The Xcentrikz - Interactive Comic

Interview with the super-talented creator of Slightly Damned - Chu!
June 11, 2009

When we had a chance to chat with the creator of the extremely popular comic, Slightly Damned, we jumped on it. Raizy The Chu, also known simply as Chu, writes and illustrates the comic. Chu’s unique characters are featured in an exciting fantasy world of demons, angels, and her own totally original creatures. The captivating stories typically revolve around Rhea Snaketail, an adventuresome girl of the “Jakkai” species, and her friends Buwaro, a fire demon, and Kieri, an angel who’s occasionally in snow bunny form. Slightly Damned is rated by the author as PG-13. Be sure to check it out as well as Chu’s other artistic creations at her main site, http://www.raizap.com/

June 11, 2009

The Xcentrikz Team: Hello Chu! Thank you for sharing with me today! For those who haven’t had the pleasure of meeting your creations yet, please tell us about it.

Chu: Well, I'm the author and illustrator of the weekly webcomic Slightly Damned. It's set in a fantasy universe, is story-driven, and has a lot of humor with some action, drama, and even some romance. Every comic is a large page in full color (I l ike to say it looks like a rainbow barfed on it), and I pride myself on the fact that I've never missed an update. Late updates are another story... but I always make it up later!

The Xcentrikz: Rainbow barf, hahaha, hilarious. How did you get inspired to create Slightly Damned and its elaborate world?

Chu: Believe it or not, a lot of my ideas came from when I was writing a Pokemon fanfic in my middle school/early high school days. After a while, what was going on in the story got more and more detached from the source material-- we're talking castles and gods and the afterlife here -- and I realized that apart from the presence of Pokemon, it didn't feel like I was writing a Pokemon fanfic anymore. I stopped writing for a while, and then my teacher in an animation class I was taking in high school gave an inspirational speech about creating things that are original. To paraphrase what he said, "You could make the best Spider-man creation in the world, but Spider-man would still belong to someone else." That motivated me to use my old ideas and give them life in something that was completely original. In fact, it was in that animation class that I made the first Slightly Damned comics, although back then it was called Slightly Darned.

Also: daydreaming. Lots of daydreaming when I should have been paying attention to something else.

The Xcentrikz: You’ve been working on Slightly Damned for several years, and it’s been great to watch your art evolve into what it is today. What were your early drawing experiences like? How did you get into using your skills for webcomics?

Chu: I've always loved to draw, even from a really early age. When I was in elementary school, I would endlessly draw fanart for my favorite TV shows like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Sailor Moon, video games like Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog, and of course, lots of animals both real and mythological. Speaking of fanart, Pokemon was a huge influence on my drawing style, which a number of people have pointed out.

Although I would occasionally draw little strips for friends, it took me a little longer than you might expect for me to get into drawing full-paged comics like you'd find in graphic novels. Peer pressure actually had a lot do to with motivating me. I had a bunch of friends who were doing webcomics, and I thought it would be a good idea to combine my love of storytelling and of drawing into my own comic.

The Xcentrikz: Would you like to tell us a bit about yourself? What’s a busy comic creator’s life like for you?

Chu: When I first started Slightly Damned, I was in my juni or year of high school. It was easy to find time to draw the comic; I would just draw it during my animation class when we had nothing else to do (and that was often. 90% of class time was spent goofing off). Coloring it was a bit more problematic, as I shared a computer with my parents and we would fight over who got to use it in the evenings.

As of writing this, I just graduated from UC Santa Barbara with BAs in English and Japanese. Despite the work load, I found that I had a lot more time to work on the comic once I was out of my parents' house and I had my own computer. That didn't stop me from succumbing to laziness, of course. Balancing school and working on a webcomic might sound a bit intense, but if you think about it, there are plenty of people out there who go to school and work to support themselves. Completing one comic a week and maintaining the site is a big responsibility, but it isn't overwhelming as long as you're not a complete idiot about managing your time.

I often find myself wishing that I had more time to concentrate on the comic, though.

The Xcentrikz: What typically inspires your work? How does your creative process flow?

Chu: Like I mentioned before: lots of daydreaming. I'm almost always thinking about Slightly Damned no matter what I'm doing. I don't force myself to do it; it's just a way for my mind to escape and relax. In this way, I've come up with years of story material without even really trying. That reminds me: future authors, write your ideas down. I really hate it when I think up something that sounds great only to forget it entirely when it's time to implement it into the comic proper.

When it comes to actually creating the pages, I usually sit down and draw out a bunch of panel layouts on scratch paper. Depending on what's going on in the story and how I feel, I can pump out 4 or more rough drafts complete with dialogue in one sitting.

The Xcentrikz: Sounds like a good process and the results show it. So are there ongoing challenges you face in doing Slightly Damned, and how do you overcome them?

Chu: Time can be a real hamper on comic creation. Even when I'm really concentrating and I feel really motivated and oh man this is awesome I'm totally doing this-- comics take hours and hours to complete. I can easily run out of time if I procrastinate too long on starting a new page, I'm drawn away from my computer by social obligations, or if I just get distracted because I'm bored (hey, I'm human). The best thing for me to do is to avoid procrastinating and work on the comic over the course of a week rather than cramming in a bunch of drawing and coloring time right before it needs to be uploaded. That doesn't mean I actually DO that, though.

Convincing myself that there needs to be an update for every week has done a lot to keep the comic alive. "Better late than never" is my philosophy. Skipping updates is just not an option, and I hope to follow through with that even when I'm working in Japan.

The Xcentrikz: What do you enjoy most about creating Slightly Damned?

Chu: It feels really good to get my ideas out on paper, so to speak. Having everything stored in my imagination is one thing, but bringing them into reality in a form that I can easily revisit and share with other people is really rewarding.

The Xcentrikz: That's fabulous! ... Slightly Damned enjoys a great fan following. What’s the best part about your dedicated readers?

Chu: Even if it's just one person, I feel really great whenever anyone tells me they enjoy the comic. Something made you laugh? You want to see how the characters' relationships develop? Dying to know what happens next in the story? The death of a character made you cry? Great!

Not to mention how incredibly supportive these people are when I find myself in a financial crisis and hold donation drives.

The Xcentrikz: What do you enjoy most about going to the conventions to showcase your work? Any upcoming appearances we should expect to see you at?

Chu: By far the best part about going to conventions is meeting fans of the comic. It's really encouraging to have people tell you they like your work face-to-face.

Usually the only convention I'm able to go to is the California Bay Area's Fanime Con, which I've been faithfully attending for almost a decade. However, I'll soon be moving to Japan for a year, so I won't be able to attend any other conventions or next year's Fanime during that time.

The Xcentrikz: Do you have favorite characters to draw or write for? Why are they your favorites? One of my favorites to see is Kieri Suizahn!

Chu: I really can't decide which one of the characters is my absolute favorite. I like a lot of them for different reasons. I like Rhea because she's easy to relate to and fun to draw, I like Buwaro because he's funny and energetic, and I like Kieri because I think she's cute and acts as a nice, calm balance for the other two. Outside of the main trio I also have a soft spot for Darius because he's a loveable dope and a great father figure. He's also got what I think is the most interesting backstory-- there's a lot more that has yet to be revealed about him. I think a lot of readers will be really surprised in the next year or so!

The Xcentrikz: We heard about some of your other projects as an artist, including a fun game called Demon Gate. (Check out the FREE demo at http://www.raizap.com/demongate/) Chu, please tell us about the game, and what it was like to do its art?

Chu: I'm really not the best person to describe the game. Keemonto, my (soon-to be former) roommate and friend is the real mastermind behind it; I just contribute in the sense of providing jokes and artwork. I can tell you that he has really big ambitions for Demon Gate. The story and the world are huge, and when it's complete there'll be tons of stuff for players to do and lots of ways to progress through the game.

One challenge I have to face is my art becoming outdated as the game's development slowly progresses. I'm sure I'll find myself redoing a lot of the art before Demon Gate is finished. I guess I should take that as a good sign, though: if I don't feel dissatisfied with my old art, then that means I'm not improving.

The Xcentrikz : Being an illustrator is incredibly fulfilling work, whether for play or profit. Although since many web-comics are free or non-profit, it can be challenging for some authors to balance maintaining a web-comic with other life goals. How do you feel about this?

Chu: When one has to divide attention between a comic and real life, the comic's update frequency and quality can suffer. What's important is finding a balance between real life and webcomic-making that's comfortable. Going too far in either direction is a fast road to unhappiness.

Besides, you should only start a webcomic if that's what you really want to do. Unless you're a super popular comic or have rich patrons who'll give you loads of money on a regular basis, maintaining a webcomic pays a lot less than minimum wage. Don't expect it to live off of it from the get-go. If you really love your comic, then it shouldn't be too hard to find time for it in your life. It's just like any other hobby in that way.

The Xcentrikz: Wow, that's some great advice for everybody out there. Do you have other tips to share with other comic artists and writers?

Chu: Write what you want, not what you think will be popular. Readers come and go, but you're stuck with your work forever.

Have an update schedule and STICK TO IT NO MATTER WHAT. It can be every day, every week, every month, or whatever. Sticking to a schedule helps you stay diligent and pulls in regular readers.

The Xcentrikz: Great! So is there any thing else important you’d like to add? Perhaps some hints on future storylines of Slightly Damned …?

Chu: There's a lot more to Darius Elexion than you might think!

The Xcentrikz: Ah-ha! Looking forward to that. Well... thank you so much for talking about your creations, Chu. I hope they continue to grow!

Chu: No problem, and thanks!

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