This first edition of the questionnaire highlights the fine work of Der-shing Helmer, author and artist of The Meek, a weekly web comic that’s a sci-fi/fantasy story about three people on a quest for peace as nation’s stand on the brink of war. He may be a biologist by training, but he’s an artist through and through. Here’s how he answered the 10 questions.
1. Why web comics?
I like the medium of webcomics because I like the online community. I like that I get to share my ideas with as wide and diverse an audience as I can attract, and that I can talk to fans and answer their questions directly. It’s neat to have such a fluid environment to share my work in, and I’m sure its good fun for both the reader and the creator.
2. Who are your influences?
Art-wise I will always strive to be as good as (Alessandro) Barbucci and (Barbara) Canepa, who do the comic Skydoll. They can’t draw a single bad line, it seems.
3. If I wasn’t making comics, I’d be…?
Well, my real life job is in education (high school biology). Comics are a way for me to get my art out of my system without having to do it for someone else or depend on it for my livelihood. If I wasn’t doing either teaching or arting I would probably be living in the woods and making bombs or something.
4. What’s the best comment about your work you’ve ever received?
Probably that it made someone cry, ha ha. A bit sadistic, but I like the idea that I made someone else cry through a computer.
5. Reversely, what’s the worst criticism you’ve ever received?
I haven’t gotten anything that I feel is valid, honestly. I got one bad review about 10 pages in from a guy who was complaining about my slow posting rate, but again this is my hobby and not my job. As nice as it sounds, I can’t afford to sit in front of my computer all day and make comics!
6. What inspires you?
A lot of things! I like biology most of all, it is very elegant and influence the way I write… Everything that exists has a good reason and a historical explanation, even though it may not be perfect. I also like looking at the works of other artists and getting ideas from how they make their art.
7. What are some of the challenges that you face in getting out your comic?
Mostly finding the time. I don’t have much free time in my life anymore. It’s been years since I’ve played a video game. I wish I could do a lot more of the stuff that I enjoy, like jigsaw puzzles and hiking and learning new things. There is some feeling that I might be using my time unwisely and will regret it a few years from now.
8. How did you get into comics to begin with?
In 2007, my friend Johane told me about APE con in nearby San Francisco and suggested I table there. I thought it would be cool so I tried to get something small done in time for it (it was the first issue of my minicomic Snowball in Hell). While I was working on that, I started sketching out The Meek to have a longer-term project to focus on and I haven’t stopped since!
9. What’s worse: an irate fan boy or a bear with a thorn stuck in its paw?
I’m going with the bear. You can ignore people, bears not so much.
10. Anything you want to plug?
Yes! Nothing in particular though. I plug comics every week on my site journal, I love the webcomics community and I think we should all be one big happy family.
You can read The Meek at http://www.meekcomic.com/
