AMA - Who’s Your Waifu? (Patreon)

Q: “Is there a particular character you haven’t drawn yet that you’d like to? Or better yet, a favorite hot toon waifu?”

A:

I have kind of a weird relationship with fanart: There’s lots of characters that I love, but I have shockingly little internal compulsion to draw other people’s characters.

Like many nerds, I became aware of girls in the way that young boys do when I found myself being exceptionally invested in the relationships of cartoon ladies.

As a kid, I shipped April O’Neil and Leonardo, Gadget Hackwrench and Chip, Maid Marian and Fox Robin Hood (everyone thinks fox Robin Hood is dreamy), Elisa Maza with Goliath.

Yeah, I watched a lot of Disney as a kid.

But then when I guess I was around 14, I was introduced to Anime. Specifically, Neon Genisis Evangelion.

While Asuka was my girl, it was Ms Misato that really did it for me. I’ll let you make of that what you will.

And then I proceeded to fall for seemingly every Purple Haired Badass Anime Lady.

There were no shortage of them at the time.

We’re magnificently in an era where we are SPOILED for good cartoons. So many great shows out of both hemispheres. Too many for me to keep up with them all. I’ve loved many many characters from many many many shows. Usually the spunky ladies who get shy around the boy they like and their whole relationship is this delicate will they won’t they, goddamnit please please let them fucking hook up already!

I’ve drawn a great many “toon waifus” over the years, but almost always because someone asked me to. I don’t know why, but I just don’t have a strong compulsion to draw characters I love if they’re not mine. I’m far more likely to discover a character and think “oh! How can I incorporate this thing I love into something new that’s mine” than I am to think “so hawt, gotta draw lewd Turanga Lela!” (I’ve been binging Futurama this last week.) for instance, I’ve been weirdly obsessed with Alice in Wonderland since forever, but I don’t think I’ve ever draw Disney’s Alice, or American McGee’s Alice even, but I’ve drawn multiple original-design characters based on Alice!

That said, when I do get requests for characters I like I’m usually really here for it! So clearly it’s not that I don’t enjoy making fanart, I just don’t have a strong impulse to do it.

And if I had fewer original comics to make, I’d probably spend some time doing something about that. But I’ve so many originals to draw, and boy howdy do I like drawing them.

If you have a question for me, feel free to leave it in the comments below or DM me and it may get answered in a post!