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Contact the Artist
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) of Roy Schneider |
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 Q. When did you first start drawing cartoons?
A. I guess that depends on how we’re defining“cartoons.” Like a lot of kids, apparently, I started by drawing crude, smiley mouths with ballpoint pen on the “Peanuts” characters when they weren’t saying anything (as Schulz fans know, the mouths are often visually nonexistent when the characters aren’t speaking). These strips were very conveniently located in my sister’s paperback books. This led to a lot of physical pain, which, as we all know, is a great source of comedy... But only when it happens to someone else. When I did eventually learn to draw things that resembled something, I did a lot of warped Snoopies, lopsided Charlie Browns and disproportionate Mickey Mice. Then around age 8, I went through a major Archie comic book phase. I could never draw that checker thing on his head quite right, though, which usually ended up looking like a waffle on the side of his face. This was a major source of childhood frustration for me (pardon me while I lie down)... A lot of the other kids could draw much better than I could, so I never really felt like I was very good at it. Can ya help me, Doc?
Q. Who were the cartoonists who most influenced you?
A. Wow, it would be very hard to name them all... But the first ones that leap to mind are Don Martin and Sergio Aragones (of Mad Magazine fame), Charles Schulz, Berkeley Breathed and Bill Watterson. In my teens and early twenties, I'd become fascinated with underground artists like Gilbert Shelton and Robert Crumb. After becoming serious about getting syndicated, I discovered the brilliant work of Jerry Scott (now of “Zits” and “Baby Blues” fame). He was something of a mentor to me for some years while I was finding my voice, and gave me a lot of encouragement and helpful tips; the most important of which was "don't take any advice from other cartoonists."
Q. How did you get your professional start?
A. I was bumbling around, desperately trying to find a way to make a living being creative, and decided to go to a tech college for graphic design & layout. Fortunately, one of my earliest interviewers (a small monthly music magazine) realized I was a completely green desktop publisher, but a reasonably able cartoonist. They turned me down for the layout job, but hired me replace the artist who drew their monthly comic strip, “Tommy Flashback,” written by their editor, for 25 bucks a pop. It was a horrid strip, but I was published, and it gave me the incentive to start writing my own gags and set out for syndication. In the years between then and now, I also worked as a graphic artist, a copy editor and a 3D modeler/animator.
Q. How would you describe your style?
A. I don’t know... But I’ve tried very hard to develop my own style of both writing and drawing, hoping that my influences wouldn’t be too obvious. I never want anyone to view my work and think of it as a ripoff of another cartoonist. I strive to keep it the visual style simple enough to be legible, and detailed enough to be interesting.
Q. Where do you get your story ideas?
A. A few of the ideas still originate at home with my daughter (now 15 and much more intelligent and worldly than myself)... Other than that, I usually get my ideas out of an old shoe I keep in the bathtub.
Q. How did you come up with your characters?
A. The strip was born shortly after my daughter’s mother and I separated and I was trying to come up with a new strip concept to take my mind off the emotional turmoil. I started realizing how clueless I was when it came to taking on all the responsibilities of parenting on top of earning a living and keeping track of all the details, so I thought I’d try a strip that would basically make fun of myself. After trying a million strip concepts in the years prior with little more than form letter rejections, the one that finally did it was the one inspired by real life. Three syndicates showed interest.
Q. Which are your favorite characters in your strip and why?
A. I like them all. Joe is, of course, a loose representation of me, and Molly is a loose representation of my daughter (when she was younger and still thought I knew a thing or two), so I always like writing their exchanges... Especially when Joe is capitalizing on Molly’s little hangups and annoyances. That definitely came from my daughter; if she wants something or is annoyed by something, she absolutely cannot let it go until it is resolved in one way or another. I have the most freedom with Lincoln, because he can do or say things completely off-the-wall at any given time and never has to be smart or responsible. Because of this, he’s especially fun to write for.
Q. Do you create on a daily basis? Do you prefer to work in the morning or at night?
A. I do something creative each day, whether it’s writing gags, sketching, producing finished art for publication, sculpting, painting or making music (my other profession). I work in a home studio and treat it like any office job: Wake up to an alarm, send the kid off to school, have coffee over the newspaper with my sweetheart, go to work. I definitely prefer working during the day... Super-early morning seems to be when I come up with some of the best stuff. If I can get myself to bed early enough, I’ve found that getting up and sneaking to the board with a cup of coffee at about 4:30 or 5 in the morning does incredible things for my productivity. Of course, that hasn’t happened in years.
Q. What materials do you use to draw your comics? Do you use a computer?
A. I draw with very light pencil (5H)on Bristol board, although for someone starting out, I’d recommend a good medium-point black rollerball-type pen and cheap copier paper (practicing on bristol can get extremely costly). I ink and letter with this very cool antique 1850s whalebone dip pen, a gift from my mother when my strip was first picked up for syndication. It wears a more modern Speedball B-6 nib, however, which you can acquire at any decent art supply store. I use small, tapered brushes for the panel borders and black fills. I do final edits and Sunday color on the computer in PhotoShop.
Q. Do you have any suggestions on how to become a professional cartoonist?
A. Jerry Scott said "don't take any advice from other cartoonists." That said, I’d first tell you that you’ve truly got to love it to succeed at it, don’t do it to get rich, and if you don’t have thick skin, you’d better buy a leather suit. I had so many people laugh, tease or roll their eyes when I’d tell them I was going to have a syndicated comic strip someday. “Yeah, well, good luck with that,” and those sorts of comments were what I received for years, which only inspired me more to succeed. I think this sort of attitude is due to the common misconception that artists, actors and other creatively successful folks are somehow different than regular human beings like you and me, that they were just magically born into these roles. Anyone can do it with some talent and, most importantly, a LOT of determination.
Newspapers are harder and harder to break into these days, so if a comic strip is not absolutely 100% where you want to steer your talents, you might be better off going into animation or other branches of cartooning. If nothing else will satisfy your dream (which was the case with me), then go for it and never look back. Just be willing to take a lot of rejection and criticism without getting discouraged.
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