AMA: Style

Q.: Do you find it easier and faster to draw in a more cartoony style (such as Cape Carnival or the bonus cartoons) than in your regular Evil Inc style? Are they two different but equally challenging styles? Or are they effectively practically the same for you? Thank you

A. That's a great question. The truth is: The "bonus cartoon" style is a lot looser, and therefore I tend to move through the illustration a little faster. But then again, the typical "bonus" is a single panel, and a typical Evil Inc update is about seven panels. So it's hard to compare. If I compared on a one-panel-to-one-panel ratio, it would probably come out pretty close.

And then there's this: Although the "bonus" style might be faster to draw, it's often much, much harder to write. Single-panel cartoons are notoriously hard to write well, and as a result, those writing sessions can take hours and hours before I land on something that I think is worth drawing.

By the time everything is said and done, I'm not sure doing one is significantly faster than the other.

A Bonus bonus

One of the unforeseen benefits of the bonus cartoons has been this...

I feel a lot more comfortable allowing that looser style to creep into Evil Inc — when the character or situation warrants it. For example, I would draw this scene much differently today...

Also... notice the plant in the corner? That was going to be a talking carnivorous plant that was going to sit next to Lightning Lady and heckle her. Unfortunately, the idea never took root. It disappeared soon after this scene, and re-emerged as a group of monsters the heroes had to vanquish.

Speaking of the bonus cartoons...

"They could have called it 'Revenge of the Zucchini People' for all I cared."

— Gary Larson, on the title of his classic newspaper comic, "The Far Side," which was coined by people at his syndicate, Chronicle Features

The bonus cartoons started out as exactly that — bonuses. I didn't list them in the official rewards, and they updated on a sporadic schedule. Mainly, they were a challenge to myself to try to improve at doing single-panel cartoons.

Then, almost exactly a year ago, I challenged myself to post them on a regular basis — every Monday. And, for the most part, I have.

And that means it's hard to keep calling these bonuses! They're quickly becoming a regular feature. So, I need a title for this series of comics. Because "Bonus Comics" just doesn't do the trick (see the eBook cover below).

I could group everything under "Cape Carnival," but it really doesn't fit when I do a series of schoolgirls or french maids!

If you have any thoughts or suggestions, I'm all ears. I've been mulling this over for a while now, and I'm afraid that the best I've come up with is some derivation of "The Guigar Notes." Not great.

The perfect title is out there, I just have to find it.