Sam and Fuzzy Q & A: Belated Monday Edition
Got a question you want answered? Just drop me an email with "Q & A" in the subject line!
"Are all of Brain's species named after human organs?" -V. Thompson
Two's a coincidence, three's a pattern... so I guess we'll find out if we ever get to meet another one of them!
"Wait, if Candice and Hart-the-ex-refrigerator-demon are the black and white orbs, then what are the black and white orbs in Fuzzy's flashbacks from when his mind got eaten by Brain? I thought Brain ate Hart (and Candice) after he wiped Fuzzy's mind...??????" -Devin
Unrelated orbs! I just like to use that kind of swirly imagery when I'm depicting anything revolving around thoughts or memories that have been tampered with by an outside source.
The two "orbs" at the core of Fuzzy's flashback dreams are generally representative of Hazel and Brain. (Although they're often mixed together with various other things that are on his mind at the time.) The snippets of dialogue that are often circling around the orbs are bits and pieces of the conversation Hazel and Brain had with one another before they made the decision to mindwipe Eric, and are presumably the only bit of Eric's memories that Fuzzy has left.
"On your art commission page you say you'll turn it if it's something you have a problem with doing. Does that happen a lot? I bet some people ask for some pretty weird stuff." -Tim
I have to turn down commissions requests now and then, but rarely for an interesting reason! Usually, it's just because the buyer wants something too complicated for the scale and budget of their piece (ie: a 5.5x7.5 sketchcard depicting a 30 character fight scene) or they need it faster than I'm capable of finishing it. (I'm pretty fast, but I can't do 'em overnight!)
I've almost never had to say no to an idea because I thought it was offensive, which is what I assume this question is mainly about. I think people imagine artists get inundated with requests for stuff that's super gross or violent or perverse or whatever. And I'm sure some of them do! But that has not been my personal experience. Most of the time, people request the kinds of things they already know I do -- Sam and Fuzzy characters, cartoony fan art, caricatures, cute animals, and silly/sexy pin-up stuff. I do occassionally get requests for stuff that's really weird*, or that's more mature than my usual work, but rarely anything I've had a problem with. I'm pretty easy going, and my readers are pretty well adjusted, so it has all worked out so far!
We return on Wednesday with our next comic. See you then!
-Sam Logan
PS: People often ask me what the most unusual commissions I've ever drawn were! Generally, they have been extremely specific references to personal interests or injokes... things like a burlesque dancer with actual living cats for feet, or a man and a velociraptor replicating the "I'm Flying, Jack" scene from Titanic, or the human cast of the Thomas the Tank Engine depicted as furries doing a script reading. These kind of pieces are always impenetrable to outsiders... but to the people who got them, they make perfect sense. So it's all relative!
