Johnny Sanderson, the nature hating nature show host is here to stay. Johnny is a great example of spontaneous and flexible character creation, and I’m quite fond of him.
The Creation of Johnny Sanderson
Originally, my idea was to put a really extreme nature show host in the strip based on Jeff Corwin (who I’m a fan of). On paper, this was a good idea, but I found that once I started writing and drawing, I quickly became bored of the character. I decided I had to make changes. While sketching out the character, I found I couldn’t draw a pair of legs I was happy with… which lead to the first defining characteristic – the wheel. At this point the switch flipped (because I felt that a guy that had to get around on a wheel probably wouldn’t be a tremendous nature fan), and I decided to flip the personality around, so the nature-lover had to go. The safari hat was actually part of the original design, and absurd enough to keep. From this point, Johnny took on a life of his own both in my imagination, and in the strip, and now he’s one of my favorite characters.
What I learned from this experience: If I’ve got a character I’m just not sure about or one I don’t think is interesting enough, I can’t be afraid to go back to the drawing board, because even a week idea has the potential to work out great with a few tweaks.
I’ve said it before (well, I’m sure somebody did) and I’ll say it again – Johnny, and his perpetually flat tyre, rocks! I often wonder how he lost his legs, and was nature to blame for it. Have you developed his backstory that far, Jim?
All I can say at this point is that it was nature-related, but Johnny’s story will have to wait a while. I haven’t decided the best way to cover back-stories yet.