Bored Panda reached out to Joseph Nowak and asked him some questions about his comic series. We wanted to know if there are any particular themes the artist finds the most compelling to explore in his work. We learned that: “Animals and death seem to be recurring themes in my strips. Both are liable to be found in strange situations. A lot of animals are silly by nature (absurd appendages, extended necks, far too many eyes, etc.) and the personification of death is simply fun to draw.”
Asked how his style has evolved over time, the artist shared with us: “When I first started drawing in 2012 I drew and colored everything by hand. Using a brush, India ink, and gray-toned markers for shading. Soon after I scanned my line work onto Photoshop and colored digitally. Nowadays the whole process is done on my iPad. All these changes have influenced the ‘look’ of the comic. The mere reality of daily cartooning for a decade will also change the look. The images have become cleaner and better proportioned.”
We were wondering about how Joseph balances the creative aspects of his work with the business side of things, such as marketing and promotion. He told us: “I honestly don’t balance the business with the creative side of the project well at all. I don’t have an interest/knack for advertising/selling myself so that side is always lacking. I only post on Instagram and not even that regularly. I would really benefit from someone overtaking that aspect of my content; a manager, essentially.”
Lastly, we wanted to find out what Nowak considers the most rewarding aspect of being a comic artist. We learned that: “I take part in a couple of cartoon/comic conventions every year and meeting people unfamiliar with my work and seeing them ‘get’ them and laugh out loud is very rewarding. There’s also a perceptible improvement in my line work over the years, which is nice.”
