Interview with the Author... and Artist!
Joining us today is Leigh Kellogg, the artist of Wayfarer's Moon, and Jason Janicki, the author of Wayfarer's Moon!
The Webcomic Review: What first inspired you to start your webcomic?
Jason Janicki: Well, several years ago, one of us jokingly suggested we make a web comic. We kind of laughed and blew it off, but I began thinking about what I would want to do with a web comic. I created the basic world and came up with Iri and Lily and the main story arch. Fast forward several years and Leigh had become tired of the computer game scene and wanted to get back to doing art. The idea of a web comic was brought up again and I said “Hey, I’ve got a world and characters and such, let’s try that.” We talked about the characters and plot for quite a while and eventually just decided to do it.
Leigh Kellog: I’ve wanted to make comic books since I was old enough to read them. It was actually because of comics that I learned to read at all. I started trying to break into mainstream comics in college and that was about the time the industry was having some big difficulties in the early 90s. At that point I first learned that I could make a good living doing art for computer games, so I tried that. After 12 years in games, going from 2D art and animations to 3D modeling to art directing I really started to miss just sitting down and drawing. I found that whenever I got the opportunity to put pencil to paper I was much happier. It wasn’t long after that that I decided I needed a change. I’d been seeing a lot of good things in webcomics – both in comic strip and comic book format and it seemed like the best way to start working on the kind of stuff I’d always wanted to do. Jason had all these ideas in his head, and we settled on the one that appealed the most to us both. I took a big leap of faith at that point and left games to work on our project.
TWCR: Have you based the personalities and/or appearances of Iri or Lily on anyone you know in real life?
JJ: Nope. While Iri and Lily may share personality traits with people I know, I didn’t really base them on anyone. Iri was the first character I came up with and I basically wanted a person who had seen and done just about everything and had been both scarred and enriched by those experiences. To counterbalance her, I wanted a character who was a complete noob, who would experience all the wonder and horror for the first time (obviously Lily). This would allow me to both explain the world and bring in a rich vein of stories to be told.
LK: I think I’ve pulled from a lot of people around me for visual inspiration, but to date there are no characters that I could point to and say “this one I based on so and so.” My work on character faces would probably improve a lot if I did though. J I’ll occasionally ask friends and family to pose for me and my wife has been particularly patient while holding a very large axe that’s much too large for her. I actually own a lot of costume and weapons props, so I do base some weapons and costumes off of those. It may sound a little strange and corny, but I think I put a little of myself in all of the characters, especially Lily who I think I relate to the most. I’m of course not talking about physical appearances, since neither of the main characters is a big heavy guy with a beard. I can relate a lot to Lily suddenly being out in unfamiliar ground, since in a sense that’s what I’m doing. Even after losing her family she could have found another farm to hire on at or something similar in a nearby village, but she chose to do something outside her old life, something very risky. Of course unlike Lily, I didn’t have my old job taken away, and I had a lot more choices of where to go – but still I relate to her in some very important ways.
TWCR: You've stated that Wayfarer's Moon is a stand-alone world. What sort of fantasy world? Is magic an integral part of daily life for the common man, or is it far more exclusive?
JJ: Lachryn is a classic high-fantasy world. Lachryn actually refers to the area that Iri and Lily are from, as the world is quite large and has no commonly-accepted name. We have tried to make Lachryn ‘real’ in how things work and in the kinds of relationships that the various peoples and organizations have with each other. There are a number of different races and each has a distinct personality and different goals and needs, as well as full back stories to explain them.
The magic question is kind of difficult to answer. In some parts of the world, magic is quite common and is readily usable, while it is rare and awe inspiring in other places. Most of the people of Lachryn are familiar with magic and have seen it, but there are relatively few ‘practitioners.’
One of the core tenets of the universe is that magic is dangerous. If it’s performed incorrectly or sufficient care is not taken, it can remove your head. Therefore, you end up with lots of ‘apprentice’ mages, who are either unable or afraid to advance their power, who simply use their skills to make a living.
There are many fewer ‘journeyman’ mages, as the magic they use is powerful enough to kill them (and everyone around them) if it’s improperly handled. Add in the usual feuds and duels, and most mages of this level don’t last very long.
This leaves a handful of ‘master mages,’ who are both powerful and competent enough to not kill anyone unless they mean to. Zhellick, Haith’s master, would fall into this category.
LK: Magic is also different depending on who’s using it. There are different schools of practice. Magic comes more easily to some than to others. We haven’t shown much of this yet, but we’ve shown some. On the whole the magic that we’ve shown Iri using has been a bit more subtle than the stuff we’ve seen from Zhellick. Part of this was to establish some things early on so that we can take them and flesh them out more while moving forward. We wanted to establish Iri as using subtle magic to give it more impact when we first see her using something flashier, like the fire casting she’s done at the end of chapter 4. We’ll be revealing more about the different kinds and different uses of magic as the story unfolds.
TWCR: Many non-human species have appeared in your comic, but there wasn't any mention of the specific types. Your FAQ mentions elves, goblins, etc, but mostly minotaur-like humanoids have appeared. What sort of non-humanoids appear in your webcomic, specifically?
JJ: I think you’re referring to the M’Kott, which are omnipresent in the human lands and have had the most screen time so far. There are also the Keggran, who are small blue guys that appeared briefly in Bremis and who are featured in the most recent ‘Tales from the Fireside,’ which is a series of short stories I’m doing about Lachryn and its peoples. Haith is of a completely different race as well and we showed a new, yet unnamed race on page 89. There are also the people of Yllyr, who have not yet been seen.
There will also be a large number of new races introduced as the main story arch is revealed and they will become very important to the fate of Lachryn.
On a side note, I treat races as characters in and of themselves. Every race has a history, as well as their own religion, legends, and personalities. To me, how a people got to where they are is an integral part of who they are and colors how individuals of that race think and feel. The M’Kott, for example, have a rather tragic history. They currently live in human lands and do the jobs they’re best at: laborer, soldier, mercenary, etc. Many young M’Kott have taken up human ways and have abandoned the beliefs and traditions of their elders and because of this, the old ways are rapidly being lost. At a certain point, we will reveal the history of the M’Kott and the readers will better understand why the M’Kott follow the paths they do.
LK: You’re right, so far the five non human races we’ve shown have all been “humanoid” in that they’re bipedal with human like torsos, even if two (the Keggran and Haith’s race) have differently shaped legs. I should point out that since Haith is a shape changer we haven’t yet established if her humanoid form is her natural form or not (though it’s a safe bet). We plan on having a couple of races that are far less humanoid, but the story just hasn’t gotten there yet.
TWCR: About how long would you say it takes you to write a single entire strip? How far forward have you taken the storyline?
JJ: We don’t really work in a ‘strip’ format. I write an entire issue (22 to 24 pages), Leigh reads it, we hash out any problem, and then he thumbnails it, we go over those, and then he begins work on the actual pages. I then letter the pages and make any last minute dialogue changes.
It takes probably two-weeks of evenings to write out an entire issue and I’m usually an issue ahead of Leigh. I usually ‘think’ anywhere from two to five issues ahead in terms of what’s going to happen.
The ending of the comic has actually been written. J All of the major plot points in the overall story arch have been thought out, though not every nuance has been engraved in stone. As I often tell people ‘I know where the characters are going, but not necessarily how they get there.’ I like to leave some room for inspiration, so I often don’t nail down specifics until I start writing the actual issue.
TWCR: What sort of drawing style would you say you emulate the most?
LK: I grew up being a huge fan of American comics and illustration, and as I got older I discovered European comics and art, so I’d say that my major influences come from those two sources. I know that’s pretty broad, so I’ll try to narrow it down a bit. More than any other type of art I am influenced by pen and ink illustration. I love detailed work with lots of little fiddly bits. When I collect pieces they tend to be black and white, because that really lets you see the detail in the work. I grew up reading lots of Marvel and DC titles and I’ve been told my work reminds people of a lot of the mainstream comics work that was coming out in the 80s and 90s, which makes a huge amount of sense to me, since that was when I would have started in comics if I hadn’t been distracted by college and a career in computer games. In some ways it’s still what I automatically think of first off when I think of “comics”. One of the first comics I remember buying was X-Men #108 which was the first or second X-Men issue drawn by John Byrne and inked by Terry Austin, and I remember thinking how cool it was, and how much cooler it would be to do something like that for a living. I think that was really burned (no pun intended) into my brain at a core level and has stayed with me throughout my life as an artist. I could name a bunch of other individual artists whose work I love, Mike Kaluta, Dave Stevens, George Perez, Arthur Adams, Frank Miller, Ernie Chan. In the 90s I discovered European comics for the first time, and found artists like Francois Bourgeon, Jim Fitzpatrick, Milo Manara and Silvio Cadelo. I can see bits and pieces of other peoples work in every sketch I do. That being said - I don’t think of myself as having developed anything that I’d quite call my own “style” yet. One of the biggest reasons I wanted to begin this project was to grow as an artist and illustrator. One of my ultimate goals as I flesh out my own style more is to combine the things I admire most in American comics – namely the figure work, with the wonderful sense of place that European comics traditionally do so well along with my love of costuming and props. Anyway – that’s my hope. J
TWCR: Your art is very clean and detailed. Have you had any schooling in art, or are you self-taught?
LK: Yes and no. I got a degree in fine art in college, but most of what my university focused on was abstract work, so most of my college education in art was realizing that abstract art really doesn’t appeal to me. I think the best actual art instruction I got was in high school where I had a talented teacher who just let me draw what I felt like drawing. My parents bought me some life drawing books when I was in grammar school, but I didn’t appreciate them until college. Beyond that I’ve spent a lot of time looking at other people’s work trying figure out what they’re doing. As I mentioned I’ve been a professional computer games artist for 12 years, and because of that I’ve gotten to work directly with a lot of other artists – some of whom were more classically trained in illustration, so that’s been helpful. I’ve always been a fan of detailed drawings – particularly detailed costuming and backgrounds, so that’s what I try to do, although I still feel I need to put a lot more work into my characters faces as well as the detail in the backgrounds. I’m looking forward to the characters getting to their first large city so that I can play with architecture on a larger scale, which is something that I really haven’t gotten to do yet.
TWCR: What made you decide to sell your webcomic in book form if you produce it for free on the internet? Are there exclusive pages for buyers, or perhaps you release pages to the internet slower than you release for those that purchase the book?
JJ: Well, we wanted to create some interest in WM before we started trying to publish books. It looks better to a publisher to walk up and say ‘we have this comic with X number of pages getting X number of hits’ rather than ‘please look at our untested material.’
The books contain additional ‘goodies’ that aren’t on the main page (though some things are available in the forums). Pie-in-the-sky, we’d like to do a monthly Wayfarer’s Moon book and release pages at a slower rate on the web. That way, people with no interest in buying comics can still follow the story, but we can do WM professionally.
We are very dedicated to our web fans and will continue to publish pages online, even if we’re publishing the books at a faster rate.
LK: There’s a lot of crossover between webcomics and print comics, but it’s still not entirely the same readership. I also think it’s true that there are audiences with different reading preferences. Some people prefer to hold a comic in their hands rather than sit at a monitor to read. Some people seem to like reading on their cell phones. Some prefer to read in large chunks rather than a little at a time. There’s no right or wrong way to read, although we are targeting 22 to 24 page “chapters”, to read like a monthly or bi-monthly single issue would read. Roughly six chapters would comprise a trade paperback sized book. So when we say “chapter” you can also read that as “issue”, and the first 6 chapters/issues will comprise the first “book”. I made some artistic changes in the print versions of issues 2 and 3 before we went to press that I haven’t updated on the website. These changes had nothing to do with the story, and so readers on the website won’t be “missing out” on anything key to what’s happening by not buying the print issues. I really wanted to go in and make some artistic changes to some things – mainly faces and a few backgrounds – that I didn’t feel I had done well enough online. This was a conscious decision I made not to change everything on the website, so that on the website readers can see things the way they were when I originally posted them, and see more clearly how I’m growing as a comic artist. I love reading webcomics and seeing how artists change their styles and grow over time. That to me is one of the advantages of the web, and I think it’s a byproduct both of different update schedules and different sets of expectations. On the web the reader see’s one page at a time – as a slice - knowing and expecting that it was posted as a single addition to the story. In a 22-24 page printed comic I wanted the print books to have a more “finished” feeling to them, because for readers coming to the story for the first time that first impression is important, and when you see an entire chapter in print the reader isn’t thinking “wow he’s really improved the way he did Lily’s face between pages 6 and 16” the reader just looks at the whole book as one slice of a story, and so I wanted more internal artistic consistency within each printed chapter.
TWCR: What sort of advice would you give to others that would like to start their own webcomic?
JJ: Read a lot of webcomics, especially those that will be similar to yours. Figure out not only what makes your genre tick, but what you can do to make yours stand out from the crowd. Be realistic. Don’t expect to make a million hits the first year and be the next PVP. I would strongly suggest getting a lot of issues or strips done ahead of time, so you understand exactly what it will take to produce the comic in a timely fashion and to have a nice backlog for when you get sick or are unable to update.
Leigh – I’m not sure I’m in the greatest position to give advice yet, since we’ve only been at this a year, but I think I can safely say that you should pick something you really want to spend a huge amount of time drawing and writing for – because that’s what you’re going to be doing. Comics – on or off the web take a lot of time – even if you’re only approaching it as a hobby. I also strongly suggest you do as much work before you launch as possible. You won’t be making a living off of your comic any time soon, so remember that you still need to eat, and that means you have to be able to do the comic and you day job for who knows how long. I think everyone says this, and I know we heard it before starting, but I don’t think I can stress it enough. I speak from experience. I’ve fallen behind schedule several times, and although webcomics readers tend to be understanding – you do lose steam when you have to go without updates – even if it’s only with yourself. Things happen and you’re schedule will never be quite what you think it should, so leave yourself room. Also – we started emailing people whose webcomics we liked early on – to get feedback on what we were doing and to ask for advice. Not everyone took (or I’m sure had) the time to respond, and some responses came in weeks later, but people were very kind and helpful, and we even got some link swaps out of it.
TWCR: Who would win in a fight between a gigantic but modest bee in an all-wool jumpsuit and a similarly gigantic moth?
JJ: You neglect to mention what the moth is wearing, so I must assume it is naked. I actually don’t think either would win. They would fight to a draw, only to discover common interests and ideals and then join forces to annihilate the human race. They would fall in love, of course, and then repopulate the earth with mutant bee-moths.
LK: Excellent question. You’re obviously trying to sucker me into guessing that the bee’s modesty would be its undoing when the moth began to devour the suit, forcing the bee to surrender or face the world with a bared stinger. But you fail to reveal the fact that the bee has laced the suit with iocane powder! Hah! Thought you had me didn’t you!
TWCR: Damn, I was this close... ah well. Thanks for your time guys!