Questions to whoever feels like answering.

[aoeniac]

Will you quit tipping over my bins?

[Tom Siddell]

sli said:

When exactly are our heroines' birthdays?

Not tellin'!

[Tom Siddell]

aoeniac said:

Will you quit tipping over my bins?

No.

[Yin]

Aw. Then where were they born?

[aoeniac]

That sounds like something he'd be even less inclined to tell us.

How about throwing us a bone here and telling us something about some of the more major characters that is interesting but not all that particularly useful for purposes of speculation or understanding of the story in general?

Like... blood type?

[Yin]

Mm. Or... who likes what kind of chocolate?

[Tom Siddell]

sli said:

Aw. Then where were they born?

Annie was born in a hospital called Good Hope, and Kat was born in Scotland shortly before her parents moved back to the Court.

[fjodor]

So Kat has a Scottish accent. That's so cool. When she turns 18 I'm gonna ask her out.

[todd]

Were Dr. Disaster and the Enigmarons also "pre-Gunnerkrigg-Court" creations of yours?

[Tom Siddell]

todd said:

Were Dr. Disaster and the Enigmarons also "pre-Gunnerkrigg-Court" creations of yours?

Dr.Disaster sort of was, but the Enigmarons weren't.

[Tom Siddell]

sli said:

Mm. Or... who likes what kind of chocolate?

Kat likes any kind of chocolate with nuts in, and Annie has not decided which type she likes best yet.

[fjodor]

admin said:

sli said:

Mm. Or... who likes what kind of chocolate?

Kat likes any kind of chocolate with nuts in, and Annie has not decided which type she likes best yet.

I bet you made that up while typing the reply.


Question: I saw one particularly beautiful drawing of a faerie, I think it was on your Deviantart site. (can't find the link now)
Edit: Found it! www.digitalhills.com/colour/blankets4.jpg

I believe it said something like 'Region 6 faerie'. Have you worked out a fully detailed concept of faerie communities, and are you thinking of a 'standalone' faerie comic? (I hope yes. I am sooo fed up with the Elfquest books)

Edit: Gweee! I'm on two stars now!

[Tom Siddell]

Yeah, I have several characters that make up Region 6. You can see two of them on this page. Ogee is the one with blonde hair, and Polo is the one with pink hair. There are a few others that make up Region 6 and I had a few stories for them in mind. Another thing I might come back to in the future. They won't in gunnerkrigg Court though, since Region 6 is in a city (the same city Zimmy came from).

[mrw]

What do you think of the feedback comments you've been getting from this story arc? Are they what you were expecting?

Do you feel people are following the story as well as you hoped?

[fjodor]

Tom: have you considered merchandising? I'd buy a T-shirt featuring Shadow 2 shouting "Gweee" today.

[AluK]

What "tools" (softwares, hardwares) do you use to make the comic?

[todd]

We know that Zimmy has a Birmingham accent and Kat has a slight Scottish accent. What sort of regional accent does Annie have?

[La Poire]

admin said:

No I never went to art school. I did do art in school but I hated it. After school I had a choice of going to university for art or computers, and I chose to get my degree in computers. I used my free time to draw.

That's really very encouraging. I've always liked drawing but I hated Art in school (as a GCSE/O level, liked it before that) and that really discouraged me from taking it any further. Still, the pride I get from getting everything right on some test can't be matched to the pride of having someone compliment my doodles.

But anyway, you never answered my first question (not that you have to, of course, but pretty please): how long time does it take you to draw one comic page?

[Tom Siddell]

mrw said:

What do you think of the feedback comments you've been getting from this story arc? Are they what you were expecting?

Do you feel people are following the story as well as you hoped?

On the whole I think I have been able to convey the story in order for people to understand well enough. There haven't been any times where I've done something so bad that people don't understand what is going on. If there is a confusing moment in the comic it's because I try and make it that way and so far I feel it's been successful.

[Tom Siddell]

fjodor said:

Tom: have you considered merchandising? I'd buy a T-shirt featuring Shadow 2 shouting "Gweee" today.

I have considered merchandising, yes. But I'm not really sure what is the best way to go about it. I've always felt the only thing I could realistically offer is printed versions of the comic in a book. A lot of other webcomic creators make lots of products their fans enjoy (and the revenue is, admitedly, an appealing thought), but I've never felt my comic would lend itself well to a witty slogan shirt or something like that. I really should look more into making stuff people might want to buy.

[Tom Siddell]

aluk said:

What "tools" (softwares, hardwares) do you use to make the comic?

I draw the comic with a pencil on paper, and then I ink it with a few different inking pens (fineliners mainly, for my sins). Then I scan it in with a £20 scanner from Amazon and colour it with my Wacom Graphire in Photoshop 6.
I assure you it is all highly unprofessional.

[Koz]

Whoosh, for the longest time I thought this was all done straight in Illustrator. Even more beautiful to me now.

p.s, Will you autograph my forehead?

[Tom Siddell]

todd said:

We know that Zimmy has a Birmingham accent and Kat has a slight Scottish accent. What sort of regional accent does Annie have?

She has Kate Rusby's accent.

[Tom Siddell]

lapoire said:

admin said:

But anyway, you never answered my first question (not that you have to, of course, but pretty please): how long time does it take you to draw one comic page?

I've not timed myself in a while, but I'd say a pages takes about 4 hours as long as it is already planned beforehand.

[Tom Siddell]

koz said:

p.s, Will you autograph my forehead?

Stick it in the mail with a return address and I'll get on it.

[todd]

admin said:

She has Kate Rusby's accent.

Who's Kate Rusby?

[rastarogue]

Do you have any idea how many more years GC will continue? (not that I hope it will end or anything)

[oradan]

So you never had any formal training... I am realing into art. I have been buying books to learn how to draw better. And I want to become a writer some day.

My question is: How did you become so D*mn good at both writing and drawing?

P.S. My name is Thomas, but people call me Tom, and my favorite color is blue... weird.

[monkeybucks]

Yaay! I was going to ask if you had gone to an art school but somebody else already did (it was also encouraging for me, I hated art class and was rather disruptive, perhaps because I did not enjoy drawing a bottle of L&P for two weeks, but I do enjoy doodling). Also I think I read an article once that said people over the age of 40 (or something) say their favourite colour is blue, just because it's the first colour that comes to their mind. So maybe that's why blue is a lot of peoples favourite colour. Also it's quite a peaceful looking colour.

Bah, rant. I don't think I even had a question since I found out about art school. So I will just ask Tom - are you a Quantum Leap fan? I am just guessing from the drawing of you with Scott Bakula, but maybe you are a Star Trek fan or maybe something else he was in who knows. I think it's pretty great! Yesterday I got season five in the mail, for my brothers birthday.

I hope he doesn't stalk me and read that before the ninth.

[Tom Siddell]

rastarogue said:

Do you have any idea how many more years GC will continue? (not that I hope it will end or anything)

No I don't. A fair few, hopefully.