i recently did an interview with with their comic, Gaypardo, which you can look up here.

gallery: https://www.furaffinity.net/gallery.....44628/Gaypardo

Question 1
What made you guys come up with the name “Arace Guepardo”?
Zodd: Aracê means “sunrise,” which comes from the native Brazilian language Tupi. He was the firstborn, and his parents wanted to give a hopeful tone to his name. And Guepardo is the word for “cheetah” in Portuguese. The way it's spoken makes ‘gue’ sound very similar to ‘gay,’ hence the pun.

Question 2
When looking into his family life, does he have any good relations with anyone?
Zodd: Aracê has a complicated relationship with his mother, and no brothers or sisters to speak of. She raised Aracê alone, which of course put a strain on their relationship. So, I suppose the short answer is “no,” since she is the only family he has, or the only family he knows of at least.

Question 3
How would you feel if old man Jefferson was your neighbor in real life?
Zodd: I can't imagine living next to such an ornery old man would come with many benefits. I think he would drive me nuts, between his smoking and relentless complaining, it would really be a race to who kills who first.

Question 4
When working on the plotlines, do you tend to visualize the scenario through the script or do you write it out panel by panel?
Zodd: When writing/planning out the story, Kattanaita essentially writes it all out similar to a movie script, then organizes and sections scenes/dialogue off into individual strips, so when it comes my way it makes it much easier to plan out each panel. So, I guess it’s a combination of those two ideas!

Question 5
Do you think Arace will get a good relationship out of any of the cast, given the toxic relationship with Alex (The businessman and the ex-girlfriend)?
Zodd: I think there’s someone out there for everyone, which includes our favourite cranky cheetah!

Question 6
What made you wanna do a deconstruction of a coming out story from more of a dark comedy aspect?
Zodd: We thought it would be funny to see a coming out story if we approached it in the opposite way of what you’d typically see in movies or in other comics. Everyone surrounding Aracê already thinks he’s gay and are perfectly accepting of that, but it is Aracê himself who needs to accept it. Taking this approach has also allowed us to explore the idea that sometimes, it is not always the prejudices of others you must overcome when accepting yourself; sometimes it is your own prejudices and rigid worldview you must overcome.

Question 7
Curiously, how did Robert and Alex become a fling in the first place?
Zodd: Robert and Alex were originally business partners (Gaypardo #49) which eventually developed into a long-running affair until eventually Robert’s wife (Samantha) found out. Robert called things off with Alex after that to preserve his marriage.

Question 8
Does Bleak come off as that naturally from your writing, or did the owner give the details of the personality through the characters bio?
Zodd: Bleakcat’s personality was, for the most part, invented by Kattanaita. Bleakcat didn’t seem to mind his portrayal in our comic, and when he did chime in with some pointers, it was minor fixes to the look of his character, such as the creamy tone of his fur colour, or minor events, like getting kicked in the nuts!

Question 9
How many codes do you think were broken by the tenants of the complex during the one night?
Zodd: Too many to count, to be sure! Of course, the most grievous of violations was smoking indoors. Ah, but who watches the watchmen?

Question 10
How many bodies has that garbage man found in the dumpster!? XD
Zodd: Impossible to say, really! But we do know that Rudi (the garbageman) has discovered Brent resting amongst the muck on more than one occasion. In fact, it’s gotten to the point where the poor rottweiler has to make sure there’s no one there every time he picks up their trash!

Question 11
Has the housing manager dealt with the lion's antics this often before?
Zodd: Indeed, this isn’t the first time Graham (the lion) has caused trouble in the building, and Brent (the manager) is always loath to deal with him. Having said that, Brent would prefer not to have to deal with any of his troublesome tenants, from hot-headed lions to cantankerous old otters, and anything in between.

Question 12
How long do you plan on making the comic go, after this current storyline?
Zodd: Until the end of time, I hope!

Question 13
What was the influence for Arace’s irritable attitude and snarky demeanor?
Zodd: He definitely gets a lot of his attitude from his mother.

Question 14
How did Graham and Jake actually meet to be dating?
Zodd: This couple comes from another comic project of ours, “Reign Under,” that is currently on hiatus. Their early past has not yet become a focal point in that story, so we don’t have a definite backstory for them. As a matter of fact, it hasn’t been the focal point in the Gaypardo storyline yet as well. For the moment, Graham and Jake have a relatively ordinary origin story. If memory serves me right, Jake was attending college and Graham met him on campus, though not as a student.

Question 15
How often do details change in the story from the original concept, or has everything been settled before development?
Zodd: The original concept is a simple one and will remain the same throughout Gaypardo’s run: Aracê is in total denial of his sexuality, though everyone else can see it as clear as day and welcomes it whole-heartedly! While we don’t improvise each and every strip as we go, sometimes during development slight changes are made to the storyline which steers the characters in a different direction than originally planned. Having said that, the story is always planned out by Kattanaita in advance, so when changes are made, we don’t end up painting ourselves into a corner.

Question 16
Have you two considered doing more comics once Gaypardo gets well into its story branching into doing other scenarios or locals in the same world?
Zodd: Though the strip is called “Gaypardo,” a play on Aracê’s last name, Guepardo, and it focuses on his journey, the “I’m not gay!” running gag would likely get old fast if the story revolved around him solely. That’s why we are branching out the story little by little to look at other characters and their stories, while still checking back in with Aracê. It will sort of bounce back between characters/stories, which will enable us to spread the focus more evenly between different characters, especially as more and more of them are introduced.

Question 17
What is your favorite part of drawing the comic, and what is your least favorite?
Zodd: My least favourite thing to draw has got to be backgrounds, or more specifically, backgrounds that rely on proper perspective. That’s always been a challenge for me, and I try to avoid it whenever I can. The characters themselves I enjoy drawing the most, especially when we’re creating new ones.

Question 18
Which character do you find the hardest to draw, and which is your favorite to draw?
Zodd: It’s hard to say which character is hardest to draw. Because I draw them so often, it does get easier every time, though sometimes to my own detriment. For instance, Adam’s appearance changes slightly with each strip after he’s introduced (Gaypardo #26), because I had gotten much faster (and perhaps lazier) at drawing him. So, keeping characters looking consistent can definitely be a challenge overall. As for my favourite to draw, Aracê can be very expressive which I like, and I enjoy drawing Bleakcat since he’s probably the easiest.

Question 19
Which character would you two preferably hang out with/ go on a date with?
Zodd: Hanging out with and dating can be two very different things! For example, I wouldn’t mind having a beer with Alex (the tiger), but I sure as hell wouldn’t want to date him. Having said that, I think most of the characters would be all right to hang out with, save maybe Aracê and Graham. I’m not sure I’d want to date any of them, to be honest!

Question 20
What plans do you have after gaypardo is to end?
Zodd: If the day comes where we are no longer working on Gaypardo, I’m really not sure what would come next. There are a billion options to choose from. Personally, there are some writing projects I can see myself getting back into, or perhaps we’d continue with Reign Under, a separate comic we had worked on before Gaypardo. But hopefully that won’t be for many, many years!