The webcomic creator is never far from their audience. Be it through social media, public email addresses, Discord servers, or simply the comments section beneath a page, there is a rapport and a conversation that is developed that is unique to the medium. We’re continuing those conversations here, albeit a little more formally, by interviewing webcomics creators to pick their brains about craft, storytelling, and their personal experiences with the medium.
Two months really flew by, didn’t they? Or, maybe they dragged along? It can be hard to tell when you write these intros well in advance. This time around, I sat down with Zach Weinersmith, of “Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal” fame among many other projects, like “Soonish,” the non-fiction book he worked on with his wife Kelly, or “Open Borders,” another non-fiction book, this time a graphic novel, with economist Bryan Caplan (interview with them from NYCC here.) Join us as we discuss many things, such as how the hell he’s kept up with doing a close to daily comic for 18 years. That’s a lot of science and dong jokes.
Normally, I ask interviewees to tell us about their experiences with webcomics prior to starting their comic but I’d like to know, instead, what was the landscape like when you first began “Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal” back in 2002?
Zach Weinersmith: Pretty empty! I would guess half a dozen or fewer people were making any kind of living off of webcomics. Pretty much everyone was doing it as a fun novelty, not a potential job source. While there wasn’t a lot of money, there was more of a tight knit community, which was nice. Also, because it was an earlier time in the Internet, things were a lot nerdier. The most popular comics would’ve been about video games, and it didn’t take a lot to be a top artist.
I guess the field’s a bit more packed now than then. Did you ever feel a pressure, then or now, to modify your comic style or tone?
ZW: Oh, sure. I suppose everyone does. But, at least for me, it seems like whenever I try to actively please people instead of doing something interesting, it just falls flat. So, over time, I’ve just stuck to doing stuff I like.
How has monetizing your comic changed in the intervening years, including the advent of Patreon, if you’re comfortable going into that?
ZW: Advertising has, for better or worse, remained really valuable. Patreon provided some welcome stability to our revenue streams, which makes it easier to make business decisions. The major change in recent years is I’ve begun writing and illustrating books for traditional publishers, which provides a nice additional source of revenue.
All of these things are subject to market forces, but Patreon seems to only be moderately hit by downturns, and with outside publishing deals you have a contract over time. Advertising, on the other hand, can often take a really sharp hit. In general, I think the smart thing is to be as diverse as you can, and to save money for times when things don’t go as well.
Your early comics were akin to political cartoons, like the single panel “New Yorker” ones, but funny and for scientists of all flavors (social, hard, digital, and other euphemisms). Was there a particular style of comic, or a specific one, that informed your humor and the format you went with? Any early webcomics or was it elsewhere?
ZW: Yes! The two comics that influenced that style the most were Glen Baxter’s comics and “The Parking Lot is Full.” Baxter appears to be at it still, while “The Parking Lot is Full” authors have disappeared from the public eye.
We talked a little about your work process and art during the “Open Borders” NYCC interview but for “SMBC” do you work digitally, physically or a combination of both? What about your preferred format do you find works best for you?
ZW: These days I’m 100% digital. I worked with ink and paper until about 2013, but with the amount of work I do, I was starting to get hand cramps. The hand fonting was especially tough. I’ve found working digital takes about half as long as traditional for me, which has been really important for my being able to pick up side projects and work on books with my wife.
Continued belowSpeaking of those side projects, you also co-created a comic, “Laws and Sausages” with your brother, and artist Dennis Culver all about political history, science and law. A bit of an oversimplification but what got the two of you to make the comic and how different of a process was creating it to “SMBC?”
ZW: Well, we thought it’d be fun and there’d be a market for it! It’s been quite a different process because I’m neither the artist nor the source of ideas. That made things a lot easier!
Was it hard to relinquish control of the art or did you feel relieved not to have to draw Madison arguing with Hamilton?
ZW: Oh, not at all. I enjoy drawing, but I love writing. That said, as with any job, it helps to have done every phase of it so you know what you’re asking.
Which would you say you enjoy more? Or does it depend on the project, like how “Soonish” was very research intensive on the writing side while “Open Borders” was on the art side?
ZW: Generally speaking I enjoy the writing more than the artwork. Drawing is something I can do, but writing is something I spend a lot of time thinking about. Research is fun too, at least most of the time.
What have you found to be the most challenging part of the creation process? Is it the idea generation, the joke creation or is it a function of the art, the lettering or the coloring?
ZW: Over the longterm, and I think this is true for everyone, it’s being able to keep doing this day after day. It requires you to acquire a pretty good sense of time management and managing your own brain, because it’s not just regularly coming up with ideas – it’s getting rid of ideas, polishing ideas, but it’s also just sitting down and grinding out work when you simply don’t feel like it. My impression is that most people can do this for a few weeks to a few months, and then it gets hard as the novelty wears off. I think I quit half a dozen times before I started doing consistent work.
On that, how do you keep up a daily schedule? Do you bank comics or is it truly the daily grind?
ZW: It’s a daily grind, but I do keep a buffer. Though, it’s rarely over two weeks!
If you’ve experienced it, can you give us a bit of a discussion of burnout? Webcomics, and many digital creative professions, are going through a conversation around the topic and comedy is one of those genres that seems particularly susceptible.
ZW: I have three big thoughts on this, because it really is a major problem you have to overcome.
First, the cure for burnout is change. For me, what helps a lot is near-constant reading. In a good month I read 15-20 books, in many genres. This helps immeasurably with coming up with ideas. In the short term, encountering new authors sparks your imagination, and in the long term you simply know more, so you have more ways of looking at everything.
The second thing is burnout can often be in your head. This has become especially clear to me now that I have kids. When you have kids, there are lots of times when you really really physically feel like tapping out. But, you can’t, because you have to take care of these little people. So, you push through feeling tired or emotionally exhausted. There are certainly limits on how much and how often you should do this, but when you simply have no choice, I think you’ll find you have deeper reserves than you realize.
Lastly, it helps to have multiple projects going at once, so that they’re of different types and at different stages of development. For instance, while I was recently working on a very very research-intensive project recently, I worked on something much more free/whimsical as a sort of relief. Both ended up being projects I’m really enjoying, and both have found publishers. I’m not sure this is for everyone, but if you can make your “recharge my batteries” activity something productive, it really helps.
Continued belowTo close us out, what are three webcomics you would recommend for fans of “SMBC” and “Laws and Sausages?”
ZW: Gosh, to be honest I’m so out of the loop here, I’d probably just recommend a lot of old standards. I’m not sure I bring anything exciting to the table here!
That’s fine! Often the classics need repeating for a new generation of webcomics goers.
ZW: If people haven’t seen “A Lesson is Learned But the Damage is Irreversible,” I’d highly recommend that.
