Chill Guy Meme
Chill guy meme is a drawing by North Carolina artist Phillip Banks of a smirking brown anthropomorphic dog in a grey sweater, jeans and red Converse, first posted on 4 October 2023 and used to caption studied indifference.
Where chill guy meme came from
Unusually for a meme this size, the chill guy has one documented author, one documented first post, and a paper trail of the artist objecting to what happened next.
Phillip Banks, an artist from North Carolina who posts under the handle philb, uploaded the drawing to X (then still widely called Twitter) on 4 October 2023. The full caption read: my new character. his whole deal is he’s a chill guy that lowkey doesn’t give a fuck. The image shows an anthropomorphic brown dog standing hands-in-pockets in a grey crew neck sweater, blue jeans and scuffed red Converse, wearing a small closed-mouth smirk.
It did modest numbers at first. The break came almost a year later.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 4 October 2023 | Phillip Banks posts the original drawing on X with the my new character caption. |
| 30 August 2024 | A TikTok slideshow from the account @.blitzerzz pairs the drawing with other memes, including Roddy Ricch and Family Guy references. This is the first real viral break. |
| 2 September 2024 | Banks says publicly that he dislikes the character being called My New Character and that the intended name was always Chill Guy. |
| 15 November 2024 | A token called CHILLGUY launches on the Solana blockchain using the character, with no involvement from Banks. |
| 20–21 November 2024 | Banks announces the artwork is copyrighted and that he is issuing takedowns. The meme peaks on TikTok in the same window. |
| December 2024 | Banks says his account was compromised and that posts appearing to grant licensing rights to a token project were not his. |
The crypto fight, and why the artist objects
The part of this story most meme pages skip is the one Banks himself cares about. On 15 November 2024 an unaffiliated Solana token traded on the character. By 21 November it had reached a market capitalisation reported in the region of half a billion US dollars, though the exact peak figure varies between reports.
Banks responded the same week. He stated that the artwork had been copyrighted and that he was issuing notice-and-takedown requests against unauthorised merchandise and tokens, and he put his position in one sentence: I do not, and will never, endorse or condone any crypto-related projects involving my work. The token lost a large share of its value in the days that followed. Banks was then doxed and took his account private.
In December 2024 the situation got stranger. Posts appeared from his account saying he had granted the token project IP rights, and then that he was launching an official coin of his own. Banks said the account had been hacked and that neither claim came from him. The token fell sharply again. So the meme now carries two facts at once: it is enormously popular, and its creator has publicly and repeatedly refused to be associated with the crypto projects built on it.
What chill guy meme actually means
The character is not a mood board for genuine calm. Almost every real use of it is ironic: the poster is telling you that something has gone wrong and that they have chosen, visibly, not to react. The comedy is in the gap between the situation and the smirk.
| Element | Literal reading | How it is actually used |
|---|---|---|
| The drawing itself | A cartoon dog standing casually with his hands in his pockets. | A stand-in for the poster. The dog is wearing your emotional state, not his own. |
| I am just a chill guy | A statement that someone is relaxed and easy-going. | A refusal to give a situation the reaction it obviously deserves. |
| Lowkey does not care | Genuine indifference. | Performed composure, usually while things are actively going badly. |
| Posting it under bad news | No comment. | The non-reaction is the joke. Comic understatement, not apathy. |
| The smirk | A friendly expression. | The load-bearing detail. Without it the image reads as sincere and the joke collapses. |
How people actually use it
Four patterns cover most of what you will see:
- Reaction to your own bad news. Failed exam, lost game, missed deadline, followed by the drawing. The image does the shrugging so the poster does not have to write anything.
- Sports and fandom cope. Fans of a losing team post it during a collapse. The claim is that they are unbothered. Nobody believes this, which is the point.
- Slideshow and edit formats. The August 2024 breakout was a TikTok slideshow that cut the drawing against unrelated meme material, and that remix-with-audio structure became the dominant format on TikTok through late 2024.
- Merchandise and avatars. Profile pictures, stickers and unofficial print-on-demand goods. This last category is the one Banks has targeted with takedowns, so a lot of what you can buy is not licensed.
A note on writing it: the character is Chill Guy. My New Character is a nickname that stuck because early reposters read it off the first four words of the original caption. Banks corrected this in September 2024. If you want to sound like you actually know the meme, use Chill Guy.
Is chill guy meme offensive?
The character is not offensive and carries no slur, group reference or crude expansion. Two smaller caveats are worth stating once. First, the original caption contains a swear word, so quoting it verbatim is not always appropriate for a school or workplace setting; the image on its own is clean. Second, the meme is contested for a different reason entirely: because unlicensed merchandise and crypto tokens use the character against the artist’s stated wishes, some people treat reposting commercial chill guy products as the objectionable part, not the joke.
What we do not know
Points where the record is thin or the sources disagree:
- Spelling of the name. Most reporting uses Phillip Banks with two Ls; some crypto coverage uses Philip with one. We have not seen a primary source that settles it.
- Exact peak valuation of the token. Figures around 561 and 580 million US dollars appear in different outlets with different dates in late November 2024. Treat any single number as approximate.
- The legal outcome. Banks announced copyright registration and takedowns. We have found no public record of a filed lawsuit, a decided case, or the current status of the registration.
- The 30 August 2024 slideshow. The account credited with the breakout post is widely cited, but view figures for that specific slideshow are not reliably documented.
- Whether the design references anything. Banks has said the character was not based on anything in particular. Fan theories about specific influences remain unverified.
- Longevity. Peak search interest was late 2024. Whether chill guy settles into permanent reaction-image vocabulary or fades is not yet decided.
Frequently asked questions
Who created the chill guy meme?
Phillip Banks, an artist from North Carolina who posts as philb, drew the character and posted it on X on 4 October 2023.
When did the chill guy meme go viral?
It broke out on 30 August 2024 when a TikTok slideshow paired the drawing with other memes, then surged again around 21 November 2024.
What animal is chill guy?
He is an anthropomorphic brown dog in a grey crew neck sweater, blue jeans and worn red Converse shoes.
What does I am just a chill guy mean?
It signals studied indifference. The poster is telling you something has gone wrong and that they have decided not to react to it.
Is the chill guy meme connected to a cryptocurrency?
A Solana token called CHILLGUY launched on 15 November 2024 using the character. Banks had no part in it and said he will never endorse crypto projects involving his work.
Did Phillip Banks copyright chill guy?
He announced around 20 November 2024 that the character was copyrighted and that he was issuing takedown notices against unauthorised merchandise and tokens.
Was the chill guy artist hacked?
Banks said in December 2024 that his account was compromised and that posts appearing to license the character to a token project did not come from him.
Is chill guy the same as My New Character?
Yes. Early reposts labelled the drawing My New Character after the wording of the first post, but Banks said in September 2024 that the intended name is Chill Guy.
Make a chill guy meme
Load a blank canvas or your own image, add the caption, drag it where you want it, and download. Nothing is uploaded — the editor draws in your browser.
Drag any line on the image to move it.