This interview is of JayFantastico and McFadyn, whose comic is: Louder than Bombs!
(interview conducted by gullas!)

Well, hello fellow DrunkDuckers. I Gullas have come to you with my fellow DD'er JayFantastico
So Jay, tell us some inside information about you that we(the internet) might want to know about JayFantastico. Pwease *puppy eyes*?

JayFantastico (JF): Heh, sure. Well, Jay Fantástico is a pseudonym I use since I actually don't like my real last name. I've been doing webcomics since 2003 but that comic ended long ago. I like books by Douglas Coupland and I'm arachnophobic. That seems to be me in a nutshell.

McFaydn or “Chops” (CM) : Yeah, Mcfadyn isn't my name either. We like to go by what we call ‘punk rock names’, kind of like Jello Biafra or Sid Vicious. But not nearly as cool. I'm an animation nerd and a vegan. I'm the gate keeper and Jay's the key master, haha. But seriously were just two brothers from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.


*is eating a pizza* Charming. But there are many other Webcomics host sides out there… why Drunk Duck?

JF: We (my co-author and I, Chops McFadyn) chose Drunk Duck simply because it's easy to use and it's a good community. Since neither of us know anything about building or maintaining a website, Drunk Duck seemed to be the obvious choice. Plus, it has some really good comics on there.

CM: I don't know about JF but I thought I should get more involved with the webcomics community. Yeah, I'm not used to blogging or talking about the comic in any way really, so I figured that this would be one the best ways to get out there and meet some new creative people to talk to.


True, true, so there are two of you ah? So which one of you is the artist for LTB?

JF: That would be Chops. He's be the inks behind my words ever since we started our comic, “Canadian Bacon” in 2003. We have an odd union really. He draws but can't use photoshop. I do all the cleaning up and resizes for him.

CM: Haha, yeah…I don't like that stuff at all. But yeah, JF is the words and I lay down the inks. I work with a bunch of tools and silly things no one else touches. One of my main tools is the steak knife. Since I don't eat steak I figured the best thing to do with the knife was to ink with it. Actually it was JF's idea after I told him that I wanted to try emulating Jim Mahfood's style. Other tools I use are an old tooth brush, a cheese knife and I recently bought some Windsor & Newtown brushes for the finer things.


*burb* sorry about that, but that sounds awfully delightfull. In your words, describe LTB for someone who has yet to look at it.

JF: LTB is a smack the senses in the fact that I don't know a comic that has our format. I will admit, it is an odd format having the words separate from the pictures but I like to think it works. It's sad, funny, and crude. It's real life.

CM: For me I tend to take each script and think about what fits best for the script that I get. It'll be hell if we ever make a book, but the different formats give me freedom to do what I like with it. Sometimes its a vertical strip, sometimes its a big piece of art. It really depends on how I'm feeling on the day. But to someone looking at it, I would tell them that its our honest look on the world and we don't shy away from any topic. It'd loud and I like it that way.


I really like the humour in LTB. What would be your ‘humour-inspiration’?

JF: Like I said previously, real life. I like looking at things around me and finding the humour in it. For some reason, I like finding humour in the mundane side of things. But then again, you never know where you'll find humour. Perhaps in a garbage bag on the side of the road. Zing!

It's cool to make references to my own comics, right? Sure, why not.

CM: For me I tend to add to the strips only at the end. If at all really. I get a bunch of the goods from JF and we talk about what we'd like to work on. I'm not sure what you'd call it but I like to add what we call ‘the second punch line’. Where we have the joke in play and then we add an ellipses (…) and add that touch more. It's a Louder than Bombs thing. My art inspiration changes on a daily basis though. But guys I look up to are Jim Mahfood, Oren Haskins, Bob Clampett, John K, Frank Cho, Anthony Lister and so many others.



Although LTB has only 20 something pages, I've noticed a change in your style. Could you tell us a little bit about that?

JF: There was actually a break in between comic number 18 and 19 of almost a year. We decided to take a little break and see if we could come back with more vigor and be a little more serious. Plus, Chops just loves experimenting with his art. He loves doing the comic because he can change his style to whatever he feels like on any one day. It's very freeing artistically for him.

CM : What he said. haha. Yeah, like I said, the comic is always changing and turning into something that I can't quite control anymore. I get a vision in my head of what the best way of portraying the script and I just go for it. I don't have to worry about ‘oh, we do a comic strip or a one panel…’ I just do what I like on this water colour paper that I use. If I had to stick to one style I'd probably kill myself after a while. We tried sticking with one format as you saw in the older LTB's but it never stuck, so here we are nearly a year later doing it better and louder.


I noticed that you made a thread about “inking with a knife”? Explain further, please?

JF: During our break, Chops wanted to try new things and see if he could push his art. Under the influence of Jim Mahfood, he took it upon himself to try new tools while inking. The first being a toothbrush and second being a steak knife. Chops like the effect he got so he decided to keep doing it. Lately, he's upgraded to a cheese knife to do the lettering in the comic. More fine lines less drips.

CM: Yeah, it was JF's idea actually. Haha. I love the smooth lines I get from my brushes, but I also really dig the jaggy nonsense of the steak knife. Like I said, it a per situation basis type of thing. If I want to make something ‘pretty’ I use the brushes and if I'm doing something a little more off the wall, I go for my steak knife. I like to use the unconventional tools mostly cause it cause a stir. Like if I ‘inked’ with soy sauce people would go crazy! ahah, but yeah. I like the work that comes out of using a ‘found-art’ tool.


I think these new “knife-inked” pages look AWESOME!!!! So before we wrap this thing up, what are your plans for LTB and comic making in general?

JF: WE plan on updating twice a week. those days being Tuesday and Friday. Which means, new comic tomorrow! Look at all you lucky handsome people. Also, it's a lofty goal but someday we'd like to do webcomics or art in general as our jobs. That day is probably far away but we're working on it! We'll keep rocking if you keep reading!

CM: I want to do ‘art’ professionally along with the comic. Who knows where we're going with this, but we're not going anywhere anytime soon. Thanks for the interview man, it's been good.

Well thank you for your time and go on making moar comikz!!1

JF: Thanks for the interview!

best episode ever!

Great interview!

I still think the whole thing with the knife is just awesome in general.
It's like some sort of badassery you'd see in movies.

Guy in a jungle
I've been out here for what seems like 5 years. I've been surviving the whole time by eating random fruits, and I then kill bears with my own two hands. For entertainment, the only thing I have is a pad of Bristol paper, and a steak knife, along with a toothbrush, and a bottle of ink.


…I know now what I must do.

I MUST CREATE A COMIC BOOOOK!!!!!


end

Awesome interview. Short, but sweet.

Yeah! Awesome interview. Well, I thought so anyways. :P

Yeah, it was a strange thing to be interviewed for anything that we've done. At the time, back in ‘03, our strip was getting quite a bit of hits and we never had anyone poking around asking us things. If anyone else has any questions or some nasty crits it’d be good to hear them.