As you may or may not know, I’ve
been making regular public appearances (not nearly so grandiose as it sounds,
I assure you) with the rest of the cartoonists who work for The Daily
Texan for several weeks now. During that time, I’ve had the opportunity
to chat with some of you, answer your questions, get feedback, etc.
Some of the questions I’ve been getting have been pretty similar, so I figured
the time has finally come do a FAQ (frequently asked questions) edition
of Seno’s Soapbox. After all, I haven’t really talked about the comic
itself yet and I was planning to at some point anyway. No time like
the present, right?
Q: What’s your obsession with big breasts?
A: I think the real question here is what’s your obsession
with big breasts? After all, I tend to draw women with 8% body fat,
legs up to there, and butts you could bounce a quarter off of, but no one
ever takes issue with any of that. I guess there’s just something
about big sweater kittens that really riles you people up.
Truth is, I’ve taught myself to draw mostly from a) the work
of various comic book artists and b) Internet smut (the only source of
photographic reference I can readily get my hands on). Both of these
sources feature women with big busts. So does Hollywood. And
so does just about every other entertainment venue that I can think of.
Go bug them.
Q: Where do you get your ideas from?
A: I’ve been blessed with a group of insanely funny friends,
so a bunch of the punchlines are directly lifted from conversations I’ve
had with them. The storylines are pretty much of my own design.
Either they come to me while daydreaming in class, or they’re variations
on stuff that has happened to me personally. Basically, I try to write
a comic that would entertain me and then I hope that my enthusiasm translates
over to the audience.
Q: Are the characters in OFF CAMPUS real people?
A: No, they’re cartoons.
Q: Ok smartass, are they based on real people?
A: To a certain extent, yes. When I first created the
original cast of characters, I used traits, both physical and personal,
from people I knew. However, in the two years plus that I’ve been doing
OFF CAMPUS, Rachel, Suzie, etc. have grown into very unique characters with
personalities all their own. Take Austin, for example: he started out
as a caricature of some of my buds from high school. As time passed,
though, he’s pretty much become my id, given free range to say and do whatever
it wants.
Q: So is Rachel available?
A: Nice try, but the two ladies that she’s based on are spoken
for.
Q: Will Shawn and Rachel ever get together?
A: I haven’t decided yet. Ideally, they’d both live
happily ever after. On the other hand, there’s this perverse part
of me that thinks that it might make for a better story if they end up apart;
heck, we don’t even know how Rachel feels about Shawn, after all. I
can promise that there will be a resolution of some kind eventually. Whether
it’s a Cinderella kind of ending or a "Chasing Amy" sort of thing
remains to be seen. Keep reading!
Q: Will OFF CAMPUS continue once you graduate?
A: Yup. I’ve got several more years worth of story
to work with, and I intend to stay with the comic until I run out of new
ideas. OFF CAMPUS will move to a webcomic only format during the
second half of 2002.
Q. Why do you sign everything with the name “Seno?”
A: It’s a nickname I picked up in junior high. It’s
Spanish for “breast”. Given some of the comic’s content, I thought
that the moniker might be somewhat appropriate. It’s also much shorter
than my real name.
Q. I read OFF CAMPUS on-line only. What the hell are
the “West Mall” and “Lawless Comix”?
A: The West Mall is a courtyard thingy located on the campus
of the University of Texas. It is the abode of student government
vultures, dozens of different ethnic groups, and a veritable rainbow of
student associations peddling all kinds of random shit. Once a week,
several of the cartoonists who work for The Daily Texan set up a
table on the West Mall and distribute/sale copies of our comics in a zine
we call Lawless Comix. If you’d like to get your hands on some, contact
me.
Q. Why don’t you use a computer to letter and/or color the
comics?
A: I’ll eventually move to computer lettering, but (for the
time being) it’s simply easier to hand letter them. As far as color
is concerned, I haven’t gotten anywhere near good enough to be trying that
. . . yet.
Q. What comics do you like/read?
A: As anyone who knows me well can attest, comics (both books
and strips) are my passion. I read around twenty comic books or so
a month. My favorites are 100 Bullets, Strangers in Paradise
, Ultimate Spider-Man, Liberty Meadows, Age of Bronze
, The Authority, The Red Star, and The Metabarons.
To be completely honest, I tend to follow creators more than titles, though.
If Brian Michael Bendis, Kevin Smith, or J. Michael Straczynski writes it,
or if Frank Cho or J. Scott Campbell draws it, I most likely buy it.
Q. Any comic strips you like, nerd boy?
A. Not much, really. I’m hooked on the webcomics Striptease
, 8-Bit Theater, and Terrell Quimby. The only newspaper
strip I consistently enjoy is bill and erik, done by my friend and
colleague, Mac Blake
. It seems like anyone who did a really good newspaper strip got
sick of dealing with his or her editor and retired or moved to a different
venue.
Seno
4/18/02
Today's Question: Anything I forget to address?
Let
me know
.
Good Shit: I've been watching the anime series
Neon Genesis Evangelion on DVD. It's got a well-written storyline,
the animation is top-notch, and the attention to scientific detail is refreshing.
If you enjoy sci-fi, but have noticed that the genre has been blowing
for the last couple of years, you might want to give the series a look.
