We learned more from the artist about the beginnings of his comic creation: “I loved newspaper comic strips from a young age and toyed with the idea of doing one, but I always got hung up on creating the characters and the world-building. I drew a few but nothing consistently. Fast forward an ungodly amount of time later and I've been drawing the occasional comic book written by others while dabbling in other art fields like caricature and digital painting.
At the same time that AI art sprang up, which could easily mimic the sort of art I had just started making, I also developed some eye issues, the combination of which made the future of my art career very uncertain. I did a comic strip about my eye floaters which helped release some of my frustration. I then considered that many of the best online comic strips rely more on the writing than the art. Seemed like a decent fallback plan to continue being creative if my eyes ended up getting worse and/or the robots completely took over, and so I started making these comics.”
When asked how he comes up with new ideas for his comics, D.C. Stuelpner shared that he has a daily routine and a specific time dedicated to brainstorming: “Every night while taking a shower I'll force myself to come up with a comic strip idea. Usually, I'll think about whatever I saw during the day or pick a random topic or common saying and then try to find a humorous aspect about it. If I eventually become more prune than human before landing on an idea, I'll exit the shower and sit in a dark room and give myself another 10-15 minutes to come up with something. Most of what I come up with is quite terrible, but occasionally I get something worth drawing. Then I'll draw it, read it back to myself, and wish I had sat in that dark room for a few more minutes.”
The series features unique and memorable characters, so we asked the cartoonist to share a bit more about his creative process and character development. The artist kindly responded: “When I'm not parodying an already established character, I like to try to make them look like fairly ‘normal’ people. I draw a lot of caricatures and with that you're always trying to figure out what makes someone unique. Even the blandest-looking person has something uniquely particular about them. It's just a matter of noticing it. Having a contrast between what someone looks like and how you expect them to act, or conversely, lean into that, can help the gag.
I also use actors as my base a lot of the time. While drawing a comic, I'll often think ‘Hey, this sort of looks like the actor so-and-so’ and then go look at photos of them for more ideas. Photo reference can help me keep the characters' look more consistent across the panels, which I honestly find to be the hardest part of drawing these. I'll also change up my style a bit as well to best sell the gag. Sometimes something more realistic works better, sometimes something more cartoony, and sometimes it's just whatever I feel like drawing like at the time.”
We also discussed popular artists, both in comics and comedy, who inspired the cartoonist’s series. We found out: “I discovered Jhonen Vasquez and Ryan Ottley about the same time I was considering going into art as a career which influenced a lot of my sensibilities early on. I love many of the artists who worked for Mad Magazine, with Angelo Torres being the one I'm most influenced by. These days I primarily read manga for my comics fix. For art, I really like Yukinobu Tatsu, Kensuke Nishida, and Boichi.
Comedians are tougher to single out. I love dark comedies and you don't get much darker than the movies of Todd Solondz. Conan O'Brien was a staple growing up, and I had the pleasure of him complimenting a cartoon penis I drew on his podcast (it makes sense in context...). I enjoy sketch comedy like MadTV, That Mitchell and Webb Look, and Key & Peele, as well as improv-based podcasts like Comedy Bang Bang. For books, which are my primary form of entertainment, it's gotta be the horror comedy works of Jeff Strand.”
Lastly, D.C. Stuelpner shared with us the most rewarding aspects of being a comic artist: “A lot of my work-for-hire art jobs never see the light of day. It can be demoralizing to spend countless hours on a project, and then only have one or two other people ever see it. With these comics, as soon as I finish one, I can post it online and get an immediate response. It's kind of mind-boggling that I only started these because I was afraid my art career was ending before it ever truly took off, and now these comics are by far the most popular thing I've ever done. I look forward to and appreciate all the comments I get on my comics. Even the insulting ones. Just means I have to try harder next time to make a comic they'll like. From a drawing perspective, I enjoy the acting aspect. Comics are hard, but there's something very rewarding about seeing a character come to life over the course of a few panels.”
