30 Comics By Ryan Hudson With Unexpectedly Dark Conclusions (New Pics)

Given the chance, Bored Panda once again reached out to the artist with a few more new questions!

When asked how Ryan decides which ideas from his "warm-up comics" sessions make it into the final comic strips, Hudson explained, "If it makes ME laugh, I show it to a few trusted friends. If it makes them laugh too, it gets made!"

Discussing the animated series pilot he’s working on and how it incorporates his passion for music, Hudson shared, "Cool of you to ask about that! About a year and a half ago, I actually put the pilot on hold, because YouTube shorts started becoming really lucrative for me, so I shifted focus to that. But my animated pilot is about a guy, well and anthropomorphic cat, who is going through a midlife crisis and decides to finally pursue his dream of becoming a singer-songwriter. I've written a handful of songs for the show. Some for the main character and some for other musicians he meets along the way. It's been really fun writing music from that point of view."

Reflecting on how his approach to creating Channelate has changed since he first started in 2008, Hudson said, "I definitely write differently now. Back then I carried around a notebook so I could document inspiration. Other times I would stare at the wall til something funny came to mind. For the past 10 years or so, I've been way more deliberate about writing. I still think it's good to keep a notebook, but I get a lot more inspiration from sitting down and doing the warm-up comics. Just rushing through dumb jokes until something works. It's like an improv game. Another big difference is now animation is a huge part of my day-to-day. My favorite part of the animation process is actually the voice acting. It's something I've always wanted to do and producing my own cartoons means I get to cast myself CONSTANTLY."

When asked about the biggest challenges he's faced in balancing humor with darker themes in his comics, Ryan noted to us, "A recent comment on my YouTube channel sort of sums up my answer to that. The comment said, 'Smart stuff. Close to the edge without blatant affront.' I really do like to push a joke to the edge, but I'm also not trying to rely on shock value to sell the joke. Dancing on that line can be a challenge. I wasn't as good at that back in the beginning. Another challenge I've faced has been people in my personal life relating to my work a little too much, to the point of thinking I wrote a joke about them. I absolutely do not do that, yet I have had the occasional friend or family member being offended by something I've written. That's bound to happen when you're making jokes about the human condition."

Lastly we also wanted to find out how he engages with his audience on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, and how their feedback influences his work, Hudson said to Bored Panda, "I mostly engage with my audience in comment sections, though I do get the occasional DM on Instagram. I can't reply to every comment, but I try to respond if I am being directly addressed. My audience doesn't necessarily influence my work directly, but indirectly through the stats. I take note of what content gets more upvotes or has a more viral spread. I have changed course when something's not been working. I did a small series of shorts last year with my devil character singing songs to the habitants of Hell. The shorts were really well received by the very small handful of people who saw them. Unfortunately, it didn't make sense to keep making them, because the fewer the views, the smaller the payday."