Bored Panda reached out to Sean Kirkpatrick to ask some questions about their series. We wanted to know how the artist first became interested in comic art, and what inspired them to pursue it professionally. We learned that: “I've always been interested in comics, but when Instagram first came onto the scene there were many creators that inspired me to start posting myself since it was such an accessible platform. Shout-out to Meg Adams for not only inspiring me with her work, but for re-posting one of my comics and kicking off my following in a huge way.”
We also asked Sean to share a bit about their artistic background. We found out that: “I've been drawing and interested in art of all kinds ever since I can remember, however after going to university to study graphic design, I fell off the wagon and wasn't making art very regularly. In 2017, I decided out of the blue to create a drawing a day for an entire year, no matter how big or small it was. This got me back into the habit and allowed me to fall back in love with drawing for the fun of it, rather than being overly critical of myself.”
Asked what influenced their unique style, the artist answered: “My three main inspirations aesthetically are Bryan Lee O’Malley (Scott Pilgrim), Jamie Hewlett (Gorillaz), and Hanna K. Nyström (Adventure Time). In terms of my humor style, I feel like I've been very influenced by Nedroid comics.”
Kirkpatrick also shared with us how they come up with ideas for new comic strips: “I'm very much at the whims of the universe for when ideas strike me. Generally, it'll be a gag that comes about when joking with my partner Katy, or finding some kind of personal situation ridiculous enough to be worth sharing. Other times it’s complete nonsense that somehow spawns in my brain and makes me chuckle, so who even knows! Whatever the case, I've found the more open you are to putting ideas to paper, the more often they will occur to you.”
Lastly, we were curious about what advice the artist could give to aspiring comic creators looking to break into the industry. Sean said: “Make bad stuff! Everyone is deceiving themselves that they aren't good enough at drawing yet or their ideas aren't fleshed out enough - but literally, the only way you will progress at all is to just start. Don’t worry if what you make isn’t exactly what’s in your head, no one else is going to know the difference and it’s the fastest way to learn. So be open to creating bad work and you will in fact be well on your way to making really good stuff.”
