The Xcentrikz - Interactive Comic

November 27, 2009

Interview on that amazing graphic novel by Der-shing Helmer...

(Click on the images to visit the site!)

Please try out this amazing story by the very talented Der-Shing Helmer! It's no wonder it's so popular, with the great characters and meaningful storylines. Have fun!

The Xcentrikz Team: Thanks so much for the interview, I’m looking forward to your answers. As I hope your readers are, too! So can you give new readers out there a little intro on this epic tale? What’s The Meek about?

The Meek is over-archingly about man's relative worth to the world, but on a smaller scale it is about people and their decisions (and why they make them). There are a lot of concepts that interest me that I've managed to work into the comic, such as social and scientific issues, but I try to disguise them a bit so it doesn't seem like I'm on a soapbox.

THE XCENTRIKZ: And a great job you've done there! Always interesting to put in a deeper meaning behind a story. So did you do other comic or illustration work, before The Meek? If so, how did that work compare to this comic?

The Meek is my first foray into finished comic work. I did a smaller b/w comic, Snowball in Hell, for practice (I have not yet completed the story) and am also working on a few books out of an educational series called Manga Math for Lerner Books. That one is in black and white as well. Though the work I did on those is less intensive (per page) than Meek work, I look at both of them as opportunities to improve my art skills so I can bring it into The Meek and future projects.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Oh okay, cool. So how did your idea for The Meek originate? Where did you come up with the great personalities of the characters, for this wonderful storyline?

The ideas have been floating around for a while, in various forms. The main story of The Meek is three different stories about three characters who are eventually drawn together. Developmentally, those stories used to all be separate as well. I realized a few years ago that they could all belong to the same universe and the played around with that idea until the story became what it is today. The characters... well, they sort of write themselves.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Any thoughts on how you developed your charming illustration style? The lightning effects are really great.

Thanks! My drawing style is a mix of American cartoon and Japanese anime influences. People tend to compare it to the style used in the animated show Avatar, although that is coincidental (my style was already like that before I saw the show!). As for colors and lighting, I pay a lot of attention to any setting that evokes a mood in me... be it at the BART station, or shadows on the wall at dusk... colors and lighting that have the power to make you feel is just another form of information, and I try to stuff as much of it into the comic as I can.

THE XCENTRIKZ: How much does your personal experience affect The Meek?

Of course it has to affect the story, since everyone is basically writing off of their experiences. Many of the settings and people are inspired from places/objects/people that I especially enjoyed or have a personal connection to. For example, Alamand (a character who will appear in Chapter 3) is sort of an amalgam of kids that I knew back when I was a tutor for elementary-school aged kids.

THE XCENTRIKZ: How much planning goes on, behind the scenes? How far do you plan into the future? Tell everyone about any interesting process you have.

So much planning goes on behind the scenes. I started the sketch version of this comic in 2007 and spent about two years on that before attempting the final version. Before the sketch comics were years of trying out ideas, drawing out small mini comics, developing and scrapping characters... I even took a conlang class to develop Basori, the language spoken by the Northerners. I don't focus on the world building necessarily, but since history is such an important influence on the present, I felt like I was obligated to flesh out the past as much as I could. So I had to do a lot of reading and research on world history to make the one in my world more believable. Not to mention all the other aspects of planning like architecture, clothing, political systems, social stratification, hairstyles, regional dialects and mannerisms... haha, its a lot. I made the Meek Wiki so I could compile it all in one place so I wouldn't feel like it was all just a bunch of anonymous info sitting on my comp at home (the wiki still isn't done yet, since a lot of the info in my head could spoil the plot).

THE XCENTRIKZ: Wow, that's neat to know. What was it like early on, showing The Meek to new viewers? What worked well, or failed miserably?

Showing the final comic was awesome, since I felt like I'd worked out many of the kinks already through my years of planning. I was pleased by how well it was received, not only by readers but by other webcomic artists whose work I'd enjoyed but who I'd never gotten a chance to talk to personally. The failure so far has been in making a buffer and updating on a consistent day/time. I still manage one page a week even with my busy schedule at the present, but I would like to achieve more consistency to repay my readers for being some of the nicest folks out there.

THE XCENTRIKZ: What do you enjoy the most about doing this great graphic novel?

The whole thing, the making of it, the posting it publicly, talking to readers, distributing comics to people who enjoy them... I go to bed at 11pm and wake up at 5am every day to find enough time to work on pages. The nice thing is that it really doesn't feel like work because I am getting so much satisfaction out of the process.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Doing comics and graphic novels on the web, for a living, or a hobby can be really great. But many web-comics are published for free viewing and non-profit. So it can be hard for some authors, who balance maintaining a free web-comic along with their day-job. What are your thoughts on this?

The point of my comic isn't to make money. My personal philosophy for most things is to analyze what is most important to me, put a lot of effort into the important things, and let the rest take care of itself. On the scale of my life, the important thing is to get a good, satisfying job and have a fulfilling hobby as well that will fill the empty space, so I'm working on that. On the scale of the comic, the important thing is to produce as high a quality of art and writing that I can (as one person) and tell the whole story before I die (its a long story). So far I couldn't be happier with the way my non-comic career is progressing, and in terms of the comic, I am also very pleased with the work I am putting out and sharing. The money that comes from ads or selling things is nice, but its hardly paying the bills. I guess it also helps that I'm really not very materialistic, haha. But it wasn't on my list of important things anyhow. I like to look at whatever small income I make from the comic as a boon, like finding a $20 bill on the street.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Great. Are there things that challenge you in your work? If so, how do you work through them?

The time issue, certainly. I dislike the idea of putting out more volume with less quality, but I don't want the pacing to suffer either (that is also a type of quality). Once a week updates are getting on my nerves big-time, but that is, realistically, a compromise I have to make. Art-wise I have to do some things that are difficult, like learn about architecture and perspective, but it is nothing that someone else hasn't done before so I tend to be optimistic about that kind of thing.

THE XCENTRIKZ: If The Meek became a feature film, how do you envision it? Would you pick certain celebrities to play your characters?

Haha, uh... I have no idea. I can't think of anyone! I'd be interested to see if Angora would have to wear a bra, though.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Tell us a bit about your personality! It’s fun to get to know who’s behind the story.

I'm very, very boring. And I'm really anal and over-analyze everything. I also tend to think that I'd make a great friend but I actually am not, since I'd rather be selfish and work on my own projects instead of going out and socializing. Its a wonder anyone talks to me.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Ah, okay hehh heh, well this is making for a great interview regardless! Do you have favorite print comic books and graphic novels? Do they affect your work?

I mention the same things in every interview, so forgive me in advance! I adore Barbucci and Canepa's Skydoll, after 2 years of having looked around I still can't find another comic that visually impacts me the way this one does. Bone was a giant influence on my life, and Mocheril's design is a small nod to his characters. I actually don't read a lot of print comics since they are expensive and I am cheap, but I do enjoy the print versions of some of my favorite online comics, such as Lackadaisy and Rice Boy.

THE XCENTRIKZ: How often does viewer input affect The Meek? Do you take people’s suggestions?

I only take technical suggestions, never ones that have anything to do with the story. The Meek is a selfish endeavor in that regard. However I am more than open to any crits or comments on the panelling, on typos or things that are unclear, since I do want to put out a good product. I can't help the character's own shortcomings (I got a few comments trying to correct the Emperor's bad grammar) but I can definitely work on things like perspective issues or just bad drawing.

THE XCENTRIKZ: For you, what is the crowning achievement of your work?

Hasn't happened yet!

THE XCENTRIKZ: Are there some common misconceptions about your work? How would you like to address them?

I guess the misconception that my work is somehow based on Avatar, haha. Its okay though, I can totally see how one could say that. But no, I've been working on this since '97, and most of the characters were in place by '04, which predates AtLA by about a year.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Cool! Any thing else you’d like to share? A hint on the future of the story…?

Just that I feel very lucky to be a part of the webcomics community, and that I'm very grateful to have chatted (online or in person) with so many of my kind and wonderful readers. I couldn't ask for a more intelligent and perceptive audience, the thought of being able to share with such a group really makes those hard work hours fly by.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Thanks again for the lovely chat. A well done comic everybody, check it out!

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