Webcomic Mole: At the moment you’re busy working on the comic ‘Digging for Apples’ for Markosia as well as your personal webcomic project ‘Second Skin’, but to start-from-the-start, how did you get into creating comics in the first place?
Donna Stewart: I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t making comics. When I was at primary school, my friends and I made up a school newspaper that I drew some Disney style comics for. I was really into Disney at the time. Most of the way through secondary I drew comics, but I started to click onto the manga style in about 1999-2000. I had an idea for a comic about a boy who was turned into a cat by a witch, which I drew about 20 pages of (which is locked away from the eyes of mankind), which morphed into Second Skin, which I’ve started to draw properly now. In 2003, I started a webcomic called “Perfect Symmetry”, which I made 40 pages of. I stopped it with the full intention of restarting it as I’d discovered new ways to scan and tone, but never got round to doing it. I don’t think I ever will either; I’d like it to remain a homage to my old drawing skills!
WM: After beginning to make comics, what made you decide to put your work online - either as well as or instead of a print edition?
DS: I had the idea back in 2001, when I thought no one else was doing it and it would be original. I was very wrong! I didn’t really become aware of a big online comic scene until about 2003, but I just got the internet installed in my home last year, so it was difficult to keep reading regular online comics when you only had a couple of hours a week online at the library to do your own work in. I also used to get frustrated when trying to print my own comics out at home because I didn’t understand DPI or resolutions. There’s so much information out there on the internet now that tells you step-by-step on how to do it, that it makes things easier.
WM: What are some of your artistic influences and inspirations? (this could be particular artists or styles of work)
DS: I lived on one of the western islands off the coast of Scotland for a while, and there were a lot of artists living and working there. The work they produce is amazing. Sometimes I get very annoyed at myself for having concentrated on digital comic art when I look at wonderful landscape paintings because I am absolutely hopeless at using natural media. Comic artists that I admire are Yoshitoshi ABe firstly. I got into NieA_7 and Haibane Renmei back in 2002. I love his sketchy style. I like Sanami Matoh too, my cousin sent me the complete FAKE series for my birthday in 2002 and I fell in love with her art. She’s very individual. Actually, there’s so many that I can’t name them all off the top of my head, but the two I’ve named are the two most important to me.
WM: Which particular tools or media do you prefer to work with for webcomics?
DS: When I first started making online comics, I hand drew everything, from the backgrounds and the lettering to the tones. I didn’t really know what screentones were. I’d noticed, in manga, that some of the backgrounds appeared in lots of different manga (like the crazy cactus tone). Then I bagged a copy of Photoshop. I still didn’t really understand how to make screentones properly, so I just filled areas with noise instead. Those pages are so embarrassing to look at… Though it was good practise I suppose. Now I use Manga Studio for everything, from pencilling and inking to toning and lettering. Sometimes I really miss hand inking, and I do it now and again for pin ups (I just can’t replicate my hand inking one hundred percent on the computer, no matter how much I try), but it’s all done digitally now. It makes converting files easier for me.
WM: Are there any changes you would consciously make to the pacing of your comic stories if you knew they would be going up on the web as well as, or instead of, a print edition? Do you feel that anything extra is needed to keep readers’ attention, or not?
DS: I think that as long as you keep your updates regular and keep on track of your story so you don’t become preoccupied with a nice side story, that as much as you want to do, it has little to do with the plot of your comic, readers will keep reading. I’ve got a couple of little side stories planned that I would like to do for Second Skin, but I’m not thinking about putting them in with the main comic, perhaps in a little side section, where people can choose to read it if they want. Kind of like the little extra sides you get in the back of manga.
I like to draw pages, for online or print, as a cliffhanger on each page, make the reader want to know what’s going to happen on the next page. I don’t think it matters if it’s online or on paper, having a drive or incentive to make the reader want more is important.
I’ve read comments where people say things like “I’m not reading it! It’s in black and white! Artists should use the internet for putting full colour comics up on!” I don’t think this is true. Colour is certainly not an incentive for me to read something, neither is direction (right-to-left or left-to-right). It shouldn’t matter if something is black and white or it’s in colour. What matters is that it has a good plot and decent art to carry the story off. I don’t know if it’s because some people feel that unless something is in colour, it won’t hold their attention, but I don’t think it matters. I mean, comics have been in existence for a very, very long time. Full colour is relatively new, even I remember when the Beano and Dandy weren’t published in full colour, and I still loved to read them. Most people who complain about comics not being in full colour argue that the artists who draw in black and white are lazy, which is most certainly not true. If anything, it’s harder. You can’t just fill something with a big blob of black and there you go, it’s a pair of trousers. Highlights are harsher in black and white than they are in colour, so you have to be more careful with them. I think anyone who won’t allow themselves to read and enjoy something just because of its orientation or colour scheme are denying themselves a great pleasure.
I use voting incentives in a vain attempt to get people to read Second Skin. Basically, you click the little link on the side of the page, and if you agree to vote, you get to see the pencilled and text version of the next page. I’m not obsessed with becoming number one on these lists, I don’t think becoming consumed with the need to have page views is healthy, but the voting does give the reader something to look forward to. I put the pencil versions up so people can see it sketchy, then see the finished version a few days later. I vote for the other comics I read if they have the option because I really want to see the next page.
WM: Speaking of pages, do you feel that comic page layouts need to be drawn any differently for webcomics, and if so in what ways?
DS: To an extent, yes I think they do have to be different. There are some points in a story where I think “that would look great as a double page spread…” but then I have to think about what it would look online. Second Skin updates twice a week, I don’t like the idea of people having to wait a few days to see the other half of a whole page. However, because Second Skin will be getting pressed when I’ve done enough of it to cover printing costs, I then think “But it would look so good on paper!” Ultimately, Second Skin is a webcomic first, a printed comic second, so I have to think about how it fits into someone’s browser over how it will look as a book.
WM: How strictly do you feel a story needs to be planned for a webcomic? Do you like ongoing sagas or do you prefer stories that you know will have a planned ending?
DS: I think it all depends on what kind of webcomic it is. I never start one without an ending in mind; I think it’s very important for a story to have closure, otherwise it just hangs in limbo. I feel that if you write something, you should be doing it from the view point of a reader. Think about the stories or comics you’ve read that have just went on and on and on, and then think about the ones that had a beginning, a middle and an end. Out of them, what did you prefer? It is different for everyone, but for me, I think it is important to have a final page that clearly says “End” on it. With my two current webcomics, the first thing I came up with after the initial beginning was the end. Everything in between can be moved around to suit. If it’s just short, nonsense comics, then there’s nothing wrong with keeping them going, as long as your ideas remain fresh.
WM: What are the best and worst things that you have experienced creating webcomics?
DS: The worst thing is that it is so easy to just give them up and abandon them. If you are making a comic for print, you get an amazing sense of accomplishment when you near the final pages of a chapter, or start putting it together to be printed. To me, it’s different with a comic that is just going to be online and nothing more; it still feels good to get over a certain point in the production, but it’s something else to hold a hard copy in your hands.
One of the best things is that you can get instant feedback. You can post a page, then a couple of hours later, you’ve got comments or mail about it. I started talking to a couple of people when I made Perfect Symmetry that I’m still talking to; one of them is a good pen pal to me. Webcomics are a great way to get in contact with people who love the same things you do. I mean, they’re already reading your comic, so you’ve got something in common already!
WM: Which webcomics do you read yourself? What do you enjoy most about them?
DS: I read quite a few. To name some; Crowfeathers, Goodbye Chains, Ambient Rhythm, Rainbow Carousel, Rebel Prince, The Black Fox… I try to read a wide variety of webcomics. I also like stuff like Shiznit! from Clamnuts and the Perry Bible Fellowship, little one-off strips. I don’t feel that a comic has to be something epic for me to read it. I like titles like the first ones I mentioned because they have good character development, but I also like quirky little one-shots that make me laugh.
WM: What one piece of advice would you give to someone wanting to start making their own webcomics?
DS: It’s not really as hard as it’s made out to be, but you must stick to your schedule! If you say “This updates every Monday and Friday”, you’d better make sure it does, or you can really annoy fans. I’m one of them who gets irritated when it hits Friday, I’m waiting for the next instalment of a comic and it doesn’t appear without a reason. If you know you’re going on holiday, tell your readers.
I’d also say use a comic hosting site, or an application where you can sort your entries for you. I used to code all my own sites, but I’ve moved away from that now because it’s just so much easier to get an account somewhere, log in and put my page up there. I like doing it that way because it makes handling the archives easier. There’s nothing more annoying when I’m reading a webcomic than not being able to navigate the page, or there’s too many images on it other than the comic page. I don’t like things flashing at me and going “Click Me! Click ME!” when I’m trying to read a comic. You don’t get that in a book, I don’t expect to see it when I’m reading an online version of one. I also don’t like the flash viewers you get on some sites to view comics on. I have a very slow connection because of where I live, and they just don’t run, so I can’t read the comic. It’s annoying, especially when I’ve heard that it’s great.
Go to your favourite websites. Think about all the things you like about it, and all the things you don’t. People don’t like complicated layouts. They won’t come back if they have a bad experience using your website.
WM: Do you have any plans for the future that you can tell us about?
DS: I’m working on a couple of pitches for other publishers, and really just enjoying life at the moment. I quit my day job back in February, so I’ve only been drawing full time for about six months. There’s a lot more self-discipline involved than I thought. I don’t miss working in the slightest, I gives me a lot more time to plan things properly.
WM: And to finish, what is your favourite dessert? ^_^
DS: Ah, I don’t really eat dessert… I’m not a big cake person. Maybe just a yoghurt, or a tangerine :P
Relevant links for this column:
Webcomics mentioned by Donna:
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