The Xcentrikz - Interactive Comic

January 6, 2010

Interview with Mindy Timpone on her awesome work with..

WHITE NOISE!!

(Click on the images to visit the site!)

If you love sci-fi heroes and go crazy for post-apocalyptic neato-goodness, you'll adore WHITE NOISE! It's one of the best storylines currently going on out there, please check out Mindy's work. (And remember to send her a fan-letter.)

The Xcentrikz Team: Hello Mindy, and thanks for sitting down for a chat! Do tell everybody a little intro on your amazing sci-fi comic! I'd like to encourage new people to view it.

MINDY: Thank you very much, Eliza, happy to be here. My webcomic is called White Noise, and is set in post-apocalyptic earth, where aliens have already come and gone. The story follows Wren and his companions, products of genetic manipulation, as they fight to bring humanity together and salvage the planet.

THE XCENTRIKZ: What events led up to starting White Noise? Anything in particular?

MINDY: Well, I've been obsessed with anime since gradeschool, and animation since I was two. There were always things I wanted to see happen, and stories grew up in my mind from those wishes. I always envisioned these stories as cartoons, though. I went to college not knowing a blasted thing about computers, and wanting nothing to do with them. Then I made some friends who explained it all and introduced me to the wide world of webcomics. That seemed like the perfect alternative to trying to pitch ideas to animation studios for the rest of my life. Thus, White Noise the webcomic happened.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Cool background there! If you could start over from the beginning of the comic, what might you change?

MINDY: A lot. First of all, I'd change where the story started. White Noise is pretty dark, and that has all to do with the starting point. When the whole cast comes together, there will plenty of humor and good feelings, but that doesn't start happening until book three, and so far I've had six years of darn depressing webcomic. When it changes, it's going to be somewhat of a genre-shock now. So I might start it in book three perhaps. Filling in the background information from that point would be tricky though.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Sounds like you've got a lot of great planning in mind. So what are your favorite parts about creating comics? Tell everybody about your process.

MINDY: I think my favorite part of the comic process, not counting the writing, is the coloring. The drawing and the inking are all very stressful, because they have to be perfect and clear, but the coloring is just filling in the lines. It's a glorified coloring book at that stage. I make my pages in photoshop, inking with a Cintiq, and coloring under the lines. The backgrounds are a lot of fun if I know what I'm painting. There's another thing I'd change about WN. I'd make it in the country so I'd never have to paint (or fake) another cityscape again.

THE XCENTRIKZ: He he yea. Okay. Tell us about your other art projects and work!

MINDY: I'm in the process of making a platform game for WN! I hope to have that done within the month. Aside from WN, there are other stories I work on whenever there's free time. I have the first draft of a werewolf novel done, and another novel, a fantasy, in the works. There are other comic ideas on the back-burner as well. When WN is done, I'll be switching over to a fantasy comic called “Knights of Brekade” which is in the style of a lot of anime, where a human teenager is taken from earth and sent to a magical realm to fight magical creatures with magic. This was the first epic story I ever wrote, so it'll be interesting to see how it evolves.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Wow, that'll be awesome to see how it all turns out. Keep us updated! If White Noise were featured in an animated series, what would you imagine it being like?

MINDY: Definitely anime more than Saturday morning cartoon. Unless the Avatar the Last Airbender people did it. No, WN is way more dramatic than standard american style cartoons. It would probably be pretty dark, like FMA, with a lot of cool martial arts. Maybe some pretty orchestral background music. Emphasis on violin and acoustic guitar.

THE XCENTRIKZ: How much do you interact with the comic’s viewers? What are they like?

MINDY: I chat with the readers all the time. My readers are great! They don't give me too much grief for missing an update, they show a lot of excitement over the comic, and they have great commentary. The most rewarding thing about this is reading their interpretations of events in the comic and their speculations on what will happen next. That is also the most educational part of making WN. Yes, I love my readers.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Neat. How important is recognition to you? Do you feel satisfied with the amount of viewers you already have, or do you wish White Noise was more well known?

MINDY: I have a pretty good sized following. I'll always wish for WN to be more well known, though. I bet even the greats like Penny Arcade wouldn't mind being even more well known. I'll be happy when I can do this full time.

THE XCENTRIKZ: What was it like in the beginning to publicize White Noise? Do you still work hard at advertising?

MINDY: Frustrating. Actually, the thing that got attention immediately was The Welcome Committee of Magic High, my first webcomic, a fantasy. It was a lot easier to get people to enjoy that comic, which is fun and funny, rather that WN, which is dark and bloody. I still work at advertising, though now I rely heavily on word of mouth to bring readers in. The most important thing you can do to bring readers in is to update frequently. They'll find you, whether you have ads out or not.

THE XCENTRIKZ: What do your friends and family think of your work? Do they give you ideas that you use?

MINDY: My family find the comic interesting, though wish I'd spend some time on other things. My friends and family are very inspiring to me. I use jokes and ideas from them all the time.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Is there something you really can’t stand doing? How do you overcome (or avoid!) this problem?

MINDY: Backgrounds are usually the worst part for me. I get around it by painting in a few decent backgrounds for a scene, and then cutting and pasting those backgrounds into other pages that are in the same location. I do it far more than I should, actually.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Is the comic more of a hobby to you, or a job? If you have another occupation, tell us about it!

MINDY: The comic is kindof my be-all, end-all. I'd make it my job in an instant if I could, but that isn't feasible yet. Currently, I am unemployed.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Have you ever fantasized that your real life could be more like White Noise? Why or why not?

MINDY: Definitely not. I fantasize about knowing the characters, but the kind of things they have to deal with are awful. The world is depending on them. I would never, ever want that kind of responsibility. I can barely handle doing the dishes!

THE XCENTRIKZ: Yea, true haha. If two White Noise characters had the ultimate fight, who would you pick, and who would win? Would be a physical confrontation or a battle of the words?

MINDY: Well, that's a hard question to answer when there are still so many characters left to enter the story. I guess it would be a battle of the minds, between Wren and Winter. I can't really say who would win. ^_~

THE XCENTRIKZ: Ha! If you suddenly had limitless resources and time to improve your work, what would you do?

MINDY: Probably more of this! I might hire someone to do a good portion of the art though, so I could get some of my other stories moving along. I'd definitely pick Magic High back up again. I'd take some more classes too, like maybe game coding. I want a WN fighting game someday!

THE XCENTRIKZ: Any thoughts or predictions, on the future of webcomics?

MINDY: I really have no idea! I think sometime in the future more webcomics will be turned into movies. Hollywood needs ideas, and there are tons of fantastic ones out there among the webcomics. But other than that, no clue.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Good point about Hollywood ha ha. Anything else to share about White Noise? Perhaps a hint on what will happen next…???!

MINDY: Oh, don't tempt me! I have such a hard time not spilling the beans about everything to everyone! I can tell you though, that in Book Three, the next book, the rest of the main characters will all finally be introduced. And the story can really start moving then! Also, don't be surprised if it all gets considerably more upbeat.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Okay, very mysterious, very good, yes. Well hey thank you for telling us more about your work. And thanks for bringing your fun creation to comic readers everywhere! Please view this neat comic, everybody.

MINDY: Thanks for having me, and thank you for the interesting questions! If your readers would like even more webcomics to visit, try out my friends at noneedforbushido.com and zapinspace.com, who also do full color story based comics. We're webcomic buddies.^^

THE XCENTRIKZ: *wow* It just so happens we also interviewed your very awesome, very talented friends! Ha ha. Have fun, everybody.

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