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Frequently Asked Questions 1. I don't get the jokes. Can you explain them to me? Why do the images take so long to download? Hm. Try starting from Monday and reading through to Sunday. Most build on each other. Most web surfers spend fewer than 90 seconds on any given site. Try to plan your visit to smallgreY when you have 5-10 minutes. I don't get some of them either. I just write what the characters tell me... I have learned to optimize the images over time but I still want them to look nice if you print them out for private use. Thus, they will take, on average 5-10 seconds more to download. 2. Who are the Aliens, the Martians, and the Venutians? I'm confused. Okay, the strip takes place on Mars, present day. Durkheim is a Martian, and Mars is inhabited by more Martians who look like him. In addition, Mars is inhabited by 'primitive' men like Xarm, and monkey-like Lorang. Venus is from Venus and has been banished to a life on Mars for an undisclosed crime. smallgreY and greymaw are the aliens, having been dropped of by more aliens on their way to Earth to abduct a few more humans! 3. Why does smallgreY's name end in a capital Y? And what is l33t? Y not? If you don't know what l33t is, consult Yoda, he has all of the answers... 4. Who are the elders? The Martian elders are the rulers of Cydonia. The only thing you need to know for now is that they prohibit any and all contact with the Earth. 5. Do you have any T-Shirts? I really like all of the characters! Also, [insert character here] is so cuddly, when will you have action figures / stuffed animals? Hehe. Not yet. Keep sending me those emails, though, maybe I'll set up a nice picture that you can use to print out on your own T-Shirt. I am seriously thinking about selling latch-hooks soon! Keep checking back! 6. How did you get into cartooning? How did you come up with smallgreY? Hm... Everyone in High School told me I should be a cartoonist, especially when I drew comics of teachers in compromising situations. What a joke, I thought! When I was getting my Bachelors everyone asked me why I wasn't going to be a cartoonist and I made up excuses because I was too tormented to tell them I was a tormented artist. When I was getting my Masters degree everyone asked me why I wasn't a cartoonist and I told them I was too busy trying to change the world. Finally, after 28 years, I had two free days and decided to give it a serious try. Two weeks later I had the first 25 strips and I have been unable to stop doing it since then. I put smallgreY together by thumbing through my school notes and taking some of the characters I drew in the margins (two of which are my own cats pictured below) and adding Venus. They all came to life on their own and told me about themselves so I didn't have to do too much else except edit out all the stuff (sometime unsuccesfully) too odd to put in the strip. Oddly enough, I am not in to comics at all, though recently I have gotten a little into anime...
7. Have you ever been abducted by aliens? Answer abducted. 8. Can I reach you through snail mail? Send me an email and we can talk about it. I'm a bit too paranoid that the aliens will attempt to locate me again. 9. Are you syndicated? The answer is not yet. I have recieved 3 requests for material from syndicates in the past two months though. I still need to work on the writing a little, find a good font, and make some better bubbles. I think late October of 99 I will begin submitting. If you are *really* interested before this time send me an email. If you have any suggestions, let me know! 10. Do you have one of those author bios for us literary types? Here it is: Richard Dana Interlandi was born in Lake Worth, Florida, one of the strangest places in the world. He grew up fishing. He recieved a Bachelors in Anthropology with a minor in Russian Literature and Studio Art as well as a Masters in Anthropology from the University of Florida. During this time he was fortunate to visit Montana and fly fish for Cutthroat Trout with black ants on Sloughs Creek. He has worked as a mechanic, an archaeologist, and an applied anthropologist working with refugees from Vietnam, Kurdistan, the former Yugoslavia, and Somalia. Presently he is a working as a computer geek. He loves Key Lime Pie. He is married, has 4 cats, and a beaver in his backyard. His influences include Italo Calvino, Galway Kinnel, Pierre Bourdieu, Joan Miro, and Ortega Y Gasset. 11. How can I link to your site? Here are all of the sites who I have shared links with! Here are some free sites too! You can use the following banners. Pick your favorite banner here. 12. How do you get inspiration? This stuff comes to me all day long. I try to fight it off. Writers block is for wimps! Additionally, I get some of mine from monkeys. I watch them for hours. I pretend they are talking to each other and invent dialogue. This can be done with other animals. I've tried slugs, bees, and beavers. In my opinion, monkeys are the best. It works with people too, if they are out of hearing range or you are a bit autistic like I am. 13. How'd you make that neeto star-trailer on the index page? I used Brian Caputo's cross browser trailer script with different images. It is here. 14. How do you make smallgreY? I write it first. I have a file folder of different episode ideas. I choose those that are filled up. I then sketch it out with a 0.7 mm Pentel P3 HARD lead (the photo blue leads for film). I usually ink the borders with a #4 rapidograph (1.20) and do most of the lines with a #00 rapidograph (.30). Then I go back over it with thicker rapidographs (various sizes) to bring out some definition. I scan it in on a scanner, color in Photoshop (sometimes I'll use Painter), add text bubbles and text (the font is AstroCity). I can draw a weeks worth in a day. I wish I had more time in my life so I could do one a day and really work on it but as it is I usually do it on Saturday and Sunday evenings. If you have ever changed the ink in a Rapidograph pen without getting some on you let me know how you did it! Oh, almost forgot, I use 9"x12" Bristol to draw it on. |
