The Xcentrikz - Interactive Comic

Interview with Michelle and Jim Lehmann,

The fantastic creators of FamilyWebComics.com

And Bitmap World!!

October 20, 2009

(Click on the images in this interview to visit the sites...)

We caught up with Michelle and Jim of the cute webcomic Bitmap World for a little chat. They also host the unique webcomic directory and rating site, FamilyWebComics.com. Both sites promote family-friendly viewing, and that's something we at The Xcentrikz team are very proud of! Use the directory to find great comics for yourself and the kids. And if you have your own comic, put their rating button on your comic today. Enjoy!

The Xcentrikz Team: Thank you for taking the time to do this interview, Jim and Michelle!

Michelle: Thanks for having us.

Jim: Thank-you.

The Xcentrikz: So Jim, you're into programming and Michelle, you're an artist... How did you two get started in doing webcomics? What inspired you?
Michelle: Jim has loved comics for years, well before many people even knew what webcomics were. He had long dreamed of doing a traditionally drawn independent print comic, so the idea of creating a comic on the internet was appealing to him. For me, comicking was a way to tell a story. Jim and I are writers, first and foremost. Over the years, work and family has just taken so much of our time, we're not able to write the long-form fiction we once did. Comics gave us a way to tell a story on a limited schedule. It also gave us a way to reach a large audience more easily than going the traditional publication route.

Jim: Before the internet, the cheapest way to mass-produce a comic was to photocopy it and staple it by hand, and then your audience was limited to however many you could manage to make. When I discovered webcomics, I realized that was the way to go, because your production costs were almost nothing. There weren't many comics back then compared to today, but there were still a lot of them. I couldn't find any review sites or webcomic directories, so I decided to create one. It was called Webcomic Fan. While it was unique at first, soon it became obsolete as a ton of other review sites suddenly appeared. Eventually it was obvious that my one-man-show was hardly competition against the newer, multi-staff sites, so shut it down. While that seems sad, it wasn't. The whole purpose of its existence -- because there were no other review sites -- was no longer true.

The Xcentrikz: Well it's cool to hear you were around in the "pioneering" days... For those of us who haven't seen it already, tell us a little about Bitmap World!

Michelle: It's a comic about a family of smileys living on a computer server. The art is done with actual smileys and pixel-art. We often call it a comedic cross between Tron and Reboot. The thing I think that makes it a bit original is that it has quite a wide range of storylines spanning several different genres. The strip covers family issues, work issues, gaming, superheroes, and more. While it may seem simply like a cute comic at first, our fans are often surprised at how developed the stories are and the level of humor we manage to incorporate.

Jim: It really covers a wide range. We knew from the beginning we didn't want to limit ourselves to any one genre. Real life doesn't limit itself like that.

The Xcentrikz: How did Bitmap World come about? What was it like to invent its unique characters?

Michelle: I had been creating smileys for my websites for many years. It was something I got into because I had a hard time finding the specific emoticons I wanted for my various forums. I had gotten to a point where I was proud of the pixel art I was creating and wanted to do a little more with it. Jim and I had talked about doing a webcomic together for a while, but nothing seemed to mesh. Then one day I suggested doing a comic with smileys as the art and things just blossomed from there.

Jim: When our oldest daughter was eight, she created a picture on the computer using a bunch of the smileys Michelle had created. That was the primary inspiration for using smileys in the comic. Before we even started on the first strip, we sat down and looked over a bunch of smileys and began creating characters. We had so many that there are characters we introduced early on in the strip that still have yet to be covered more thoroughly.

The Xcentrikz: How fun! Great. What motivated you to start Family Webcomics? (Besides the obvious, that comics on the web were seriously lacking an organized rating system!) What do you hope to offer to other webcomic readers and authors, with this great resource?

Michelle: Honestly, our own kids. I think a lot of people want to protect families, but it takes on a greater importance when you have children of your own. Our kids were getting to the age where they were getting interested in reading webcomics. As parents, we wanted to do our part and find comics that would be appropriate for them. Problem was, all the listing and review sites we found focused on general content. We found collectives that advertised themselves as family-friendly, but even that was spotty since one person's opinion of acceptable is not necessarily another's. There were simply no sites that offered information on the appropriateness of comics for younger readers. It was a matter where there was a need and we decided to fill it.

The Xcentrikz: I'm glad you did! Tell us about BYOC, Build Your Own Comic, the utility you offer.

Michelle: It's simply a fun little utility Jim created and coded that allows people to create a comic using our static strip layouts. There's several different variations to choose from. Users can have fun creating them for personal use (I've heard of one visitor who made a custom one for a birthday card), or they can submit them to our site for inclusion in our BYOC gallery.

Jim: We've used it ourselves a couple of times to create filler strips, when the regular comic was going to be late.

The Xcentrikz: Are there particularly challenging aspects of your work? How do you overcome them?

Michelle: Juggling our many projects, family, work, and life commitments. Most of the time, we are able to handle it. However, in recent months, like many others, we've been hit hard by the economic downturn. It's meant shifting our attention to other things and not having the free time we once had. It's made keeping everything up-to-date much more difficult. I think in those instances, the only way you can overcome is to just keep going. Eventually you hope things will get better and you'll catch-up. Right now, we're still struggling, but we're at least seeing some light on the workload front and hopes of getting everything up to speed again.

The Xcentrikz: The story of many folks right now, yes. Best of luck to you! ... So what are your favorite parts of doing webcomics?

Jim: I really enjoy writing and creating stories. Both of us write primarily to entertain people. We love hearing from our readers.

Michelle: The whole process. Creating the characters and the world they live in, writing the stories, plotting out the storylines, and drawing the art. Then there is the connection with the fans. Being online gives you the ability to interact with your fans much more easily than comic-creators could in the past. It's just a great experience overall.

The Xcentrikz: Sounds like you both share complementing skills in your web design and comic work. What's it like running a business together?

Michelle: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Honestly, I love working with Jim. He is such a talented writer and programmer. We have both have skills that compliment each other, but don't overlap too much, so I think that makes us a good strong team. On the other hand, you never can leave work behind. It's not like my daytime job where I leave my problems at the office. When things are good, they are really good. However, when we are running against a deadline or facing business problems, it can be difficult.

Jim: What she said.

The Xcentrikz: Heh heh, good to hear. Doing webcomics can be fun and exciting. Although since many webcomics are free or non-profit, it can be challenging for some authors to balance maintaining a webcomic with a personal life and paying job! How do you usually balance your goals?

Michelle: We accept our limits and just do what we can when we can. Sometimes that means slow progress, but we do eventually move forward. We've had many people tell us they would love our comic to update more frequently (we're currently at twice a week). We've had complaints when the comic updates a day or two late. I think we would both love to be more regular or up how many comics we do, but we understand that it's not realistic. I think we are good at letting our fans know that we love doing the comic, but it is still secondary to our real-life commitments. Most of our fans have similar life struggles, so they have been very supportive and understanding.

Jim: We've been very lucky to have such supportive fans. Most of them realize our situation and are sympathetic.

The Xcentrikz: We heard you guys were parents of a daughter. Is she expressing interest in Mom and Dad's talents yet, and possibly joining the family biz?

Michelle: We actually have 8 kids. Okay, while you're getting your jaw off the floor, I'll say that our kids are VERY supportive of what we do. They love the fact that we are creative. They are also probably the biggest fans of the strip. Our daughter is actually credited on the strip as a co-creator, though she does more technical stuff on the strip now. As for the family business, our children are very interested and involved in our projects. They are probably our best promoters, spreading the word. They also have a strong interest in writing and the creative process. If they are not directly connected to our work in the future, I am sure they will be off working on their own independent projects.

Jim: Our kids have already started drawing comics and making up stories. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before one or more of them creates a webcomic on their own.

The Xcentrikz: Awwww, that's so nice! Glad they're having fun. Do you have advice for other webcomic artists and writers just starting out?

Jim: There's probably a little voice in your head saying, "Oh, I could never do this." Don't listen to that voice.

Also, don't expect to make any money. If you do that, you'll be more focused on trying to make money than on trying to make a good comic. Any time your readership slips you'll go into a panic. There's a few people who make their living off of their webcomics, but it's such a tiny percentage compared to the total number of webcomics out there. If your goal is to quit your day job, you'll have better odds buying lottery tickets.

Michelle: I have 2 main pieces of advice. First, do what you love. If you enjoy what you are doing and creating, it will make it much easier in the beginning when you are building your strip and your audience. It can take a long time to build a readership. If you enjoy your own work, that self-fulfillment is very important to keep you motivated and going.

Second, work in your own comfort-zone. It's wonderful to seek out advice and feedback, but at the end of the day you're the one that has to do your comic. Don't feel pressured to do something just because it worked for another comic. What works for one comic may not work for yours. Update schedule, art-style, writing-style, etc. Be realistic and work within your limitations. People would far rather read a good comic updated once a week than a poorly done comic updated 3 times a week.

The Xcentrikz: AWESOME and very true advice, thanks. I hope many people read it and benefit from it. Anything else you'd like to share with everybody out there?

Michelle: Monkeys are cool. Yeah.

Jim: I really don't have much to add to what Michelle just said. Sorry.

The Xcentrikz: Heh heh, you two are great, thanks. And thanks for the awesome chat, you guys! Best of prosperity in all your ventures.

Michelle: Thanks for having us. We appreciate the opportunity to share with your readers.

Jim: Thank-you.

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