Happy April 1st everyone, and I decided to make a wacky day into a cool day with a new interview with a small comic series Guinea Something Good. If you haven't noticed on newgrounds, or on some other site, then you really need to expand your horizons. WaldFlieger is pretty good at what he does, and has been doing this for a long time, well, almost. You have to read the interview to find out, so just wanted to put this here and get back to homework. -Stray.
1. Do to the fact that you have a small cult following for Guinea Something Good, what made you start doing comics in the first place?
I started drawing comics when I was a little kid. Some of the first drawings I made were in "children's book" format, so I've always had that desire to combine drawings with some kind of narrative. As the years went by, I started drawing more and more comics, and I started thinking of myself more and more as a cartoonist.
2. Do to your unique humor, where did you get the idea for your characters?
The characters in "Guinea Something Good" were actually originally characters in the comics I made as a kid. I kept drawing them through high school, but then in college went on to pursue different ideas and series. It was a few years ago that I thought it might be fun to bring them back in a new way, and it's easily the most fun I've ever had drawing comics.
3. I've seen different takes for animals, but never talking Guinea Pigs. Did you pick them because they were easiest to draw at first or because they were so cute?
The comics I drew as a kid were actually based on my real-life pet guinea pigs Joe and George. There's something about guinea pigs that are incredibly fun to draw, and there's something inherently ridiculous about them. I see them as nature's cartoon characters.
4. I took a look at your earlier comics, and compared those to the present. How did you challenge yourself to become better at your comics?
I've always tended to draw storyline driven comics, so Guinea Something Good was really a challenge to myself from the beginning to try my hand at stand-alone gag comics. When I first started it, though, it was really a hybrid. Each comic was stand-alone, but it was more of a "funny situation" than a straight-up gag. Over the past few years, I've tried more and more to hone in my ability to write a clean, simple, short gag with impact and phase out the more rambling silly scenarios I used to write. It's definitely more challenging, but I think it creates a much more effective comic strip. Thankfully, now I can use the animated shorts to have fun writing those longer scenarios, so I'm able to keep doing both kinds of comedy.
5. Have you ever had any guest appearances from other people that you know ever pop up in Guinea Something Good?
Not yet! But that's a good idea!
6. Do you have any advice for anyone wanting to do online comics but don't know where to start?
The first thing to do is just post stuff online immediately. Anything you start with is not going to be good, and it's going to take a long time to come to terms with that. You kind of have to take your lumps when you're starting out. Put stuff out there, see how people respond, and keep refining and pushing yourself to do better. Don't try to figure out your grand strategy or anything like that. It will probably be years before you'll be in any kind of position to think in those terms. When you first start, it really is about just toughing it out, honing your craft, pushing yourself to get better, and learning from any source you possibly can. Don't be afraid to fail. It's the only way to learn. There's a great quote I love. I forget the source, but to paraphrase, it's: "If you haven't yet succeeded, then you just haven't failed enough." It takes many, many failures to learn enough to become the success you strive to be.
Thanks for the interview!
Best,
Jeff
You can reach Wald here:
http://waldflieger.newgrounds.com/
http://joegp.com/
My FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/Straydog
My YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/Reggier2d2