My name is Francis and I write and illustrate a comic strip called Suburban Fairy Tales, which centers around the three little pigs and their fairy tale friends living in modern suburbia.
Before I met my partner, I had plenty of bad dates. While my comic strip isn’t exclusively about dating, some of my dating experiences (albeit exaggerated) inspired many of the gags here. I’m sure many of you can relate regardless of whether you were on the giving or receiving end of the bad date!
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I used to do a comic strip called Crunchy about a girl and her crazy pet turtle. One day I made a joke about Jack and the Beanstalk and really liked the idea. I thought it might be fun to incorporate more fairy tale ideas into Crunchy, but then I thought… why not just create an entirely new comic strip about fairy tale characters living in the suburbs? So that’s exactly what I did!
I wanted to use an ensemble cast of fairy tale characters that had features or traits that could easily be identified. Frog Prince was a frog. Rapunzel had extremely long hair. The three pigs were… well, pigs! I didn’t use characters like Snow White or Cinderella because they didn’t have anything that would distinguish them from any other regular person. Eventually, I narrowed down the cast to mainly focus on the three pigs as brothers living in a house together in the suburbs. Other fairy tale characters pop up now and then, but having a smaller set of characters allow the readers to connect more with these characters and for me as a writer to really explore their personalities.
When coming up with ideas, I have an idea book where I write down every joke or storyline that pops into my head. Sometimes the ideas flow easily, other times I really have to sit down to think and get into the zone. A lot of ideas in my idea book are unusable when I first put them down, but after multiple rewrites and refinements, eventually I get to an idea that I like and then take that idea and create the final.
I used to draw using pen and ink on bristol paper, but a number of years ago I completely switched to digital. Now I work on a tablet and use Clip Studio to create my art. I find digital is more convenient for me. It’s just another tool to use in my drawing toolbox.
One of the biggest challenges that any writer or artist will tell you they face is writer’s block. It happens to all of us occasionally. The best way to handle that is to just take a break. Go on a walk, read a book, watch a show, and come back to your writing later. It also helps to work ahead of what you plan to post online because then you won’t feel the pressure of a deadline if you ever do get writer’s block.
I have some upcoming storylines planned that I’m excited about! Ever since I started focusing more on the three pigs, I’ve started creating original characters that didn’t exist in the fairy tales such as Wolfette, Sir Lambelot, and the three pigs' mom and soon-to-be stepfather, Dermot. These characters will be instrumental in evolving my strip and the universe I’ve created that they inhabit. Right now, I’m working on a story where Little Pig #3 becomes an expert singer, which will end in a hilarious way. I really hope readers get a kick out of it!
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