FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS!


What is Tales From Band Camp?

TFBC is a comic strip about band life. If I had to compare it to another strip, the closest cartoon would be obviously Funky Winkerbean. I, however, do not read Funky. But I like those cute Funky posters that hang in bandrooms! Actually, the reason I’m not that familiar with Funky is because my local paper never picked it up.

Where do you get your ideas?

One of those magic eight-balls. A lot of them came from my personal band experience, watching marching band practices, and talking to band members.Γ‚ Feel free to e-mail ideas! If I use your idea, I will mention you and your band with the idea!

Note – please see the answer to “I submitted an idea to you but I was not credited for the idea and/or someone else was. What’s going on?” for more information.

Can I see a character list?

Here you go!

What band are/were you in?

I was in the Marching Jaguar Band of Cedar Shoals High School in Athens, GA, and the University of Georgia Redcoat Band, the best band in the United States! πŸ™‚ I’m not in these bands anymore, so I can’t answer current questions, but you can find information about the Redcoats at http://www.uga.edu/~ugabands.

Currently I’m in the Greenville Concert Band, playing bassoon!

Do you have a book available?

YES! Click here for more information about it! Now you can take TFBC where ever you go!

Can I use one of your cartoons in our band newsletter, bandroom, blog, t-shirt, etc.?

Yes, by all means! I love exposure even if I’m not there to bask in the spotlight! πŸ™‚ Just let me know, give me credit, and if possible, a link to the TFBC Homepage. See below for banners and graphics you can use. The only thing I ask is that you do not remove the URL (http://www.talesfrombandcamp.com) or my name from the comic.

If you use a comic for a t-shirt (like a sectional t-shirt for your band), that’s not a problem as long as you leave TFBC on it. Also please send me a picture of the t-shirt or add it to the Graphics
Gallery
. It’s neat to see where TFBC has been used.

Why don’t you have more of insert instrument name in your cartoons?

They are there – I just don’t draw them well! πŸ˜‰ Actually, I tend to put the easiest instruments to draw (trumpets, flutes, etc.) in the cartoons because I am lazy. However, I am partial to mellophones because I played it (well, attempted to play it) in the Redcoats as well as the bassoon!!!

Why don’t you have many guard comics? What do you have against the guard? Guard is part of the marching band!!

I get this question quite a bit. I was never involved with any kind of dance/flag/guard unit growing up, so I have no ideas about what it’s like.Γ‚ You know the old saying – “Write what you know.” Yes, I think the guard is part of marching band, so I’m not doing it because I’m biased or some reason like that. It’s just that I don’t have any experience with it.

Why don’t you have any comics about band competitions?

The answer to this one is similar to the previous one. My HS marching band never competed, so I have no experience with it. In fact, I’ve only been to one competition in my life when the Redcoats did an exhibition back when I was at UGA. Sorry!

What other cartoons do you draw?

At UGA, I had a cartoon published in The Red & Black (the student newspaper) called “Buster Bulldog.” Now, I work on this strip and random UGA-related cartoons on my other page. You can find more information about my other websites at DAWGToons.com.

Do you have an icon I could use to link your page from mine?

Yes – here are some! You are welcome to use them as long as you provide a link to my page and please do not link the image directly! Right-click on the image and save it to your hard drive. Then please upload the image to your web server. And after you are done, feel free to add your page to the TFBC Links page!

Why do I get a red ”X” or a hotlinking graphic when I try to link to one of your comics?

I have disallowed hotlinking, which is basically when you take the URL (web address) of a graphic and use it on another site like your homepage, a bulletin board, etc. I don’t do it to be mean. I do it because each time a file is accessed off of my server space (including graphics), it costs me bandwidth. If I go over my allotted bandwidth amount, then I am charged extra, and we don’t want that now, do we??

Can you custom draw something for a section in my band?

I’d love to, but unfortunately at this time I just don’t have the extra time to draw, even for a commission. But thanks for thinking of me.

I have a problem with something I ordered from Cafepress.com (t-shirts, etc.). Can you help me?

You’ll need to contact Cafepress.com directly at their help desk.

I submitted an idea to you but I was not credited for the idea and/or someone else was. What’s going on?

I receive many, many emails per day, and while I try to read through them all, I honestly don’t have the time. People from all over the United States (and the world) send in ideas, and there are a ton of duplicates – not to mention there are some with ideas that I’ve already used. To be honest, I randomly select emails to use, so it is just luck of the draw. Sorry. πŸ™

What fonts do you use on your website?

I use Wild & Crazy by Comicraft for the speech balloons, and Creepy for the main Tales From Band Camp titles.