From making it huge on the internet to creating amazing webcomic series that has gone viral since its release!
We had the golden opportunity to have a Q&A session with Internet personality turned webcomic artist, Ernest Ng or known on Instagram as @ernestngbro!
The webcomic, titiled Covidball Z has been seen everywhere on the internet after it went viral! This isn’t his first rodeo creating webcomics, after the ‘Bro’ series which includes, ‘My Bad Bromance’, ‘Here Comes the Bros’, and ‘Bro, Don’t Like That La Bro Origins: Back to School’.
1. Hello Ernest! To start this Featured Interview, could you tell our readers a little about yourself?
I am a comic artist and I have been drawing comics as a full time career since 2013. Started drawing since I was 5 years old and haven’t really stopped since.
2. You have been a content creator for a while now, what made you want to peruse a life on the internet?
It was more of like a self-expression thing. I’ve always enjoyed putting up content for people’s enjoyment so I just thought that sharing my comic work online would be a great way to let people read my comics. I just enjoy telling stories and sharing my thoughts and never expected it to be such a huge part of my life right now.
3. How did content creating become a part of your life? What was the push that made you want to switch on your camera and start recording?
It started back in 2010 when I decided to upload comics on my blog to tell stories about me and my housemates. Then halfway through I met my friend, Dan Khoo, and we began making videos together on Youtube. There wasn’t any push actually I guess I was just interested in creating content hence I just went with it. So I am kinda juggling between comics and videos since then.
4. Your webcomic series “Bro, Don’t Like That La, Bro” has been a success! Making headlines online! Were you always interested in comic art? What are some of the inspiration behind your comic series?
I’ve always been a huge fan of comics since I was a kid. My first exposure to comics was the Old Master Q comics that my late grandma used to collect. She was also a huge fan of comics and she was the one who introduced me to comics. I actually take a lot of inspirations everywhere but my current series, Covidball Z is heavily inspired by popular Japanese manges such as Dargonball, Naruto, Bleach and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
5. You are a content creator with mad views online, and a webcomic artist, how do you juggle everything?
A lot of planning and also with the help of awesome teammates.
6. “Covidball Z” is now on sale! Could you tell our readers the inspiration behind it?
I was just bored at home during lockdown and I remember having this conversation with a friend saying “what if this virus is actually a method the alien invaders are using to soften us up before actually invading our planet?” Then I just had the idea of making the virus as a character invading our country and how we battled against it. Didn’t really expect that so many people would enjoy this series.
Click here to purchase a copy!
7. What is the creative process like when coming up with an idea to start a new webcomic series?
It really depends on what you see, observe and what you really want to talk about. It takes some trial and error while developing a comic series. Usually you have to select the theme and the universe your characters live in. Then designing the world and the character design. It’s a huge undertaking and takes a lot of effort and determination to commit to a series.
In case you are actually referring to new chapters of my current series:
Usually I will compile all the top issues of the week into a list then I would actually plan out a storyline to tie all the issues together into one coherent story. Then I will lay them out in panels before sketching, inking and coloring. This whole process can take up to 1 or 2 weeks.
8. What are some of the challenges that you face when crafting a webcomic?
Sometimes I would have written a certain week’s chapter completely but suddenly new topics pop up and I will have to rewrite the whole chapter again to fit that new topics within the chapter. It can get quite stressful at times when this happens.
9. What is next for your webcomics series? Are there any in the works that fans could be excited about?
Hopefully volume 2 of the book. And hopefully more animated motion comics as well.
10. For Malaysians who are currently into comic art and is thinking of a career in it, are there any advice that you would like to share to fresh comic artists out there?
Just start drawing! It doesn’t matter if it’s not well received in the beginning. Just constantly create content and improve your craft along the way. The more you draw, the more you practice and the better your comic become! Just remember it is a long journey and don’t give up!
My new book Covidball Z volume 1 is now available on Shopee and it contains exclusive content and never seen before chapters that I didn’t upload online!
