| A Stumblebum Interview with
Butternutsquash’s Ramon Perez and Rob Coughler |
Dana Place |
Butternutsquash is
a web comic produced by Ramon Perez and
Rob Coughler. We here at Stumblebum
Studios have become big fans of theirs
and wanted to take some time to
introduce them to you. They were nice
enough to take the time out of their
hectic schedule let us interview them.
Where did the idea for Butternutsquash
and its name come from?
ROB: Butternutsquash is a gourd
near and dear to our hearts. It was that
gourd... If it hadn't been for... My
Gram-pa's condition... Oh it's just too
hard to talk about it right now.
RAMON: The name aside - as Rob so
eloquently skirted the subject - BNS
began when I was approached, in the
summer of 1999, by an agent looking to
put together a comic’s page as an insert
into Canada’s national independent
papers (i.e.; NOW,EYE.) She was seeking
out people who could supply original
content and someone recommended me.
Back in high school I used to do up some
fun comic strips ridiculing my friends
and of course I - because I have no
shame and well do not respect my friends
:) I figured this would be a nice avenue
to revisit - in turn having made many
new friends since starting my life in
Toronto I now had so much more new
material. Rob, at the time, was helping
me out some on another comic I was
writing for an RPG publisher so it was
quite natural to ask him if he wanted to
come in on the pitch. We put together a
few ideas and I drew one of them out.
After a few months the Comic insert
project was shelved due to lack of
support - and so BNS was shelved as
well.
I later put up some of the BNS images on
my art {calaverastudio.com} website and
before I knew it many of my RPG fans
were clamoring to see more. So after
about a year I decided to go ahead and
do it as a web comic - having never
heard of web comics before I thought
this would be pure genius (obviously I
was waaaaay behind on the times as there
was already a web comic’s nation) and
the rest, I'm guessing, you can figure
out...
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Do either of you have any formal art
training, or any schooling that has
helped you with the comic and the site?
RAMON: I attended Sheridan
College and majored in the Illustration
program - However most of what you see
that goes into BNS was self taught.
ROB: I practiced the fine
culinary art of crayon eating from a
tender age.
Do either of you have jobs other than
working on the comic, and if so, are
those jobs source material for the
comic?
RAMON: I wish I could be making a
living off of doing BNS - but that’s not
the case - but perhaps one day. By day
(or night depending on my schedule) I
make my living as a freelance
illustrator - the greater body of my
work lies in Role-playing game books and
magazines, and I'm slowly making a
transition into comics. I’m currently
working on SPELLGAME - a new comic from
a local Canadian publisher. Issue 1 of
which should be on the shelves as you
read this.
Suffice to say my job isn’t really that
exciting as I work alone in my own
studio - but my life is an open book
when it comes to BNS and we rape it
clean.
ROB: I won't bother mentioning my
jobs right now cause I could have a
different one tomorrow. I am constantly
taking on little things here or there.
In the past some of my main jobs
included a coffee shop, a sex shop and a
bookstore. As for influencing our strip,
the strip really is our lives.
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What comic books do you read if any?
And if you do, who would you say your
favorite writers and artists are your
influences?
RAMON: I read comics quite
regularly. My favourites include HELLBOY,
SOLO, WALKING DEAD, PVP, GROUNDED to
name a few - plus I am always combing
back issue bins for classic stuff. I
have many favourite artists - so I won’t
go into that list - but I will say they
all influence me in many ways. Whether
it is composition or how some guy draws
an elbow. As for writers I have a few -
I don’t think I'm really influenced by
their methods. Though I should probably
pay attention and learn something...
How do your friends feel about being
in the comics, and have you ever had any
of them take issue with their part in
it?
ROB: Quite the opposite, we get
friends complaining that they have yet
to be in our comics.
RAMON: uhm, what he said.
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How does the collaboration on each
strip work?
ROB: We each have an idea, then
we oil up and have a Greco-Roman
wrestling match in the buff to see whose
idea we go with.
RAMON: No ... heh, heh ...
seriously we ... uhm, OH GOD IT’S TRUE!!
IT’S SO TRUE! MY LIFE IS SUCH A LIE...
Seriously, no really, though it’s a very
much back and forth thing when
developing the idea, sometimes weighing
more to one of us than the other. Then
we do things “ classic MARVEL style”
where I go off and draw the strip with a
vague idea of dialogue - but with a
strong sense of visual pacing in mind
and then we reconnect after the strip is
done visual and polish up the dialogue.
How long does it take you to put each
strip together, from start to finish?
RAMON: It can be anywhere up to a
full day’s work or more depending on how
visually complex the comic happens to be
that week.
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Due to the sexual content of your
comics, have you ever gotten any
complaints about any of your strips?
ROB: The only complaint we get
about our sexual content is in the
boudoir... wait I think we may have just
insulted ourselves.
How did you start working with
Speakeasy comics?
ROB: Drinking, long hours of
drinking.
RAMON: I will agree with that
statement 100%.
Is Vince’s love for his dog based on
any particular person or experience?
ROB: It's based on Vince loving
his dog. I mean we are serious, we have
given you guys the toned down stuff.
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Since your comic is based partially on
your lives and the lives of your
friends, have you ever had any problems
with people you have met or that you
know confusing the fact and the fiction?
ROB: We have trouble confusing
fact and fiction. So we are certainly
not about to fault it in others.
RAMON: I think the line can be
blurred sometimes and people take us as
the characters. While the strip is based
on us and our lives in a weird sort of
way the characters from BNS have taken
on their own personalities separate from
us. Plus they’re damn good lookin’...
Along with the success of the comic
strip on the site, do you have anything
coming out that we should be looking
forward to in stores, or any places (i.e...
conventions) we can catch you at in the
future?
ROB: We hit pretty much every
Toronto Convention and at least one of
us will be back in San Diego next year.
RAMON: As I mentioned above, I am
working SPELLGAME for SPEAKEASY COMICS
which is hitting the shelves this month,
followed by the BUTTERNUTSQUASH comic in
November, which while reprinting the
web-comic will actually have a lot of
new material interspersed throughout to
make it a must have. That aside, there
are always ideas percolating in the back
of my mind that beg to be put to paper.
One day they’ll all have their say -
some sooner, some later.
As for conventions I think we’re done
for the year, though if things change
we’ll always post some notice on the
website. As for next year I think we’ll
try to make it the year of the squash!
Thank you very much guys for your
time in answering these questions.
R&R: No problem...
Thanks guys,
Dana Place
Stumblebum Studios
You can check out the
Butternutsquash web comic, updated news,
and other works from Rob and Ramon at
http://www.butternutsquash.net.
The first issue of the Butternutsquash
comic book from Speakeasy Comics is now
available to order in this month’s
Diamond Previews Catalogue. The order
code is SEP05 3805. Contact your local
retailer to order a copy today! Use the
Comic Shop Locator to find
a retailer near you.
