The Xcentrikz - Interactive Comic

December 11, 2009

Interview with Thane on the awesome fantasy comic, Chirault!

(Click on the images to visit the site!)

Get ready for some cool answers to cool questions with one of the best fantasy comics on the web. Yes it's Chirault! Thane is a great writer with a knack for character development, and has a nifty illustration style. Go check out this fun comic now!

THE XCENTRIKZ: Okay Thane, hello and thanks for the interview! This'll be fun. Firstly... How did you get started in doing comics?

I’ve been an avid reader of comics since before I can remember—starting with the major titles from DC and Marvel, although around middle school I started branching out into lesser-known and independent titles (and discovered manga a few years later). My favourite pastimes, also, are writing stories and drawing—for a long time growing up I would waver between two desired careers. Should I be a writer? Or should I be an artist? Then at some point I realized that the answer had been under my nose all along: I could make comics and be both.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Is there anything special that got your imagination going, in the beginning of Chirault?

The story is largely character-driven, so my biggest inspiration is and has always been the characters. I love thinking up events which will incite interesting actions or reactions on their parts, or put a new spin on their interactions with each other. The plot grew out of that approach—I use those upcoming events to fuel my motivation while I work towards them.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Cool. What about doing a fantasy theme inspires you most?

The flexibility—it’s very hard to get bored with working on the world when there’s so much room for invention. I can get as wild as I want with creatures, places and events; and while the really crazy stuff has yet to enter the story proper, it’s a lot of fun just brainstorming things. Also I love illustrating fantastical concepts—I get to go wild with crazy colour schemes and character designs.

THE XCENTRIKZ: What inspired your characters? Are any of them inspired by real people? How about a favorite fantasy author’s characters?

The first of the characters to be created was Kiran—he didn’t have a name at first, and was referred to just as ‘scarf-boy’. Friends of mine seemed to like him and kept drawing him themselves, or adding elements to my own drawings that just begged for a reaction on his part, and very quickly he developed a personality all his own. In fact Teeko (the other lead protagonist) was initially a friend’s character, whom she kept drawing beside Kiran. Their interactions were entertaining (and often adorable), so when I decided that I liked Kiran enough to make a comic involving him, I asked to use Teeko as well.

I take inspiration for my characters from all over—never directly, but when I look at my work a few weeks after drawing it out I can often see subconscious influences at work.

There is one influence that I was conscious of from the start, and that is the pointed ears. I started working on the comic right after playing a video game series called Jak and Daxter, and I loved the long ears (waaay longer than the usual elf-ears you see in fantasy stories). So naturally I decided to make use of them.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Fun to know! Heh. What reactions did the comic get early on? Were viewers generally excited, critical, something else…?

Early on the only people reading were friends of mine, so naturally the responses were largely positive.

THE XCENTRIKZ: That's always cool. What’s something that really challenges you in doing Chirault?

There are inherent challenges to every aspect of the comic, which is why it’s so much fun to work on. But to pick out a couple… Pacing is one: getting the panels in a page to flow smoothly from one to the next. Getting the dialogue to fit the way I’d like it to is a challenge as well—I have a tendency to make my characters get very wordy because I refuse to use narration or thought bubbles, and sometimes that can hurt the flow of a scene a lot. So I’ve been trying to find ways to get around long speeches, and to keep an element of action in every scene so that it doesn’t get boring. I don’t always succeed.

Another challenge is backgrounds—they’ve always been my weakest area artistically, so sometimes when I don’t plan pages out enough in advance the panels can get kinda claustrophobic (lots of close-ups and not enough long or midrange shots). I went into the comic knowing this, though, and in fact doing the comic is my way of forcing myself to practice. Eventually I’ll get it right!

THE XCENTRIKZ: Yea! In your opinion, what’s one of the coolest things about the comic?

Personally, I enjoy the story’s setting a lot—it’s not quite what it seems to be, even though the magic and pointed ears might lead one to think it’s a run of the mill high fantasy. The majority of the land is viciously hostile and completely devoid of sentient life; and there are a few elements that I think may take people by surprise when they turn up in the plot. I suppose I just have a thing for multilayered dystopias, and I hope I can do justice to this one.

THE XCENTRIKZ: What are some of the disparaging things people have said about Chirault? Did you think the comments were justified?

I haven’t actually received much negative feedback—a few people have commented that the action lags at times, and sometimes people point out typos or other small errors, but for the most part I remain my own worst critic. Probably because the comic isn’t very well-known, haha.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Haha cool. What’s it like working with Spider Forest, the webcomic collective? How did you join them?

Working with Spiderforest has been great so far! I applied in June 2009 when I heard admissions were open, and got in; it’s nice to be a part of a more tightly-knit group of webcomic creators. I had known about the collective for awhile due to hanging out on the Webcomic List forums, and from reading some of the comics by other members; it looked interesting. I’m glad I joined.

THE XCENTRIKZ: How’s it been promoting Chirault? What publicity opportunities have worked the best for you?

I’m not really much of a promoter, when it comes to my own stuff (I have a hard time even writing factual cover letters for my resume, ugh). I have yet even to try advertising beyond the Spiderforest banner rotation. Thus far the extent of what I can call publicity has largely come from my posting on comics-oriented forums or art sites, giving fanart to other webcomics, or from giving out the comic’s URL at conventions (I’m terminally shy, that’s the problem).

THE XCENTRIKZ: How about some fun personal questions… If you had a rare magical artifact for one day, what would it be, and what would you do with it?

The TARDIS! ….wait that’s not quite magical, is it. Um. Anyway, I’ve always wanted to travel through time! I’d love to see what the world will be like in the future.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Awesome, good choice haha. What were you like in highschool? Did you like comics back then, too?

High school was when I first discovered manga, and first tried my hand at making comics of my own (heavily influenced by what I was reading at the time, of course). Those comics aren’t easy for me to look at anymore—they’re awful! I did enjoy making them, though.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Do you consider yourself part of any sub-culture? Why or why not?

I’m not really a member of any definable subcultures anymore, although a few years ago I considered myself an anime nerd and I’m still close to a lot of people I met during that period. While it definitely influenced the development of my style and my work, my involvement has dwindled until I can no longer call myself a participant… although I still enjoy aspects of it. I try to make it to at least one or two conventions a year, for instance.

THE XCENTRIKZ: How do you feel about life as a web-comic creator? The pros, the cons, the costs of time and resources. What makes it worth it to you, at the end of the day?

Making a webcomic and keeping it updated regularly is definitely a hefty task. I manage it mainly by keeping my sketchbook on me and working in it whenever I have nothing else to do. I work while I’m on the bus, I work while waiting for my tea to be ready, I work in class when the lecture is getting dull (….okay so maybe I shouldn’t be doing that last one). This is one advantage to doing a traditional comic—I can keep my sketchbook and a pencil or pen on hand much more easily than I could, say, a laptop (if I were working digitally). The downside to this is that I go through materials quickly—I’m always running out of lead for my pencils, ink cartridges for my brush-pen, markers needing replacement, sketchbooks running out of space…

In the end, what makes it all worth it to me is the story itself. It doesn’t take much for me to get attached to my characters, and I would want to see this project through to its conclusion even if no one else were reading it. And I don’t mind the costs my materials incur because they’re things I would be buying and using anyway; I hope to pursue a career in illustration when I’m out of school, and so all the comic does is make me go through grey markers faster than I would otherwise.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Anything else to share? How about a clue as to what’ll happen next in Chirault?

Heh… suffice it to say, the comic has a LOT ahead. Some major characters have just recently made their first appearances in the story, and the plot is just kicking into gear. As for things on the horizon: the two storylines that have been ongoing since the beginning of the comic are going to come together soon, leading to a new direction for the storyline and lots more action.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Lookin' forward to that Thane! And thanks again for the cool chat.

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