Dark And Unexpected Twists: 50 Comics By ToonHole John

Bored Panda reached out to John with some questions! First, we asked the artist if he had any life-changing influences that might have helped him with his art and art style in general when it comes to his comics.

"My comic influences are Calvin and Hobbes comics, the Far Side, and Will Eisner. Looney Tunes and Tex Avery cartoons are also pretty influential to me."

Art, in any kind of form, takes a lot of time not only to practice but also to produce, therefore we asked John how long it takes him to fully finish his comics.

"My comics usually take a matter of hours to complete from start to finish. But, every once in a while, a comic idea has to simmer for days and take different shapes before it's finally finished."

Being an artist is not easy, one can easily encounter a lack of inspiration, burnout, etc, so we wanted to ask the artist about his ideas for the comics.

"Most comic ideas come from real world observations. However, we toonhole guys bounce topics and prompts between each other to keep the creativity fresh."

As we mentioned before, sometimes creative work can cause quite a burnout, therefore we asked the artist how he dealt with that as well.

"Usually burnout is a result of outside factors and not the creative work itself. Sleep, exercise, and good eating stave off burnout. When I do feel it, it's because one of these is out of balance."

We also asked the artist about how people reacted to his work.

"I'm not sure of people's initial reaction, but I'm just thankful enough people like the comics and that they get any reaction at all. Though, the least favorable reaction is confusion, because it means I didn't get my joke across."

The creative process is not easy, but there are many enjoyable parts to it as shared by the artist.

"My favorite part of the process is when time flies while completing a comic. I can get into gear while working where I don't notice how long it's been. Before I know it the comic is done and posted and I'm on to the next."

John also told us a little bit about why he chose Instagram as one of the platforms for posting his comics.

"Instagram is just one of the many avenues for comic artists to show their work on social media."

Digital art and art, in general, is not easy and requires a lot of patience, time, resources, and in most cases even money, therefore we wanted to know how the talented comic artist started his own career in digital art.

"I started by drawing traditional paper and ink comics and transferring them to digital. But now, like the other toonhole guys, I use a mix of digital and traditional processes depending on the comic, and it comes down to whatever the comic calls for."

Artists tend to get motivated by a lot of things such as curiosity, the search for beauty, or even meaning. Therefore, we asked John about that too.

"I'm not sure where my motivation comes from, probably from somewhere deep under layers of lizard-brained behavior. Perhaps the easiest answer is survival, art allows me to eat."