Bored Panda reached out to Scribbly G with even more questions regarding him and his work! First, we asked if the artist perhaps was working on some new projects we could be looking forward to.
"I am working on a lot of new series, I find creating the story a lot easier than drawing it. So while there is a lot of series I want to make, most of them I may never get around to drawing. Writing them is the easy part. Drawing them while still having to have a real job and spending time with my girlfriend is the hard part.
But there are a few I’m trying to make before I die from lack of sleep.
First, I want to make a series of 5 dark and weird versions of classic fairy tales. I’ve drawn 2 of them so far and people enjoyed them way more than I expected, especially coz they aren’t really finished yet. I’ve written the next 2 and am taking suggestions on what the final one should be. My real work shuts down from the 15th of December till 10 Jan, so I’m hoping to get a lot of drawing done over the break.
I’m also writing the story for Spider-cat because that’s what I get asked about the most, and the Daveman Series. I’ve written the story for Daveman, but as my drawing style changes, I keep wanting to update him. So Daveman HD will hopefully be starting sometime in 2022.
I’ve then got 2 pilots for series written, but both are way out of my drawing ability at the moment, so those are on pause for a few years till I can draw what’s in my head, or until Adult Swim buy them from me and make them properly."
We also wanted to know if the artist had a comic he was proud of, and we thought it was only fair if he'd share his thoughts with us!
"It would have to be the Replacing Nemo one. It’s been translated into more languages than I knew existed and it’s funny to think I nearly never made it because my mom didn’t understand it. Back when I started making comics and I was really self-conscious about my cartoons, I would show them to my mom to see if they made sense. I showed her the Nemo one and she didn’t get it… I then went into a panic thinking that nobody will get this and I’m an idiot and everyone hates me, so I decided not to share it. Luckily I showed it to a friend who said it was the best comic he had ever seen. That was enough to make me post it and yeah, that was probably the first super-viral comic I made. Also, it was the last time I used my mom as the test audience."
Artists go through a few art phases trying to find the art style they could call their own, however, it seems like Scribbly G is pretty settled in that area, however, that doesn't mean the artist wouldn't like to try something new.
"Hmmm… Anime would be cool, but I don’t think it would fit my humor. It could work well for the more violent comics I have in my head though, so maybe I should start practicing some Anime! I’m also keen on learning caricature to help make better expressions in my comics. I’d also be keen to make some real watercolor webcomics. I often get people asking if they can buy the originals, but because my stuff has all been digital I don’t have any originals to sell. I probably should have planned my comic career a little better than I have :)"
Starting out with comics (or art in general) isn't easy, so we asked the artist if he had any tips to share.
"I’d ask them what's wrong with them? Why would you want to get into comics? I’d try and scare them off, I don’t need more competition…
No, but really, I get asked this quite a lot. But the truth is, I still don’t know what I’m doing. I broke all the rules about comics. When I first started out, I was invited to this WhatsApp group for South Africa’s top cartoonists, and the advice I got from them was to pretty much do the exact opposite to what I was doing. Luckily for me, I’m a stubborn little shit, so the more they told me not to do something the more I’d want to do it. I was told my bubbles were wrong, my panels were wrong, the humor was wrong. So I quit that shitty group and did my own thing. A year later they invited me back and asked me for advice on how to make their comics better. I only accepted the invitation back to their group just so I could quit it again.
Anyway, the answer to the question of what advice would I give someone wanting to make comics? Honestly, have fun and do what you think makes the most sense. Learn by doing!"
When it comes to people having opinions on his comics, here's what the artist thinks, "They can take away whatever they want, just stop taking away my signature when you share it on your own page. ;) I’m playing, but really I don’t think too much about how other people will react to my comics. I’m making these comics to make myself laugh. I try to make my comics for me, just to help take my mind off the real world for a while. If people like my comics and they get a smile from them, then bonus. But it’s not the main goal. This is all just practice. I don’t think I should have as many followers as I have, I don’t think my comics are all that good, but I do enjoy making them. If I worry too much about what other people are going to take away from my comics, I’ll probably quit and find a hobby with less pressure."
Each artist has different plans for the future, and here's what Scribbly G's ideal future would look like.
"I’d like to sell a show to Adult Swim or Netflix. Sell one big show idea, take the money, move to Thailand, and spend the rest of my days making comics on the beach. They don’t even have to put my name on the show. I’m not that bothered about the attention, I just need enough money so that I can afford to sit around making comics all day, and Thailand is the most beautiful country in the world. So if any of you have a relative who works at Netflix, please say nice things about me."
Artists tend to receive various comments on their work, and sometimes one negative comment can affect one's thoughts quite significantly.
"The only ones that stand out are the negative ones. The first-ever comment I got was “this is the worst thing.. like... ever”. I get a lot of really nice comments, but one negative comment would instantly delete 1000 positive comments from my memory. I used to hide away and want to delete my account after every negative comment. Now I don’t pay too much attention anymore.
The positive comments that stand out are the ones that are emailed to me. It’s easy for someone to comment on a cartoon and say how much they love your work, but to actually put in the effort of going to your site, finding your email address, and sending you a proper message, those mean a lot more. Actually, that reminded me, the most emails I received were after the last time I was in bored panda. A lot of the emails weren’t even about my comics, they were about my story of depression. So many people thanked me for being so open and honest. I really struggled after that article, you guys made me think about a lot of things I had locked away for a long time."
For some people, art is not only a hobby, but something way more, something that helps them to cope with whatever life might throw at them.
"It’s helped me more than I could have ever imagined. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for comics. I was in such a dark place, I was really struggling with depression, and this was before it was cool to have depression. I had depression back when your family tried to hide you away and pretend the problem didn’t exist.
I spoke a lot about it in the last article, so feel free to cut any of this for time, but before I started making comics I was either going to end up killing myself, or being put in a mental hospital. It got so bad that I was thinking about what would be the nicest way to kill myself. What type of suicide would be the cleanest and least traumatic for the person who found me. When I was growing up, I walked in on my brother trying to hang himself, and that memory has stuck with me my whole life. I didn’t want my mom to find me like that. I didn’t really want to kill myself, I just didn’t want to be alive anymore. Damn you bored panda, you made me cry now.
I was desperate to get better. I was willing to try anything, but there weren’t many options left. It’s scary for me to think about what would’ve happened if I hadn’t found comics and writing. I don’t want to put people off going to see someone when they are depressed, but I do think writing out your problems is a huge help."
"Part of why seeing a therapist helps is because it makes you talk out your problems, but for me, I got the same benefit from typing out my issues, just without the guy sitting in front of me nodding for an hour and taking my money. I actually felt better after an hour of writing than an hour at the doctor. It was a tough decision to stop the medication, and going through the withdrawals and the night terrors was awful, but I can honestly say this is the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. Bam, and all thanks to comics!
Speaking of withdrawals and night terrors… I hadn’t had a night terror since I got off my medication years ago. But I did have one a few months ago. I went on a social media detox, quit all social media for a month. I deleted all social media off my phone, and logged out of all of my accounts. It was weird to see how my finger would autopilot go to open Facebook on my phone. Even though the app wasn’t there anymore, I’d pick up my phone and my finger would go to where the Facebook icon used to be. A few days later, I had my first-night terror in years. The exact same reaction I got when I was trying to get off my medication.
That was the day I decided to start pulling away from social media and focus on longer stories for my site. I still don’t have any social media on my phone."
