Creator Spotlight: Shannon Maguire and Andy Baird

This week’s Wednesday Spotlight interview is with the creative couple behind the webcomic Matt Against the World, Shannon Maguire and Andy Baird.  Shannon wrote most of the answers, but assures me that Andy agrees with her responses 😉

So Shannon gave me a long and detailed step by step bio that I won’t get in to.  Suffice it to say that over the past 2 years they’ve changed jobs, moved across Canada and the United States, twice, traveled across Europe, and done lots of fun things.  During the middle of this quarter-life crisis, they also started their webcomic and have been producing it ever since.

D: Anything to add to my summary?

S: We decided to move to Victoria, BC and get jobs while we continue to work on the comic. We picked it because it’s a small town with good weather all year and nature pretty much exploded over here. We got here about 3 weeks ago and we’re staying in a cabin in the middle of the woods while we get settled. Andy picked up a job painting (houses not canvases) because he figures a brainless manual job will be better for coming home and working on the comic in his spare time. We also lined up an apartment and are moving into the city this weekend. I’m still job hunting and trying to decide between a brainless job like Andy or something a little more stimulating like office work or sales, but definitely not web programming.

D: What do you like most about making a web comic?

S: We both love to be creative and making comics is the most fun we have ever had creating something. We try to keep our comics as positive and fun as possible and we’re always trying to think outside the box.

D: Any good experiences with your fans?

S: There is one fan we have who comments every week on Facebook and it’s the best feeling in the world to know that there is someone out there who is reading and enjoying it every week. Every week we look forward to seeing what he’s going to post. We have also had several people sign up for our mailing list, which is amazing because it tells us that they are enjoying the comic enough to want to be reminded of when it’s updated and what’s going on with it. It really motivates us to know that there are fans out there wanting to read the comic every week.

D: Do you try to address any themes or issues through your work?

S: Addressing issues is one of the reasons we started the comic. During our trip we started to see that there are a lot of issues going on in the world and a lot of unhappy people. The world we live in today makes it pretty hard sometimes to live the way you want to and we’re seeing a lot of people starting to give up. We’ve almost given up lots of times ourselves, but we keep pushing on trying to live the way we want. That’s what the main message of Matt Against the World is. Life is hard sometimes, but you have to keep trying to make it better. Matt is the average everyday person trying to figure out his life and make it better and although he often faces obstacles and doesn’t always make the best choices he never stops trying. He may mess up on his diet or have trouble getting the girl, but he keeps trying anyway. Popsicle is the complete opposite of Matt because he has everything figured out and always does the right thing even if no one else is. Other than that, we try to keep the comic positive, family friendly and full of corny old school values.

D: Besides being easier and cheaper to produce, what do you think about the medium of webcomics vs printed comics?

S: Webcomics are great because they allow creators like us to get our stuff out there without having to spend a ton of money or getting accepted by a publisher. Unless we see a demand for it or manage to get the comic in a publication, we likely won’t bother printing books. Our plan is to eventually publish books, but they will likely be in some sort of e-book format.

D: Any advice for other creators?

S: Keep trying to improve your comic, read other comics and ask for help. As complete beginners in comics, we went around to tons of comic creator groups and forums and asked for feedback on the comic and resources. The comments we received from other comic creators and fans has helped us make huge improvements to the comic since we started. The comic creators community is also incredibly supportive and there is always someone out there who is willing to help you out. Our favorite places to go are the Webcomics community on Google+, the Webcomic Creators group on Facebook  and the Web Comic Underdogs website. Reading other webcomics is also great for ideas and inspiration and it’s just tons of fun.

Thanks so much for interviewing with us!  Make sure you check out their webcomic, Matt Against the World, updating every Saturday 🙂