Mock was born and raised in Dallas and was always ambitiously creative.
“I remember being in first grade and being asked what I wanted to be when I grew up," he remembers. "And as everyone would say a doctor or lawyer and president, I stood there and told my teacher I wanted to be a cartoonist. I had a passion for art, the creative process, sketching, drawing and painting during my time in art class. It would bleed over into the next classes as well.”
Mock's mother saw his talent early. But after applying for an art institute and passing the entry tests with flying colors, Mock was denied entry because of his age. That left him a bit discouraged as a kid, and he put the drawing tools down for a while. As he got older, he dabbled in other creative fields like graphic design, comedy and music. Mock had raw talent for all of them, but found those industries to be too crowded with competing talent. Along that journey he decided to revisit his childhood dream of being a cartoonist.
“I wanted something else other than music and really an avenue of my own to showcase my many talents,” Mock says. “I had been doing voiceover and sound work in the studio for clients for commercials and stuff so I decided to take it to the next level. I wanted to get into cartoon voiceover."
Mock says people told him he would have to go to school to develop certain skills for animation, but he decided to bet on himself.
In 2014, while sitting on a couch with his friend watching movies and eating munchies, an idea for a cartoon sparked in his head.
“I had a crazy idea of a cartoon with the oddest of characters to be best friends, Roach and Budd,” Mock says. “In my head it seemed to be a hit, but as I was saying [it] my homie would look at me like ‘What?’ They kind of laughed not sure if I was serious since we were always joking around.”
Mock was serious. He continued to brainstorm and map out a script. Along the way, while shopping at Sam’s 99c Store in Grand Prairie, the owner introduced him to an artist named Jarrad Hamilton. Mock explained to him his idea, a cartoon called Roach & Budd.
“I began to tell him about this awesome idea for a cartoon and told him about the characters, and he loved it,” Mock says. “I would send my best version of a sketch or a description of the character and he would bring it to life, and it was the beginning of something spectacular. We got the ball rolling.”
Roach & Budd has a wild list of characters like Roach, who becomes a talking cockroach after consuming some exotic weed, and his friend Budd, who is a regular guy who suffers from a mild case of anxiety and paranoia. He enjoys the simple things in life but also wants to pay his rent on time.
“I would like to bring light to the cannabis industry and break this stigma that has been a dark cloud on the community for years. And the best way I know to do that is through comedy and entertainment." – Lawrence "Troy" Mock
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Other notable characters are Mary and Jane, who are twin sisters with opposite personalities, and Pothead, who wears a pot over his dreadlocks to help collect his thoughts. Pothead, Mock says, is and intellectual and viewers never actually see him smoke any weed during an episode.
Mock started the Roach & Budd Chronicles as a comic book that can be viewed on roachandbudd.com, but now he and his team are ready for the big screen with full animation episodes set to release on YouTube in January.
Mock does the bulk of the writing himself with a little help from his nephew. They come up with storylines from past experiences and add elements that have worked in other cartoons. The comedy also incorporates some cannabis education into the show.
“I would like to educate while entertaining,” Mock says. “Each character is named behind something to do with cannabis and each one is dealing with some type of ailment that gives them a reason to use cannabis. It makes it easy to make them interact with each other because just like in real life, they all deal with each other in different ways. It’s really interesting.”
The team is also working on a documentary about the creation of Roach & Budd as they get ready for the release.
Mock does the voices for Roach, Budd and Doobie, who is Budd’s imaginary friend. And the soundtrack for the show is full of Dallas artists. Mock finds it difficult to pick his favorite character but ultimately names Doobie because of his goofiness and ability to make the best of any situation.
“I would like to bring light to the cannabis industry and break this stigma that has been a dark cloud on the community for years,” Mock says. “And the best way I know to do that is through comedy and entertainment. I would love to reach people and give them a different outlook on cannabis and the many benefits: help aid the fight of cancer, autism, epilepsy, the opioid epidemic, anxiety and PTSD. And give people an outlet to not be ashamed or viewed as a stoner when it is really medicine.”
