First of all, we wanted to catch up with the artist, so Yanni shared what has changed since the last post.
He wrote: “Oh man. A lot has changed since my last feature with Bored Panda back in 2021. I got married, bought a house, and moved to a new city in northern California. I still love writing comics, working as a brand designer by day, and I'm working on a new T-shirt brand on the side.”
Yanni also told us what artists and cultures influenced his cartoon work.
“My artistic influences come from a lot of places, like the Sunday newspaper comics I grew up with in the ’90s, such as Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield, The Far Side, and Peanuts. Also early ’90s TV cartoons on Nickelodeon, Adult Swim, and Cartoon Network. And a few Japanese influences like the super minimalist kawaii art styles of San Rio and Crayon Shin Chan.”
We were wondering what a typical day looks like for Yanni when he’s working on a new comic. The artist shared his approach: “It’s pretty involved and methodical at this point. I went to art school for comics, so I have some training behind it, but my method was mostly developed through insane hours of trial and error.
First, I'll spend an evening just writing and workshopping jokes in my notebook or phone. Next, I'll sketch them out on low-quality paper, really tiny, just to see if an idea visually works. Next, I draw it on a drafting table, larger, with Bristol board, pencil, and eraser... a lot of eraser. Lastly, I take a picture of the physical drawing and ink it in Adobe Photoshop with a Wacom Cintiq using custom brushes meant to emulate ink, gouache and watercolor. I like to hand-letter my comics too because I feel like it makes them look less digital and gives them more personality.”
Furthermore, Yanni shared whether he has ever scrapped a comic idea.
“Oh yes, so many. Sometimes even close to when they are finished. For various reasons that I won't fully get into, but mostly it boils down to: A. They weren't funny enough. B. They weren't well drawn enough. C. There was something either grossly offensive or off-brand that I didn't consider at first because I was too excited about the originality of the joke at the time I wrote it,” wrote the artist.
As for the audience’s takeaway, Yanni commented:
“Life can be tough. There’s a lot of annoying and confusing [nonsense] that we all have to deal with and everyone’s situation is completely unique. There’s a lot of beauty in this world too. I hope my artwork brightens a few people’s days, or helps them look at the world or their situation differently. I want to make people laugh and inspire people to create art.”
Lastly, Yanni added: “I’d like to tell you to finish what you start. Give it time. There are so many big dreams that could have been legendary but people gave up on them too quickly. Get 0.01% better at what you choose to do with your life a little bit every single day and eventually, you'll be pretty good at that thing.”
