ABOUT JUANELO
1) What is Juanelo?
A cartoon. Duh!
2) Where does Juanelo live?
Having emigrated from the land of his birth under suspicious circumstances (he doesn’t like to talk about it), Juanelo is reluctant to reveal his exact location “in case they find him”. All we can say for certain is that it’s definitely NOT whatever country you think it is.
3) What is Juanelo made of?
In “hard” media, ink on paper. In digital media, ones and zeros. In reality, anybody’s guess.
4) How tall is Juanelo?
Around seven centimetres (a little under three inches), depending on the screen size and resolution.
5) How old is Juanelo?
He first appeared in a notebook in 1999… Work it out for yourself.
6) How could Juanelo drive the car in strip 1101, if he hasn’t got hands or feet?
The simple answer is, he didn’t. The car used in driving scenes is fitted with a complex remote control system and guided by rails, which are later removed digitally to produce the finished pictures.
7) If Juanelo has no eyes, why does he sometimes use glasses for reading?
Because they’re no use for listening to music.
8 ) Very funny. But how does he keep the glasses on without ears?
You have an unhealthy obsession with glasses. There are websites for people like you…
Anyway.
We don’t really know how he keeps the glasses on, but there are three theories:
a. The arms of the glasses are very tight.
b. The oddly spherical shape of Juanelo’s head keeps them in position.
c. Velcro.
…yes, Velcro.
9) Why does Juanelo sometimes seem to be unemployed or even homeless, while at other times he’s a successful millionaire?
Your confusion is understandable, but you must learn to distinguish between the fictitious character in the strip and the REAL Juanelo (who is also fictitious). The character “Juanelo” is poor. The actor, Juanelo, who plays him is extremely wealthy – though his wealth is also, of course, fictitious. We have to use fictitious money to pay Juanelo and the other actors, because they don’t bring in any real money. That, sadly, is not fictitious…
10) Why does Juanelo wear clothes at some times, but not others? Does he walk around naked? Doesn’t he have genitalia?
Oh, please… There are kids reading this site! Juanelo always wears clothes, of course, but he often chooses to wear very close fitting, white garments to emphasise his muscular physique. He doesn’t spend all those hours in the gym so he can walk round in a baggy t-shirt! As to the matter of genitalia – without wishing to go into detail, let’s just assume they’re “abstract”.
11) Why does Juanelo sometimes grow fingers?
Not fingers, but protrusions produced by his internal air pressure acting on soft, flexible zones in the membranes of his body. Naturally, these are most pronounced at the extremities. To see the effect for yourself, try squeezing a semi-inflated balloon.
12) Why are there so many contradictions and breaks in continuity?
Eeeeh… because… ehm… LOST! You’ve seen “Lost”? Well, Juanelo’s world is surprisingly similar – full of inexplicable things and events, caused by supernatural forces which will be explained …umm… at some future point.
Yep, that’s it.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATION
1) Wait… What? This is a translation?
Absolutely. You are reading the official, accept-no-substitute, approved-by-the-author translation of “El Show de Juanelo”, a very succesful Chilean webcomic.
2) How is the translation done?
At a secret facility in the North of England, nine hundred and ninety-eight monkeys (there were originally a thousand, but we got hungry) are tirelessly hammering away at typewriters to produce the translations. The only hard part is finding the “Juanelo” translation among all the 16th century literature they churn out!
3) Teh strips ar fool of speeling mistooks. Don’t the monkeys have spellcheck?
Since the monkeys are UK-based they use UK English, which differs from American English in various points of spelling, grammar and punctuation. We do make an effort to filter out “Britishisms” which would be incomprehensible to an international audience, but otherwise we leave them to it.
4) I’ve read the Spanish originals… Why are the English versions sometimes different?
The art of translation is to convey the meaning, not the words. To catch the natural rhythm and flow of English, it’s unavoidable that the phrasing will frequently be different from the Spanish version … but a lot of effort goes into retaining the spirit, mood and substance of the original! Occasionally a strip contains wordplay or jokes that simply don’t work in English, and on these occasions we have to improvise. 
5) So why is some of the site still in Spanish?
None of the site is in Spanish; the translation is perfect and complete. However… In the interest of helping our readers with their pathetic delusions, we’re willing to accept (by e-mail, comment or forum) your suggestions as to which parts of the site we might have missed translating if the translation wasn’t perfect already.
ABOUT THE CREATION OF THE COMIC
1) Is the comic drawn on paper, in Photoshop or in some other program?
The comic is drawn on paper, then scanned and cleaned up in Photoshop. The text is added using Illustrator.
2) Which fonts do you use for the comic?
Originally “SF Toontime” for the normal text, though this has recently (July 2010) yielded to “Komika” for better legibility. “BadaBoom” for shouting or loud noises.
2) How do you get the images clean and looking good?
There are several tricks. First of all, it’s necessary to draw much bigger than – typically double – the final size (the original art for a Juanelo strip is 25cm wide). Secondly, make a clean copy of the pencil work on a fresh sheet of paper, using your preferred kind of art pen; this is best done with a light table or some substitute (such as a lamp under a glass table!). Thirdly, make a high resolution (300dpi) scan in greyscale (not black and white). Next, use the “levels” tool in Photoshop to remove any spots and clean up the rest with the erase tool. Save it all in PSD format, then load it into illustrator to add the text and export it as an 8 bit, 800px wide PNG for the web or a greyscale, 300dpi JPG for printing.
Update: These days Juanelo is drawn directly into a tablet PC using a program called “Artrage”, which saves all the copying, cleaning and scanning. Once it’s in Photoshop, the process is the same as ever.
ABOUT COMMENTING AND USING THE FORUM
1) How can I change my avatar? (profile picture)
You need to login / register at www.gravatar.com, then associate the image you want with your e-mail address. It should automatically appear as your avatar.
2) How do I quote another comment?
Copy the comment you want to quote, then paste it between “blockquote” tags like this:
<blockquote> BLAH BLAH BLAH </blockquote>
3) Why don’t the strip quotes appear in the RSS feed? Is it something you can fix?
The quotes are an extra gift for those who take the time to visit the site, so we’re not planning to add them to the RSS feed. Sorry!
4) I registered, but I can’t post on the forum… What’s going on?
You have to confirm your registration before you can post on the forum. Check your e-mail and click on the confirmation link we sent you, then you should be good to go.
5) I did that, and I STILL can’t post on the forum! =(
Go to the blog (where the strips are) and log out, then back to the forum and log in again. That SHOULD fix it!
6) Hee hee! I’ve got a great idea for the comic! Can I send it to you?
Sure… But don’t be surprised if it doesn’t get used.
7) The long strips mixed in with the shorter ones drive me crazy… Why don’t you separate them?
They ARE separate! … You can see them on their own by following the COMIC link.
(Still got questions? Leave them below or e-mail juanelo@juanelo.net)
