Artist Creates Interesting Comics With Unexpected Endings

The cute and dark humor combination is addictive.

Damjan

• Published in Interesting
• March 12, 2021

The cartoons you'll see here are totally adorable, but that's just the first impression. When you get to the end, you will be surprised by the twisted finale.

They are created by Chicago-based Ryan Pagelow. He has been drawing comic books for most of his life and has gained many fans over the years. The interesting combination of cute and dark got him 653k followers on Instagram and over 90k followers on Facebook. They keep coming back for their daily dose of dark humor.

The comics talk about Buni, who is tested by the cruel world every step he takes. He has to deal with a surreal world of many surprising characters such as ghosts, animals, ghosts, and everyday objects that come to life in absurd, hilarious, and sometimes sad situations.

You never know what to expect. Will the comic break your heart, make it soft, or simply make you laugh? Take a look for yourself and find out…

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Ryan Pagelow says:

"I've drawn comics for most of my life and started out by drawing a comic strip which appeared in university newspapers. I then started freelancing for Mad magazine. I created Buni in 2009, and since then, it has been featured on GoComics and Webtoon."

When he's not creating comics, Pagelow works as a full-time videographer and photographer.

"I enjoy photography and videography because you're capturing the outside world, while comics are much more about illustrating your internal world."

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Buni comics are a great combination of sweet and dark, formed through the story of the lovable main character, Buni, who gets in all kinds of difficult situations but doesn't give up.

"As a mostly wordless comic, I rely on images to tell the story in my Buni comics, which is often twisted, sad, and funny all at the same time. The main character, Buni, doesn't understand that the visually cute world he lives in is usually out to get him. Buni inhabits a surreal world populated by teddy bears, cupcakes, unicorns, and zombies."

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Although Buni is the main character, the comics are spiced up by some other weird characters. And, there's everything here – pizzas, plants, missing socks, and planets. The artist isn't afraid to step out of the comfort zone to provide results that are extremely interesting.

"First and foremost, I try to entertain myself. So if I think a comic idea about a cupcake is funny, I'll draw it. I don't feel like I have to stick to only drawing a limited set of characters in a limited world. I wanted to create a world that was big enough to keep me entertained for years rather than be boxed in by a narrow set of perimeters.

Also, creating a wordless comic is very difficult, especially in only four small panels. I find that relying on simple emotions and common things like food and animals is a fast way to communicate an idea to the reader. Comics involving anthropomorphic pizza or hot dogs don't require the reader to have read previous comics and know the Buni character.

They instantly understand pizza and hot dogs and what their world might look like. When I create comics with the Buni character, it's funnier if you understand the character and the history of the character."

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"I get my ideas from just sitting down and thinking for about 30 minutes every day. I try to imagine if everyday objects had feelings, what would motivate them. What would make them happy, sad, jealous, angry, love..." the artist describes his creative process.

And when asked about his most challenging and the most rewarding part of creating comics, he said:

"Creating comics is daily meditation, and I would probably do it whether anybody looked at them or not. I like that webcomics are quick little mini-stories. Once I make one, I'm already working on the next one. I'm not dwelling on the past. It's not like a novel where you're thinking about the novel for months or years before it's finally done. The most challenging aspect is drawing comics week after week and sticking to it and looking for ways to push the boundaries."

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Pagelow believes that Buni comics are popular because of the lack of dialogue that makes them effortless to understand. They are beyond borders and languages, and the unique sense of Humor plays a significant role too.

"Humor comes from the unexpected, twisted ending. If a normal, happy ending is expected, you can create Humor with a dark or sad ending. Although many people describe my comics as dark, I think of them as optimistic because Buni wakes up happy every day with good expectations despite everything that has happened in the past."

But you either love or hate this kind of comics, and the artist has learned to stay away from the negativity in comments.

"I learned a couple of years ago not to read the comments on the internet, apart from a glance to make sure in general people understand it and there wasn't an unforeseen controversy. But I do try to always respond to people who email me or direct message me. I appreciate that people enjoy my comic. Sometimes I make a comic and think, am I insane for thinking this is funny? And then 40,000 people like it, so I can't be too insane if that many people find it funny too."

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"I'm motivated by the desire to make an even funnier comic next time. It's like an endless chase to find the perfect comic, which probably doesn't exist. Also, I have enjoyed comics since before I could read. And I'll probably continue to enjoy visual storytelling until I die. In that sense, comics will be a part of my life forever."

Pagelow's desire to improve himself has resulted in global success. Besides having a considerable number of followers across different social media, he also states some of the most important moments of his artistic journey so far.

"One of my proudest moments was when a New Zealand crematorium asked me to use one of my comics on a billboard to advertise their crematorium services. Getting syndicated, publishing a book of Buni comics, and being named Best Online Comic by the National Cartoonists Society in 2013 was also nice. Also meeting some of the cartoonists I grew up reading was great."

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Damjan