The Xcentrikz - Interactive Comic

November 11, 2009

Interview with Phillipa Rice, creator of...

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

Phillipa Rice is a very nice gal with a VERY creative and fun comic! Please try out her inventive and humorous creation, My Cardboard Life. Enjoy the interview...

The Xcentrikz Team: Hello Philippa, and thank you for talking with me! Could you please share a little insight on your wonderful work, for the new readers?

Phillipa: For just over a year I've been making a webcomic called 'My Cardboard Life'. Each comic strip is a collage made from real cardboard, scrap paper and other materials. The main characters are Cardboard Colin and Paper Pauline, who are best friends.

THE XCENTRIKZ: So how did My Cardboard Life originally come about?

Phillipa: Originally, the character of Cardboard Colin was for a children's storybook idea about recycling. I had lots of cardboard around at the time from moving into a new house (actually, I'm still surrounded by cardboard). In the end, the children's book didn't work out, but Cardboard Colin was too appealing to leave behind.

THE XCENTRIKZ: That's fun to know. So what was art background and experience, before My Cardboard Life? How do you think this influences the comic?

Phillipa: I did a degree in animation in 2004-2007, and before that I was doing art and design in school. Whilst I was doing my degree, I tended to favour hand-made animation over digital techniques, I tried a bit of cut-out animation, such as in this film "The Wisdom Tooth" http://www.vimeo.com/3283651 it's a mixture of cut out, and oil paint animation. I think I've carried over quite a few skills from my degree into my comics.

THE XCENTRIKZ: What was it like telling people about My Cardboard Life, when you were just starting out? How did the public react to promotions you tried? How did your friends react? And most importantly, tell us how YOU felt about their reactions!

Phillipa: At first I didn't really promote My Cardboard Life at all. I was a bit shy about telling people to come to the site. I went to UK Web and Mini-Comix Thing last March, and my mini-comics of the My Cardboard Life strips got a really good reaction. After that I felt a lot better about promoting it. I joined the webcomic collective TNP press in April and have learnt a lot about promotion/marketing through that.

THE XCENTRIKZ: What is your brainstorming process usually like? Does it take a lot of planning and inspiration to do each page, does it vary, or are you more spur-of-the-moment?

Phillipa: It varies a lot. Sometimes I have a phase where I've got lots of ideas all at once and I can plan out lots of strips in one day. More often though I have to sit and think about it for a long time. Usually I end up sitting in my bedroom, and trying to get ideas out of nowhere. I've got this singing rubber duck that my sister bought me for my birthday a few years ago, it's on my shelf, and when I'm trying and failing to get a idea, I tend to come up with "…so Colin has this rubber duck, and it sings. When I get to that point I know it's time to give up and try and find inspiration elsewhere.

THE XCENTRIKZ: What's your favorite part about updating My Cardboard Life?

Phillipa: There's something really enjoyable to me about updating something on a regular basis. It's the collecting aspect of it. Like if you collect stamps or cards or Lord of the Rings memorabilia. Even if you're only adding something new a few times a week, it adds up over time, and to have a set of all these things which keeps getting bigger is really satisfying. Also I love getting comments and feedback on the strips, especially when readers come up with their own cardboard puns!

THE XCENTRIKZ: How did you come up with the cute and fun characters?

Phillipa: The original design was just a man made from cardboard, and a woman made out of paper. They've sort of picked up their own personalities on the way. A lot of their personality traits have come out of their shapes; Colin was small with a big head so he became a naïve, endearing character. Pauline is very angular, and her personality is sharp and sassy.

THE XCENTRIKZ: What are some of your favorite fictional characters? Did they affect the creation of your characters?

Phillipa: Thinking of some of my favourite characters now, Mr Bean, Marvin (from Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy), Luigi, Spongebob Squarepants. They're all silly and a bit hopeless. Those characteristics are appealing to me and some of my characters have picked them up too.

THE XCENTRIKZ: How do you feel about the dialogue you write? What are some of the best moments between the characters?

Phillipa: I try and keep the dialogue as short as I can, not just because it makes the comic more concise, but also there's not a lot of space in the panels for me to cram the writing in. I think some of the better strips are the ones with no dialogue.

THE XCENTRIKZ: And how do you feel about the art style of your comic? Anything you'd improve?

Phillipa: It's improved a lot since I started, and I hope I can keep improving it. It would be nice if I could make it a bit neater…but not too neat!

THE XCENTRIKZ: My Cardboard Life is one of the few "real physical media" comics I've seen, and it's definitely the first mixed media collage comic I've seen! This is really great and innovative stuff you've got here. How do you feel about your comic being so unique?

Phillipa: I'm pleased that you think so. I sort of stumbled upon this technique by avoiding digital methods, and drawing (which I'm not that confident or consistent with) so it's kind of a bonus that it's ended up looking a bit different from other webcomics.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Obviously there's more than cardboard going on here… Tell us about the other mediums and techniques you've used so far.

Phillipa: Mostly I've used different sorts of paper, card and fabric, but there have been some cameos from various bits and pieces, offices supplies like staples, paperclips rubber bands etc. The Queen made an appearance (in the form of a stamp). I've also used a band-aid to make a character. I like him because I don't have to cut him out or use any glue to stick him to the page.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Amazing! Do you do any parts of the comic digitally? Looks like you're even handwriting your own dialogue, too!

Phillipa: The comic strips are all hand made. Once I've scanned the page, I have to resize it for the website, also the four panel strips and extra long strips have to be re-arranged a bit digitally because they won't fit onto an A4 page. Another thing that I occasionally have to do is correct my spelling on Photoshop. I guess that's the risk of writing the dialogue by hand (or the risk of not learning how to spell).

THE XCENTRIKZ: Interesting, thank you. Doing comics can be really fulfilling. Although especially since many web-comics are for free or non-profit, it can be challenging for some creators to reach all their goals. Is doing the comic more of a hobby for you, or do you hope to turn it into something more?

Phillipa: At the moment, I'm not in a full time job, I do a lot of different part-time, self employed or freelance things and it seems like my comic is included with that, so I don't think of it as a hobby. If I ever get myself into a full-time job it might get reassigned to hobby status. I think that would be a bit of a shame, but either way I'm going to stick with it and try and make each strip as good as I can.

THE XCENTRIKZ: That's nice. How about opinions on the "web-comic industry!" Do you think its future is promising?

Phillipa: A great thing about webcomics, is that anyone can make a webcomic, and they can make it about anything they want without compromising their ideas. So there are a lot of original and refreshing ideas around that you wouldn't necessarily get to see from bigger industries (like TV. Or books). More and more people are turning to the internet for entertainment so I'd say the future of the webcomic industry is looking good. To me, the best thing about the webcomic industry is the people within it. Everyone's willing to help each other out. In other creative industries, where there's a limited number of jobs, or things to be published, people are more competitive and out for themselves.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Can you name a time when the viewer reactions significantly affected My Cardboard Life? If so, why did you listen to their ideas?

Phillipa: Cardboard Colin is always putting up with people being mean to him. Especially Pauline and the Polar bear. If I do a strip where he's being treated badly, people seem to want him to stand up for himself or get revenge. Colin's normally too pathetic to do that, but there was one occasion where Colin was repeatedly being hurt and humiliated over a series of about five strips, and at the end of that I did a finale where he finally cracked and got his own back.

Another, more direct example was when I had a selection of Halloween costumes for Colin and the readers voted for their favourite one, which I used in the Halloween strip.

THE XCENTRIKZ: That was a great page!! Any other fun topics, to share today?

Phillipa: In October I took my comics to APE (alternative press expo) in San Francisco. That was fun! It was a long way for me to go (I'm from the UK) but I'm glad I went because I had a really good time. If I can, I'll come and do another con in the States next year, but I'm not sure which one yet.

THE XCENTRIKZ: How about the any developments in My Cardboard Life? What might be happening next?

Phillipa: Well, I've recently decided to change the update schedule from three times a week (M/W/F) to five (mon-fri). I'm going to generate enough time to do it by giving up playing the Sims 3. I've already gone five days cold turkey!

Another thing I'm working on is adding more content to my site in the form of some fun games. I've already made one, a flash dress-up game where you can choose outfits for Cardboard Colin. People have been linking to outfits that they've made, and I must say, some people have got a really snappy eye for fashion!

THE XCENTRIKZ: It's wonderful hearing your answers and I bet your fans will enjoy it. Thank you and keep up the good work. Please visit this very unique and fun comic, gang!

Phillipa: I've really enjoyed doing this interview, thank you very much!

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