In
the years that have passed since the start of the Megatokyo webcomic,
the creative team behind the stories has shifted, but Fred Gallagher is
still leading the show, toiling 8-14 hours to create each of the three
or so pages he creates each week. The former architect now can live off
the webcomic and its book reprints. Despite Megatokyo's success and the
growing number of fans who enjoy the extended adventures of Piro and
Largo, Gallagher has not eased the pressure he places on himself to
succeed. "I tend to be a perfectionist," Gallagher said. "If i don't
feel the story, if I felt the fan pressure, I would throw up things
whether I felt they were good or not. I basically go on my gut
instincts on things, and when people way something sucks, I say `I
know, I'm trying to fix it.'" Gallagher noted that he needs to get
inside the heads of his characters for each episode, and the final
version of each part of the series often doesn't come together until he
starts drawing the panels, despite trying to plan and write things in
advance.
Part
of Gallagher's charm - and a hint of the empathy that fills his
webcomic - is that he's so much like the people who read his work. He's
exceptionally modest about his work, saying "I have people ask me to
teach them how to draw and I tell them they don't want to. They'll
learn so many bad things from me." Gallagher admits he can be as much a
fanboy as anyone, and he had one of those fanboy moments at the
convention. It just happened that artist Jhonen Vasquez, the creator of
Invader Zim, was in the Chicago area at the same time that Anime
Central was held, and Vasquez quietly slipped into the convention for a
party. Gallagher also was at the party and got to meet Vasquez, who is
one of Fred's favorite artists. "I've even spoofed his work,",
Gallagher said. That was one of several times at anime conventions
where Gallagher has been able to meet artists he admires. Another of
those artists was Yoshitoshi Abe, creator of the Haibane Renmei series
among others. After meeting Abe at a convention, "The next day I was
working on my laptop, and he pulled out his computer and said `I've got
a laptop too.' It was the ultimate fanboy moment."
In
the years that have passed since the start of the Megatokyo webcomic,
the creative team behind the stories has shifted, but Fred Gallagher is
still leading the show, toiling 8-14 hours to create each of the three
or so pages he creates each week. The former architect now can live off
the webcomic and its book reprints. Despite Megatokyo's success and the
growing number of fans who enjoy the extended adventures of Piro and
Largo, Gallagher has not eased the pressure he places on himself to
succeed. "I tend to be a perfectionist," Gallagher said. "If i don't
feel the story, if I felt the fan pressure, I would throw up things
whether I felt they were good or not. I basically go on my gut
instincts on things, and when people way something sucks, I say `I
know, I'm trying to fix it.'" Gallagher noted that he needs to get
inside the heads of his characters for each episode, and the final
version of each part of the series often doesn't come together until he
starts drawing the panels, despite trying to plan and write things in
advance.
Part
of Gallagher's charm - and a hint of the empathy that fills his
webcomic - is that he's so much like the people who read his work. He's
exceptionally modest about his work, saying "I have people ask me to
teach them how to draw and I tell them they don't want to. They'll
learn so many bad things from me." Gallagher admits he can be as much a
fanboy as anyone, and he had one of those fanboy moments at the
convention. It just happened that artist Jhonen Vasquez, the creator of
Invader Zim, was in the Chicago area at the same time that Anime
Central was held, and Vasquez quietly slipped into the convention for a
party. Gallagher also was at the party and got to meet Vasquez, who is
one of Fred's favorite artists. "I've even spoofed his work,",
Gallagher said. That was one of several times at anime conventions
where Gallagher has been able to meet artists he admires. Another of
those artists was Yoshitoshi Abe, creator of the Haibane Renmei series
among others. After meeting Abe at a convention, "The next day I was
working on my laptop, and he pulled out his computer and said `I've got
a laptop too.' It was the ultimate fanboy moment."
