Denver Comic Con '15: Jeff Pina Of Sideways 8 Studios Likes Things 'Huggable And Poofy'

Neil Greenaway reported on Denver Comic Con for Bleeding Cool, taking excellent pictures, but also doing a series of short Indie Spotlight interviews. This one is with Jeff Pina, owner, writer, and artist, of Sideways 8 Studios.

Bleeding Cool: What are you here promoting at Denver Comic Con?

Jeff Pina: Well, my name is Jeff Pina, and I'm doing a couple books. Dr. Oblivion's Guide to Teenage Dating, another is Bosco & Fleet: Detectives Of The Occult Sciences. I also do Super Pawn and Imaginatives.

BC: Is this your first time attending Denver Comic Con?

JP: Yes it is, first time in Denver. Actually, second time ever in my life. But this is my first time vending here in Denver.

BC: What are your impressions of the convention so far?

JP: I like it. It's a good crowd, it's a good vibe. A lot of people are checking things out. It's nice, I like it. And it's a lot bigger than I was expecting, which is cool.

BC: What is the best part of coming up to Denver for an event like this?

JP: Well, I have really good traveling buddies. I came up here with Val Hochberg, her husband Scott, Sam Sawyer. So it was blast coming up here with them, just making that drive. Because I cannot imagine making that drive by myself. Even just about eight hours in, you start getting a little space madness setting in.

BC: As a chibi artist, where do you draw your inspiration from?

JP: Honestly, a lot of it is Peanuts, and Garfield influenced more so than by the anime. I also like the squishy aspect of things, I like things to look huggable and be poofy. But Peanuts was probably the strongest influence.

BC: What projects are you currently working on?

JP: I am working on the next Bosco & Fleet issue. It's a two-parter. It is going to be a War Of The Worlds homage mashed up with a couple of other H.G. Wells things. I just released Dr. Oblivion's Guide To Teenage Dating in graphic novel for the first time in full color with Shannon O'Connor doing the colors on that for me. And I just released the 10/20 year anniversary crossover, Dr. Oblivion's Guide To The Imaginatives, where they both cross over. Dr. Oblivion will be 10 years old in November, and Imaginatives I've been drawing for 20 years. It's been published for almost ten years now. And I always intended them to be crossed over. In fact if you go back and read the very first Dr. Oblivion that I did ten years ago, I put the characters in on the second page. Just as part of the crowd, and nobody noticed. So I've got some of those panels in the current crossover I just did.

You can find Jeff's work at www.sideways8studios.com