With millions of brilliant and original comic artists around the world, it's hard to make a name for yourself, but I believe Patrick Chang is on his way, if he's not already there. What makes his works distinct from others is the versatility and diversity of themes, structure and styles. While many artists struggle to find but one style, Cheng (originally) goes the other way, and offers a was array of comics that fit many differing tastes.
The artist gladly agreed to give an interview to Bored Panda. "I'm a professional artist, animator and motion designer that's been working largely in tech and advertising for the last 15 years. I've always loved drawing comics since I was a kid, and comics had been the place of inspiration for my professional career. I love making people laugh, and comics have been a great way to do that."
Here's an illustration on what we mean when we say that Patrick Cheng is diverse. Sure, there are a few recurring characters, gags, or themes, but have you noticed how numerous they are? Among the topics there's feminism, parenting, science and technology, modern life commentary, generational humor, dark humor, gaming, fantasy, and many other topics that could generally be summarized as "random."
Patrick explained the origin of the name. "The name CatTrigger comes from two parts: 1. I am allergic to cats, and therefore can't have them as pets. For a consolation prize, I drew this blue cat character when I was a kid. They kind of became a "mascot" for me. 2. When I was thinking of a name for the site, I made the decision to call it 'CatTrigger' as a combination of the cat mascot and 'Trigger' as in to 'start' something. That's how the name was used."
In terms of versatility Patrick Cheng goes further than just themes and topics, he's seemingly a master of many styles of comics. You may not see it here, but we highly recommend taking a glimpse at the artist's website or his Instagram feed, and you'll notice that there's a lot of different styles he likes to draw in. There are cutesy pastel bunnies right beside a sassy witch, who's right beside a comic with meta commentary about the artist. We didn't want to break your brain, so we decided to show you only one of his best styles that he mastered.
In terms of comics, Patrick, like many others, has been inspired by the all-time greats. "A lot of my humor and comic work stems originally from newspaper comic strips. A lot of Peanuts, Foxtrot, and of course, Calvin and Hobbes."Mr. Cheng told us about his favorite and least favorite parts of the comic creation process. "The best and worst parts of it can be interchangeable. Once I have an idea, much of it is just trying to figure out how it will 'look'.
Because I don't usually have a set of characters that I can draw every time in my comics, I try to find a new style or look to help encapsulate the 'story' of the comic.
It's a great challenge, and I sometimes try to work in styles I am not comfortable in, and that's where it can get difficult. But it also helps make me a more diverse artist.
And while it is difficult, it's also incredibly fun to figure out how to execute something I've never really done before."
The artist also was kind to give some tips to the beginners out there. "Sometimes doing art comes easy, sometimes it doesn't. It's always good to set a goal on how much you want to accomplish over the course of the day or week.
Getting started can definitely be hard to do. But if you have a set "quota" you are determined to reach, it does push you over that ledge.
At least, that's how it worked for me."
Here's what he's been up to lately. "I have been starting to dabble more in game development, I just released a free horror game based on a comic I did last year on Itch.io that's free to download. I hope to develop more in the future."
