Irttrtrrrghmmmcghmcghcghmcghmcghmghmghmmhmhmgghmgmhghmghmgmhghmghmnterview with Sabrina Online's creator, Eric Schwartz
Voodoo virgin
featuring the complete collection of Sabrina Online, presented as a daily
comic strip.
Eric Schwartz is a well-known cartoonist from his creations in illustration
and animation of Amy the squirrel, Sabrina, the Aerotoons animations, and
many others. His animations (many in Moviesetter format) are used to this
day to demonstrate the power of the classic Amiga OS and hardware.
We thought it would be interesting to interview Eric and see what he had to
say; below is a transcript of an email interview conducted from September
25, and Oct 29th, 2001.
Jumpgate :
When did you get into cartooning, and what got you interested in drawing
anthropomorphic characters?
Eric W. Schwartz :
I've been drawing for as long as I can remember, and my greatest influences
have been cartoons, such as animated films and comic strips. My early
attempts at drawing were usually copying or emulating comic characters, such
as Garfield the cat, and later animated cartoon characters from Disney or
Warner Brothers. Animal characters are common in cartoons, and I just
carried on with the traditions when I started creating my own characters. I
didn't think of them as anthropomorpic or 'furry' characters at the time. To
me they were "cartoon animals". It wasn't until I was contacted by a few
fans that I became aware of the fandoms for anthropomorphic animal
characters and the like.
Jumpgate :
What got you interested in the Amiga, and how has it helped your work?
Eric W. Schwartz :
I had an interest in the Amiga ever since it first appeared, knowing that it
was a very powerful computer for graphics, especially in the late eighties.
I got an Amiga 500 around the end of 1988, and I've been hooked ever since,
especially with its capacity for creating quick animations. I've had the
opportunity to use a variety of computers and software, and I generally
prefer the Amiga as an environment. I doubt I would be in quite the same
place I am now, if I didn't have the Amiga, and made use of its graphics and
animation abilities.
Jumpgate :
Speaking of Amigas, where did you get the idea for Amy the Squirrel, and how
does it feel to have created a symbol that just about every Amiga user
identifies with the platform?
Eric W. Schwartz :
Not too surprisingly, I never had the idea of a symbol or mascot in mind
when I first drew the character. When I was much younger, I often drew
well-known cartoon characters, such as Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, and several
others, in part from my enjoyment of the characters and also to hone my
skills as a cartoonist. After some time I came to a simple revelation - that
I would be unlikely to make a name for myself without creating characters of
my own.
Amy the Squirrel was one of the first results of my attempts to create my
own character following the inspiration of the classic studio cartoons. The
name came from the Amiga, which didn't hurt Amy's unofficial mascot status.
As my style changed over time, the look and nature of Amy's character has
changed somewhat, but she always stands out as my first reasonably
well-known character, since her first appearance in 1989.
Jumpgate :
So where did the idea for Sabrina come from?
Eric W. Schwartz :
Basically just a desire to create different characters. Amy was my first
popular character, and my only one in the eyes of some. When many of my old
animations were reviewed in Amiga magazines, reviewers commonly mistook
other female characters for Amy, such as Clarisse Cat from the Flip the Frog
cartoons, or even the Femme lemming that appeared at the end of the
Anti-Lemming demo. Many female animal characters I had at the time were
similar to Amy visually, So I tried to put more effort into having
characters that were more distictive from each other visually.
When I first started sketching the skunk character that would later become
Sabrina, my intent was to create a total departure from the Amy-type. Where
Amy was confident and built like a supermodel, Sabrina was thicker thru the
hips, wore glasses and was shy and insecure. When I had the opportunity to
try my hand at a comic strip for my college, I chose Sabrina as a lead
character, as I though she represented a student-type better than Amy did.
With some artwork and reprints of the college comic strip, Sabrina gained
popularity quickly, surpassing Amy's popularity in many ways. It greatly
influenced me when I reworked the comic strip to become "Sabrina Online" on
the internet in 1996. My original idea was for the strip was to center
around Amy.
Jumpgate :
So Sabrina got her start when you were in college; what college did you
attend and what did you study?
Eric W. Schwartz :
I went to the Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio. My major
was illustration.
Jumpgate :
So what do you do for a living now - do you work for some company, are you a
freelance illustrator/cartoonist, or do you work for some part of a covert
government agency?
Eric W. Schwartz :
Basically, I do freelance work in illustration, cartooning, and animation. I
don't get a lot of work, but I have done illustration for comic books,
graphics for video games and websites, and animation for video games and
local television commercials. I mix that with sales of my own artwork and
related material, and trying to find new venues for my comic strip.
Jumpgate :
How much of Sabrina Online is drawn from your own life, past or present?
Eric W. Schwartz :
When I did "Sabrina at See-CAD", the college comic strip, I drew heavily
from my own experieces as a college student. That happens much less now with
Sabrina Online, though aspects of Sabrina's and other characters'
personalities and interests come from myself, or from people I know. Most of
the rest is made up.
Jumpgate :
Of all your characters, which is your favorite, and which is most like
yourself?
Eric W. Schwartz :
I wouldn't say I have a favorite, as each of my characters are different,
though I've done the most work with Sabrina recently, with the comic strip
and related work. Sabrina is probably the most like me as well, since we
both have personality traits and interests in common.
Jumpgate :
You've released three Sabrina comic books (Sabrina Year One, Year Two and
Year Three). When is the next installment going to be available? How are
sales going?
Eric W. Schwartz :
Actually, there have been four so far - Sabrina at See-CAD (which was a
home-made collection book of the college comic strips), and Sabrina Online
Year One, Two, and Three (all published with the aid of United Publications
in Great Britain). I am unsure exactly how well they have done financially,
but Sales have been brisk and interest appears to be high. A 'Year Four'
collection is scheduled to appear in January or February 2002. It will be
larger and contain more comics and other material than the previous three
books.
Jumpgate :
So where do you see Sabrina Online heading? Any teasers to what you have
planned for her?
Eric W. Schwartz :
If I'm lucky, I would like to bring Sabrina Online to a greater audience,
possibly branching into animation or other media.
If you mean story-wise, there's not a lot I can tell you, in part because I
don't like to divulge stories ahead of time, and also because often I don't
know exactly what will happen next in the strip until I actually begin
working on the next installment.
Jumpgate :
Thanks for taking the time to talk with us.
Eric W. Schwartz :
Thanks.
Sabrina Online comic books, t-shirts and other materials are available
through mail order directly from the ES Productions website (there are
online catalogs available). The comic books are also available from the
United Publications website - just do a search for Sabrina Online.