To learn more about the comics and the artist behind them, Bored Panda reached out to Andy.
First of all, Andy told us more about himself and his background. “I began my career as a professional cartoonist as a staff illustrator at CollegeHumor in NYC, alongside many of the most talented people I've ever met. If you know of Drawfee, those were my co-workers! It was great. While I was there, I primarily worked on a series called Ben & Steph, though I did a good mix of other things as well. After that, I primarily worked on my two series for WEBTOON, Behind the GIFs and Elf & Warrior. Along the way, I've made a lot of random little projects (Your D&D Stories, Taterpig, etc.), but these days I'm mostly working on Awoo!”
We were curious to know what drew Andy to the world of cartooning in the first place. He shared: “My dad is an illustrator and my mom is a writer, so I guess you could say comics were the fusion of those things. But I think the biggest part of it was growing up reading a ton of Calvin & Hobbes and other short comics. I had wanted to be a cartoonist from the time I was six years old or so—I didn't really think it was going to be possible, and I didn't pursue it seriously until my mid-20s, when I quit my retail job and enrolled in art school. I dropped out after a year to take the job at CollegeHumor.”
Andy also told us about his creative process and how he continues to come up with ideas for his Awoo! characters.
“I wish I could better convey my creative process, because that might mean I understand it. Sometimes the ideas just come to me. More often, I meditate on jokes and ideas while doing something that doesn't require active attention—driving a long way on the highway or taking a long walk—and get a lot of my writing done that way. Sometimes I just have to sit down with my laptop and spend a few hours coming up with things. It's a lot easier when the project is new, and every idea you have is valid and tenable. Once the identity of a project is more firmly established, you have constraints to work within, and it's very easy to lean on jokes that are just about the characters. But that gets old fast.”
Regarding the audience, Andy shared what he hoped that people would take away from his artwork.
“I hope the audience takes away some modicum of the peace that making the comics brings to me. A little respite in the madness of social media is nice, anyway. But I put myself in a very intentional mindset to make these, and doing that as a habit has been healing. I hope some of that gets through to the readers.”
And lastly, Andy added:
“First, a big 'thank you' for reading, obviously! If they like the comics and want to support them, Volume 1 of the printed collection of Awoo! is available at Fenris Publishing. I have the second volume coming out later this year. They can also keep an eye out for a re-run of the Makeship plushie campaign by following me on social media. And of course, if you want to chip in, Patreon. Thanks again!”
