Raph also shared what got him into art in the first place: "Boredom during school. Doodling on the side of the page, trying to make my friends laugh during class. Transitioning into painting fan art of my favorite shows and characters. I remember my first real encounter was trying to draw the monsters from the Deltora quest series."
The artist shared at what moment he decided to create comics: "I was in Japan when I decided I wanted to make a long-form comic. I got home, worked on it for 6 months, and then realized it was complete trash. I decided that if I couldn’t do long-form comics well, maybe I should practice doing short funny strips. From there, I started posting on Imgur, and the rest is history."
"Depressing, wholesome, stupid, intelligent. Confusing. I don’t have a specific style of humor that I stick to, and I create whatever speaks to me at the moment. So I guess the best way of describing it would be ‘What Raph is thinking about at this current time,’" said Raph when asked how he would describe his comics. And for his stylistic: "Cyanide + Happiness mixed with Adventure Time, with a heaping of inspiration from many other webcomics."
"I used to use the character that represented me. He first started as almost having a meteor/onion-shaped head, which was supposed to resemble super messy hair. But that transitioned into more flowy lines when I realized it looked NOTHING like me. I don’t put too much emphasis on the character's style because I try to focus on the joke. Maybe I’m just bad at drawing," said Raph when asked where he finds inspiration for the characters.
"My favorite part of art is seeing how different people react to it. We see parts of ourselves reflected in art, whether we know it or not. You can tell a lot about a person by seeing what appeals to them or makes them laugh. The hardest part is the consistency. Some weeks you’ll have so much inspiration that you could write 20 comics. Other weeks, no inspiration at all. Mixed with the dreaded social media algorithm, it becomes an uphill battle to stay relevant at times."
Raph shared his biggest inspirations and comics artists that he looks up to: "Extrafabulouscomics, JonComics, GoatToSelf, ElderCactus, HotPaperComics, BecksComics are all great. There are so many talented people out there, it's hard to mention them all."
Raph shares his favorite topic to create comics about: "I love to make comics about god, or abstract ideas like heaven, infinity, etc. I think there’s a lot of comedy in our often flawed humanistic thinking about these concepts. The idea of an all-judging being just has way too many comedic setups."
The artist tells us more about his hobbies, life, and journey to becoming who he is today: "I’m a 22-year-old Australian introvert who loves making things in his room. Honestly, it's how I’ve always been, and I haven’t changed much for the last 10 years. I love my alone time, and I love being proud of something that I’ve created to the point of addiction. I want to create a lasting mark on the world uniquely and interestingly through these creations, and hopefully, someday make a living from them.
Recently I’ve been getting into making music, and I’ve been having a lot of fun with that. Whether it will be anywhere nearly as successful as my comics is another question. I’m an avid gamer, specifically Blizzard at the moment, raiding in classic WoW and playing battlegrounds in Hearthstone. Getting back into Overwatch right now too! Go Hanzo! I’m currently studying Computer Science at the University of Melbourne."
"I love all of my fans. They put up with so much crap, whether it be bad comics or long breaks without any content. So if any of my fans are reading this, (or you’re a new fan), I’m sorry if I sometimes don’t deliver! I’m always trying my best!"
