1. What initially drew you to comics? My first loves were comic strips and animated cartoons. I loved seeing the fun and cartoony characters come to life, which I think attracted me to this more than live-action film and television as a kid. It was exciting to discover comic books that told extended stories with the same language as comic strips. 2. Please tell us about Ghost Hog and any other recent work you'd like to highlight. Ghost Hog is about Truff, the ghost of a young boar, who is obsessed with haunting the spot where she was shot down by a hunter. She meets some other supernatural forest creatures who draw her away from that haunting spot and take her on an adventure around the mountain where she lived. Then, in my newest graphic novel Dragon Racer, Truff meets Vern, a dragon who races every year in a big cart race against a bunch of other animals. He talks up a big game, but the truth is that he’s never actually won a race before. The other racers make fun of Vern, and say that he is more interested in covering his racing cart with shiny decorations than being a great driver. However, he’s determined to show them this year! Both graphic novels are self-contained, but share a world and some characters. So, you can read one without the other, but if you do read Ghost Hog first, you’ll be happy to see Truff and the gang show up in Dragon Racer. 3. What do comics allow you to do as a storyteller? Comics give me the control to do as much as possible myself and put what exists in my mind directly on the paper. In that way, it is a very direct form of communication between me and the reader. 4. Please tell us about your creative process. I start with a lot of loose outlines and then hone it down into specifics. So, first I will just write down or sketch anything that I know I want, without worrying how it all connects. Then, I can look over what I’ve got and fill in the connective elements, like a puzzle. After several different kinds of outlines, I sketch out rough versions of the comic in my sketchbook, and that’s where a lot of character interactions, dialogue, and jokes comes from. Then I draw the pages again on big pieces of bristol paper, which I scan in to my computer and color digitally. 5. Where can we find out more about your work? You can see my illustration and comics, as well as info about me, at my website http://tragic-planet.com As far as social media, I’m @joeyweisercomics on Instagram, which is strictly focused on sharing art and news relating to my comics, or @joeyweiser on Twitter, which is more all-over-the-place, talking about comics I’m reading, movies I’m watching, whatever seems to pop into my head.
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