Try saying that ten times quick … it's actually pretty easy. Fun though. I should get out more.
Is it true Brad Pitt will be playing you in the Bear Facts movie?
Unless we find someone better looking.
How long has Bear Facts been going?
a) Too long. b) About a decade. c) waaay too long.
Where is it published?
So far (deep breath), the Sunshine Coast Daily, Gladstone Observer,
Mackay Daily Mercury, Warwick Daily News, Queensland Times (Ipswich),
Toowoomba Chronicle, Rockhampton Morning Bulletin, Lismore Northern Star,
Central Queensland News (Emerald), Capricorn Coast Mirror and the Armidale Express.
The Gold Coast Bulletin is now publishing Bear Facts every Saturday in its new
colour magazine, Paradise Magazine (what a brave move).
Also, I've been part of a "revolving panel" (not revolting, smarty-pants) in the
Rural Press papers, and have appeared in the China Post and The Nation in Asia,
and even in a monthly comic called Trásket in Scandinavia. (As you'd expect.)
It's also sold online at a website called CartoonEbooks (www.cartoonebooks.com).
I hope to appear in lots more papers soon, take over the world, abolish supermodels,
and retire to the coast. Again, please send money.
Where do the ideas come from?
They really do just bubble up from nowhere if you stare into space long enough.
Cartoonists call this "working".
Why did you choose cartooning?
It chooses you. Like a mosquito.
Do you earn a lot of money from cartooning?
Ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaa!
What's the capital of Morocco?
A lot of people would say Casablanca, but I reckon it's Rabat.
Can you take me through the process of drawing a cartoon?
Yes.
Well?
Oh, sorry. First, I lightly pencil the rough idea. When it's about right,
I'll ink it in, then I'll lay a page of light, thin paper on top and trace
the final with a brush and ink, then draw in the lesser lines with a 0.2 or 0.4 pen.
I use a felt pen for the word balloons so it has a fluid look. Then it's scanned
into a Mac PowerBook and Photoshopped up with a frame, title, and eventually colour
(for some papers). Then, with deadline eleven minutes away, I'll realize it's not
funny and go into a cold sweat.
What equipment do you use?
Well, apart from my web-shooters …
For cartooning?
Ah. I use a Papermate Pacer 300 pencil with refillable 5B leads. Any paper does
the job as long as it's "light" (about 40⁄50 gsm –
grams per square metre, I think) so you can trace through it – I don't use a
light-box … I draw on my Nan's collapsable card table, and I think a light-box
would have said table living up to its adjective. Winsor & Newton Black India Ink and
series 1 brush – same brush now for ten years; don't buy a cheap one. I change
pens a bit – one day I'll find the right one. Or move on and get a real job.
Has anyone ever told you it's like The Far Side but not as funny?
Pooie on youie.
What's a typical day?
Tuesday?
For a cartoonist.
Right. I start around ten and draw roughs for a couple of hours, brew a good pot of tea,
back to the drawing board till lunch (around two), then in the afternoon get them to
a more finished state, then do the stuff that keeps you alive (shopping, exercise,
laundry, more tea – exciting rock-star lifestyle, huh?). At night I scan 'em in and
Photoshop (I like to use the natural daylight to draw by). Watch some Star Trek,
make another attempt on the "Hot For Teacher" solo, read the latest Spidey, and
turn in around two. After a snack.
What do you want to be when you grow up?
This is it, baby!