Creator Spotlight: Ethan Kocak

Today’s interview is with Ethan Kocak, a webcomic friend of mine, and creator of the hilarious Aztec-axolotl-death-god themed comic Black Mudpuppy.  Ethan is always sharing good thoughts, and basically taught me how to twitter by his example 😀

Remember, if anyone wants to be interviewed or has any good suggestions of people I should ask, let me know 🙂

D: First off what do you do to actually feed yourself and your family/fund BMP?

E: By day I’m actually a mild-mannered marketing/web design/various and sundry IT guy for my local credit union. Before that I used to work for a certain fruit-themed computer company as a software instructor. I’ve also been an on-again off-again freelance artist.

D: What importance do stories and media have in your life?

E: Story-telling has always been a part of my life, I think. When I was very young, my mother was an illustrator and my father worked as an editor for Random House. I think maybe subconsciously I’ve always wanted to mash those two things together somehow. Tell stories but with images and words. I’ve always liked to write. I also love movies and animation. I went to school to study animation. It turns out I’m not fantastic at making things move all that realistically, so over several years after graduating college, I started making comics. Again. I say again, because I made a lot of comics in grade school, mostly for my friends, often about specific teachers we disliked.

D: How did you get started with webcomics?

E: About 10 years ago, I started trying to make comics I would post up online. They were not very good; I have occasionally posted some of them on my site under the tag “BMP: Terrible Edition.” At the time I really did not understand some very basic things, like the mechanics of making a joke work, or even how to properly convey any sort of timing with panels. Not that I’m some kind of master at this now, but I really had no idea. There also was no such thing as any sort of “community” out there for webcomics that I was aware of, so I think I felt like I was posting these things into the abyss and that no one anywhere was seeing them. So I sort of gave up. Then, about 2 years ago, a few things happened convergently. My friend Adam Wickert convinced me to try Comic Press out. And the other thing was my 30th birthday rolled around, and I had this feeling like I needed to do something other than freelancing and working. Like, sucky or not, I needed to make something for posterity. Yeah, some people buy motorcycles when they have feelings about mortality, I make comics. My son was also born around this time as well, which sort of further underscored the whole mortality thing. I was going through a lot of life changes and somehow decided starting a comic was a sane and rational thing to do.

D: What is your inspiration for BMP?

E: The character is basically just me with a ramped up id. I actually created him many years ago, as an amphibian-obsessed child. In fact, the yellow gloves were from using dish washing gloves as “superhero” gloves when I was probably like 9. I had one friend, (actually, we’re still friends believe it or not) around maybe third grade, who liked to make up superheroes with and pretend to be them on the playground. He was the White Skillet (for some reason) and I went with Black Mudpuppy. I’ve kept axolotls and other salamanders as pets for most of my life, and at the time, I had a black axolotl named Marzipan. I actually had him right up until leaving for college, so that I guess was a big part of the genesis. In the current incarnation, Simon, his cohort, is basically the other half of my personality. Nerdy and unsure about everything. I pick up a lot of inspiration from learning about science and nature, so that also tends to show up in the comic. For example, the current story has a whole set of characters that are all obscure types of salamanders.

As far as artistic influences, there are definitely a few. Doug TenNapel, the video game artist and graphic novelist was a huge influence on me growing up. I really love the sense of movement in his characters, and the sort of weird, organic feeling even his machinery and buildings have. Beautiful stuff. I spent most of my teenage years attempting to draw exactly like him.

I’d say Rob Schrab’s Scud: The Disposable Assassin and Steve Purcell’s Sam & Max were also pretty big influences on the style of comic I wanted to make. Scud’s posing is just so great, all the weird positions he’s drawn in, and the simple, cool character design. Sam & Max is just so weird and funny. And the artwork is insanely good.

D: How many amphibians (or better term) do you own?

E: Right now, I own 4 axolotls and 2 New Caledonian giant geckos. At other times in my life, I have had a whole room in my house devoted to reptiles and amphibians.

D: Why do you make BMP? What themes and etc do you want to bring out with it?

E: I mentioned some of the inspiration was mortality. Xolotl is an underworld god and frequently deals with the dead. He might be immortal, but characters in BMP die, and sometimes stay that way. If they are brought back, there’s a cost associated with it. In a real way, Black Mudpuppy is a comic about coming to terms with and accepting death and the implications thereof. Not a lot of people pick up on that because it’s presented as a colorful funny little cartoon, but some of it was done from a really dark place. Then again, it isn’t meant to be a downer. It’s definitely comedy. I’m a big fan of gallows humor.

So as far as why, I guess you could say it’s because making it has been cathartic for me as I deal with those things in my own life.

D: How do you think that webcomics in general and yours in particular can be a benefit to others?

E: I’ve always had issues with anxiety and depression, and when I started in earnest making BMP 2 years ago, I was really struggling. I’m still a little uncomfortable talking about it, partly because it was supposed to be a happy time in my life, and I felt further guilt and depression over it not being that. It was the determination to sit down and make something. To be funny and be creative and just get it out there that I think helped pull me out of it. There’s nothing quite like being able to look at something you’ve put out there into the world and say “I made this.” I think if you flex those sort of creative muscles, the more you do that, the more in control you feel. Well, at least I feel that way. Your mileage may vary, I suppose.

I think a lot of people don’t make things simply because they’re afraid of showing off something other people will think isn’t very good. No one wants that. But waiting till you’re perfect is impossible. Mainly because often times the only way to learn what you’re doing wrong is to actually do it incorrectly and have someone tell you it’s wrong. Most webcomics (definitely mine included) show a marked evolution as you read through the archives. I’ve done more than 200 pages at this point, across 8 stories. You can definitely see things change. That should prove to anyone that it’s OK to start out wherever you are.

Thanks again Ethan for being willing to be interviewed!  Check out his comic, it’s pretty hilarious 😀  And tune in next week for another interview/spotlight 😀