Bored Panda contacted Malachi to catch up with the artist. First of, Malachi shared if there have been any changes in his creative style or routine, or maybe even new projects.
“My style is always undergoing a slow transformation. If you look at my latest comic and compare it to the first one, the changes are obvious, but every comic is some kind of tiny step in some new direction. I'm really grateful that I 'have' to do Itchy Feet every week because I'm always thinking about what I can do differently this time, and I get to practice drawing on a consistent basis. And I guess if you do anything consistently for a long time, you get better, and it changes. Sometimes these simple changes are as simple as a new gesture, expression or object, or just a slight change in the way I write the letter 'A'. Or sometimes it's a new way of coloring a sunset or depicting a silhouette. These minor things aren't usually obvious as new in a single comic, but they aggregate across the weeks and months into a steady shift in style over the years. I've been reading Calvin & Hobbes with my son recently, and it's fascinating how consistent Bill Watterson's style is over the years of its run. At least, compared to Itchy Feet. Itchy Feet is always changing.”
Malachi continued: “Part of that is also that I now design, illustrate and publish board and card games under my Keen Bean Studio brand, and because I do all my own art for those games, it has really forced me to stretch what I can do artistically. For my game Roll Camera, which is about filmmaking, I have to draw film crews shooting movies, and because in the game players make a movie using scene cards, I'm also drawing scenes from the movie you're shooting. Lots of zany stuff. My upcoming game is called Power Vacuum, and artistically it's a big step in a new direction: the game is set in a world of anthropomorphic household appliances living in an authoritarian dystopia (I call it 'The Death of Stalin meets The Brave Little Toaster'), and this has really forced me to draw outside my comfort zone, both in terms of subject and style. And of course, drawing new things makes me learn new things, and I bring those lessons back with me when I do my weekly Itchy Feet. So it's a positive feedback loop,” Malachi shared his endeavors.
Malachi’s upbringing spanned various countries and cultures. Therefore, we were curious how this diverse background influenced his artistic expression, particularly in Itchy Feet Comics.
“I'm not sure I would qualify my background as all that diverse. It only really spans the southwest USA and parts of Europe. I guess 'diversity' is relative - I'm sure anyone who has only ever lived in a single place would find the last twenty years of my life very exotic and exciting - but it's also pretty Western world-centered. In fact, although I have a fair number of Itchy Feet comics set in Asia, they tend to be submissions by guest writers or my brother Erik, who has lived in Thailand, India, Japan and South Korea, and traveled far more extensively than I have. Strangely, I think what Itchy Feet has taught me over the years of publishing it and interacting with readers is that my background is actually far less diverse than I used to think! I wish more people would submit their own ideas for Itchy Feet comics so I can share a wider array of perspectives. I'm always welcoming submissions here.”
Malachi also shared how the journeys inspire the settings, characters, or stories within his comics.
“It's funny, now that I'm a dad and my wife has an actual real job, we do a lot less traveling than we used to. So in the past year or so many of my travel comics center around more generic themes, rather than being about specific countries or places. I just don't have as many direct experiences to pull on as I used to. I also think, to be totally honest, that travel itself has changed. The cost of travel has dropped so dramatically in the last decade. This is a good thing because it democratizes travel for more people around the world, that's great. But it also means that almost every single place on the planet has a tourism industry. Everywhere has a tour office and a hotel and a cappuccino machine. We're globalizing more and more and getting closer and closer - again, this is a good thing overall in my opinion. But it means more comfort and less adventure, and that's less exciting for me. Or maybe it's not travel that has changed, but it's me that has changed. Same end result, I think. I travel less than I used to. All that said, I am getting itchy feet again. My son is getting old enough to join us on a real adventure... maybe I should talk to my wife... hmm... *looks at map and dreams*”, wrote Malachi.
And lastly, we asked Malachi if he’s been to a country that he hadn't visited before since the last post. Malachi wrote: “When my wife and I were younger, we used to have a goal of visiting 5 new countries every year. And for a couple of years, we did! Or nearly did. But man, I can't remember the last time I was in a new country. I've been to lots of new places: the Vorarlberg region of Austria, little islands in the Gulf of Thailand, rural Indiana and Austin, Texas, Lago di Como in Italy… but it's been a long, long time since I've been to a new country. And now this is stressing me out and giving me imposter syndrome! I gotta travel again!!”
