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spaceisfuncomic · 7 years

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Q&A Write Up

Q: What was the inspiration for this work?

SHANNON: Ben and I wanted to work on this project, and do it together, mostly because both of us were motivated to produce a completed comic to end this class. Comics are pretty time-intensive projects, so we were trying to come up with a story idea that could encompass a short ~10 page comic that both of us would enjoy working on. As we were perusing through each other’s sketches and previous work for inspiration, we found a character design that I had created in high school. We thought that this space explorer character would be a good subject for a short comic, because she is fairly simple to draw, yet expressive. We thought that we could come up with a similarly simple, yet fun and expressive story to go with the character.

BEN: I think we both wanted to make something that would have been difficult to do on our own with the time we had available. Working together allowed us to put more effort into individual work while making a more finished final product. We were able to come up with some shared interests while brainstorming together on the first day and the setting of space just came through as a combination of being the most fun to do and the most practical. I’ve always liked the aesthetic of outer space and alien wastelands so the topic was easy to agree on. Not sure that counts as “inspiration” but that’s kind of how things came to be.

Q: What was the collaboration process like? What were the things that you enjoyed, or did not enjoy about collaborating?

SHANNON: Our primary concern with collaboration was keeping a consistent look throughout the comic. We decided that the best way to achieve this while still working together was to divide the labor not by page, but by tasks. Basically, the way this worked was that after we came up with the story together, I provided the rough sketches, Ben drew the line work, and then I finished off with colors. Something I admire about Ben’s art style is his precise, detailed line art. I lack the patience for such things, so I was excited to have him be a part of that process. I got to do the fun, sloppy stuff, like in the thumbnails and the colors.

BEN: We developed a kind of pipeline where we would each work on a specific aspect of the comic before handing off our work to the other person. I thought this was nice for a project of this length since it was pretty efficient and it allowed us to keep the look consistent without much additional effort. I honestly didn’t dislike anything about collaborating. It was a good experience and I would like to do it again.

Q: How did you know that you would be able to work successfully with each other?

SHANNON: Even though Ben is pretty shy about his art, and I’ve only recently seen more of it, I have always respected Ben as an artist. In class, his works are always hilarious, and have a flair for the fantastic. I thought he would bring a lot of unique style to this project, and I hoped that he would have fun working on this story together with me.

BEN: I’m not sure how one would “know” such a thing but I was pretty excited about making the collaboration successful. I’ve kind of been aware of Shannon’s work for a while (since freshman year) and I think that a lot of our visual/aesthetic inspirations overlap without being overly similar. It felt like a good balance. I think overlapping tastes allowed us to collaborate more smoothly, and the differences between us were things that I wanted to learn from. Also Shannon is cool and trendy and a good storyteller.

Q: What were some difficulties that you ran across while creating this comic? What are some things that you might do differently?

BEN: I think storyboarding is often the most difficult step for me, but I got lucky this time around and didn’t have to worry too much about them. Other than that, I had some trouble drawing circles that were not lumpy.

SHANNON: I think the chief difficulty for me was having to stage the scenes in a way so that everything would make sense, even without words. There were many times when I was tempted to add some words to make my life easier, but in the end, I decided to commit to the wordless thing. Also, I am sorry if I was ever too insistent on my own decisions, Ben.

Q: Why do you think that you are drawn to graphic novels as a medium?

BEN: I like pictures because I don’t know words too good.

SHANNON: I love any type of visual storytelling, and I especially love cartoons and comics, because I feel that the creator has so much control over what they are communicating to their audience. The level of abstraction and exaggeration that you can get from cartoons can many times communicate more truth about a human experience than pure naturalism. I love the symbolism that you can access just by a certain combination of shapes and colors--how you can tell our little space explorer is a good guy by all the roundness that makes up her design. I’m not sure if we were really reaching to communicate anything that complicated in our comic, but I hope that we have been successful in designing a largely benevolent, fantastic universe.

Q: How do you feel this final project fits in with the rest of the work you have been doing this semester?

SHANNON: This semester, as we’ve been reading many graphic novels, I’ve been trying to develop my ability to just produce content. I feel like I have a lot of ideas, but little practice in actually getting them down to paper. The assignments of this class helped me to practice combining my thoughts in words with my thoughts in images. I am not sure that this project is very similar to anything we have read over the semester, but I have definitely been inspired just by understanding the process and labor behind comics.

BEN: I’m not really sure. I’ve been making a lot more stuff this semester for various school and personal projects, and I’ve also been exposed to a lot of new ideas (mostly through this class). I guess in many ways the things I’ve been doing have been an exercise in digesting new content, learning from others, and trying new things (in addition to plain, physical practice). This project has been a nice culmination of a lot of those things. I was able to do a lot of digital linework, which I had been practicing all semester for my senior design class. I was able to collaborate with Shannon, which was a nice ending to a class where I was able to be exposed to other people with similar interests. I don’t if this project deals with any societal or personal issues on a conscious level, but I don’t doubt that the works we’ve gone over in class have helped develop our storytelling abilities. I think being able to make your own comic after reading and learning about them for a semester is a nice way to end things.

Q: Are there any lessons learned or plans for the future that you would like to share? How did your experience in this class change things, if they did at all?

BEN: Before this class I had not given much thought to the value of being near people with shared interests. Being exposed to people who cared about some of the same things I was interested in this semester was refreshing, maybe even validating and eye-opening. I think my experiences this year definitely made me realize that I would regret it a lot if I didn’t continue trying to make things (of some form). I think making stuff is something that motivates me greatly to learn, which feels like a pretty important thing. I hope that I can find a way to make that a focus in my life post-graduation, whether it is through work, hobbies, life philosophy, or whatever.

SHANNON: I definitely want to keep on making comics after I graduate, even if they’re really simple, like diary comics. I really appreciated this class, because it kept me exercising my creativity. I understand that once I leave college, there will be less opportunities to take these sorts of classes. Going forth, I must carve out time in my adult life to devote to art and stuff. And if Ben is willing to collaborate again, I think that would be really fun! If I’ve learned anything from this class, it’s to just make stuff. It doesn’t matter if it’s good. Creation itself is a triumph.

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