Even Dr. Phil Passed On This One
A good buddy of mine suggested that I should interview the artists behind the characters that are guests on Woody After Hours. Since it required little effort on my part I concluded that it was a great idea. Here is the beginning of my interview with George Ford, the artist behind Addanac City.
WAH: What was going on in your life professionally and personally when you initially decided that you wanted to create and publish a webcomic?
GF: I had just met the girl of my dreams (whom I later married) and was doing some freelance custom artwork at the time. I have always had dreams of producing a comic strip series, and I experienced moderate success on a local level, but I wanted to do something that the entire world could see.
Like nearly every cartoonist, I had drawers filled with comics and sketches that no one ever saw. Everybody told me that I needed to get published, but they don’t realize the difficulty that is involved with getting a large publishing house to “endorse” you. I felt that the time was right (with technology being as advanced as it was in 2006) to launch a strip series doing it the way I saw best via the internet.
I didn’t know anything about webcomics at the time. I didn’t know who was hot, who was terrible, or who had been doing it the longest. I just decided to pitch my hat in the ring and do it the way I wanted to.
My wife was very instrumental in making me believe that I had a chance. If it wasn’t for her, I would still be drawing cute pictures and stuffing them in a file drawer, continually saying “should’a, would’a, could’a”.
WAH: What pop culture influences helped you to construct your theme and characters?
GF: I was an only child reared in a rural setting so I was always reading and drawing as means of entertainment. We had three channels on tv and my parents commandeered that most of the time. I started out reading Archie, Richie Rich, those Whitman Disney comics that came three for a dollar, and the funnies in the state newspaper (my local paper was too small to carry comics). I was enthralled by the pictures, the fantasy settings, and the wondrous colors that I encountered. I knew from the time that I was 3 years old that I wanted to be a part of that world.
More of my interview with George on Wednesday.
– Ben
Thanks for sharing the interview–looking forward to the next installment!
Cool…I’m with Chris–can’t wait for the next installment!
This is a great new feature!
When you get a chance you should do interviews with the 2 previous guests as well and just add them on to their comics so people can go back and read them.
Of course, someone is going to have to ask just when exactly George went crazy and started making all that trouble that’s “just fiction” in Addanac City (does anyone actually believe Hank is a made-up character?!)
He’s mad! MAD, I tell ya!
great! I love how George draw Hank and how you fit it in with your comic. So you retain his style even thoguh he is a guest on yours. pretty cool.
Like the interview too
Ha! Valium…!
At least my therapist keeps some good candy!