Bored Panda reached out to Wendi to delve into her creative process and personal journey. When discussing the inspiration behind "Theo and Ted," Wendi revealed that her father played a significant role in motivating her to pursue comic creation.
"Knowing I liked to draw, and also aware of my general lack of direction, my dad would periodically suggest, 'You should make a comic, like Peanuts.' So I tried to come up with an idea for a comic. My kids were young then, and they had a massive teddy bear collection. I remember looking at their bears one day and thinking to myself, 'I wonder if they'd all get along.' Of course not!"
The artist mentioned that she was too busy to make steady progress on her comic at first. Additionally, with the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil not yet available, she was creating the comics by hand.
"It was about ten years before I seriously tried again. My kids were older and now I had better tech. I tried doing a joke a day, like Garfield, my favorite comic growing up. But after doing about a hundred and fifty, I kind of wanted to try something new. I wanted to try a story that went for more than three panels. So I took some jokes I'd written about the tooth fairy, and tried expanding it into a story involving Theo trying to enlist Bean (the smallest bear) to try and help him steal the tooth fairy money. It's not amazing, but I enjoy the challenge, and I would like to write more lengthy stories."
Wendi admitted that not every part of creating is always fun all the time; however, she really loves the creative process.
"I feel most alive. If I can do a little creativity that day, it feels like a good day. I also watercolor and dabble in writing other stories I hope to someday flesh out. I took my first 150 comics and printed them as a photo book and gave my dad a copy for his birthday. It's kind of embarrassing because you know they aren't so very good, and your parents are probably worried about what you're doing with all your spare time. His reaction wasn't effusive (like super expressive and positive), but later my siblings would come to me and tell me dad had shared my comics with them, and how much they liked them, and that made me feel really good. You feel like you're sharing a bit of yourself with people you care about."
When we asked Wendi about the challenges she’s faced in creating comics, she revealed that starting the process is particularly difficult for her.
"It feels exhausting to do every step. There are so many decisions to make. It's overwhelming. But if you take your time, and keep plugging away, eventually you kind of start to find a rhythm that feels doable. And it's exciting. You feel like you're part of the larger comics community (even though I'm shy and I don't really talk to anyone about comics, online or otherwise). You are part of that select group of people that show up consistently and create, and that is really satisfying."
