About DMFA

So you want to know about DMFA? Hmmm... ok....I guess the way to do it is via Bad FAQ mode:

Q: Where did the idea come from?
A: Believe it or not, DMFA started off as a joke. I used to play a game called Furcadia which was more or less a large graphical chatroom where my character, Miss Mab, would spend time at a mini-room called Lost Lake and joke around. One day I made a request looking for a particular song and said if anyone found it, I'd make a shrine in their honour. That challenge was met by the player of Dan Ti'Fiona. So I got the song, made the shrine, and as a joke put in "Coming soon: the Misadventures of Daniel Ti'Fiona, the comic!"....which he then took seriously. After some bugging, I finally decided why not, and thats where DMFA first began.

Q: So why furries?
A: Another believe it or not, at the time I started DMFA (back in high school) I was relatively new to the internet. DMFA was originally called "Dan and Mab's Furcadian Adventures" but I quickly realized that A) the title was too freaking big and B) I wanted to branch into my own thing with time...so I shortened it down to something I thought was a bit cuter. Cause hey, Dan and Mab have fur...so why not say Furry. Needless to say it was a quick lesson soon after the full extent of what a furry was. Up until this time I just assumed they were strange anthros or mutants.

Q: So the characters are your friends?
A: Yes and no. It is true that the original starting cast were based on me and my friend's characters in Furcadia...but it could easily be said that the characters in the comic have more or less taken a life all their own and shouldn't really be mistaken too much for the players if one should come across them. I've been quite lucky in this instance as I now realize how dangerous it can be to have characters that belong to other people. However the fine fantabulous people who have given me their characters have never had any real issue with the things I've done...suckers.

Q: How do you make all this?
A: Well when a pencil loves a paper...er...
I draw the comic by hand with a regular mechanical pencil that is filled with blue lead(the blue lead is harder for most scanners to pick up and is very smudge resistant.) After I get to a point of satisfaction I add ink and then scan it at 300 DPI. Then using my friend of Photoshop 6, I use a whole lot of fill tools and lasso tools to add colour and shadow before resizing it and adding text. Really the colouring aspect is more complex and would take a long time to really describe. Lets just say the years of practice has paid off.

Q: How long has this comic been around? Cause the first comics suck!
A: Oh god do they ever! Lesse...I started DMFA's first concept way back in sophmore year of highschool...er...*does math* 1998...though the first comics started appearing probably around 1999 as I started senior year. However I hit a major pothole and things sort of fell into haitus for a year around comic 73. Really DMFA was quite close to just dying alltogether if it wasn't for the help of a few friends. Almost a year after it fell off, DMFA returned and has been going since. So DMFA has more or less been going for 5 years now...6 if you count the haitus.

Q: Really...the old comics hurt my eyes. Ever think of upgrading them?
A: All the time. But I probably wont. A few people seem masochistic enough to like them for some reason...if only because it shows how the comic has improved over time. That and I'm lazy. Really freaking lazy.

Q: Can I use your art for ____?
A: It depends. Feel more than free to use the art if you want to A) Print it and put it on a book or locker or any personal use B)link it in your journal or use certain images for icons or IDs or avatars C) Burn it in a big bonfire. However I would be very happy if you didn't use it in A)Things that are for profit like prints or whatnot B)editing them and then claiming them as your own.(or not even editing them.) The usual common sense artist stuff really.

Q: Is Miss Mab you?
A: Miss Mab was/is my Furcadian name and I use the avatar for myself often yes. But overall Mab is very much her own character and I'm very much my own. Many a poor poor person has come across me expecting a happy bubbly Mab but ending up with a cranky caffeine-less Amber.

Q: Can I use your characters for a cameo?
A: If you want to use a character of mine as a cameo or a spot in art feel free. Just send me a message to show me and let me know it exists.

Q: Are you one of those furries?
A: I like anthromorphic art and I have a lot of furry friends, but I wouldn't really say I am one in spirit. If I was, I'd probably be a bug or something pathetic and low on the great scale of furry life anyways. Overall I'm human. Granted that has been put into question...but not for furry reasons.

Q: Do you like fanfic/fanart?
A: Yesh. But I admit I am slow to post fanart and I dont really host fanfic. And I am HORRIBLE at returning emails on both for the longest times. But I do luv them and I treasure them in a special folder that I've only lost the contents to once. *shakes fist at crash*

Q: What do you think of pairing up characters
A: Its your game kids. If you want to go about saying so and so would be a great couple, feel free. Chances are it won't affect the actual comic continuity either way. I have no real bias against orientations as long as they are logical. Really I dislike people going massive Out of Character with the cast than anything slashy.

Q: Will you draw for me/put me in the comic/be my friend?
A: I wont lie to you. I live a busy life. Between classes, work, comics, and normal art..I don't get the most time to do many things on the side. While I do try now and then to do requests or trades, by and large I will likely be unable to do anything. As for the comic inserts...really the case is that people who ask or not-so-subtly hint their desires to be in the comic will likely never get it. Cameos are like presents, I give them to people I respect or am friends with. And full-time cast roles are not to be taken lightly. As for the friendship thing. I confess again that I suck...REALLY SUCK...at emails. And I don't have that much going for me to talk about so I'd probably be a really lame friend since I don't have much time. You are always free to try, but chances are I'm gonna be bogged down. Nothing personal...had I the time I'd love to chat with every person who writes me. Well...most every person...

Q: You ever gonna make a book or print shirts and mugs and all that shiny stuff?
A: I doubt a book will ever be done of the comics exhisting so far. Sadly the oldest ones are either so badly ripped from copyrightable things or just bad in general, and the majority of strips are now in expensive colour or too small a resolution to print incredibly well. (unless I make really widdle books) There is a chance sometime I might pull together a special edition print-only story...but we'll see. As for shirts and things, I am always trying to get that ball rolling. Hopefully I will succeed one day. Cafepress is an evil thing so I am trying to get alternate things going. Much fun. Much work.

Q: How long do you plan to keep on doing this?
A: I honestly don't know. At the time I write this (April, 2005)...I see no real sense of ending in sight. I have a lot of stories to work with and a slow enough update schedule they might last a really long time. Don't get me wrong. DMFA will likely someday end...I have no delusions of doing this comic forever. But as of this time there is no set ending date for DMFA.

Q: Your art site says it has stories and I see characters from it occasionally in DMFA. What is up with that? Are the stories around?
A: Mab's Land is my secondary site where a few characters exist as well as implications of stories they belong in. As of this time I haven't started doing my plans with these characters. I will say that yes, I do intend to do a strip revolving around them. But right now DMFA and other things keep my interest at bay as I slowly work on improving my art. As for the cameos, while the characters of Mab's Land don't belong in the DMFA world...sometimes I'm lazy and cameo them.

Q: Are you single?
A: No

Amber M. Panyko, signing off the FAQ as of 04-24-2005