The Xcentrikz - Interactive Comic

Interview with the fantastical Félix Lavallée, of Flaky Pastry!

July 31, 2009

Félix Lavallée is a unique contribution to the web comic community, as well as a very nice person. This was a particularly fun interview! I hope you also enjoy it. If you haven't given it a try already, please view Flaky Pastry. It's about the very exciting adventures of three wacky gals, and their fantastical lives with kooky fantasy folks. You can get to know more about them on their cast page!

The Xcentrikz Team: Thanks Felix for this interview, it’ll be fun! We’d like to send some new readers over. So before we get engrossed in our little chat, how about you tell everybody a bit about Flaky Pastry? What’s it all about, and what’s the title mean?

Félix Lavallée: You're very welcome! Flaky Pastry is about three fairly different heroines, in a world much like ours, but with science fiction and fantasy thrown in. Needless to say, stuff happens, and hilarity ensues.

As for the title, it pretty much means whatever people want it to mean. I like to leave certain things open to interpretation. Maybe it refers to the flaky disposition of the cast, or implies that the comic is light and sweet to the taste, and goes straight to your thighs.

THE XCENTRIKZ: (Ha ha) Great. Do you have previous cartooning or writing experience, before Flaky Pastry? What did you think of comics as a kid and teen, did you doodle then?

Félix Lavallée: I loved comics as a kid and teen! I read tons. Mostly European comics like Asterix, Tintin, and the like. I discovered manga and american comics later. A lot of my inspiration also comes from the animated medium, too. I've been drawing all my life, but I eventually went on to study in animation - I think it helped my so-called drawing "talent" into more of a "skill".

Writing I have less experience with - I've done a lot of roleplaying and making up stories in my head, but actually writing it all down coherently not so much - but then, I do comics, and not novels!

THE XCENTRIKZ: Alright, so what piqued your interest enough to get started with Flaky Pastry? Anything in particular about the fantasy world, that really captures your imagination?

Félix Lavallée: I've always loved Fantasy and Science Fiction, things that are larger than life, couldn't happen in reality. At the same time, reality is something we're all familiar with... most of us. Basically when I started Flaky Pastry, I wanted a world without limits, where anything could theoretically happen: you have college life alongside magic and mad science; goblins, elves, dragons, robots, vampires, catgirls; swords, guns, kissing, punching, explosions! Ahem. Anyway that's what I was thinking.

THE XCENTRIKZ: And then how did you come up with the main cast? Do you have a favourite character?

Félix Lavallée: Very nearly all characters in Flaky Pastry are characters I created long before the comic started. I used to roleplay a lot ... or rather, I liked to create characters for roleplaying, then never got around to using most of them. That and just creating characters at random for no other reason than because it's fun. Flaky Pastry sort of gives them a place to shine!

I don't really have a favourite character, but out of the main cast Nitrine is probably the closest to the MAIN main character... but I love them all.... except Gabe. What a jerk.

THE XCENTRIKZ: What usually instigates your great concepts? Do your friends and family inspire you?

Félix Lavallée: Basically everything and anything can inspire me. That includes my family and friends. Sometimes something that is said in a conversation will turn into a story element later.. My "great concepts" usually center around putting a new spin on familiar tropes and concepts. Fantasy with a twist. Romance with a twist. Adventure with a twist. I often say classics are classics for a reason, but at the same time no one wants to read the same predictable thing over and over. Whether I succeed or not is up to the readers to decide!

THE XCENTRIKZ: A great perspective there. What do you enjoy most about cartooning?

Félix Lavallée: There's hardly anything I -don't- enjoy about it!

THE XCENTRIKZ: Wonderful, your enthusiasm shows through. Is there something challenging about creating Flaky Pastry? How do you overcome it?

Félix Lavallée: Like I said before, writing is always pretty challenging. I usually imagine storylines in broad strokes; filling them in with interesting events, character development bits and lots of funny requires wracking my brain a lot. The only trick I have to deal with it is to try and do it all in advance. And dialog! Oh, dialog. I usually fiddle around with it right up until the last minute before I finally upload the week's strip to the website.

THE XCENTRIKZ: How do you feel about the way Flaky Pastry has changed since you got started?

Félix Lavallée: I feel... good! I think my art has improved a lot since then. It's a lot more consistent and detailed... shading and various visual effects that I didn't use in the begining have become standard. I think the stories have also become more interesting as the various characters get more and more on-screen development.

THE XCENTRIKZ: If there was something you could ideally change in the comic, what would it be?

Félix Lavallée: I think a lot of readers will agree when I say: the update schedule! If I could realistically update more than once per week, that would be great. But there just isn't time.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Where would you like to see the comic at in 1 year? 5 years?

Félix Lavallée: I don't really know... the growth in popularity of the last four years (the entire life of the comic) has been pretty amazing I'm not one of the big players of the webcomic world, but still, I didn't really expect anything like that, so who knows what may happen in the future? I certainly plan to keep going. I have several ideas for future storylines. Things like visiting some of the main characters' lands of origin, a vacation arc, battle of the bands, and finding out more about the mysterious neighbour. Hopefully I'll get to do all these, that's all I'd really want to see.

THE XCENTRIKZ: What other cartoonists and entertainers do you admire? How do they influence Flaky Pastry?

Félix Lavallée: No specific names come to mind... I like a wide variety of comics, cartoons, television shows, games, movies and novels... I absorb it all like a sponge and draw my inspiration from that...

Discworld, Slayers, the Chronicles of Amber, Transformers, Batman, Bleach, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Astérix, Day of the Tentacle, Peanuts, Mysterious Cities of Gold, Metal Gear Solid, Wallace & Gromit, Final Fantasy, Lord of the Rings, Garfield, Harry Potter, Guilty Gear, King's Quest, Ghostbusters, just to name a few.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Those are some incredible inspirations! So how do you think Flaky Pastry became as popular as it is? Did you work to promote it or did it spread in a word-of-mouth way?

Félix Lavallée: Both methods helped. Of course as I started my comic I told all my friends, and frequently keep pestering them every week... and they told their friends, and so on. I also buy advertizing on different places on the web, mostly other webcomics, and mostly through Project Wonderful (it's wonderful!). But I believe the best thing one can do to promote one's work, is to put effort and dedication into the work itself. Had I spent ten times more on advertizing, it wouldn't have helped if I had just put up half-assed comics as an afterthought.

THE XCENTRIKZ: What do you think about your dedicated readers?

Félix Lavallée: I love those guys! And gals! They're crazy. They make me smile a lot. It's fun to read the threads of comments, theories, spotting references, and all sorts of discussions that pop up on my forum after each update. It's really awesome and is a big part of why making this comic is so rewarding. I'm glad I can entertain them and provide them with a spark to go on unexpected tangents like that.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Doing comics for a hobby or a living can be really fun. Although since many web-comics are published for free, it can be difficult for some authors to maintain a web-comic with other responsibilities, like a day-job. What’s it like for you in doing Flaky Pastry?

Félix Lavallée: It's really fun! But it involves the occasional sacrifice. Like once in a while I may not be able to go out with friends, if I'm worried about not making my self-imposed deadline. Thankfully I got into the habit of doing things a bit in advance, so it's not that frequent. This of course because I have a day job in addition to comic making and everything. But the day job in a way saves time for me, since I don't need to go looking for contracts or new ways to make money to live. Another hard thing is always coming up with new material, week after week - and trying my darnedest to make it funny. As an artist, I sometimes get tired of drawing the same characters all the time, too... Luckily I have several different characters in the comic, but just the same I need to make time for other drawings on occasion.

THE XCENTRIKZ: How do you feel about the future of the web-comic industry?

Félix Lavallée: Is it an industry? Hm, I guess. I don't really see how webcomics could ever become a BIG industry, as in one that makes tons of money... since they are, basically, free. I've heard of some pay comics, but I don't really that that's very viable. There's the selling of merchandise, as well, which is how a few webcomic makers are making a living... but those'll always remain a minority in my opinion. There'll always be people who just want to show their work and tell a good story, though. And it's easier to just put your stuff on the net than to print and distribute it on paper. So I don't really see it taking over the world like video games have in the last few decades, but it's never going to fade away, either.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Yea... What’s one of the weirdest things that’s ever happened to you as a cartoonist?

Félix Lavallée: Less than half a year after the comic started... since this is a weekly comic, this means 15 strips in, before even the start of the dungeon arc... someone on my forum started writing a short fanfic. I was... flattered, of course. But also very confused, since I found it hard to believe that the material I had published at that point was enough to warrant fanfic, or even for anyone outside my head to grasp the characters sufficiently to write one.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Any special people you’d like to thank for their help with your comic?

Félix Lavallée: The preview crew! Just a few of my friends that help me 'beta-test' each new page before I put it online. Their patience with my constant pestering has helped avert many mistakes as well streamline layouts and dialog. But also, I want to thank each and every reader of Flaky Pastry. You. complete. me.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Alright! Anything else you’d like to share today? What’s up next for Flaky Pastry?

Félix Lavallée: I mentioned I like to draw other things besides Flaky Pastry. Well I invite all my readers to also check out my art blog, Jogging, and my page on deviantArt! I'm always surprised when I get comments there about people who are themselves surprised, as they've only just discovered these after having followed Flaky Pastry for some time. They're not a secret, people! I link them right on the FP site, in the 'Stuff' section. I encourage everyone to check it out! Meanwhile, what is next on Flaky Pastry? Quite simply... the future. People who've read the latest strip will already know this.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Thanks again for the chat Felix, I hope your fans got to know you and your amazing creations better today!

Félix Lavallée: Thank YOU for this opportunity! I hope so as well.

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