I love Twitter, and I like to participate in the Follow Friday meme.  I thought it would be a great idea to incorporate the Follow Friday meme into my Mamma Kerr blog.  Therefore, every Friday I will feature a website that I recommend you check out.

Today, I’d like to introduce you to a fantastic website, set up by my good friend, James Spence – The Cat Comic.

Tell us about your site.

The Cat Comic (http://www.thecatcomic.com) delivers quirky cat cartoons every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  It celebrates the idea that cats have unique personalities and each update introduces readers to a new kitty with their own outlook on life.  The comic is quite silly but then so are a lot of cats!   Especially if there’s tuna at stake!

What inspired you to create The Cat Comic?

I had previously drawn an online comic called Dr Sheep and the Aardvark.  This was a black and white comic strip which told the story of an amnesiac aardvark and the doctor who looked after him.  With it being a strip rather than a single panel, I found myself drawing the same characters, often in the same positions, over and over again.  So, for my next project, I wanted something where each panel was very different to the previous one, I wanted to make it colourful and I didn’t want the readers to have any idea about what would be coming up next (other than that it would feature a cat).

The style of humour is different to my old comic and it’s all thanks to Twitter!  I started using Twitter (after some encouragement from a certain Annette Kerr) and wrote silly, comical ‘tweets’.  I loved the challenge of writing something amusing within their 140 character restriction.  With only one panel to get the joke across, The Cat Comic is written in that same economical style.

How long have you been a cartoonist?

Dr Sheep and the Aardvark began in 1999, in a very sketchy, raw, unpolished format.  In other words, I didn’t have a clue what I was doing!  It originally ran until 2002, by which time I had learned the basics of how to fake it.  Around that time, however, I began writing my book (Silly Beggar) and the comic was left to gather dust.  I didn’t return to comics until 2007 when I relaunched Dr Sheep and the Aardvark in a slightly more polished style.  It is now only the strips from 2007 which appear online – I shudder whenever I look back at the early scribbles.

How long does it take you to create your cartoons?

I draw the cats in pencil (quite roughly), then ink over them as tidily as I can using nice thick lines, then I scan them into the computer and finally work some Photoshop magic to colour and shade them.  The amount of time it takes depends on how much Photoshop is required.  For a very basic unpatterned cat with a blank background, it takes around 2 hours and for a complex image it can take as much as 4 or 5.  It often depends on how many mistakes I have to correct!

Where do you get the ideas for your cats?

Sometimes I take an old phrase or saying and add a twist of absurdity.  Other times I will draw a cat in a silly pose and then treat it like a caption contest, coming up with ideas until I get one I like.  Sometimes though, an idea will literally pop into my head and it is impossible to say where it came from.  Once I have an idea drawn up, the very last thing I do is name the cat.  I try to find a name that feels right for that particular cat, and once named it gives me closure so I can move on to the next fuzzy feline!

Tell us about Angel.

Angel is my real life cat.  She’s a seven-year old tortoiseshell with quite a large belly.  When the house starts rattling you know she is coming.  Angel features from time to time in the comic and I try to give her lines that seem appropriate for her unique personality.  She has very unusual markings on her face, as if her face is split symmetrically into a light side and a dark side, like the Phantom of the Opera!  Yes, I guess she could be described as the Phantom of the O-purr-a!

How do you promote your site?

I advertise through an ad site called Project Wonderful.  It tends to be mostly webcomic creators that use it, so when I advertise, it targets comic readers specifically.  I also promote it via Twitter and I’m hoping to start going to some cat shows in the near future to spread the word amongst the cat community.

Have you any plans to develop the site further?

I am planning on opening an online store soon, where I’ll sell prints, book collections of the comics and other goodies, but so far I’ve not had time to get it up and running.

What blogs do you like reading?

There is no blog finer than the Mammakerr blog!  However, when I am forced to read other blogs I tend to visit other online comics.  Sheldon and Dr McNinja are amongst my favourites.

You can follow James on Twitter at www.twitter.com/sillybeggar