| |

1. I like the comic, but … "Catvomit"? And there's not even a cat anywhere in it! What's with the mind games, man?!

To be honest the "Catvomit" has nothing to do with the content of the comic itself, rather just the comic. As the doodles in the margins of my notes began to develop into small, rather mean spirited, one line cartoons, I figured I just may have something interesting. Only trouble was, I couldn't draw.
While talking about my sketchy creations one night, my friend tells me to draw them anyway, regardless of the level of crapitude. I proceeded to tell him that they look like a cat walked by and threw up on the page; to which he responds: "Just draw your cat vomit doodles anyway."
This gave me two things: A title for a comic that couldn't be beat, and a great conversation topic.

2. I don't mean to be picky, oh wait, yes I do, but do the characters have names?

Yes and No.

3. Can you elaborate a little on that?

Well, the two main characters, the Boy and the Girl, are called just that, "Boy" and "Girl". In the beginning my limited drawing abilities were even worse than they are now, so I could only flesh out two slightly different characters: a boy and a girl. At first I never even thought about naming them, they were just for fun. Then, when they got their own comic, I completely forgot. Thinking about it now, I just can't see naming them; nothing seems to fit.
In a backwards twist of writing, I left the main characters nameless and gave names to extras I planned to later ditch. The first was Rob, the womanizing pretty boy (you know he's a pretty boy because of the hair. It's all in the hair.) named after a guy I know who shares similar traits with his vomitesque counterpart, and the second happened by accident.
Originally the appearance of Scott was simply my way of personifying my announcements to the viewers. Then I made the mistake of letting him interact with the others. Before I knew it, he had taken on a life of his own and became one with the rest of the cast.

4. Well, in THAT case, I have a great idea! You should name the-

Stop right there!
Like I said before, they've grown to the point where I can't see naming them, and the names that have been suggested (and there have been many) just don't fit. So, no names.

5. Does that mean I can't tell you my ideas?

I'm not saying that I don't want input. I love input, input is great. If you feel there is something you absolutely have to tell me, then by all means, please do. If you love the comic, hate the comic, are indifferent to it, use it to line your hamster cage, whatever; I like finding out what people think.
That, however, leads us to "Hey, Scott! You should make a comic about 'blank'!"
One of the biggest pet peeves of writing is that people will come to you with the next "Great idea". Trouble is: the great idea usually stinks. Many times people will make suggestions without fully understanding the characters or the overall scheme. If you and your friends have a joke that knocks you all on the floor every time you say it; it most likely will not work as a comic. A funny inside joke to you, will come across as a "What in the hell does this mean?!" moment to others (Trust me on this one. If you have to EXPLAIN your joke, it's not worth doing and people will look at you weird.)

6. But, I really do have this great idea that-

If you really think that your idea is that incredibly awesome that the whole world would love to see it; why are you telling me? Take the initiative and make your own comic.

7. Yeah, but I can't draw at all, and…

Again, I don't want to hear that. If I can make a comic, with my limited abilities, you can make your own too. No excuses. ... Unless you dont have hands, then I apologize.

8. Can you put me, or this facsimile of me in your comic?! They'd work great!!!

No.

9. Yeah, but-

No.

10. Why?

Again, your characters, your comic.
Adding characters not created by the creator(s) of a comic can completely destroy it. I've seen this happen before, and had to scrap several comics myself after trying to do it. If characters are going to be added, it has to happen naturally as the comic progresses. Otherwise you just end up throwing a wrench in the works and wasting a lot of precious time.

11. What's the deal, man? Why is there no color?

Simplest answer: because I dont want to.
When Catvomit first started it was pen on a page. Its entire birth and infancy was all in black and white. Then when I finally decided to computerize it, I had no idea how the programs worked. (I'm still learning photoshop) So, it was out of necessity that they were all line art.
Don't get me wrong, I have experimented with coloring them, but I honestly feel that after working with them for a while, these guys do better in the simplistic line world.

12. I have an additional question or comment that's not on this list. How can I get it answered?

Thanks to the magic of the internet, you can always email me with any questions or comments you may have(and yes, critiques ARE welcome). Feel free to email me here: sloppyscott182@tekken.cc


Catvomit is hosted on ComicGenesis, a free webhosting and site automation service for webcomics.