The artist talked to Bored Panda about what webcomic artists who are struggling or are new to their craft can do. “One important piece of advice I’d give is to not be afraid to try different things, especially if you’re struggling.”
“Some of my highest performing comics were we’re new concepts, deviations from my normal style and format,” he said.
Hed also revealed to us that it takes 5 or 6 hours, on average, to finish one comic. But he noted that “it varies quite a bit.”
In previous interviews with Bored Panda, Ben of Pet Foolery told us about how his extremely successful Pixie and Brutus comics came into being and also cast some light on his creative process.
“Pixie is a tiny, joyful, energetic kitten. She’s innocent, and also somewhat oblivious to the serious, dangerous stuff around her,” Ben told Bored Panda. While Brutus is a scarred German Shepherd.
“He was adopted by Pixie’s owner after retiring as a Military Working Dog (MWD). Brutus, in many ways, is the exact opposite of Pixie. He’s… Seen things. He’s a very serious and intimidating military dog, but he has a soft spot for Pixie and does what he can to protect her from the harsh realities of the world around them.”
The artist said that the idea to draw comics about Pixie and Brutus came to him randomly. “Honestly, Pixie and Brutus were just another random comic idea I had while at work. I was never planning on making them a series; I just thought it would be a funny idea to introduce a cute little kitten to a big intimidating war dog. So I made the first Pixie and Brutus cute animal comic and people liked it so much, I just kept making them.”
“I do worry about each comic’s performance, but I worried about that before I created Pixie and Brutus too,” Ben told us. Fortunately, he gets lots of feedback from fans of his art. “What they liked about the comic, what they thought was going to happen, ideas for future comics, ideas for new characters. There are probably a couple of funny comics in my feed that are entirely inspired by a comment on one of my posts.”
He also said that the comics have evolved over time: “Their designs are a bit different from the first P and B comic, and I guess Brutus has gotten gradually less hostile towards other characters as of late, but other than that. It’s pretty much the same.”
“I thought it would be cool to have them adapted into a TV show, but that’s long term. Probably won’t even ever happen… but maybe.” Well, we certainly hope that Ben’s comics eventually become animated!
