“Dark with good intentions. Although it is not rare to find some wholesome or introspective comics, you have to keep people guessing,” ToothyBj describes his comics. These well-drawn comics depict modern life struggles such as paying bills, doing homework, dealing with negative comments on social media, caring too much only about looks, or even seeing pineapples on pizza (we all know the never-ending discussion about that). All of these struggles are interpreted in a darkly humorous manner, making us see them from a different perspective and ask ourselves whether, maybe, they're not that bad?
Even though ToothyBj had some thoughts about creating comics in 2017, his artistic career started only in 2018 following a breakup. He says that his comics have changed over time and become more complex, which got a positive reaction from his 81.7k followers on his Instagram account. “The style might be rough, but it takes a good two hours if everything goes OK. It's a struggle to find time. Drawing is drawing. Sketching might be quick, but inking demands attention, then coloring, then (the worst) adapting it to different formats. At the beginning, everything was loose and quick, but it got more complex with time and people really responded to that. It amazes me to this day how much people liked this style and that gave me the courage to show my drawing account, which has more illustrative pursuits.”
When asked how the artist comes up with ideas for his new comics, he says: “Whenever I see a funny recurrent daily situation, I think 'uhmm, that would make a relatable comic,' so I discard it because relatable humor is done to death and does not really carry a joke (in my opinion). I like absurdism, it’s amazing and comes out of nowhere. There’s no recipe for it, but maybe I can offer a piece of advice: always take notes, you won’t remember it later. I’m genuinely concerned that my memory is this bad. If I don’t write something down, it’s gone.”
“I've said this in the past, but I will repeat myself: English is a weird language. Someone draws or paints and people call him an artist instead of calling him a painter or a 'drawer' (is that even a thing?). An artist is a person who makes art. I'm not an artist, I'm a cartoonist at best. I think that the word gets thrown around so much it loses its value. That being said, my philosophy would be to make people laugh as often as possible, nothing deep,” he explains his philosophy as an artist.
“The community—I don’t wanna get all cheesy and stuff, but they are amazing. It has reached the point that it's actually like telling jokes among friends. And remaining anonymous makes it all the better. Finding people from your home city in the comments (I found a lost friend commenting how much a comic had affected her)—you can’t buy that stuff. Love those guys.” So if you're not afraid of dark humor and some dark twists, these comics will surely help you to pass some time and escape reality for a minute!
