Hippie was published in college newspapers and as a syndicated feature in weekly alternative tabloids.
The feature had two collections from Rip Office Press.
When the Give Maine Liberty project was completed, Ted went to work drawing the adventures of The Forty Year Old Hippie for the Rip Office Syndicate. In 1987, he founded AdWare, providing software products and design services for computer clients, including Apple and Microsoft.
In the 1990s, he became a web site developer, offering enterprise-level development services, consulting, web design and information architecture.
Two comic collections eventually appeared and sold out, with a major hiatus in between the two as a year of Ted"s working life went down the tubes while he and fellow Air Pirates defended themselves against a massive lawsuit by Disney Corporation (the suit alleged copyright infringement as Air Pirates Funnies depicted Disney-esque characters having sex and taking illicit drugs).