1. Tell us about you and your education? Your family? The month you were born? Where are you from basically?

I'm a student of medicine at Liaquat College of Medicine and Dentistry hoping to finish my fourth year pretty soon. I was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota in June of 1991. My father was completing his post graduation there, we moved back to Pakistan and he started his job in Agriculture University Faisalabad. He's the director of Agriculture Extension now. I have 3 siblings, two younger brothers and a baby sister. I see Piddi as a grown up Tania, my sister.

 

2. Tell us about your partners? People who helped you making mango people? Are you planning to make a magazine/comic book?

A lot of people have played part in making Mango People what it is today. Atta Haseeb, my roommate has always been there to handle communications and business. The character Disco Maulvi is based on him Ali Sufian Wasif of Sarcasmistan joined our team shortly after Mango People was created. We've worked on numerous comics, animations and other projects together. Ali and Awais Ahmad Khan(Sarcasmistan) helped Mango People get the social media attention it deserved. Mango People wouldn't have made it this far if it wasn't for Awais. Adnan Afzal Bhatti of The Kool A's joined our team shortly after that and he has been a great asset ever since. He manages everything about Mango People. Had it not been for him Mango People would've died a long time ago. Javeria Amjad, a friend with similar sense of humor helped me base Piddi on our crude and inappropriate sense of humor. The earlier version of Piddi, loosely inspired by Sarah Andersen's work, was more of a jerk than the sweet little thing you see today. It was actually Sheherbano Zafar who made me define Piddi, since both of us grew up with desi parents, we turned our experiences into comics and the response we received was outstanding. It felt great seeing a lot of people being able to relate these comics to themselves. We met Shahzaib Hussain when he won a competition which was to be judged by Mango People and since then he has refined the artwork of Mango People and helped making comics when I'm busy. All of these people have given me enough hope that we can take Mango People to a next level and yes we will definitely release comic books as soon as I'm done with my exams. My main goal is to take Mango People to Tv screens nationwide.

 

 

3. How and when did you get this idea to make Mango People? its amazing and I really like your work.

You get all the crazy ideas when you're supposed to be studying, it was almost a few days until my finals of second year Mbbs and instead of preparing for the exams I was sitting there with Atta discussing my plans of making an action/thriller/suspense comic series but my folks talked me out of it. I chose to take the path of humor instead and the first comic I made was on Hamsafar fan girls, something that annoyed me greatly at that time. Soon after that I introduced two main characters based on me and Atta. Disco Maulvi was an instant favorite among people.

 

 

4. Can you describe your drawing routine? How often do you draw, and how many hours per day?

It takes about 30-90 minutes to finish a comic. I used to draw comics almost every day in the early days, sometimes posting multiple comics in one day. Since it's hard for me to draw comics and focus on studies at the same time, now I draw whenever I'm free. Thanks to Shahzaib for helping me out with comics, I get enough time to focus on other things now.

 

 

5. How much revision/editing do you do in your work?

I try redoing and revising the concept, artwork and dialogues until I get the result I'm satisfied with.

 

6. Tell us about your process, what medium do you use and how do you write a script and turn it into a comic? Also, what tools do you use?

I used to draw on paper, scan the paper and color it with pixia but then I got used to drawing comfortably with a mouse and since then I've been making all the comics entirely on my laptop. The comics are usually based on real life events of me or my friends. I take these events, add a punchline and shorten them down to fit into at least 3 or 4 panels. I draw the comic in Toon boom Studio 4.5, add dialogues with Ms Paint and make some last minute adjustments with Pixia.

 

 

7. Do you read comics? If yes, does making comics has anything to do with you being a comic reader?

I do, I'm one of those people who would read a newspaper just for the sake of comic strips. When the first Spider Man movie came out I had this huge urge to read the comics and since comic culture never developed in Pakistan I had a hard time finding a copy of comic book. Until one day me and my younger brother actually drew a small Spider man comic book of our own. We used some old superman comics for inspiration.

 

 

8. Do you make comics for a living? if not, how do you make a living?

haha no, I'm a student and for now my dad pays for everything. I would most probably be making a living by practicing medicine.

 

9. What other art-forms seem attractive to you?

I love art in every form but music will always be my favorite.

 

 

10. What artwork (or artists) do you feel kinship with?

Marilyn Manson

 

11. Is drawing a pleasure to you or a pain?

pleasure when I want to draw and pain when I'm supposed to.

 

 

12. When you meet someone new, do you talk about being an artist right away? Do you identify yourself as an artist or something else?

No, I kinda hate it. Bragging about being an artist is not my thing.

 

 

13. Do you ever feel the impulse to give up and not draw comics?

All the time, I'm a lazy person like that. Thanks to Atta and Adnan for pushing me and making me not to give up.

 

14. What does your drawing space look like?

Share photo of your room please. A: haha trust me you dont wanna see how I live. My room looks like a junkyard right now.

 

 

15. How can you fans contact you?

Through my profile: http://www.facebook.com/aeolusxt

 

 

16. What do you think about our website?

It looks promising to me; I wish you guys good luck.