FAQs

Got a question about the comic? Email me at irma(AT)imycomic.com

How do you promounce ‘Imy?’

EEEEEE-MEEEEEE. Long E sound on both sides.

How much is ‘Imy’ based on your own life?

I can say that most of the ideas come from my own life, but the comic is not based on my life, if you can understand that. Imy is not meant to represent me, even though I drew her to look a bit like me int he beginning. That’s why I ended up changing her hair color about 8 strips in; so that people would know she is not supposed to be me.

Otherwise, I do take things from my life, observations and experiences, and create the stories and gags from that. They say “write what you know,” and that’s exactly what I’m doing. But in no way is Imy meant to be a literal interpretation of my own life.

What is your creative method?

My method changes from strip to strip depending on my mood and whatever I feel works for me at that time. It usually goes like this, though: I get an idea in my head. It forms into a basic idea, usually without much dialogue. Once I’ve decided that this idea is definitely what I want to use, I draw. The drawing usually leads me to the dialogue. I usually have a basic idea of what the characters will be saying, but the drawing helps me solidify the words and the punchlines.

Rarely do I come up with the script first ,and then draw from there. It has happened, but it usually happens that I draw first.

Right now I’m letting the strip itself guide me from day to day. I don’t have anything planned out, I just let the ideas go with the flow of the strip. I know this is a dangerous way to work, and that it’s much safer to work with a buffer of ideas. But it’s working for me right now, and usually the pressure has lead to the best strips.

How do you actually draw your strips?

I never really got into drawing on paper. While I was growing up I knew I that I loved to draw, but I, for some reason, never actually thought of pursuing it in any way. It wasn’t until I got a copy of Photoshop installed on my computer during my freshman year of college that I really started to get into my drawing.

As a result, I am all digital all the time.

For each strip I sit down with my trusty Wacome Graphire and draw out all the panels in Adobe Illustrator. Then I fire up Photoshop, open up a strip-template that I made and assemble all the panels in there. I also do all the coloring, shading, the adding of text bubbles and text and other final touches in Photoshop.

Depending on the level of complication of the drawing, and how tired or distracted I am, each strip takes anywhere from 3-5 hours to do.