About Karl

Karl Kerschl has been drawing comics professionally for more than 15 years. He has worked on Superman, The Flash and the Teen Titans, among other heroic things, and recently self-published a collection of his weekly webcomic, The Abominable Charles Christopher. He lives in Montréal with his wife and his cat, Jacques Cousteau.
 

More of Karl’s work can be seen at karlkerschl.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where did the idea for The Abominable Charles Christopher come from?
 

I’m not really sure. When I joined the TX collective a few years back, I’d intended to do a completely different story and I was in the midst of writing it when the idea of a silent abominable snowman occurred to me. The tone of it was inspired by old Woody Woodpecker cartoons and my initial instinct was to do it as a series of animated shorts – a naive sasquatch in a forest full of wisecracking animals. I sketched out the character that was in my head and it turned out to be the first image of Charles Christopher I published (seen here).
 

What’s your working process?
 

I try not to think too much about the story ahead of time. Usually, I wake up on Wednesday mornings and let my mind wander while I’m in the shower. Sometimes it’s a humorous idea and sometimes it’s melancholy, depending on my mood that day. I write the strip in the margins of my sketch pad and then start drawing, using a blue pencil for sketching and then finishing the drawings in ink. I use a combination of tech pens and brush pens for different textures. And then I scan the original art and colour it digitally in Adobe Photoshop.
 

Wait, what were those tools, exactly?
 

Why don’t you update more than once a week?
 

I do The Abominable Charles Christopher for my own enjoyment, not as a job. As such, I have lots of other drawing to do during my work hours. This comic was always intended to be weekly, on-off gags – something I could manage without taxing myself too much. Aside from that, I don’t think it would work as well as a daily strip because a lot of the story points require a certain emotional investment which would suffer from too fast a pace.
Anyway, what’s the rush, right?
 

Do you take commissions?
 

Not at the moment. I used to, but I got too busy and people had to wait for too long for them, so I stopped. maybe in the future.
 

I have a tattoo idea. Will you draw it, please?
 

While I’m flattered that you asked, I’d rather not. I don’t have a lot of time, and I’m rarely happy enough with my own work that I’d want to see it etched permanently on someone’s skin. If you’d like to get a tattoo of something I’ve drawn that’s here on the site already, though, go for it. If you show it to me at a convention I will be equal parts flattered and uncomfortable.
 

Can I interview you?
 

Sure! But check out some of these other interviews first and make sure you’re not covering the same ground:
 

What else have you worked on?
 

Lots of things! Mostly superhero stuff for Marvel and DC. There’s a short list over here.
 

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