Q&A ANSWERS and STREAM INFO (Patreon)

Hey y'all! Here are the answers to the questions you submitted! This was fun, I'll definitely do it again! Also, as I'm sure you $10+ backers noticed, there wasn't a stream in January. Sorry about that! My wrist made scheduling one difficult in the first half of the month and I was swamped with responsibilities this last week. There will be two streams in February to catch up, starting on Thursday the 8th at 2PM PST/5PM EST! I'll let you know when the second one will be, I'll shoot for a weekend and a request stream! That's all for now, thanks for backing my Patreon!

And here's the Q&A...

Q: Who do you think is your favorite character at this point in the comic and did that change from how you viewed them initially?

A: It shifts frequently, and it's (sadly) easy for me to get bored of a character if they've gotten a lot of consecutive screentime. That being said, I'm always excited when there's a scene with Johnny, Suzy, or Starchman coming up because they're wild and I get to let loose. They crystallized as favorites alongside reader enthusiasm, and I can't say how I'd feel about them if I wasn't feeding off people's excitement when they step into a scene. Forge and Doorman are among my favorites to draw, I have a ton of affection for Isabel, and I enjoy writing Max because I get to poke fun at other characters' dysfunction. I can't think of a single character that I haven't changed my understanding of since I created them (as a young writer starting out, my conception of them was shallow) so it's been fun digging deeper into each in turn, taking them more seriously, and tying them all together.  Messy work, but hopefully it pays off.

Q: do you have any advice about inking, particularly adjusting from traditional to digital inking? Your lines are always very dynamic and loose-looking while also being very clean and well-weighted! 0:

A: Thank you! I wish I had something concrete, but my inking is self-taught and largely intuitive. Special digital brushes aren't something I've been compelled to do much research on yet, and I've mostly found basic default stuff I liked and stuck with that.  When I switched from traditional to digital inking, it was because I'd saved up and bought a Cintiq, which was a fairly easy transition since you draw right on the screen.  I'm really glad my inks impressed you despite my lack of formal training and I'm sorry I don't have the vocabulary to translate what I've learned into solid advice yet!

Q: Do you have any new projects in development or in early production?

A: Yes!  I will post about them sooner or later.  The long answer is that I've always had side projects in my head or on paper throughout Paranatural's run, and that I'm hesitant to share content from them because I don't like getting people excited for things I'm unlikely to finish. It's been a challenge to keep projects going between life and to work maintaining Paranatural requires and without the pressure of them being my source of income and having an audience expecting to see more twice a week, but I'm getting better at it and hopefully my efforts will pay off soon.

Q: What is your favorite pages? (of the year or of all time)

A: Here is an extremely extensive list:

CHAPTER 1

-I look back on chapter 1 fondly for what it was, a learning experience.

-I still like 27's Suzy/Collin intro and some of the Johnny jokes on page 22.

-I like some of the drawings on page 56, the grudge bat.

CHAPTER 2

-Page 13, Max calling Isabel.

-I like the Gorf fight despite some rough patches, especially page 24.

CHAPTER 3

-11-18 are pages I look back on fondly. I know a lot of readers do too.

-Doorman's whole scene, because I'm the big door fan, and because the writing stood out to friends I respect, even if it feels clunky to me in hindsight.

CHAPTER 4

-The first page, Forge in the rain.

-Chapter four page 21, with Max pretending to be on the phone with the police.

-44, the Forge flame breath page.

-56, Spender pulling up in his car, because it really helped make Spender Spender.

-I like the flow of page 59 still, Isabel's spectral fist duel.

-72, the Forecast Octopus page.

-The Johnny "but we're not going to Rome" page.

-There's a ton of bits scattered throughout the Forge fight that I still love. I'm so glad I made something good and goofy that my friends still remember and quote for laughs... that's the reason I make comics and the reason this scene is a high I'm still chasing.

-I'm proud of the Eightfold scene. It could have been way clunkier than it turned out and it's still a bar I have to put real effort into to surpass.

-108, the Scrapdragon scream, has drawings I still like a lot.

-Page 148, the shadowy figures talking to the dog, that's a big favorite. The art and jokes were above my weight class at the time for sure, even if it might feel like an average page to readers.

CHAPTER 5

-Page 5, with Zarei tending to Grandpa's ghost student's wounds.

-Page 14 is some of my favorite art in Paranatural.

-I'm proud of hitball, even though it was a slog to finish.

-The whole scene with Zarei at home and Patchworm's introduction

-Page 123&4, Suzy & Dimitri talking. It got their dynamic across well, had solid jokes, and stood out to friends.

-Page 126, the school store intro

-Ed stalking Starchman, the whole skateboard thing

-The whole Day/Zarei lunch was a joy to create.

-Page 138 with the lunch tray panels was fun.

-Page 160-163, Johnny confronting Ed, was and is some of the best comics I've made in a long time.

-Page 170, I had fun with Ms. Baxter's open tabs and the fan reaction was a big boost.

-I like the Flipflop intro and the page immediately after it, with the "since I trust literally none of you" line.

-Page 187, RJ's backstory. I put extra work in and got a lot out of it.

-Page 211, where Starchman explodes into a google image search for "stars exploding." I remember thinking "screw it, I'm not being weird enough, I can do literally anything I want in this comic, it's mine" and that's something I want to keep in mind going forward. I definitely could be about 2000% weirder and 2000% more Me.

-Same with 213, I love that goofy zoom joke and how uninhibited my writing was.

-222 and 223 went well, the Isabel/Isaac fight, they have good drawings and I did my best executing on something I'd been planning for a while.

-242 for the Isaac/Spender showdown drawing at the bottom.

Q: Is the AC under the purview of a recognized authority or are they an authority onto themselves making the rules as they see fit with no oversight.

A: Spender is under Consortium authority, which means he has to report in to Mr. Walker or Boss Leader.  The club kids report to him.  Boss Leader is acquainted with them and considers them junior Consortium members but doesn't give them missions or reprimand them for mistakes directly, that's Spender's job.  Other agents have young apprentices, but they report directly to Boss Leader along with their adult counterparts.  The Activity Club is unique.

Q: Can spectral-ness be removed?

A: Theoretically, by a theoretical spirit's theoretical power.  Spirits can do lots of things.

Q: What is the life cycle of spirits?

A: Their origins will come up in the comic eventually! Some spirits work like species of animals, replicating and sometimes growing old, and some spirits are wholly unique and sometimes immortal.

Q: In your December stream you mentioned that you'd knowingly changed Isaac's characterization/your perception of his character somewhat as the comic went on - which Paranatural character(s) do you think you've changed the most since their original conception?

A: I don't think I found my voice for Max and Isabel until chapters three and four, respectively. Zarei and Day had radically different designs when I created them as a teen; they were both white and Zarei was going to be a man, and much less tied to Spender. Hitball got Cody where I wanted him to be, though I knew how I wanted him to be for a while before that. Isaac changed for sure, he didn't have much going for him until I realized he was the odd kid out of the group right before chapter three and took off running.  Almost every character needed more thought to fill them out, I sort of threw them in willy-nilly in chapter one.  I'm excited to put a spotlight on the ones that seem minor now but have a bit more to them.

Q: Have you thought about a print copy of Paranatural? (I would like to buy one or six) If so, what would you do about the early uncolored pages? Redraw, recolor, leave as is? Basically how do you view/value showing artistic development in a finished piece?

A: Absolutely!  I get this question a lot.  I definitely value showing artistic development in a finished piece, and would print the pages as-is if I could.  I don't believe in going back and re-doing work I've finished, even if I feel the same negative emotions many other artists do looking back on old art and writing.  It's fine as a snapshot.  I was learning!  Unfortunately, I don't have the first 30 or so pages at print resolution, because I didn't know print resolution was a thing back then.  I have to redraw the first 30 pages of Paranatural before I can make a book, which is the reason you haven't seen a Kickstarter from me yet.  It takes me a long time to make 30 pages of anything, and so far I've spent that time on other things I was more excited about when I've had it.  I'm going to try to tackle it in 2018!

Q: which spirit gives the best kissies

A: Kissin' Pete

Q: is handsome open-collar man from chapter 4 page 12 an old flame of Spender's? if so, what is it about Spender that draws substantially hotter men to him like moths to a flame

A: Absolutely, though I doubt it lasted long because Spender is a workaholic brainlord and King, the guy you're referring to, is very not. That and they were hardly ever in the same physical location. And also Spender has an older flame he tends to drift back to. Baggage! Spender attracts hot men because he is smooth and shiny, like a precious stone, and because they all want to do something about his haircut.

Q: Spirits in Paranatural have this really great "anything goes" design (no spelled out rules about how they're created yet, no grouping into phyla, powers that feel like rely on language and perspective as often as physics). Internally, has your process for "creating spirits" changed in a concrete way since you started?

A: Thank you!  I've definitely kept the rules loose to give me lots of room to work with for creature design, which is genuinely my favorite thing about making Paranatural.  I've gotten better at it with time, and I think spirits' designs incorporate things that represent their powers more often now than they used to.  Contrast Gorf, Scrapdragon, and Hissin' Pete with Lucifer, Forge, and Doorman.

Q: I love the sense of humor in Paranatural; you really pack it in there, and it consistently makes me laugh out loud.  Your sense of timing is wonderful. To that end, do you have anyone/anything  you look up to as far as humor and comedy?

A: Thank you very much!  Comedy is the core of Paranatural so I'm always glad when it lands. As for influences, I've looked up to Gigi DG's comedy since I was literally a teenager, my friends Chess and Aliza are hilarious in extremely unique ways in and out of their work and a constant source of humor inspiration, and nobody has brought more laughter into my life than Taylor. All of the friends I've kept since highschool have great and distinct senses of humor too, and shaped mine. Paranatural started as me making jokes about my ideas with those same friends, so I feel they're worth mentioning even if they're not content I can link to.  That being said, Abby Howard (who makes the webcomic The Last Halloween) is incredibly good at comics comedy, Hiromu Arakawa (FMA and especially Silver Spoon) and Ryoko Kui (Delicious in Dungeon) make manga with comedy I look up to, seeing just a little of Home Movies and Achewood felt educational (I should return to them), and I honestly get a ton out of intentional and unintentional comedy in old shows that embrace surreal sincerity, like Sailor Moon and Lupin the 3rd. Ghost Adventures and Once Upon a Time are big faves for humor because neither is trying to be funny, at least when I'm laughing. I'm definitely forgetting a billion things, but increasingly I gravitate to humor that doesn't know it's comedy, does its very best to keep a straight face, or takes a serious subject so seriously that it circles back around to being hilarious. If you want to understand where I want to take my comedy, this video and this video are my guiding light. For the record, I am extremely laughing with and not at the creator of the first one, I am genuinely fascinated by the subject matter they're framing and also just really appreciate and want to wield the comedy the whole situation and its presentation produce.