Our sixth interview comes from Joshua Jericho over at BlueStar Blues.

1)What is the basis of your webcomic and what inspired it?

BlueStar Blues is the story of a simple, everyday ‘loser’ named Cody who is
chosen and forced to become a space pirate. Now he’s stuck out in space in
the type of situation he would typically watch on TV.

2)Who is your favorite artist or arists?

I’m a big fan of Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon) as
well as Stephen Silver (does character designs for a lot of cartoons
including Clerks, Kim Possible, and Danny Phantom). I grew up admiring Bill
Watterson, but who didn’t?

3)Why do you do what you do?

That’s a great question with a long answer. Basically I got into webcomics
because I found a few when I started in college and thought “That would be
fun! I could do that!” That’s how my first comic started, which went on
for years. Essentially I kept doing it because it was fun, and since it was
based on my friends and I there was that whole ‘me and my gang’ feel to it
which made it even more fun.

Still, at the time it was just a hobby and a pastime. What got me turned to
BlueStar Blues was starting to see more of the professionalism that I could
and probably should be incorporating to what was just a fun hobby. That
said, there’s no dreams of being rich, or self-employed or any of that. If
things go well I’d love to sell a book or two, but really I’m just keeping
my hobby while making it more accessible and professional. That way it
stays fun and keeps me grinning as I work on it, but it’s something more
people can enjoy and ideally participate in.

4)What tools do you use in your process to create your webcomic?

I JUST bought a new blue-lead pencil which is awesome and saves me so much
more time and mess. So, I use that no-photo blue lead to draw the comic. I
think ink over it (and I’ve changed ink brands and styles a lot so no point
in getting detailed on that). Then I scan it into Photoshop CS2 and use
that program and my Wacom Bamboo tablet to clean the inks, add color and
shades, and then add text and save. That’s pretty much the process. I
would like to get comfortable enough to use the Wacom to do all the original
art too, but I’ve not reached that point. Yet.

5)What are your 5 favorite webcomics(other than your own and anything
local)?

Okay, this list will change ALL THE TIME so I don’t know that I can just say
5 cause I read anywhere from three to thirty comics depending on what
stories catch my interest. Still, the comics I most commonly frequent in no
particular order: Real Life Comics (reallifecomics.com), Evil Inc
(evil-comic.com), Sinfest (sinfest.net), Girls With Slingshots
(girlswithslingshots.com), and Sheldon (sheldoncomics.com).