Who draws? Who writes?

John does all the drawing, but Lisa often has opinions on the art which John is not always crazy about, but appreciates in the end. Sometimes, we concept the comics together, sometimes one of us will be visited by the muse and come up with the idea on their own. Often, one of us will write the first draft and the other will tighten it up.

How did this whole thing start?

We had been talking about collaborating on a comic project for years. We explored a bunch of more complicated stories but nothing really kept our attention. Then one day, John drew a quick simple two-panel comic and posted it on Facebook. It got a lot of attention. The next day, he did another one and Lisa “tweaked” the copy. The next day, we conceived and wrote it together. The rest is history.

Do you do commissions?

Yes. Periodically, John opens up for commissions. Please email us at backgroundnoisecomic@gmail.com

Do you have a comic book?

Not yet. But we’re working on it!

Can I repost your comics?

Yes! Please do! But please make sure our signature is not cut out of your post, and please tag us @background_noise_comic or hashtag us with #backgroundnoisecomics!

What program do you use to create your comics?

John drew the first comic with pencil, paper, and marker pen. The basic “John and Lisa on couch” can still be seen in most of the comics. Now it’s mostly drawn digitally, on a Yiynova MVP20U+FE(V2) Full HD Tablet Monitor. We recently added an iPad Pro with Apple Pencil and Procreate for drawing while travelling. The comic is laid out, drawn, colored, lettered, and exported for web & print from Adobe Photoshop. We used to write the comic in a Google Doc but we know use Scrivner

How do you come up with so many comics ?

It’s not easy. But the fact that there are two of us to generate ideas really helps.

Has writing a comic together been good for your relationship?

Yes! We both have struggled with feelings of being unsuccessful as artists and wanted to be creating more. With kids, work and other obligations, it has been hard to carve out space to do art that is important to us. The comic has elbowed its way into our lives in a good way and allowed us to be public in our art and honestly even helped us talk about some issues that we had had a harder time communicating about — so double win.

How long have you been married?

We are actually not married. But while John likes to say we’ve only been a couple for 2 years, we have actually been happily unmarried for almost 17 years. Yikes.

Do you have a book?

Not yet, but we are working on it.

Are you available for speaking engagements and workshops?

Yes. We love to talk and teach. To talk about our availability, please reach out to us at backgroundnoisecomics@gmail.com