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.
"My biggest inspirations are classic newspaper cartoonists. While I’m nowhere close to their skills, I strive to get close to the lush linework of Walt Kelly (Pogo), the eye for clean visual gags of Ernie Bushmiller (Nancy), the dynamic sense of movement of Floyd Gottfresdon (Mickey Mouse) and the work ethic of Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes)."
Art, in any kind of form, takes a lot of time not only to practice but also to produce, therefore we asked Pedro about how long it takes him to fully finish his comics.
"On average, I’d say 3 days. Since I don’t stick to a fixed length, a 4-panel black and white comic could be done the same afternoon I came up with the idea. Longer comics can take a week, and if they have color, even more. And that’s once they’ve already been written. Some ideas have gestated in my head for years."
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.
"Observing the world with a critical eye, not to be a contrarian, but to make sure we’re not just accepting things as a given. Even if they later evolve into a whole narrative, most ideas start with phrases like 'Wouldn’t it be funny if…' or 'If you think about it…', which question why things are like they are, and are an attempt to see them from a different angle."
As we mentioned before, sometimes creative work can cause quite a burnout, therefore we asked the artist how he dealt with that as well.
"Absolutely, I've been burnt out. It helps that I try to do what I want instead of being bound to external demands, but the alchemy of filtering everything through your eyes and converting it into something that moves people or makes them laugh takes a toll. When the quality of the work starts to suffer, that is when I walk away and try to enjoy life for myself. Better one quality comic a week than three mediocre ones. Luckily, I can’t stay away from comics too long without getting antsy. I’m at my happiest when I’m working."
We also asked Pedro about how people reacted to his work.
"Webcomics have come to mean something specific on social media (streamlined, relatable, ready-to-share), so a 12-panel comic out of nowhere can be a hard sell. And my comics are so different from each other that if you enjoyed one this week there’s no guarantee you’ll like the next one: there might be some whiplash between a wholesome story one day and a dark joke soon after. I feel my work is an acquired taste, but the people who stay understand what I’m trying to do, so they stay for the long haul, and I’m thankful for them."
The creative process is not easy, but there are many enjoyable parts to it as shared by the artist.
"Oh, the moment when I’m writing, and all the pieces finally fall into place. It’s sort of like a puzzle where you have a nebulous idea of what you want to do, but the twist or surprise isn’t quite there, or the story doesn’t have that extra edge it needs to make it special. When you finally figure it out, it’s the best feeling in the world, and everything afterward, even if it’s tough, feels like going downhill, just hammering out the details and making sure the comic conveys clearly what you’re trying to say."
We were also wondering why the artist chose Instagram as his main platform, and here's what he told us, "I’ve been making comics since 2010 and it soon became clear that because of the large format of many of my comics, they would never fit correctly on various platforms, and for a long time Instagram seemed like the worst fit. It was only until 2016 or 2017 that someone mentioned the new carousel feature that I was intrigued, because now I had the possibility of showing the artwork in even greater detail. Once I started posting I was surprised by how warm and receptive the Instagram community was… comics that had zero response when I first posted them to my website in, say, 2012, absolutely killed when I reposted them in 2017. Despite all its ups and downs, it’s still my favorite platform and the one place I hang around at the most."
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 career in digital art.
"I had drawn traditionally all through my childhood, but when I finally sat down to make my first comics I knew I wanted to jump right into a digital medium, so I bought the cheapest tablet I could find at the time, a Genius Mousepen. It was a slow learning process, particularly mastering a new kind of hand-eye coordination, and I was probably making things harder for me when I started (not planning at all, just jumping directly into doing the lineart), but I have never looked back. I still work traditionally for illustration pieces and I enjoy it immensely, but digital gives you so many flexible tools and it’s so much faster and forgiving in comparison."
Artists tend to get motivated by a lot of things such as curiosity, the search for beauty, or even meaning, therefore we were wondering why Pedro was motivated to continue creating.
"Creating something that is authentic and shows things in a new light, a light filtered through a prism that’s uniquely you, is not only personally rewarding; I think it’s also valuable and helpful for others to interpret their own experience. I am always searching for artists that are uncompromisingly true to themselves, the ones that stand out in a sea of commercial content due to their sincerity... it’s so exciting to hear their unique voice. I can only strive every day to be the same."
