Here's what the artist had to say about his comic-making hobby to Bored Panda. "I've always loved reading webcomics, as they're a good short-form way to get a laugh or express some topic. I've also always liked to draw and have often thought about what I think would make interesting or funny comic ideas. So one day, the obvious idea to start a webcomic finally popped up, and the rest is history. My main goal is to make comics that I find interesting or fun in some way, and if other people like them as well, then that is a welcome bonus. I certainly wouldn't say they're perfect, but a lot of the fun along the way is learning and refining my techniques and style and looking back at how it has evolved."
There's no better way to make funny things unfunny than to explain the humor away, but I'll do it anyway. There's a reason why most find these comics funny or at least amusing. Our brains love recognizing patterns, and regular everyday life scenarios are extremely recognizable to us. Therefore, our brain expects the pattern to be fully actualized, but a quick turn of events confuses our brain and we become more alert when the pattern is disrupted. A good joke proposes a somewhat reasonable (yet unexpected) alternative to the regular pattern our brains predict, and therefore, it makes it more enticing than the regular pattern.
They're not doing it professionally, but like many comic artists, they would love to. "We'd love to take this comic as far as possible, but can't imagine it being the sole job. It's an awesome outlet that is easily accessible for us and can complement our other endeavors."
As for the sense of humor, the authors agreed that "it's definitely a dark sense of humor. Life can be both amazing and challenging, and having a sense of humor about most things is helpful."
I don't know what it is, but there's something very peculiar in that MS Paint style that comedy artists like Machine Yearning seem to possess. The shabby execution of the visual aesthetic of the comic in many cases even enhances the comedic experience. Perhaps it reflects the half-baked and imperfect nature of our life? Perhaps we don't take such a style seriously, and thus we subconsciously tend to interpret the whole content as something that's not very serious, which helps us to relax our mindset and squeeze out a laugh or two.
It's a rare thing that comic artists don't follow other comic artists, and in this respect, the Machine Yearning collective is very normal. "Perry Bible Fellowship is a huge influence for both of us. We'd also say that Mr. Lovenstein and Extrafabulous are two contemporaries that never fail to inspire and make us laugh.
Recently, Bored Panda has received a lot of comics from our beloved comic authors, and we highly suggest checking them out! Andy Case made a comic about his friend who passed away. There's a new part of our reader favorite Litterbox Comics. But there's also many new talents as well, like Angie Chan and her comics about her pets. And if you're in the mood for some sweet wholesomeness, Buddy Gator comics never cease to deliver on that front. There's loads more in the Comic category, so take a gander.
They also shared how they do their creative process, and that's special because many artists don't like to share their creative secrets. "It starts with a long list of ideas that have popped into our head. Not all are winners, but it helps to write everything down. Then, from there, we'll shop certain ideas and start to draw up drafts of ones that we really like. It's an iterative process for most of the comics. I'd say the best part is putting an idea to paper and being satisfied with how it turns out. The worst is fighting the occasional sense of writer's block and malaise for starting new comics."
The Machine Yearning collective gave a solid piece of advice for all of you who want to maybe start a comic someday. "Some good advice is to just jump in and start logging ideas and drawing drafts of comics. There's a large community on reddit (r/webcomics and r/comics) where one can post their comics and get some generally great feedback. All in all, we'd say to make sure you're happy with the product first and foremost."
As far as the future goes, their plans are straight and simple: "the current plan is to continue making comics! We've put out about 30 so far and can't believe it's been that many (though it also seems so few). 100 comics will be a good milestone."
