The following interview was conducted by our own jgib99!

Username: Warpedwenger
Comic(s): Wakon Yosai, Sammy the Skunk

Tell everyone out there in Drunk Duck Land a little bit about yourself.

Well I'm 26 year old male human. I live in Knoxville TN and my day job is at UPS where I lift boxes all day. I have a cute little grey kitty named Nermal, I'm a huge Nintendo fan, and I'm a pacifist… Of course you wouldn't know that from my ultra-violent comic!

So, tell me, what made you want to enter this crazy madcap world of webcomics?

I'll do pretty much anything to get some exposure I take my cartooning career very seriously! As long as I can remember all I ever wanted to be was a cartoonist. Actually (singing)I want to be the very best like no one ever was…

Tell us a little bit about your comics.

Both my sense of humor and my artsyle are very unusual. It's my understanding that there are no new stories to tell. Everything is cliche. The only thing you can do is put your own spin on something so I create stories that are highly stylized.

What influenced you to make Wakon Yosai?

The characters in Wakon Yosai are very personal to me I spent many years developing them. It's my only ongoing series but it's set up in six chapter story arcs so it's never to difficult to jump right in. Alot of people who draw OEL manga try to do it just like the Japanese would… Then they look at Wakon Yosai and say that it's not manga. I say they're wasting their time making a generic version of something that is already readily available. I wanted to create a true style of OEL. You can look at Korean comics and know right away that's Manhwa.

Which one of your characters from your comics is your personal favorite?

I always like the villain the best in any story. Anybody that reads my stuff knows how morbid I am. So currently Sydney is my favorite… He's not really that evil though. There is a far more sinister villain than him that I haven't got to introduce yet and I can't wait!

Take us through a step by step process of how you make your pages.

I spend up to thirty hours a week drawing. Sometimes I'll pump out three pages in a day. I do everything by hand except lettering. I feel like the more you can physically do the better. I tried handlettering on Sammy The Skunk but my handwriting is horrible. I draw my pages on 11 by 17 acidfree copy paper. My pencil is a zebra .5 mech and I ink with Faber-Castell PITT artist pens.

Who is your major art and writing influences?

I grew up drawing Mario out of the little booklets that came in the gameboxes. My style has evolved alot through so many influences there is no way I can name them all. Most recently I've been influenced by Eiichiro Oda of One Piece fame and a lesser known artist by the name of Yoshihiro Tatsumi. As far as my writing goes I'm a huge fan of films by the Coen Brothers. Their humor isn't really about outrageous situations. It's more subtle. It's about the characters themselves. Sometimes thier stories don't even really have a plot. You just love the characters so much you don't care what they're doing.

Do you have any future plans for your comics? Any new stories on the horizon?

I have so many stories floating around in my head I worry that I'll die before I'm finished…

Name some of your favorite comics here on the Duck.

I have my favorites on my recommends. They aren't just there because the artists are my friends. I never miss an update for those stories.

Have you ever been to any comic book or anime conventions? If you have, what is the most ridiculous (or disturbing) cosplayer outfit you've seen?

Oh I set up and sell my art at cons all the time. I did see this big fat homosexual fellow dressed as Zelos Wilder from Tales of Symphonia. I thought that was kind of ironic since Zelos is like a ladies man.

What is, by far, the oddest comment that anyone has left on your comic's page?

I don't know my buddy Ghostrunner leaves some pretty strange comments. Lets look at my archive… Oh here's one from Anubis I thought was funny: big swords need to be carried by girls with very few clothing and huge boobs to offset the weight.

Anything that you would like to add before we call it a night?

Yeah thank you to everyone who reads Wakon Yosai! I loves yous guys.

Well, I'll be… I thought I was the only one who drew out of instruction booklets for video games as a kid! lol!

Great interview, guys! You've done yourselves good. :)

warped
I want to be the very best like no one ever was…

Creepy timing - that just started playing in winamp…

warped
I did see this big fat homosexual fellow dressed as Zelos Wilder from Tales of Symphonia.

If that's as funny in real life as it is in my head, I'm glad I missed it. My face would have exploded from laughing, and that's never fun for anyone.

Hey, nice to see these back! :)

I too love the Coen Brothers. I need to get my hands on a copy of the new one, seems a bit hard to find here in England…

Oh yeah No Country For Old Men is brilliant! I finally got the DVD recently my good friend gave it to me. I haven't seen it since it was in theaters so I'm excited!

I've been looking forward to reading this! I really liked your thoughts on art style, I guess it sort of expains why yours is so unique

You're a good man Pat! preciate cha!

Cool interview.

Awesome! I enjoyed it :)