We are back with Will Santino’s absurdly funny comics. Will is a cartoonist and illustrator who is known mostly for mythical and historical humor. His distinctive artwork is usually all in black and white with some occasional splashes of color. Will’s genius lies in his ability to convey hilarious messages using minimal words, allowing the visuals to speak volumes.
In the previous article, Will shared insight into how he keeps his ideas coming. “In order to have output, I need input. I read a lot of fiction and I love learning about new things, so I end up on Wikipedia a lot. I love mythology, and history, and fables, and art, and language. I love to learn, so my silly ideas are often the byproduct of my curiosity. More specifically, I drink coffee and doodle in a sketchbook. Coming up with ideas is about having inside jokes with yourself, and then seeing if you can communicate it to another person. It’s about having fun, too. Coming up with a good idea is fun.”
For more of Will’s comics, see our previous We posts here and here.
More info: Instagram | patreon.com | Facebook | willsantino.com | society6.com
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In Will’s comics, you will find a lot of references to well-known optical illusions, pop culture references, fairytale humor, and so much more. Will is very diverse regarding his topics which always find their audience, whether it is a niche like the dinosaur one or a wider one.
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In a previous We interview, Will shared his biggest influences. “Growing up, I was very influenced by books like Martin Handford’s Where’s Waldo, and comics like Calvin and Hobbes and Little Nemo in Slumberland. Also, the covers of the fantasy novels I read, like Brian Jacques’ Redwall series. I love the illustrations of James Gurney and Shaun Tan, and historical artists like M. C. Escher and Hieronymous Bosch have been influential as well. Most of these influences can be seen in my illustrations rather than my cartoons, though.”
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It is wonderful when you get that flow feeling, and work simply comes easily to you, but some days are just more difficult. In a previous interview, Will shared how he deals with those lows he gets.
“I’m a firm believer in working even when you don’t feel inspired, which I do pretty often. But when I do feel inspired? Man, that’s a great feeling. It’s kind of related to the flow state—I feel focused and uplifted and ideas connect and combine in a grand kaleidoscope of absurdity and novelty until all the world’s wonder and plunder and blunder dissolves into a grand unified theory of imagination. Or something. Also, I like watercoloring.”
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If you enjoy Will’s comics, don’t forget to follow his works on social media platforms. And if you are hungry for more comics, we have selected a few artists featured on We that are of a similar vibe. Jenna Noble’s comics areabsolutely ridiculous how absurd they are, Jimmy Craig has a great collection ofone-panel minimal comics, and Carlo Ferdon usesnot a single word in his comics.
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