Bored Panda reached out to Andrea to learn even more about her comic work. She began by sharing what inspired her to start the series: “I drew little comics for friends in high school, exaggerating situations that happened in class that I thought were funny. I was always drawing on handouts in class while my teachers were talking, and my best friend and I passed elaborate illustrations back and forth to each other in study hall- I actually made a post about that on BuzzFeed. I even made a few elaborate pieces of art in M.S. Paint (RIP). I had the opportunity to draw comics for a living as an illustrator at BuzzFeed.”
Hickey continued, offering even more insight into the early stages of her artistic career: “While video was getting huge at BuzzFeed LA, there was a big push to create original IP in other ways in the New York office where I worked. The illustrators were encouraged to start creating comics in BuzzFeed's style of ‘relatable content’ that appealed to their general audience and to specific verticals like food, books, beauty, entertainment, style, etc. Like with our posts, we were always experimenting to see which topics and jokes hit the right emotional responses in comics.”
When asked how she comes up with ideas for her strips, Andrea shortly responded: “Ideas came from everyday life and lots of in-office brainstorms.”
We were curious to know which other artists from the world of comics and comedy influenced Hickey’s style and served as her biggest inspirations. She shared with us: “I grew up being inspired by Nickelodeon cartoons like Rocko's Modern Life, Doug and SpongeBob SquarePants for their comedic timing and how they over-exaggerated moments of tension and anxiety. As far as comic artists go, I love the work of Emily Carroll, Jillian Tamaki, Sammy Harkham and Rebecca Mock. And because it's fall, I have to mention ‘Over the Garden Wall.’“
Lastly, Andrea discussed the most rewarding aspects of being a comic artist, drawing from her own experiences: “I wouldn't classify myself as a comic artist at this point in my career, although I'd like to create more comics! But it was really rewarding to use my personal perspective to relate to so many people online. And if it didn't, I could tweak things until I figured out what people liked. It was fun to occasionally draw something super weird and find out people enjoyed it as much as I did. Finding motivation can be tough, but I follow so many talented artists online, so that can help.”
