Interviews Conducted by Robert J. Beck

What made you want to start a web comic?

I saw all my friends graduating from college and getting day
jobs to pay off student loans but they never went back to
what it was that they majored in college to do. I started the
webcomic so that it would force me to draw every day while
I looked for the "real job". Little did I know that it would
become the Real Job.

Are you a big fan of web comics yourself?

I read about three or four regularly but I'd rather read them in printed form.

When you first started Devil’s Panties, did you ever think he would become as big as he has done?

Nope, I was ecstatic when I hit 200 readers. "I don't even KNOW 200 people. People I don't know are reading my comic!". I'm up to about 20k people reading it every day now. At some point, the mind can't quite grasp that number and I'm still boggled at 200.
 
   Where did the name of the strip come from?

  I asked around for a name and my friend DJ said I could use
  "The Devil's Panties". She said it was going to be the name of
  her band but, seeing as she doesn't play an instrument just yet,
  I could use it. Much later I found out it was a quote from Miss
  Congeniality. "I wanted to get the red undies but my mom said
  that they were Satan's Panties!"

  When was it you realised your comic would be able to
  support you financially?

  I think the second or third Dragon Convention that I went to. I
  was selling my books out of my backpack from a bench under
  the stares in the hotel lobby for about four days and I made
  $1,200. That was the most that I made at any convention for a long long time, but it was still a surreal moment when I looked down and said "this is an Income."

Who do you think has influenced your style of art?

Growing up I read Elf Quest, Strangers in Paradise, and Conan. I also really like Rodin sculptures. I keep Calvin and Hobs in mind when doing facial expressions.
 
You suffer from Dyslexia, how do you find this condition has affected your work? Do you have any strategies to work around it?

Whenever I type that I'll be at Dragon con under the stares I never know if it's stares or stairs because spell check says they're both right and I don't always plug every word I type into a dictionary. Some people think it's a cute joke though. "I'll be under the stairs at dragon con." Before I posted my rant on my website a lot of people just thought that the spelling quirks were part of the joke...