ABOUT
Hello! This is the About section. Pretty much all of it is unimportant and, might I say, irrelevant? Hah hah hah! Yes, I know, that was terrible. So, anyway, you don't have to read this section. But if you, for some bizarre reason, care, then feel free to read on.I am the Creator, Author, and Illustrator of Irrelevant. On the Introwebz I go by many names. BurntSquirrelMan, SingedRodentGuy, and Remrafe to name a few. I am 18 (when I'm starting this) and I can confidently say that I am a nerd. I play Dungeons and Dragons, love Fantasy and SciFi novels, play videogames, and enjoy many anime. I own several swords, and go out in public wearing goggles like the evil mastermind that I am.
But enough about me. You're here about the comic. And so...
A NOT SO BRIEF HISTORY OF IRRELEVANT
I guess I should start at the very beginning. It began with an online game. A shooter. The game was called, Thing Thing. It was a cool little flash game, with an interesting plot and generally good game mechanics. But that wasn't what got to me. What got to me was the art. I loved the chibi-like cuteness of the characters.
In 2008 I was doodling on lined paper in school. I tried to recreate some of the character designs in Thing Thing. I eventually drew what would later become Greg.
He needed a friend, and so I started doodling different characters. After a while, I decided to make up my own hairstyle, one based off of japanamations. This would later become Alex.
Greg was a moody, emo son of a -FEMALE DOG-. He was generally the smarter of the two, and just rolled with the punches, grudgingly. Alex was a hyper-active, annoying -FATHERLESS SON-. They were polar opposites. Red and Blue Oni. Yet they went together so well, like peanut-butter and jelly. I developed some other characters for them to interact with, including a dragon, a hacker sister, the Nether Beasts, and Team Awesome. These are all things that will end up in today's version of Irrelevant...except Team Awesome. Team Awesome didn't even make it into the original comics. That's how much they aren't going to be appearing in this version.
I drew comics in school, on lined paper, in pencil. They sucked. BIG TIME.
And then an event happened that caused two major changes in Irrelevant.
I drew them in Japanamation.
At first I thought nothing of it, but then I drew a strip in it. Greg was pissed and went to see the writer about being drawn in japanamation, but by talking to me, the Author, Greg made me a part of the comic, and there was nothing I could do to change the art style and no way for me to escape. The story was writing itself.
HOW I DO IT
People often ask, "Squirrely Man! How you learn draw so good?" and I say, "What the -INTERCOURSE- are you babbling about?" I then realize that this person is insane and I continue on my way. I then meet another person who says, "What ho! Gentleman of the Squirrels of Fire, may you take the time to answer a query of mine?" and I continue walking because he's creepy. Finally I come across someone who's normal and says, "Hey Burnt, where'd you learn to draw so well?" and I reply, "I didn't learn anywhere. I just draw."
So that's where I got my talent from, on to how I make the comic. I first start by taking a regular piece of 8.5x11 printer paper. I take a pencil, and draw on it. I don't do much in the ways of planning. I sorta just wing it. I then take a fine tipped pen and trace it all, and erase all the pencil markings. I take my pencil again shade it in. That's right. I do all this by hand. This is mainly because I don't know how to do it any other way, but there's also the reason I do it because I like how it doesn't look all fancy, shmancy, lookit me!
I scan it onto my computer, scale it down by alot, add text, and do some little touch-ups.
FAQ
You: Why is there a Frequently Asked Questions section?
SR: Because, clearly I didn't do a good job explaining everything up above.
You: Who are you?
SR: I am the Singed Rodent...okay, I'm Daniel Johnson. I am the Writer, Artist, and Publisher of Irrelevant, the comic you are reading now.
You: What do you do?
SR: Uhhh...I write for, draw for, and publish Irrelevant, the comic you are reading now.
You: No, I mean besides that.
SR: Oh! Yeah, I play video games, watch anime, play D&D, and read comics.
You: Do you have a job?
SR: What, are you kidding me? -HECK- to the no.
You: So you're a slacker?
SR: -HECK- to the yes.
You: What made you want to make a comic?
SR: There are two main reasons I wanted to make this comic. The Trifecta of Reason, and the Inspirational Duo.
You: Uh...what?
SR: What?
You: What's the Trifecta of Reason and the Inspirational Duo?
SR: One at a time please.
You: Fine. What's the Trifecta of Reason?
SR: They are the reasons that helped design this comic around. They are to...
1. To improve my artwork. Yes, I know it sucks, or at least personally think it sucks. After reading many comics on the web I saw that all of them improve over time, artwork-wise.
B- To help with my procrastination. I'm a procrastinator. So, what better way to fix that than with practice. With a schedule to keep up with, I improve my skills in procratinating.
Last: To get all the little ideas that are floating around in my head out and put to use. I'm a genius. Sorry to sound arrogant, but I am. 148 IQ. With this comes with a lot of -POOP-. People don't follow what you're talking about, even though to you it seems so simple and obvious, people expect a lot from you, and, the problem I'm fixing, an overactive imagination. My brain is crowded with -CRAP-.
You: Okay, so what's the Inspirational Duo?
SR: They are the two webcomics that finally pushed me to make my own. Emergency Exit and Parallel Dementia.
You: How can I contact you?.
SR: Sigh...FINE. If you really wanna contact me, then there are a few ways to go about that.
1. My Tumbler
2. My Twitter
3. My Facebook