Thread "Round 6: skoolmunkee interviews GiantPinkWalrus!" in forum "Interviews"

Posted at 2:03AM, Mar. 25, 2009

This interview is of GiantPinkWalrus, whose comics are Totally Cool Comic, Optic Dissection, and others!
(interview conducted by skoolmunkee!) (Who changed the typo in her newspost before posting this!)

OK, it's the requisite question. Tell me about yourself.
I'm a 16(soon to be 17) year old student from the cold bitter north(Finland). My hobbies include hunting lake trolls, video gaems, bugging Drasnus on Steam and being a prick. When I'm not making comics I do other stuff… Lost my train of thought there. Which is quite weird since I'm writing this on the internet… Anyway that's about all you need to know about me. I also lack a social life… :(

I'm on my work computer, so I totally avoided Totally Cool Comic. Hope that's cool with you.
I wouldn't even mention Totally Cool Comic during work hours. People always give me strange looks when I show them my sketches of the comics, I'm afraid to even imagine what would happen if they saw the real deal.

Unless you would like to argue that its reputation is undeserved?
I'm living under the illusion that its reputation is its main selling point, also the bloody jizz. Bloody jizz makes money. Except at the sperm bank… They don't accept bloody jizz. Anyway, I hope to maintain the reputation of a rather NSFW comic. I can't help it that cocks are on my mind… Erm, ignore the last part there.

You really hate Ctrl-Alt-Del. This is your chance to tell people who don't read it why they never should.
It's the lazy art style(copy-paste), emotionless faces, boring backgrounds(google image search + gausian blur=background, stupid shading, boring writing that goes on for five pages(INSERT WALL OF TEXT HERE), and worst of all the jokes are never funny. Not even the good-in-theory ones. Also I hate it how he mocks his readers and target audience(OMG GURL MUZT HAEV SECKS). Also he likes to over-explain his jokes.
1. Establish joke in first panel
2. Punchline in first panel
3.Re-tell joke 3 more times
4.??????
5.PROFIT!!!!

That's about it. I wouldn't hate it as much if he put effort in to it.

The main character of the Totally Cool Comics seems to find the Wii game hard fairly often. What game is he playing?

Hello Kitty Island Adventures 7: Rise of the Space Dog. That or Sexy Beach episode 78, the publisher had a hard time getting the licence from Nintendo, but they were able to negotiate a deal after many gruelling hours of negotiating.

He also seems like a deviant. Is he a deviant? What would he do with his spare time if he didn't have video games?

I think he would go around the streets in leather pants, calling people such degrading names as tight-shirt, funny hair, and plebeian. He would also vandalise public toilets by sticking stickers of frowning faces and Sheik on Link action. He would also add those kinds of pictures to his favourites on DeviantArt, also the ones where Link has sex with the wolf.

And how much does this videogame-disabled, deviant, thin person reflect you?

Tough question, for one I don't wear leather pants or talk to strangers(mommy told me not to). I'm not fond of gay or bestiality porn/hentai. So I guess not very much? I do make a little fun of my friends quirks by drawing and writing satirical texts about them for them… Also I swear quite a lot. I'm a foul-mouth. I've tried to tone it down since it's a bad habit and hard as f*ck to get rid of.

I didn't read all of Toad's text. What does that say about me?
It says that evolution didn't take place, therefore you have no ancestors. Sorry. :(
Also he says everyone else except him sucks. So I guess that applies to you too? Oh and that you made a typo in March 23rd's news post. He hasn't heard of Monay(unless you mean money?).

I can't tell whether I'm supposed to read Roadside Picnic or not.

Read it. It is very good and not that long(around 120 pages). It's one of my favourite books of all time.

For those who aren't familiar it's about an area called the Zone where aliens landed and left artefacts and other twisted shit like local gravitational anomalies that crush you. Then these crazy guys who are called Stalkers risk their lives for some cash by retrieving artefacts from the dangerous Zone.

Also play STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl.
And watch the movie Stalker.

Also read the beginning of Roadside Banquet after you've read the book. It was basically a parody of Roadside Picnic. Drasnus and I may continue it some day. Some very beautiful day indeed.

Your readers know your opinion on girls having sex. Now tell us how you feel about various other things having sex. (You may interpret this question however you wish.)

If there's at least seven cocks, a horse, and an umbrella involved it's fine with me. The reasons behind this are best left a mystery.

I saw that you work with Drasnus on many of your comics - what is your role in them?
It started when I was supposed to cover for him by drawing comics for Lacerated Veil during the time he went on holiday(Our 'friendship' goes back a longer time). Then he forgot/decided not to take off my co-author status. Then around that time he started doing guest comics for me like mad and then I decided to give him co-author status because I didn't want to constantly upload his work because I'm lazy. The habit stuck and he's been a good help by assisting me with updates and the like. So basically we(he) cover(s) for our(my) missed updates. I don't mind since he is a better artist than I am. Also he likes mindfucks so I guess it broadens the possible target audience to another niche group… We also ask each others opinions on jokes and comics. If Drasnus likes my comic then it's fine with me. I AM NOT GAY.
(He totally is -Drasnus)

I'm one of those people who have never really collaborated with anyone on a comic- I'm not sure I'd be able to because I like being in control of my stuff too much. What's it like? How do you get it to work? Any advice?

Considering the fact that both our comics are strips we don't need to think about such trivialities as plot holes, consistency or any other pitfalls of that nature. If you want to see how our collaboration like in a story format check out Optic Dissection(not dead yet I hope). We do have plans of continuing it at some point in time with intertwining stories. Also we have plans for a better planned pirate comic. I'm procrastinating with that too.

We get it to work by communicating with each other often, discuss ideas, and comment on each others work. So I guess that's what I suggest. It's all about communication, so what I suggest is get a common instant messaging platform and talk, plan, and discuss about the comic. Show your art for critique and brainstorm together. Drasnus and I use Steam for communicating and Imageshack(more like slowf*ckingshack) for image sharing.

Any secrets about Drasnus you want to share? I already know about the Spanish thing.

He is my penis. Literally my penis. He secretly likes being impaled with nails and pins and stuck in sockets and blenders. His aim is terrible in every game we play and generally is very bad at everything except comics and art. He is also very sour about this. He also likes building sh*t(stuff) in Gmod. Most of them are quite impressive. He doesn't like it when I blow his constructions up. He is generally fucking incredible. Hard to say anything bad about him.
As a sidenote try googling fucking incredible.

As someone who admittedly had bad art in the past- do you think it's better to sacrifice quality for speed, or take time to make things look nicer?

Making ugly comics has its ups and downs. For ugly comics you can concentrate on making the narrative/jokes really good or if you did like I did and just did your mom and Wii jokes you can churn out about five comics per hour while browsing the internet and chatting with friends. This was not because I was lazy, but to parody the parody of a parody comic PowerUp Comics(which was at the top viewed comic for some time). I'll get back to that later.
The response to the art was bad and drew the attention from the actual writing and joke(which isn't all that good). So my personal preference would be make the art at least passable, so that it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb and draw away from the viewing experience. Get rid of your sh*t software(like MS Paint if you use the shape tool) and get something like GIMP. This is because people will undoubtedly pass your comic for shit without a second glance if the art is appalling even if the jokes and writing are fantastic. So if you don't like drawing but have a story to tell, write a novel. Right now I'm taking the middle road, making the art look ok, but try not take too long drawing everything since there is only 24 hours in a day and I have to balance school, comic writing, drawing and my other activities. So in conclusion I would say that do what feels comfortable, except shit art and sprites. I hate both. Make it look like you actually put some effort in to the comic(UNLIKE BUCKLEY GRRRR).

I noticed when reading your comics that you started out in one place and ended up someplace pretty different. (Not COMPLETELY different, just some different.)

As I said earlier, the comic started out as a parody of PowerUp Comics which was a joke by some online community(truth and beauty bombs I believe) to create the worst gaming webcomic ever. So I decided to top(bottom?) it. That was how Totally Cool Comic was born. I drew like a week's comics in a bit less than an hour.

As time continued on I got bored of drawing a parody of a parody comic so I decided to put effort in to the comic for once. That's when Totally Cool Comic About Video Games 2 was born. It was a semi-satire of the first one. I kind of eased out of the crackpot humour, but after getting a fairly negative response I got back to the older jokes for a little while. Then Drasnus convinced me to read Roadside Picnic which was totally awesome. We decided to draw a parody comic of it. That's when I got massive burnout from making comics and went underground for a while. Drasnus kept updating the comic during my short absence.

I started Totally Cool Comic because I didn't want to be tied down because it had "Video Games" in it's title. I switched the your mom jokes for cock jokes and satire and that's what you have there. It's all for a good laugh. The term satire is to be interpreted loosely.

tl;dr: I didn't want to be tied down by my source material and by the title of the comic.

Are there any American words you wish you used instead of the British ones? Or is that my American egotism talking?

Not really. I like colours and armours. Centres and being trying to organise as little as possible. Also arse is much better than ass. Now if you excuse me I have to check out some tyres and eat liquorice. Also I like tea and crumpets.

This is your last chance to pitch your comics. Let's say your audience is: a guy who likes Batman way too much, a girl who likes boy-boy romance, a person who 'doesn't like comics' and a fairly normal child of about 10 years old. GO!

@Batman dude: Batman obviously being gay for Robin and you liking Batman that much you obviously like cock a whole lot. How about adding jizz and blood to the mix and checking out this cool comic since it's totally cool(the title can't lie). Pwease? :<
It's also nearly as intelligent as the new Batman movies. That's pretty cool right? Right?!

@Girl: Skip the romance and let's get straight to the cocks. That's basically what my comic is about… So.. Enjoy? Though there isn't any boy on boy romance you get to see a lot of phallic objects and a cock-man/woman riding his cock-mount.

Also no gurls on teh intarnets lolz

@Un-comic d00d: You don't have to look at the pictures. You can just imagine you're reading a really funny book. You get to imagine the jokes in there too because they seem to be missing in some of the comics. Would you rather play sports or have a good time reading the intelligent witty humour in Totally Cool Com- Novel? That's what I thought. >:(

@The kid: I think you're a little too young to read this comic, kid. Come back when you're a little older? Like when you're around 13 or something and you start feeling insecure about your sexuality. That's the time to start looking at cocks! Right now this comic can destroy your fragile little mind. :(

Posted at 7:03AM, Mar. 25, 2009

I do not enjoy it!
D<

Posted at 2:03PM, Mar. 25, 2009

Some comics aren't for everyone :)

I suppose it's the witty dialogue that makes CTL+ALT+DEL funny, and worth the read (but like I said, not for everyone)

Heard of Shane Simmons? He draws dots with plot. Aren't we all just little black spots on this planet, anyway?

Most commenters on DD are more artist then writer. Most writers like writing in comics over art. Most artists like art in comics over writing.

No, I don't read it, but I DO know that spending 7 years painting the same panel with your tongue doesn't mean your comic is going to be awesome. Effort doesn't make a comic, no matter how much we all wish it did. Intelligence and capability make the comic.

It's just something I/you had/have to deal with when I/you realise/d it.

Also, I only flame because fire is so in.

COMICS ON!

Posted at 6:03AM, Mar. 27, 2009

Some comics aren't for everyone :)

I suppose it's the witty dialogue that makes CTL+ALT+DEL funny, and worth the read (but like I said, not for everyone)

Heard of Shane Simmons? He draws dots with plot. Aren't we all just little black spots on this planet, anyway?

Most commenters on DD are more artist then writer. Most writers like writing in comics over art. Most artists like art in comics over writing.

No, I don't read it, but I DO know that spending 7 years painting the same panel with your tongue doesn't mean your comic is going to be awesome. Effort doesn't make a comic, no matter how much we all wish it did. Intelligence and capability make the comic.

It's just something I/you had/have to deal with when I/you realise/d it.

Also, I only flame because fire is so in.

COMICS ON!

That was flaming? I think that was actually a rather intelligent answer. I didn't say that comics that have effort put in to them are good, it just makes me hate them less. I've read too many sprite comics/mspaint comics that rape my eyes and take away from the witty writing(a cool style helps too). Mostly the sprite/mspaint comics have shit writing though, so I usually don't read them either.

Posted at 4:03PM, Mar. 28, 2009

Touche.

Also, wang.