Interview with Megan McKay of “Doodle For Food”

Picture Shows Ross McConnell Founder of 2 Minute Tabletop holding a map

Find Megan McKay on Social Media

Visit Megan McKay’s Doodle For Food Etsy

Comic strips are an art form that have been a part of many a geek’s reading collection. They continue to be a staple in the geek community and for good reason. What starts as a project for school or even as a past time activity, has the potential to go on and become something more. In Megan McKay’s case, it really was a school project! Now, it’s the entertaining and wonderfully done “Doodle For Food”. If you haven’t heard of this particular comic strip series, then you are in for a geeky treat!

GeekPost: How did your comic strip “Doodle For Food” come about?

Megan McKay: It feels like something I fell into rather than intentionally sought out, and I’m forever grateful to have lucked into it. I started posting art online as part of a portfolio project in school. I was feeling pretty disillusioned by the prospect of making a living off of my art, so I picked the name “Doodle for Food” to be cheeky about the concept of being a ‘starving artist’. Somewhere along the way I created and posted a comic or two, and they were received really well. The comics received more interaction than my other work, so I continued making more and more, and now we’re here! My love for the medium and the community of webcomic creators and readers has grown as I’ve become more involved in the scene.

I’ve been drawing under the name Doodle for Food for just over 9 years now, and it still feels like I’m new to the world of webcomics. Even though I’ve changed my comic’s direction several times, I still lump everything under that name because I think it’s cool to see how far I’ve come from the start of my art journey.

Megan McKay’s First Comic Strip is Below.

GeekPost: I see that you have an Etsy shop. What kinds of things can people find there?

Megan McKay: For right now, anything dog and DnD related! I offer prints of illustrations and comics I make. I also have stickers and enamel pins related to my DnD-inspired comics. Sometimes I open commissions through the shop when I have time to take on the work.

Designing merch and selling online or at conventions is like taking on another full-time job. I’ve been tempted to try leaning into it more, but I love making comics too much to give them up entirely. So even though I have tons of merch ideas, I’m limited on the time needed to make them. Eventually, I’d love to have items like plushes or pet accessories for sale in the shop. Fingers crossed that it will happen one day!

Image shows drawing of bridge in pencil a work in progress by 2 Minute Tabletop

Image shows map of ships in pencil a work in progress by 2 Minute Tabletop

Image contains Fire Spell Assets from 2 minute tabletop

image shows a screenshot of the token editor page from 2 minute tabletop

GeekPost: What can you tell us about your Patreon?

Megan McKay: MOSTLY THAT I LOVE MY PATRONS! Making money from art and comics is really challenging, and having a Patreon helps keep me from completely losing it when trying to figure out how to pay my bills each month. I worked a second job for a long time while I was trying to build up income from comics. Patreon played a huge part in allowing me to quit the second job and focus 100% on art as my job.

GeekPost: When did you find your love of art?

Megan McKay: It might sound cliche, but I’ve always loved art! My mom bought sketchbooks for my sister and I when we were young, and we’d fill an entire sketchpad within a week. Once when I was young I ran out of paper to sketch on, so I used the back of some reports my mother brought home from work. She didn’t realize and ended up taking them in and ‘presenting’ them to her co-workers.

GeekPost: Where do you get inspiration for your delightful comics?

Megan McKay: My current series “Good Boye Guild” is a mix of humor related to Dungeons and Dragons, fantasy, and dogs just being dogs. The DnD aspects of the comics are heavily inspired by my experience playing in games, or funny things I read while flipping through the Player’s Handbook. The dog aspect of the humor is 100% inspired by my own dogs. I like to think Robin, the rogue character, is similar to my dog Eliza and Presto, the wizard and baby of the group, is inspired by Hercules.

GeekPost: How many animals are part of your family?

Megan McKay: I have two adorable dogs named Eliza and Hercules. They’re brother and sister, and turn 6 later this month. I love them, but they’re a couple of oddballs. Their antics make for plenty of comic ideas. I love them more than words can describe!

GeekPost: Do you consider yourself a geek?

Megan McKay: You know, I’m not sure if I’ve ever labeled myself as a geek or nerd, but when I look at all the things I enjoy, I think I could reasonably be classified as one!

GeekPost: A good deal of your comics have to do with D&D, and RPG scenarios in general. Do you ever get to play? What is your favorite class?

Megan McKay: I haven’t been able to play lately, but I used to be in a campaign with other cartoonists, and we made it into a podcast. It’s very funny, and I’m not saying that just because I’m biased. I’ve also jumped into one-off games a few times for fun, but I’d love to start up a longer campaign again soon.

I’m partial to melee classes. I’ve played a monk, barbarian, and fighter in my longer campaigns. I noticed I’m like this with video game characters too: I like to deal close range damage and be in the middle of the action in fights!

GeekPost: Any upcoming projects that you can tell us about?

Megan McKay: I wish I had something exciting to share, but nothing is ready to be announced yet (but hopefully soon!!!!) It’s been hard to plan bigger projects during the pandemic, but I’m hoping to build up some more of that momentum in 2022.