FAQ

How did you get into drawing comics?

Well, to be truthful, I owe that to my friends Henry and Jason. I always wanted to draw comics when I was a kid, but I ultimately outgrew it because it was too difficult and I had no talent. Another major complaint of mine was that none of my cartoons showed a consistent style.

Then when I was 16, my friends Henry and Jason got me addicted to internet webcomics; quite a feat considering the fact that I routinely mocked them for their interest in video games and because of this could barely understand the references made in many of the better comics (e.g. Penny Arcade). Yet I found myself obsessed with them. Their archives sat in bulk on the ethernet, just waiting for me to probe their dark recesses. It actually helped get me through A-levels; there was always one thing that you could rely on to make you laugh, even at the most stressful of times.

Anyway, one day they approached me and asked if I wanted to be the artist for their comic. I was flattered, but insisted that I was not a great choice because I didn't have a consistent style. That was fine, they said.

So in the interest of creating a comic for them, I developed a style right off the bat. I don't know if it was because I was a bit older or just because I had something to focus on now, but it really helped. I imagine my technique will improve and my style will consequently evolve over time, but believe me, it was a huge leap from what I had been drawing before.

Anyway, I was psyched to start the project. They got the webspace and everything, and I started banging out draft copies of the comic ideas that they had mentioned in passing. However, had a small problem not occurred, you can rest assured that right now you would be reading whatever abominable character escapades that the three of us would have devised.

Unfortunately, with all the work that tends to pile up over the A-level year there was little oppurtunity for Jason and Henry to get together and discuss the exact scripts to use for the strips, the order of the archives etc. So without anything written, there was nothing to be drawn, and so the whole thing was put on a temporary hiatus

Eventually, after a year or so, when Jason and Henry had moved away to uni, I realised that it would be unlikely that we would ever resurrect the comic.

So I decided to have a stab at writing my own comic. It's a shame the other one didn't work out. Here is a link to the page, so you can see how far it got. I believe they are currently restructuring it to be a site for their Warcraft guild. Also, here is the first and only comic that I ever managed to produce for the site: "Know Your Download AIDS"

And that is the whole, sordid tale.

Wow, that was long. How do you draw the comics themselves?

I used to draw them all by hand, then scan them and use a very old version of photoshop to colour them. Drawing by hand gave a certain level of control that I can't achieve with the tablet, but I did not own a scanner, so asking people favours and sending things by email became very time consuming. Eventually I bought a tablet, and used Illustrator to draw the comics in, since my antiquated photoshop had a delay between what you drew and what you saw on screen, making it impossible to draw straight into Photoshop. Consequently, some of the Illustrator-drawn comics look a little crappy. Ultimately I got a better version of Photoshop and this solved the problem, so since then I draw everything in Photoshop, though practice is still needed before I can master it. I've arrogantly taken it upon myself to make a tutorial, if anyone finds it helpful.

Why do some of the early ones look so crappy and small?

Because I didn't account for the size of the screen when I originally drew them. I had to resize them to fit. I am planning on re-hashing them to be more legible, but until then, you can click on them to get a full-size version.

Why don't the two main characters have names?

Because I haven't decided on them yet. Patience.

Why are you so awesome?

I honestly couldn't say. Some of us are just born that way.

Why do you suck?

There must be some kind of mistake here. Perhaps you meant to ask why you suck.

Why should I give you my money?

You shouldn't. Honestly, there are a bunch of deserving charities out there that you could be giving to instead, but it will help to maintain my site, and would be incredibly generous if you could find it in yourself to part with a few quid. Plus, I may start offering some kind of reward. Nothing in the twisted-sexual-services family, though. Not out of office hours.

Some of your buttons don't work for me. The site is crappy-looking and it also said that I looked fat.

There will be a few bugs with it for now, since it is so new, but I will try and rectify them quickly. If there is anything you want to mention, please email me.

But you are fat. You might want to consider a diet, porker.

You don't say when you update. When do you update?

I'm aiming for Mondays and Fridays, but saying "twice a week" allows me some wiggle room if I can't get the comic up because of schoolwork etc. Rest assured, if I know I can't get the comic up on time (or, god forbid, at all) then I will give you a heads-up in my newspost. I know how annoying it can be when the writer doesn't keep the audience abreast of events and just misses updates without any notice or explanation.

I think that's it.

That's not a question. Come back when you do have one.

What do I do once I think of a question?

Email me. hector@jadedcomic.com