About SnoogleZoo (with FAQ)

What is SnoogleZoo? SnoogleZoo is a cute webcomic about a bunch of critters living in a little town. I’ll put up a character page sooner or later to introduce the principal cast, and there is a map in the works. I’m still working out an update schedule that works both for me as a very-busy-person, and also serves the multi-page stories. Check back on Mondays, or subcribe to the RSS feed.

But, like, what is a SnoogleZoo? Is it a Zoo? Why is it Snoogly? I didn’t play with dolls when I was a little girl- I like stuffed animals better. I played dolls with them instead, and they had weird adventures and individual relationships and personalities. I think of the SnoogleZoo as the same kind of play-space where animals of different species can have different levels of human-qualities, different shapes and sizes, and still live together in the same world. Which is to say writing an anthropomorphic animal comic is probably the only socially acceptable way I have as an adult to play with my toys anymore (har har). The bottom line is I wanted to write a light hearted comic strip to work on my chops and I thought I’d have more fun doing it if I could draw cute funny animals instead of people.

Who’s behind this thing? I’m Veronica Guzzardi. I’m what you call a “creative professional.” I make commercials by day, and I draw a lot otherwise. Sometimes people pay me for it, but I don’t seek that works out as much as I ought, so I’m reluctant to call myself a freelance illustrator. But I am that also. You can see some of my other work and a lot of hand-wringing about my process over at my sketchblog.

Where did the idea for SnoogleZoo come from? You know how dog owners do weird things with thier pets like sing them silly songs? At some point in the past, my Gentleman Friend Brad and I starting singing to the dogs about living in the SnoogleZoo, being part of the Snoogle Crew. I thought it had a nice ring to it, so I snapped up the domain and started fiddling around with what to do with it.

I started drawing some characters that were similar in style to Hello Kitty. I gave them all weird sounding names like OMG Panda, and Yoyo Neko, and they sort of grew on me. I had wanted to do a webcomic for a long time, but never really knew where to start, but all of a sudden I had this little collection of characters. I brought them all to Brad (who is, aside from being very patient, a writer with a film background) and said “I’ve got a world developing around these little guys. What do I do next?” So he and I sat down over a few breakfasts and talked about them and their world, and then story ideas started flowing!

Part of my hangup about starting a comic has been about wanting to do it “right” and therefore never getting started. So some of the art is less than stellar (it turns out I’m a terrible inker, but I’m sure I’ll improve over time), but right now it’s more important to me to get it out there on time every week. That’s why the story started with Efram trying to find the right instrument to play. I’m trying to find my voice here, too!

Are the characters based on anyone in particular? (If I know you personally, this question generally presents itself as “Who’s Pan based on? It’s not me, is it?”) The short answer is no, not really anyone in particular. The gang’s personalities came out of what I saw in development drawings and a few keywords I jotted down, and they’ve been developing in the comic since then. Occasionally they do things that my friends have done (for instance, Suki Neko’s Thanksgiving Turkey was served by my roommate that year), but for the most part I’m setting up situations and letting the characters tell me what they want to do (I know there is a Charles Schulz quote that says nearly that somewhere, but I can’t find it online. I didn’t understand how that could possibly work until I had characters of my own acting in ways that were surprising to me).

Why do only some of the characters wear clothes, and the rest go naked? Should I feel ashamed for them? Story-wise, my answer is that clothing is only for fashion and warmth, so it’s optional. Otherwise, it’s a design decision for characters whose bodies aren’t interesting to draw on their own, like the cats. Or in the case of Scruffy MacRuffin, dressing him in old-timey clothes to makes him appear older than the others. Pan has built-in pants because of his panda markings, so he doesn’t need clothes. Efram is a quadruped and therefore hard to dress. Nuki has a lighter chest which helps define her shape, so she doesn’t need clothes, and it works for her character because she’s a bit of a tomboy. Charlie has a sort of mutable body shape that would be hindered by clothes, and in-story he’s a poet who lives in his head too much to be bothered with fashion.