Just like last time, Bored Panda reached out to Joseph with some more questions! First, we asked the artist if he had any life-changing influences that might have helped him with his art and art style in general when it comes to his comics.
"I grew up in the '90s so the usual suspects come to mind; Gary Larson and Bill Watterson. And although they def got me interested in the medium, I would say that above all I have looked to Dan Piraro and his work for inspiration for my cartoons. Bonus is he's still producing new comics and he answers my emails. I am grateful to have access to such a powerful and prolific player in the game. Mœbius and Hergé are also big for me."
Art, in any kind of form, takes a lot of time, not only to practice but also to produce, therefore we asked Nowak how long it takes him to fully finish his comics.
"There is a broad range when it comes to production time for my cartoons. The size and the amount of detail are factors. Whether or not I rewrite dialogue or reposition characters also makes it a longer process. Sometimes the joke is fleshed out and I have a winning composition immediately in mind and other times I work and erase and redraw and re-erase a piece multiple times. Sometimes, even after working 1+ hour on a joke, I completely abandon it."
Sometimes creative work can cause quite a burnout, therefore we asked the artist if he had to deal with it as well.
"A lot of the rest of my life can leave me burned out, but not really my comics. When I take longer breaks from the account it's because I have another project going on or looking through my joke ideas I can't find anything worth drawing."
Being an artist is not easy, one can easily encounter a lack of inspiration, burnout, etc, so we wanted to ask the artist about his ideas for the comics.
"Sometimes when I space out (which can occur often) I hear a particular word which can trigger a joke idea. Other times for practice, I will ponder an object or a situation (ones where I am convinced a joke can be found) long enough until I can picture a corresponding visual gag."
People's reactions can be quite amusing at times, so we couldn't hold ourselves back and just had the ask the artist about how people reacted to his work.
"Online and off it's been overwhelmingly positive. I deliberately steer clear of politics or offensive material. I do want my work to be accessible.
I confess that a lot of my work can be quite dark, which I understand is not to everyone's liking."
The creative process is not easy, but there are many enjoyable parts to it as shared by Joseph himself.
"I like coming across a fresh, funny, and non-verbal (I am most proud of the cartoons that don't require any dialogue or captions) idea is very rewarding. That 'eureka' moment is fantastic."
We also asked about the inspiration behind Nowak's Instagram account where he uploads his work.
"I slowly progressed with the times. When I started putting ink to paper (in the early days I only worked with black ink and a brush) I was keen to get my work into a newspaper, either national syndication or local (I was in Toronto at the time). I had very little success and I realized that the conventional print media route was probably a dead (for sure dying) cause. I first posted on Tumblr, then when I started coloring my work (2013) I created an Instagram page. I feel lucky that the format lends itself so beautifully to single-panel cartoons."
Digital art and art, in general, is not easy and requires a lot of patience, time, resources, and in most cases even money, therefore we wanted to know how the talented comic artist started his own path in digital art.
"When I first started coloring my cartoons, I was still using brush and ink on paper for all the line work and would then use a scanned copy of the piece to color digitally. It was only a few years later that I bought myself a touchscreen computer and switched to full digital. My cartoons I do on the computer but I still use conventional medium for my other work. I like India ink and art markers. Currently, I am into silk-screening and embroidery."
Motivation is a major thing for many artists, and in some cases, it can be attributed to things such as curiosity, the search for beauty, or even meaning.
"I am curious how long I can keep this going. Last year I published a book of 1000 cartoons, a milestone I never dreamed I would achieve. Maybe, just maybe, I can think of 1000 more..."
