Frequently Asked Questions

What's this comic about?

Precocious follows an insular group of little (and destructive) geniuses who are too smart for their own good. They attend the combined 4th and 5th grade class at the Poppinstock Academy for Gifted Children. Sure, they are elitist jerks – but they're adorable in their crime!

Who the heck are you?

I'm Christopher J Paulsen, but you know that by now. (My name appears about four times on every page!) I'm an artist who tries to balance pretentious fine art with cartooning. I like modernism, newspaper-style comics, sports, TV on DVD and myself. My birthday is March 24th. You are encouraged to give gifts!

Where are you from?

I hail from the Washington, DC area. My life has mostly been spent in Winchester, VA, which is not close enough to DC to make it fun. Currently I live in Savannah, Georgia.

How often do you update?

Precocious updates every Monday, Wednesday and Friday! (It used to be daily, but those days are gone. *sigh*) Copper Road, when it's active, generally updates once a week. My sketch blog, like Precocious, was formally daily, but now it's kinda erratic.

Why did you stop the daily updating?

I got into grad school at the Savannah College of Art and Design! Going from unemployed loser to being immersed in the most intensive sequential art program in the country took away almost all of my free time. Yes, I am aware of the irony that schooling for sequential art has actually hurt my sequential arting - but the end results should be spectacular!

Where did you get the idea for Precocious?

They say write what you know! I did attend a school for the gifted for a year, in a combined 3rd and 4th grade class. In 6th grade, I again was in a gifted-only class. The layout of the classroom was nearly identical to the Precocious classroom. (For those interested, I sat in Kaitlyn's seat.) I spent my life in the honors bubble, with the warped outlook that came from it. When I first tried to create a comic, it was inevitable that Precocious would come out!

When did you start?

Precocious was conceived of waaaaay back in 1991, when I first tried drawing a comic strip as a 6th grader. As for cartooning in general, I threw out all my fine art training in 2004, resurrected the Precocious idea and began to learn how to draw big-eyed creatures. (I regret nothing!) In 2007, I cut my cartooning teeth by creating a Precocious prequel, which dealt with Autumn's family touring the neighborhood as prospective homeowners. While doing that, I formulated the Gender Wars arc and began work on it. Precocious in its final form launched January 1st, 2009.

What was the 1991 version of Precocious like?

For one, the characters were human. It was also called "Brats" then. The kid who would turn into Bud was a cartoony avatar of myself, who did things a goody-goody like me never would! (His name shifted a lot and I no longer remember what he ended up as.) His main friends were a sidekick name Jacob, a fiery redhead named Autumn and a space cadet named Tiffany. They attended a gifted school and lived in the Sapphire Lake community of Gemstone Estates. Aside from Bud, surprisingly little of that setup has changed over time.

Will we get to see the aforementioned Precocious prequel?

Those early strips are so terrible they should never see the light of day. I may one day resurrect the story and use it as bonus material for a book or something.

Is this a furry comic?

Technically, it's a "funny animal" comic – meaning they are basically humans in animal forms. They have hands, not paws, and they identify themselves as people, not specific species. Still, I'm fine with labeling the comic as furry, though. It's easier that way!

Why did you choose animal forms?

I thought it would be cuter! I felt animal forms were more pleasing to the eye, as I'd always gravitated towards philosophizing animal comics myself. Also, when I created Precocious, I wanted to create a unique world with my own rules, and I felt animal forms would create the separation from harsh reality I wanted.

What do you think about furry fandom?

I love it! It's flattering to get such wonderful attention. I'm down with the furries!

What exactly *are* your characters?

They are all highly-cartoonified doggies or kitties. Bud is a cat with Scottish fold ears. Autumn is a red fox. Tiffany is a calico cat. Jacob is a floppy-eared mutt. Suzette is a spaniel. Dionne is a cheetah-mix. Max is a wolf. Roddy is a tuxedo cat. Kaitlyn is a Siamese cat. Quincy is a German shepherd. Vincent is a crazy mix of doggies, including keeshond and side-striped jackal. Phew, that's enough for now.

How old are the kids?

Of the Poppinstock class, Bud, Autumn, Dionne, Max, Roddy, Kaitlyn, Quincy and Xander are 10. Jacob, Tiffany, Suzette, Vincent and Yvette are 9. For the kids' siblings, Casey Oven is 18, Michelangelo Et is 6, Frida Et is 4, the Et twins are 2 and Wen Hu is 8.

How old are the adults?

Joseph Oven is 42. Sydney Oven is 40. Soren and Ivy Pingo are both 35. Harvey Linkletter is 37. Deirdre Linkletter is 36. Gene Et is 33. Sky Et is 29. Bette Monster is 29.

Do the characters age?

Nope. Situations may change, but everyone always stays the same age. We still get birthday plots, but the kids go from 10 to 10! How? IT'S A PROUD COMIC TRADITION! DON'T QUESTION IT!

In what state does Precocious take place?

Chaos! Heh. I'm deliberately vague on this, but you might as well assume it's in the northern part of Virginia, as it's pretty much the only area I've ever known!

What's with all the goofy names?

It's one of my vices as a cartoonist – silly names! Here're some examples of my naming methods:

Bud Oven – When I resurrected Precocious, I felt I needed to overhaul the main character. At the time, I was working on a short story with a character named, you guessed it, Bud Oven. He was a spoiled brat who stayed in an apartment building owned by his mother. The joke was that they had to take the generic name of "Sunshine Apartments" because naming it the "Oven Apartments" was right out. A lot of short story Bud was adopted into Precocious Bud. So, no, his name has nothing to do with marijuana, dammit! I'm actually quite anti-drug use.

Bette Monster – Her first name is a reference to the class she teaches – the first and last names of the 13 students covers all 26 letters of the alphabet! (Jacob's last name of Linkletter is also a reference to this.) For the Monster part, I think it's funny that the "pretty" character has such a cruel name. It's also a nice adversarial name for one who foils these kids regularly.

Kaitlyn Hu – Why, yes, I did create a character for one puntacular strip! I'm not above naming a character for one cheap joke!

Why are parts of the archive in color?

When Precocious was first launched, I wanted to test my limits to see what I could pull off. Could I do the strip in color? The answer is a resounding NO! I hate coloring! But that didn't stop me for taking on the insane task of doing the entire second intro arc in color anyway! That nearly killed me, but it does look nice. Aside from me coloring a handful of Sunday strips like a good cartoonist, the color in modern Precocious comes from very generous volunteer colorists.

What are your influences?

I grew up fueled by newspaper-style comics. Precocious' biggest influence is definitely Charles Schulz's Peanuts, with heavy doses of Calvin and Hobbes, Bloom County, Fox Trot and Ozy and Millie (among many others) mixed in.

Can I suggest a storyline?

While I try to listen to fan feedback, I don't accept story ideas. I'm a control freak and I like Precocious to be from my twisted brain alone!

Will we see more of the supporting kids' families?

Anything's possible, but I have no immediate plans to show the families of Max, Suzette, etc. I think I have enough characters as is!

Will we get to see what happened when _____?

Probably not. I think some things are funnier when you have to imagine what crazy stuff went down yourself!

What's Rule #4?

"No dynamite." Often referenced in the comments sections, Rule #4 comes from this strip.

Why did you decide to do Copper Road?

I designed all 13 kids in the Precocious class, but I knew the strip would be way overloaded with characters if I crammed them all in. I had joked for a long time that Kaitlyn was like the central character of a second strip, so it was easy to take that idea and run with it. Turning it into my vote incentive was me killing two birds with one stone.

When will we see a book?

When I get to it! Most of my energy is spent keeping Precocious going strong, so I have little time to work on stuff like that. It will happen, though! One day! (Hopefully soon-ish!)

Have a question about a topic not covered here? Drop me an email! I'll try to keep this page updated as questions/suggestions roll in. Also, for minor or purely Chrispy-related questions, don't be afraid to ask me anything over on my Formspring account!