Q: Ok, first off, why animals? A: Because then I couldn't do all the stupid raccoon jokes. Seriously, I need to learn how to draw people. I've been drawing cartoon animals as a hobby for a few years now.   Q: AUUGH you're one of those FURRIES aren't you? A: Hmm, yes and no I guess. While I respect the whole "you're into what you're into as long as you're not hurting anyone", I just don't agree with certain parts of the furry fandom. This isn't saying I don't like the entire fandom.. but I'm just not interested in the more risque aspects and will be keeping them out of the strip. It just would be uncomfortable to me if I made the comic into something I wasn't into.   Q: Uh.. they're both guys, right? Why? A: Yes, Vinci and Arty are a male/male couple. What I'm aiming for with this comic is not to focus on their sexuality, but on their relationship, so that to the viewer, the genders become obsolete   Q: What the heck's a yumar? A: A yumar is a made-up subspecies of cheetah. They have otter and koi attributes in their heritage and are equipped for an aquatic lifestyle (ie: fins on their tails, webbed digits). It sounds impressive.. until you see Arty flopped on the couch scratching himself and belching, that is. We haven't seen much in the strip in regards to the yumar species itself, but there will be some insight later. But if you've been wondering about the "weird thingy" on Arty's tail, there you go. :)   Q: Why does Vinci have such enormous ears? A: Hmmmmm... :)   Q: What's with Vinci's eyes? He looks like a female. A: Shh! Don't tell him that.. he hates being mistaken for a girl! Vinci's pixie lashes are my own personal nod to the late, great Chuck Jones, who initially inspired me to pick up a pencil. Check out his stuff, you'll see what I mean.   Q: What's with the Krispy Kreme obsession?? A: What, you've never had one?   Q: How long does each strip take to do? A: On average, about 5-8 hours of work. I dunno if this is good or bad, yet. I'm still new to this.   Q: What materials do you use? A: I pencil with non-repo blue, and just ink first with millennium zigs and then brushpen over that. (When we scan the strip, we just take the blue out!) Paper is either layout bristol, or (insert sheepish look of unprofessionalism here) a cheap little Mead sketch diary thing I pick up at Walmart. It seems to take the inks surprisingly well.   Q: The bio page has "??" next to Vinci's age.. why? He's not like 14 is he? A: Check it again, it's been updated! We learned at the end of Ch. 2 that Vinci is 24 years old.   Q: You spell "shiny" wrong. I hope you know that. A: Oh, I know. Call that artistic license on my part! "Shinee" is a fake noun referring to, well, a shiny object!   Q: Who is Trixi? What's her role in the strip? What the heck's up with her ear? A: Trixi is just how I draw myself as an animal, she's a lop rabbit. She's not part of the storyline, but I tend to throw her in there as a sorta narrator during the tongue-in-cheek interludes (hey, if you can't poke fun at your own comic..) As for her left ear being half gone.. that is classified, I swear. :)   Q: How many chapters total will there be? A: Five.   Q: Is Peaches a real cat? A:   Q: How did Vinci and Arty meet? A: We'll have to ask them to tell us that story!   Q: What is the name of the town they live in? A: Ballpointe, Pennsylvania   Q: Do they have any favorite TV shows? A: Vinci's favorite TV show, much to Arty's jealousy and dismay, is "In The Kitchen With Fudgesicle L'Amour", which is a current network hit, most likely due to the fact that Fudgesicle is a very handsome chocolate lab who cooks with his shirt off. Arty likes to claim his favorite TV show is "talk radio", because he loathes network television, (but secretly he likes "In The Kitchen With Fudgesicle L'Amour", because Fudgesicle is a very handsome chocolate lab who cooks with his shirt off.)   Q: What exactly does Arkie do at work? A: Customer support. They send the really angry calls through him, and he is surprisingly good at calming them down most of the time!   Q: How is "Vinci" pronounced? "vin-see" or "Vin-chi" like the painter Leonardo Da Vinci? A: "Vin-chee"   Q: Does each species have its own culture? A: Quite a lot of them do! A fair amount of the animals in V&A's world have species specific cultures in their heritage that are no longer practiced, but there are still a few that keep the old stories and traditions alive. It is far more common, however, to see culture that isn't dependent on species, but based upon ethnicity, country of origin, etc. For example, while some raccoons still practice procyon mythology, Vinci does not and in fact has no knowledge of it. He does however, take a great deal of pride in his Greek heritage.   Q: Where did the name 'Yumar' come from? A: "Yumi", japanese word for bow, and "el mar", spanish word for the sea.   Q: How do cross-breeds in the V&A world work? A: Animals in V&A's world can cross-breed up to and with other scientific classes, believe it or not! There are specific names for each of the multi-class hybrid types, most of which are taken from the first named example of each mix. For example, all bird/mammal hybrids are known as griffins, and any bird/reptile would be called a cockatrice, regardless of the appearance. Intraclass hybrids (mammal/mammal, etc) are far more common, and depending on how apparent the heritage is, they may not even register as hybrids at all! Most individuals who are of mixed parentage but harbor mostly recessive traits from one side will tend to consider themselves whatever species they resemble the most. Quite often, it's a family decision, as some parents will feel it would be easier on their child to "just be one thing", but socially, this is changing as more and more individuals happily embrace both sides of their heritage.   Q: Ok, I know how you say "Vinci" now, but how do you pronounce his last name? A: "Nee-ko-lah-EE-thees"   Q: This is a dumb question but what is Bright Eyes? I thought he was an otter but his tail is curly like a monkey?? And is he coming back? A: He's a kinkajou! Bright Eyes won't be back in V&A, but he's got a significant role in the next comic! If I get to it, that is. :)   Q: Do you plan to someday get the comic published in print? A: For "Vinci & Arty"? No plans right now. I would like to do one specific story just for print (the one about how they met!), but I don't have an ETA for that. That said, "Vinci & Arty" is actually a prequel to another project I've just started working on that I would like to publish both on the web and in print.   Q: Have you ever considered incorporating characters/ideas from the Ballpointe Livejournal community into the story? A: Ah, Ballpointe! As a matter of fact, yes. :) But for the next comic project, not "Vinci & Arty". As for who shows up, well, when the time comes, we'll have a chitchat. :)   Q: Does Vinci consider himself bisexual, pansexual, or some unnamed classification? A: Vinci considers himself head over heels for Arty, and that's really all he knows. But I can tell you that he has some mental disconnection between people and their genders, which is why he falls in love with people regardless. For him, it's not a conscious feeling to ignore gender as much as an inability for it to register fully in his mind!   Q: Any plans on bringing some of the recurring 'mortal' characters from Jack in on a guest spot like we've seen Vinci and Arty there twice now? A: At the very least, look for Jeremy Campbell to show up again. :) As for the continuities, if there are any tie-ins between my comics and "Jack", it will be awhile before they show up.   Q: How does one become a guest artist? A: Eee! You really wanna? :D :D :D

... That's all for now!