It is time for you to get introduced to The Bear Trap comics, a whimsical world of two bears, Paul and Rob, brought to you by the Hispanic artist Mike Lewis.
Mike's comics take place in the real world, where animals have replaced people. Mostly, the comics revolve around this family of a bear father and son and a hippo stepmother, who are depicted as lower-class citizens.
Bored Panda got in touch with the artist, who clarified the themes that he covers in these comical scenarios: "The theme: satirical humor, philosophical humor, and a bit of slice of life-style humor revolving around two bears (father and son) and a ton of other animals attempting to adapt to a fast-changing human world. Most of the animals can be seen as an allegory for the struggling lower-class society in our world. I express this in the form of short funnies, and at other times, I explore more lore for each character. But there's always humor involved. (After all, laughter is the best medicine, right?) Anyway, the biggest inspiration for this was the book titled 'Animal Farm' by George Orwell."
More info: Instagram | patreon.com
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Image credits: the_bear_trap
The artist shared that he “grew up in a small town in south Los Angeles.” We were wondering what drew Mike to the world of cartooning and artistry. He shared: “I’ve always had a passion for storytelling, from a very young age, and like all kids, enjoyed my fair share of cartoons, drawing them the best I could, putting them in crazy situations until I started creating characters of my own. Then I’d imagine my characters in animated series, seeing them experiencing things we experience every day. The only problem was, as an individual artist, the animation process can be a lot of work. So I decided, I could get my stories and humor out to the world through comics!”
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Image credits: the_bear_trap
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Mike also shared a bit about his creative process and how he comes up with ideas for the Bear Trap comics.
“My creative process can vary, but one of the most common is experiencing a situation and then asking myself, ‘What character would be in this situation and how would they react?’ Once I establish what character to ‘send into battle,’ I start creating a dialogue. As soon as I know how the dialogue flows, I start drawing out the scene/composition, doing my best to make sure the letters are readable without having to zoom in, while making sure the scene is still viewable by the reader. This process can take hours, but while I’m working on the art, I also fine-tune the dialogue, and spell-check, cutting it as short as possible but making sure the point or punchline is still intact. Finally, another spell-check before watermarking it and posting it to IG (just one last spell-check here as well), and finally the comic is done. This is not always how the process is but is the most common,” explained the artist.
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Image credits: the_bear_trap
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Like any artist, Mike also wants his audience to gain something from his comics.
“First and foremost, I want them to take a laugh with them. Sometimes a simple laugh can change someone’s day for the better. I know it has been the case for me plenty of times before. And more in-depth, I hope that my audience learns something new, gets a new perspective on life, and even inspiration of some sort. I want to get them thinking. These comics give me a voice that I probably wouldn’t have in person, they make me a stand-up comedian behind a screen (which I’m all OK with since I can’t see myself getting on stage),” wrote Mike.
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Image credits: the_bear_trap
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And lastly, Mike added: “I’d like to thank any and all readers out there for support, stay humble, be creative. And always be open to gaining more knowledge. There’s always something to be learned.”
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