Many webcomics that are somewhat popular have an FAQ page, where questions the authors get frequently are answered. I don't have a popular webcomic, still, I thought it'd be kinda fun if I had a page like that, where questions about the comic and stuff were answered. Thus, I present to you, the Fake Frequenlty Asked Questions page (or FFAQ)!!!
Q: Where did you come up with the name "Tree Sprocket?"
A: I already answered that question in this strip, didn't you read through the archives? No, just kidding. When I started the comic, I had no idea of what it was going to be about, or who it was going to star, I just wanted something to do after I completed a test early in highschool. Tree Sprocket just popped into my mind so I used it. The comic took off and it stuck.
Q: Whats the deal with the Interludes and the One Shot Wonders?
A: The Interludes serve two purposes. I started Tree Sprocket long before I ever put the first strip up on the internet. By the time the strips do appear on the website, it can be anywhere from six months to over a year since they've been written, and they just don't feel very fresh to me. So the Interludes allow me to put something up that isn't at least six months old already. Their other purpose is this: there are just some jokes that I come up with that don't work with Tree Sprocket and its characters. This strip is a perfect example. I think its very funny, and most of the people that saw it agreed. However, if I had just stuck to doing Tree Sprocket and only Tree Sprocket, that comic would have never seen the light of day. Interludes allow me to do things that I can't do very easily or at all in Tree Sprocket, things like pop culture parodies, fake TV commercials, movie parodies, or superhero related jokes, just to name a few. Likewise, Tree Sprocket lets me do plenty of other things that I can't do in a comic like the Interludes, like have re-occuring characters or running jokes or story arcs. The Interludes just allow me to do some stuff that might be fun without having to bother what little continuity there is in Tree Sprocket. As far as the One Shot Wonders go, I thought it'd be fun to try some one panel comics along the lines of The Far Side or Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, and it was fun making them. Of course, I only do Interludes and One Shot Wonders when I have ideas and free time, so there's no guarantees as far as when I make them. If I do actually get them done, I always post them on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so check then.
Q: Why are Frank's eyes always closed?
A: When I started this comic, I had no plans whatsoever about anything. The first time I drew Frank was in the first panel of the first comic which was on notebook paper sometime in 2003. I intended Frank to be a stupid wacky character to Al's straight-man type attitude. So to match his initial stupidity, I drew him after a cartoon monkey I saw in an episode of Dragonball. The monkey smiled alot and always had his eyes closed in that happy upside down U shape like in most animes. I thought that'd be a good look for a happy and stupid character, so I drew Franks eyes that way. I scrapped the whole "Frank being stupid" idea pretty early on, but the look stayed.
Q: Is Al just like you are in real life?
A: Short answer is no, long answer is... kinda. Starting out I wanted to be the star of my own comic like a lot of the comics you see online. But my characters were never very developed and just sort of evloved on their own over time. Al started out being somewhat like me, but now he's just an exagerated part of my personality. Al usually does what I'd think of doing in my head but never actually do in real life. Its very odd to look back and see how much your characters change over time. I never knowingly turned them into the characters they are now, the just sort of became them. But Al isn't really anything like me now.
Got a question about Tree Sprocket? Feel free to email me the question, I'll email you back with a hopefully satisfactory response.
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