The Xcentrikz - Interactive Comic

November 20, 2009

Interview with Sarah and Nick of the one, the ONLY...
CWEN'S QUEST!!!

(Click on the images to visit the site!)

Get ready for one of the most comprehensive and interesting interviews we've done in quite a while... With the creators of Cwen's Quest!!! YAY! This well-liked fantasy comic from Drunk Duck is a lot of fun, I hope you go give it a try. Thanks again Sarah, Nick! You guys rule!

Enjoy the interview...

--- Eliza Schreiber

Eliza from The Xcentrikz Team: Thank you so much for the interview, guys! Tell me about your beginnings. Did you do comics before this one? Has your work changed much over the years?

Sarah: I've done LOTS of homemade comics over the years starting with pen and paper. Then I've posted a few different webcomics too, starting mainly with loads of DBZ fancomics on a fansite I worked on with my sister. Then I moved on to many incarnations of Vampire Phantasm, then finally Cwen's Quest. I've hopefully improved (XP) and my style has gotten a little less "generic anime" over the years.

Nick: Well I worked on several experimenting with chibi, anime style, western art, sprites until I realized my writing was getting better but my art wasn’t improving along with it. So I stopped working the art end to focus on writing and that is a pretty big change. On the writing front I’ve mainly kept the same style but I’ve really refined my sense of timing and dialog and I take myself a little less seriously than I did when I started.

THE XCENTRIKZ: What events led up to starting Cwen’s Quest? Anything in particular?

Nick: Well I started getting the idea for CQ when I was starting to get fed up with my sprite comic 3rd Party Fantasy. I started to realize how stiff and limited my comics were getting. Too many comics ended up being the main characters standing around and talking and the action was suffering heavily since I was having trouble making animations for them and posting them on Drunk Duck where I was hosting my comic. So I started to make a list of everything I liked about 3PF and everything I felt needed to be improved. From there I outlined a couple of ideas for new series and started looking for an artist. Sarah was my first choice and I pitched my ideas to her and she said she thought Cwens Quest sounded the best.

Sarah: I had juggled with the idea of working with someone else for a little while, if I recall I might've gotten at least one or two offers before that I turned down...probably because I was just too lazy at the time. XP Then Nick contacted me, finally I went ahead and gave it a shot...and it worked out really well!

Nick: I got with my wife Amy to do some concept art to give Sarah an idea of what I was thinking on a few things and from there the project sort of took on a life of its own once Sarah started on things. We really almost jumped right into issue 1.

THE XCENTRIKZ: What’s your process for doing the art and writing?

Sarah: First Nick sends the script, which has what should be in each panel. After maybe going over it a bit together I start the first page (I make two pages a week). The page is sketched and inked digitally in MangaStudio first, then sent to Corel Paint Shop Pro XI to be colored/grayscaled and to add the text. Then I send it to Nick and tell him everything I hate about it. XD Seriously though, if there are any problems we work them out, and then Nick posts it on Drunkduck.

Nick: Well I usually write one whole issue in advance, outline the story arc I’m working on and keep most everything off paper till we get closer to it. After I get an issue done I tend to rewrite it once to sharpen up the humor and weed out the weak parts and pass it around to a few friends for feedback. In terms of characters, I just try and get in each characters mind set as I’m going through the story. The nice thing about web comedy is you can just had people a script and watch their reaction with each page to get an idea of how you are doing. I’ve learned from experience 95% of the time from there to let the artist take the script and bring it to life as they see fit. Artists and especially Sarah “see” a lot of things (working with the script and making it into a page) that you just don’t get when you are working in the abstract writing scripts.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Wow, neat stuff thanks for sharing. What’s it like for you two working as a team?

Sarah: I actually find it much easier working with Nick than trying to wrestle with my own thoughts. Much less restarts indeed. XD However even though Nick's the writer he's always willing to listen to any ideas I may have. Though I know I don't give a whole lot of opinions and am pretty agreeable most of the time, I believe that is because I don't know how to improve on already good thing. =)

Nick: Well I like working with people. Having a partner really helps you keep motivated because you can share their enthusiasm even when yours runs low for a bit. Sarah was my first choice because I looked at her style in the original VP and just knew she thought in the directions I wanted to go. When she adds an idea I'm usually slapping my head wondering how I could have missed an idea so good.

THE XCENTRIKZ: How do you feel about the Drunk Duck community?

Sarah: Feedback! You can't go wrong! I love reading all the comments at our site. Some people really make in-depth, interesting comments and debate certain things...I appreciate and love all of it to death. Also, the entire DD community is almost always really helpful.

Nick: I love the readers but I’ve got mixed feelings about the site. The readers really talk back and that is great. There can be a little sour grapes between creators but you get that anywhere. I’m a little troubled though on the tech front DD seems to be at a standstill. Even great sites need a face lift now and then to get people excited. However compared to some other sites out there DD is still one of the most fun communities to be a part of. You can come here to make friends instead of enemies which isn’t always the case with community sites.

Sarah: I also hope someone steps in and really works on DD, it will especially ease our minds that it's not just going to disappear one day.

THE XCENTRIKZ: If your comic were featured in an animated series, what would you imagine it being like?

Nick: Short Answer? Avatar: The last Air Bender. Cwen would be different as animated series. With web comics you have to pay off on every single page. With a animation I’d probably set the pacing and drama/comedy ratio a little differently. Plus when you can give people 25 minute segments at a time it lets you do (and limits) things you can’t do in a comic for various reasons. The fight scenes would be fairly different and we would probably have some earlier character development. Over all I think the tone would stay mostly the same but the pacing would be vastly different.

Sarah: Ditto with Nick's final statement, at least I certainly HOPE it would stay the same to some degree! As long as it doesn't look like a really cheap Flash animation I'm sure it'd be great! I know the expressions alone would be that much more amusing to see in animated form I think. And scenes like with Cwen slamming into Gram's flying horse-made sky rainbow would be that much more amusing. XD

THE XCENTRIKZ: How much do you interact with the Cwen’s Quest viewers?

Nick: I interact a lot. When I can I try to write back to every commenter. I'd like to do more with that and I've tried a few things like contests but right now it mostly comes back to just talking to the fans. I just hope it doesn't put people off I'll be pretty over the top most of the time.

Sarah: I don't interact as near as much as I should, I'm rather embarrassed to say. Though I comment occasionally and most definitely respond to anyone who directly messages me. And now, because I know suck here, I make a vow to start commenting more on the Cwen's Quest site! And I will too...

THE XCENTRIKZ: How important is recognition to you? Do you feel satisfied with the amount of viewers you already have, or do you wish the comic was more well known?

Sarah: I think the amount of viewers we got in the first year was amazing! Not to mention how quickly we got into the top ten spot at Drunkduck! I am happy with how many we have now, but I'd certainly love to lure more and more readers!

Nick: Well let me start of by saying while I’m happy with the quality of my readers, I’d like couple million more of them. I’m not saying CQ is perfect but I like CQ, it makes me laugh and I enjoy it and the more people I can get to enjoy it with me the better. Plus like everyone I wouldn’t mind trading my 9-5 for something I was going to do anyway.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Yay neat! What was it like in the beginning to publicize the comic? Do you still work hard at advertising?

Nick: Well at first we didn’t. In the beginning we just focused on making the comic great. I think a reason why comics don’t get readers is they spend too much time trying to get readers rather than making content for readers. We didn’t really start spreading the word of CQ really until we got the first story arc finished around 100 pages or so of the comic. Since then yes we’ve been working hard. We do the usual: post links, encourage fan art, run Project Wonderful ads and about every six months I try to come up with something to shake things up like a contest which has had mixed success. Publicity is an art all of its own and I’m still learning new things every day. Sometimes I even give interviews.

Sarah: http://sarahn.deviantart.com/ has gotten us a few more readers too!

THE XCENTRIKZ: What do your friends and family think of your work? Do they give you ideas that you use?

Sarah: They know about my comics and are really great and supportive. While I enjoy discussing them a little sometimes, they don't really lend ideas or anything. I'm not even entirely sure who reads what actually...

Nick: Well my wife Amy reads my comic and she loves it. She always wants to know what is going to be next. The rest of my family, well if I ask them they'll give feedback but they've been much more interested in some of my other works then CQ, it just isn't their thing honestly but they are supportive. The one exception is my mother in law who is actually a big fan and comments on any page. Not much of CQ is drawn from life. You just don't find enough giant British apes and three headed monsters with a twitch.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Is there something you really can’t stand doing? How do you overcome (or avoid!) this problem?

Nick: I can stand spending a week to come up with a drawing little better then a kindergarten project and I overcame this problem by...um let me get back to you on that. In the mean time I'm having a blast avoiding the problem 'cause I get to work with some great artists and that is a lot of fun.

Sarah: Well, when it comes to doing comic pages there are number of things I don't care much for doing, backgrounds and large crowds being some examples, and when I'm not in the mood to draw, an entire page can be a problem! All I can do when this happens is take it easy and do it at my own pace so I don't get strained. I also can't stand doing anything with a headache.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Is Cwen’s Quest more of a hobby to you, or a job? If you have another occupation, tell us about it!

Sarah: Both. XD It is a fun hobby and currently my only job. If I didn't like the story I was drawing though, I doubt I would've been able to keep doing it...even as a job alone.

Nick: Well I do it ‘cause I love it so I guess hobby but I’ve been trying to find a way to turn it into a part time job. I’ve shopped CQ around to a few places. With Lord of the Rings on the out and Twilight on the in, the state of pop culture is against us but I’m always hopeful that next time someone will take a chance on us being the next Gold Digger or Mouse Guard.

THE XCENTRIKZ: That's cool. Soooo... If you had an “ideal day,” what would it involve?

Sarah: When it comes to the comic? Completely a page that looks great and has little to no errors and a load of great comments makes me happy enough! Though receiving a fanart or someone suddenly promoting CQ would really be the icing on the cake!

Nick: Um….what did that guy say in Hot Fuzz about this? I’ll go with his answer.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Have you ever fantasized that your real life could be more like your comic? Why or why not?

Sarah: I don't know, seems rather stressful in the world of Cwen's Quest to me. XD Though I'd probably be happy as long as I had Riddly's powers.

Nick: Hmmm you might change your mind if I told you how they worked. I kind of already do live in Cwen's world since I gotta keep going back there for more stories but I'm happy just visiting from afar. I'm pretty sure my stats scores are not high enough to get me a character class anyway in a fantasy world.

Sarah: As long as I'm not born as one of Attez's daughters...

THE XCENTRIKZ: Haha yea. If two of your characters had the ultimate fight, who would you pick, and who would win? Would be a physical confrontation or a battle of the words? (Great example below here by the way haha!)

Sarah: While one of these characters hasn't been really covered yet...Riddly VS Knives (in a physical fight of course)! Knives just seems like he'd be interesting to watch in a fight against Riddly for some reason... And Riddly would win of course. Though I'd like to see more of Cwen's skills...against anyone!

Nick: Comic hilarity does happen when you play with knives….or was that horrible tragedy? Anyway Cwen vs Attez as the ultimate fight (Since we already had an Ape vs Leviathan fight) but as for what would happen I'm afraid it will have to wait for the comic series.

THE XCENTRIKZ: If you suddenly had limitless resources and time to improve Cwen’s Quest, what would you do?

Sarah: HIRE A BUNCH OF HELPERS! A background artist, a flat colorist, a letterer, an inker, an editor (I'd just sketch it)....wow, that sounded really lazy. O_o Heck, if we're talking absolutely limitless - I'd consider trying to get helpers to make it an animation!

Nick: Good idea, as mentioned before animation would be great! The main thing I would do different is flesh out the world and characters more with some extra stories and side content.

THE XCENTRIKZ: You guys have quite the imagination, so go for it! Haha. Any thoughts or predictions, on the future of comics, and their place on the quickly-evolving internet?

Sarah: Well, the internet has movies, music, and basically everything now. I wouldn't be surprised if regular print comics became an endangered species one day. It's hard to say though really...but they are definitely here to stay, as long as the internet remains.

Nick: Well I think web comics are already creeping toward the main stream. I think you’ll the next big advance when I-phone DLC becomes available to amateurs or they come out with the kindle for comics. But honestly if I knew the next big thing I’d be already doing it ahead of everyone else. Project Wonderful though has already been a big breakthrough for comics though in my opinion. I could see a lot of potential for growing micro service providers online like Drivethrucomics for the web world particularly if someone can break diamond comics hold on distribution into the comic mainstream.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Anything else to share about the comic? Perhaps a hint on what will happen next…???!

Sarah: Uuh, well...it'll be fun like a VIDEO GAME. *ahem* (That was bad.)

Nick: I'll just say I hope after reading this you'll check out CQ and not hold anything Lord Attez does against me as the writer. Oh and we'll be meeting another of Cwen's siblings in chapter 8.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Alright, neat. Hey, thank you for taking the time to tell us more about Cwen’s Quest, guys. Wishin' all the best for ya!! Please view this neat comic, everybody.

Nick: It was fun! Thanks for having us.
Sarah: Ditto!

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