Friends You Are Stuck With is a comedy about life, friendship, uni, growing up and all the (mis)adventures that all those things involve, it is placed in a universe populated entirely by animal people. The story follows the life of a group of friends in their twenties. Friends YASW is aimed to be a situational comedy comic, it takes inspiration in tv sitcoms such as How I Met You Mother, Happy Endings, Friends With Better Lives, Will & Grace, New Girl, Master of None and of course Friends (Good shows that you should definitely watch). Also, this comic is heavily inspired in Housepets!, a webcomic that you should check out.

About The Artist

Gabe Bold (pronounced Bald, don’t ask why) is a Costa Rican artist in his early thirties, he is also a Software Engineer by day. He loves telling stories and in 2013 he thought about a great idea about a comedy involving some characters living together, so he started working on how to make that idea a reality. Since Gabe didn’t know how to draw, he taught himself how to do it. Flashfoward to July 2016, when he decided he was ready to start his own comic and it was then when Gabe started drawing the first strips of Friends You Are Stuck With, and finally publishing the comic and this site on january first, 2017.

Gabe and his work (this comic) have been nominated twice for an Ursa Major Award, on 2019 and 2021. In both instances coming in a very respectable last place.

Gabe loves sports, you name them: tennis, american football, basketball, baseball and specially football (real football). He also practices some of them (that doesn’t mean he’s good at them). He also loves drawing and telling stories, as you can imagine and discovering new artists, new styles and stuff like that. He also wrote this and found it weird to talk in third person.

FAQ

What’s the update schedule?

Twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays. If anything changes, I’ll let you know.

Wait, is this a Furry Comic?

Well… It is set in an universe entirely populated by animal people. So, yeah! You could say it is a Furry Comic.

Furries ? Mmmm… Is it Family Friendly?

It is aimed to be a PG-13 story!

I really like Friends YASW, how can I support it?

Well, I would really appreciate it if you could share the comic with people you think might like it! Share it!
Also, you can comment on it, bookmark it in your favorites, stuff like that!

Do you have a gallery of your artwork?

Sure do! You can visit my Deviant Art Page and FurAffinity Profile!

Can I find you on Twitter?

Yes, you can find the comic as @FriendsYASW and me as @Gabe_Bold. Yes, I’ll never not call it Twitter.

The cool kids are on BLSKY, are you on Bluesky?

Of course we’re are cool. Go find us at @FriendsYASW.bsky.social

How do you make one strip? How long does it take?

Here’s my process: First I plan the dialog of the strip, which characters are gonna appear and what are they gonna say. Once I’m happy with the dialog I divide it in the amount of panels I will use. Then I start thinking about the “camera angles” of each panel, because if the viewer watches the strip and all panels have the same point of view, it can get boring fast. Just then I start sketching the comic via pencil and paper. Once that is done, I ink it, then scan it. Until here, all of this work is purely traditional. Finally I digitally color it and tweak it if needs to be tweaked. I also put the dialogue in this stage.

It takes about 6 hours each strip (just the drawing part), I plan to get faster at it. Edit: After 8 seasons, it still takes this much time.

Also, writing (and coming up with) good dialogue is, in my opinion, extremely difficult.

Is Gabe Bold your real name?

Well, Gabriel is indeed my real name. Also Bold is pronounced Bald. Don’t ask why. (Do, it’s very stupid).

You said you like football, so… Real Madrid or Barcelona?

If you have read the comic, the character of Romulo should said it all hahah

Acknowledgements & Thanks

This comic is dedicated to my family and friends, you are the people I’m Stuck With, you are the inspiration for the stories I create and without your support and help I know this comic wouldn’t be what it is. With that said, here are some acknowledgements:

• To Chamagol, you’ve read this because you wanted to support me, not because I asked. Thanks for always having my back.
• To Salidas, you’re the best group of friends I could ask for, and our adventures shape the stories I tell.
• To Mau, you’re an inspiration to my art, and watching you get better day by day, by yearning for knowledge because you want your art to keep improving, is super inspiring. And thanks for your friendship, you’re a better friend than artist, and you’re an incredible artist.
• Para Ma y Pa, gracias por apoyarme en esto aunque no lo entiendan muy bien. Gracias infinitas por su paciencia. Son los mejores papás que pude haber pedido. Los amo.
• To You, the reader. Thanks for giving this comic a chance.

 

Finally, Friends You Are Stuck With is in memory to: Tito, Renzo, Carlota y Eugenio.