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Whodunnit and the Like
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The Cammi: Author, Webmistress, God "Don't try this at home, kids. I'm a professional psychotic." |
Because I hate coming up with stuff for this page, Official Fan Girl Brady offered to interview me. Read on, bishes.
OCCUPATION: Webcomic Artiste/Coffee Wench/Library Slave
CURRENT HOME: Saskatoon
MARITAL STATUS: Single *winks* Hey cutie. Wanna come back to my- err... what? Where were we?
CHILDREN: Hah! I can barely care for myself. Maybe someday.
FAVORITE PIG OUT FOOD: Right now, I'd have to say sammiches.
FAVORITE PERFORMER/AUTHOR/SPORTSMAN ETC: Oh GAWD. Just one? I'll tenatively go with Carrie Brownstien from Sleater-Kinney, but Joan Jett's a close second.
EVERY NEW YEAR’S YOU RESOLVE TO: I wake up on the first and groan, "Oh god, I'm NEVER drinking again!" - a promise I usually break within a week.
NOBODY KNOWS YOU ARE: Really, painfully shy. I hide behind a wall of goofiness/sarcasm/tequila (depending on the situation).
ONE THING YOU WISH YOU COULD STOP: I'm the most indecisive person on the planet... so stop putting off making decisions, I guess. Wait - I changed my mi-
ONE THING YOU'RE A SUCKER FOR: Green eyes. Also Bailey's. And guitar-toting girls.
THE WORST PART OF YOUR LIFE IS: Coffee wenchery, at the moment.
A GOOD TIME FOR YOU IS: Sitting around a campfire with a bottle of booze, with bullshit and nonsense flowing freely.
THE WORST ADVICE THAT YOUR PARENTS GAVE YOU WAS: Oddly enough, it was also some of the best advice: "Don't blindly accept what anyone tells you. Not your teachers, not even us." That didn't go over so well with the teachers. Or bosses. XD
YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE GROWN UP WHEN: I graduated high school. Boy, was I wrong. I'm still not really sure I've achieved grownup status.
WHEN YOU FEEL SORRY FOR YOURSELF YOU: Crank my music and sulk while indulging in one of my various vices.
NOBODY WOULD BELIEVE YOU IF THEY SAW YOU: Looking innocent. For some reason, that makes everone suspicious.
YOUR FRIENDS LIKE YOUR BECAUSE: That is a very good question. My sense of humour, maybe? Or the fact that I'm really pretty laid back about most everything.
YOUR PET PEEVE IS: Crowds, noisy eaters, and people who like to shove their beliefs down my throat. Oh, and frat boys hitting on me.
ONE MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENT: Getting through university with pretty kick ass grades... considering the amount of effort I put in compared to others. I'm damn proud of being an honors slacker. XD
I CAN DIE HAPPY WHEN: I'm trying very, very hard to think of a non-perverted answer to that one, but it's not working.
About the Comic
When Did AoU get started? Christmas break '04/05, officially. That's when the first sketches and whatnot were done.
Why? RL Brodie kept pestering Scotty and I, saying a comic about us would be funny. I finally gave in, despite my misgivings. I hate it when he's right.
Give us some background information about the comic? I've had an interest in doing a comic for as long as I can remember (although my memory really only extends to last Tuesday or so), and the three of us had been toying with a much more ambitious project for years, but it never materialized. So I eventually ran with Brodie's idea - AoU started out as a chronicle of our real life adventures, but once it became clear that I was more or less completely in charge of the project... well... y'know. Our characters starting deviating a little more from our real life selves, and wacky crap started happening.
Tell us a bit about Cam? Cam is very much like me in a lot of ways... she just gets away with a lot more thanks to the world she lives in. She can be ruder, more violent... more generally insane. I guess she's sort of a cliched version of me. I'm still not really sure if she and I share the same sexual preferences, either. That question has yet to be resolved.
Tell us a bit about Brodie? Okay, the fabulous story of the bubbles. The original storyboard sketches I did called for the gang to be stoned, and they all had intoxication bubbles over their heads. RL Brodie loved how it looked though, and insisted that his character always have them, saying it was perfect for showing off his... well... Brodie-ish state of existance. Mystery solved. I love the Brodie character because he's just so darn innocent and well meaning.
Tell us a bit about Scott? Poor Scott. I did mean for him to have a more outrageous role, but somehow he's fallen into the straight guy position. Cam and Brodie can be so outrageous, and Scott just sort of gets swept up in the ensuing madness. He does have his moments though.
Who are the other characters? Most of them are figments of my imagination. Tasha is very much a part of the gang in real life. She doesn't show up enough in the comic, really. She gets the same treatment the rest of us do - her comic persona isn't quite who she really is... but there's a similarily. Nessa, Carol and Ron are based on real life friends, too. The Dread Pirate Fred is possibly my favorite auxillary character, just because of his name. That's probably why he keeps showing up, despite my initial intention of just using him once for that bar gag.
What do they do? Besides creating chaos... I'm not even really sure any more.
Where do your ideas for AoU come from? Quite often from things that I see or experience. Or sometimes I'll have some odd little idea that will spontaneously blossom into a storyline or comic. The whole spin-off ending of the "Save a horse..." storyline came from me musing one day, "Hey, y'know what'd be funny? If Cam was captured by lesbian pirates while she was off with the Dread Pirate Fred." Acutally, a lot of my ideas for the comic start with, "Hey wouldn't it be funny/weird if..." or "_____... hmm... Hey! _____!"
What motivates you to keep working on the comic? Guilt and whining from the fans, mostly. XD That, and I don't think AoU's completely exhausted its potential yet. Give it a few more months.
If theres anything you could change about the comic, what is it? Oh god, I would go back in time and rename the characters! I'm still kicking myself for not giving the main characters different names.
Would you ever make another comic? I toy with that idea a lot, actually. There are a couple of projects that I might run with if I ever get the time... and one that actually might not require that much extra time, but it has a slightly different format. It's really only half comic...
Do your friends or family influence the comic? Hell yes!
In what way? Sometimes it's just things they do or say, thus contributing unintentionally. But to be honest, they're sometimes great sources for basic comic ideas. Maybe I'll be telling them a story from work, and they be like, "Hey! You should make that a comic!"... stuff lke that.
Shoutouts and Whatnot
A big thank you goes out to Aaron, our very own Ron bunny, who is also a great inspiration and occaisional source of guest comic goodness. Another big thanks to Amber, who has done a wonderful job as AoU's official shameless promoter, and who is all to often responsible for inflating the Cammi's ego to a slightly alarming size. And thanks to Brady, our aforementioned offical Fan Girl, who makes the Cammi feel all appreciated... and stuff. These three all deserve applause and cookies, which I swear are in the mail. Honest.
And last, but certainly not least, thanks to all the readers! You guys are awesome, and you make all the effort worthwhile.
All images and characters © 2005-2006 the Cammi unless she says otherwise.
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