Today’s strip is brought to you by your vocabulary word for the day:
“aplomb”: self-confidence or assurance.
As the Grass Grows – A Webcomic by Brad Samuelson
Currently on a break... it's not you it's me
Oddnik is my personal blog where I post artwork and talk about other projects I have going on.
If you’re in need of help with publishing a book or developing a web site, check out Spumoni Press.
This comic strip is really interesting. I wanted to know, how do you find your inspiration for topics or concepts of the characters?
Are these characters in the strip something that you had growing up?
I really enjoyed how you incorporated so many real life scenarios, the different seasons, bird/pest problems, cutting grass, friends/foes. I’m interesting in reading more comic strips to come from this series!!!!
Thanks Nick
The inspiration and ideas for the strip come mostly from my own back yard combined with the weird trips my imagination takes. For example, the character in the current storyline “No-Tail” came from an actual squirrel without a tail that lived in my neighborhood. My mind immediately began creating a story about how he lost his tail and how it would affect his relationship with the other squirrels (I’m weird, I know).
I think one of the great things about doing a comic strip is that you can bring in a lot of your own experiences and observations and (hopefully) turn them into funny situations for your characters. Thanks for reading and I hope you stick around.
-Brad
I am typically not a reader of comics but I really enjoyed reading “As the Grass Grows”. I found the more I read, the more I actually saw happening within the story. Did you originally start this for children? I find that it seems to be more directed towards older students or adults because of the references made within the text.
Hi Adrienne,
) but I also wanted it to be entertaining for adults as well. If I sometimes write more to an adult audience it’s usually because I have an idea or a joke that I think is funny, but I try not to stray too far away from being kid-friendly.
Thanks for checking out my comic. I didn’t start it for children specifically, but I do try to make it more of an “all-ages” strip. I wanted it to be something that my son can read someday (as soon as he learns to read
I throughly enjoyed reading all of “As The Grass Grows”! How do you decide what social commentary to interweave into the storyline (i.e. the economic crisis, etc)?
(Also, will Gnorm ever get to talk to his beloved?)
Brad, you really have a creative mind! As I have read through the entire strip from your archives, I think that the strip is getting better and better, as though it (your skill) is constantly growing. The humor is slick and clever. Also, it is so cool to interact with you. I think your uncommon creativity is a gift for the rest of us to enjoy. Thanks for being out there!
I was wondering what age group you are trying to appeal to with this comic strip?
As the comic strip has progressed the characters’ personalities have seem to become more developed. What made you decide the personalities of the different characters and the way they interact with one another?
@ Sammi
Thanks! I don’t really set out to make social commentaries… sometimes they slip in
Actually, a lot of the time when I write, I come up with the situation first and just imagine in my head how gnorm will react to it.
@ Joan
Wow, thanks for the kind words! I really appreciate it!
@ Amanda Smith
Honestly, while I try to make the strip as friendly to an all-ages audience as I can, I realize it’s probably not geared toward younger kids. There’s a real art to, say, the old looney tunes cartoons that is so hard to capture where you really appeal to younger kids but you bring something that the older folks can enjoy too. That’s the end goal, but I don’t think I’m quite there yet.
@Amanda Come
When I first started to develop the characters, I drew inspiration from some things I was into at the time (Invader zim being a big one) and I fleshed out the core personalities of the characters. From there I started to think of different scenarios that I could put them in to bring out different aspects of their personalities. As the strip progressed, they’ve evolved a bit into places I didn’t originally intend, but that’s one of the cool things about an ongoing comic strip.
Thanks everyone for the great questions and comments!
I have never read your comic strip before. I have looked at many of your strips on the website. I am thinking that Gnorm is someopne wha has a nonreal view of his own world around him verses what is reality. Am I on track for understanding this comis strip? The comic strip sometime makes me think about life and it also makes me laugh a bit. The animal characture names are cute. I love the dog’s name of Short Legs.