Bored Panda got in touch with the author of ‘Crabgrass Comics’ and asked him some new questions about his work. Firstly, we wanted the artist to tell us more about his creative process. We found out the following: “I create everything digitally on an iPad Pro using clip studio paint. Basically, I spend Mondays writing that week’s strips. Then Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are spent drawing two dailies each. On Friday, I do the Sunday strip. I relax on the weekends, [then] rinse and repeat.”
When asked about the most effective elements to create humor in his series, Tauhid said: “Mostly, I just think about things I did as a kid. The fun of writing Crabgrass is I get to start with something mundane like a school field trip and then see how far I can take it into the left field. Like what if the boys snuck into the caveman display and found a real caveman hiding in there? BAM! Now I have a story arch idea. The rest is easy.”
“I know it’s most important to know your characters. I pass on a lot of great gags just because the character wouldn’t say that. That said, it’s fun to break a character out of their mold a little sometimes. Like Miles, [who] largely is the straight man. That’s how readers know him. So, it’s extra funny when we find him being the chaotic one. I can’t do it all the time or it betrays the character, but occasionally, it catches the reader off guard, which is a basic element of humor.”
The cartoonist shared with us what emotion he hopes readers take away from his comics: “Honesty, I just hope the strip brings a little joy. Either through nostalgia, recognizing themselves or other kids they know, or just the joy of giggling at a stupid joke. I think bringing joy is the whole job. It’s an important job but not a serious one.”
Lastly, we were curious about which storyline created by Bondia in his series so far is his personal favorite. We learned that: “My favorite story is always the one I’m currently working on. But of the past stories, I still really like the one where Kevin builds a brain-enhancing helmet and turns into a supervillain. That was one of the first times I decided to see how far I could push the world of Crabgrass. I was legitimately afraid readers would hate [it], but they didn’t. Since then, I learned to just go for it.”
