Just like always, given the chance, Bored Panda reached out to SNELSE, a comic artist known for his humorous take on life and his unique approach to storytelling in his simple illustrations.
The artist described how everyday life inspires his comics. He gave an example of his Monday/Friday drawing, reflecting his weekly transition from healthy eating to indulging in pizza and snacks. He noted, "The Monday / Friday drawing is a good example of a real-life situation. This is me every week. Start of the week I’m trying to be healthy and by the end of the week I’m eating pizza and all kinds of unhealthy snacks. I barely had to exaggerate that one! And I think a lot of people could relate.
Otherwise, it’s not even necessarily real-life situations, it’s just seeing or hearing something in real life and twisting it around in my head. Like I heard the phrase ‘it’s not what it looks like’ and my brain immediately thought of the Rubin’s vase and that became the cartoon of the woman getting caught in bed with the optical illusion."
Coming from a joke-writing background, he emphasized the importance of brevity in storytelling. He explained, "Using more words than needed upsets the rhythm and effectively ruins the joke. So I apply that same economy of words to the cartoons and comics but visually - I only draw what needs to be drawn. That’s why all my cartoons are quite sparse, I don’t want unnecessary details distracting from the joke."
Regarding a comic about the artist's work versus public perception, the artist shared that most feedback has been positive, though he occasionally receives negative comments.
"The majority of feedback for me has been positive. You get your fair share of negative comments occasionally but you learn to ignore all that as it’s so unconstructive. Doing comedy opens you up to all that, unfortunately. People get so irate when they see something that’s meant to be funny and they don’t find it funny. If you do a nice illustration people will be so positive and lovely, but if that same illustration is meant to be amusing in some way, people become so much more critical."
SNELSE also discussed the challenges of monetizing comedic content without being labeled a sell-out. He stressed the importance of maintaining control over his work and ensuring his style and humor are not compromised in collaborations.
"It’s very tricky because, again, I do comedy so as soon as you try to monetise it in any way you risk people turning their backs on you and calling you a sell out. It’s madness! Like you’re just meant to provide free content forever and never make any money to do it for a living.
But when I do take on projects, my main goal is to have control of my work, ensuring my style and humour isn’t compromised. Companies will obviously have an idea of what they want in their head and so it’s just about finding a middle ground where we both get what we want."
