Webcomic Interview with Awkward Zombie

A couple of months ago, I managed to sit down and have a nice talk with the creator of The Zombie Hunters webcomic, and it went pretty well. Thusly, I’ve decided to make sort of a small series out of it. (if other webcomic artists will have as such, that is….fickle bunch)

This time around I managed to snag an interview with Katie Tiedrich, who runs “Awkward Zombie“, and get some info out of her as to the details of her comic and beyond.

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Me: So, in the beginning (cue lightning strike), how did you start out with Awkward Zombie?

Katie: A few years ago I played Ocarina of Time, one of my favorite Zelda games, for the first time in years, and for some reason I got all these comic ideas from it. And I’ve always liked doing comics about things, so drawing them wasn’t too hard to get into. And then I was egged on to do more by some friends, and it eventually spiraled out of control into what you see now.

Me: Have you done other comics before?

Katie: It’s a hobby I’ve always had, but this is the first time I’ve actually been able to generate a stable series. (If I can call it stable.)

Me: You mentioned egging on from friends. Any other outside encouragement or influences that helped to shape what you’re doing now?

Katie: I do take as much as I can from the remarks of readers, but other comic artists have been a pretty big influence on what I try to do.

Me: Apparently it’s paid off with the recent flying of your gift comic on VGcats and various plugs from other webcomics.

Katie: I’m pretty immensely flattered by everyone who’s done such a thing.

Me: I’ve noticed you stick to mostly popular Nintendo games in terms of content. Why limit your focus to just mostly the same Nintendo games? Do you plan on sticking with this theme?

Katie: Well, it’s a comic mostly about the games I play, and I tend to play Nintendo games more than anything else. I do go outside of that box now and then, but really not enough to deviate from a “Nintendo-themed” label.

Me: So you’ll stick with what works.

Katie: What works is fun, so….

Me: What do you hope to get out of doing AZ? Fame? Fortune? New and Interesting Hats?

Katie: I don’t really think there’s much to expect from doing a webcomic about copyrighted intellectual property, so I’m basically in it to entertain others. I do hope to learn something about comic-making in the process if I can.

Me: So this is like a trial run for possible future projects?

Katie: You could call it something like that.

Me: Here comes the obligatory “Any Advice for Future Webcomic Artists?” question. Care to take a shot?

Katie: “Don’t do a comic about videogames” is just about the best advice I can give. Also, “accept criticism” is useful.

Me: Any closing tidbits you’d like to share with your readers?

Katie: Hmm…I can’t think of anything, so I will instead ask the reader to imagine me saying something really inspiring.