Bored Panda reached out to Mart Virkus to find out more about his dark comics. The author of the Arcade Rage series told us how his art style evolved over the years: “Honestly, not that much! I like to keep the basic style the same. Over time I've just added a little bit of detail or ‘finesse’. For example, I put a bit more effort into the details of a scene, especially if it's a movie scene or something from a game. It's kinda fun to ‘recreate’ scenes but also keep to my style.”
We were also curious about what characters or storylines created by Mart are his personal favorite. The artist shared with us: “My favorites are probably the really big & detailed comics, like one I made about Rainbow Six characters a couple of years ago. It was basically like 50+ characters squeezed into a single image. That kind of stuff is really fun to plan out and create, like how do you make them all ‘interact’ with one another? These kinds of large images are fun but they do take a lot of time!”
Asked what makes a good comic, Virkus told us: “Honestly, it can be hard to predict how well something will do. Sometimes I make a comic that I really like but it gets modest views. Other times I make a comic that I don't consider that good but it goes viral.
But mostly I find keeping it simple is a good way to go. Less is more. I try to keep the joke as short as possible and remove as much extra stuff as I can.”
Also, Mart shared with us what, in his opinion, are the common mistakes comic artists should avoid when creating their strips: “The biggest mistake is probably perfectionism. Don't wait until everything is perfect to release your comic, just do it. Nobody really cares if some color is a bit off or a line isn't perfect!”
Lastly, we were wondering what are the main factors that keep the illustrator motivated to continue creating. Virkus said: “It's always motivating if a comic gets a big response! I also like reading the comments and the jokes the audience builds on top of a comic (especially on Reddit!).
But at the end of the day, drawing comics is just fun & great way to let your mind wander a bit. You get a nice dopamine hit when you hit publish.”
