Thread "Round 5: Ludeshka interviews Niccea of Mystery Bread and The DD Mafia Comic!" in forum "Interviews"

Posted at 12:03AM, Mar. 3, 2009

This interview is of Niccea, whose comics are Mystery Bread , Red and White , Drunk Duck Mafia , and OOC !
(interview conducted by Ludeshka!)

1- What got you interested in comics in the first place?

Hmm…I really don't know. I've been more of a written word person, but there are some things that require you to use pictures. If I really had to say when I started doing comics, it would have been…gosh…seven years now back in high school. A friend of mine was always drawing or designing for a comic and I guess I wanted to have something in common, so I got into it. I never made any of my original comics but it opened me up to sketching.

As far as current stuff goes, I just got up one day over a year ago and decided I wanted to draw a comic and that is how my first one, OOC was born.

2- Do you think there'll be a moment where you'll stop drawing comics?

When they no longer amuse me or become a chore. It is a hobby of mine, so when it looses its luster, it will end. Most likely, it will be when life gets too busy.

3- Your lead story, Mystery Bread, is drawn and written in collaboration with Ochitsukanai. How exactly does that work? Do you plan the story in advance, or make it up as you go along? How does it feel to work in a story with somebody else?

You have opened up a can of worms…

As far as working, Ochi does one page and posts it up. I read the page and make my answering page. We just go back an forth.

Planning? That is for losers. The only planning we did for the comic as character design. Sometimes we say where we might want to nudge the plot, but it is up to the person whose turn it is.
It is actually comfortable for me. I'm a collaborative person. I like having other people's input. This is also not the first time Ochi and I have worked together on something. We have been friends for quite a while. Webcomics is just our newest medium to work with. We have done fan fiction and cartoons on Spiderman Cartoon Maker (that was pretty damn cool 9 years ago).

4- Red and White seems like a personal take on fairy tales. What was your favourite fairytale as a child, and what made you revisit the topic for this new comic of yours?

Hmmmm….childhood. I guess I would have to go with anything that Disney managed to screw up. That was great as a child. I guess as I got older and learn what really happened in tales from the Brothers Grimm was when the topic of retelling became interesting.

But this particular comic? It was and is a roleplay on another site called Twisted Tales. All characters had to be twisted from their original design. There was already Briar Rose, the Cheshire Cat as human, Robin Hood, and Little John (though he was made into a woman) when I joined. I wanted to join and I have often been called Little Red Riding Hood because of this this. Course, when my boss first said, "Look it is Little Red Riding Hood," I immediately turned around and called her the Big Bad Wolf. So I put up the picture…but I needed to explain the person in the white hood right? So I just went down the game of telephone in reverse and came up with Beebe Wulf. I made her an antagonist too. Look at that face! She actually threw that snowball at me when I turned my back. I liked my back story for the characters so much, I decided to show the world how messed up I am.

5- What media do you use for your sequentials? Is there a particular media or style that you haven't tried yet but you'd like to try?

My usual style is drafted with pencils and paper, then scanned and redrawn and colored in Photoshop. Red and White is drawn and shaded with pencil and then I apply a filter in Photoshop to give it a more painted look.

There is no media style that I'm particularly interested in using, but I wish I was more of a wiz at traditional forms like Ochi.

6- Do you think of your readers a lot, and what they might like, or are you just telling your stories to yourself?

Well. My readers haven't offered a lot of input, but they seem to like the course of things right now, so full speed ahead. OOC (my discontinued comic) and the Drunk Duck Mafia are very reader based. People would tell me what they wanted the characters to do next, but sometimes I would just do what I wanted. I even had to put up an apology when I got a character wrong in OOC. Red and White, isn't very reader based, but I did show the people back at Twisted Tales the art concept. The person who is acting as Robin and Johanna was quite pleased.

7- Do you read webcomics at all? Do you have a favourite webcomic here on drunkduck?

Course I do. I couldn't just think of how to do comics on my own. I would have to say that my favorite on drunkduck is Been Better by theJimmy. I read a lot others but that one just appeals to me the most.

8- Since we are on the internet, let's take advantage of it. Would you please link us, the readers to the site of someone you consider an influence? It can be a comic book artist, a musician, a writer, whomever you want, as long as you think it's interesting. And please, tell us why you chose that particular site.

SilentReaper's Deviant Site: Someone referred me to her because she made hilarious Death Note comics. In fact, after reading them, I was struck with the idea with OOC. Notice I tried to copy her style. Stupid Fox is also really funny.

9- Another question regarding links! Although comics have no sound, most artists do listen to music while they draw. How about you? Do you choose theme songs for your characters?
Please link a song (or more, if you like) that you consider fitting for your stories, and explain that particular choice(s).

I listen to music, but I always do. I play in the college's band as a hobby as well. But my music has nothing to do with my characters, though I feel a little energized during the more upbeat songs.

10- Mystery, revisionism of fairy tales, bizarre random humor…Is there a subject you KNOW you would never ever write about? If so, why not?

Horror…I just can't draw creepy stuff.
Adult Romance…I draw baked goods for a good reason…no anatomy.

11- Thanks a lot for answering all those questions! Is there anything else you'd like readers?

Um…yeah…might as well say it. Mystery Bread…I want to say where it came from. (Couldn't find anywhere else.) Ochi and I are given to random conversations on IM, and one of them was about fictional food. We got into an argument about Lord of the Rings. I insisted that the only special breads in the books were Cram and Lembas. She thought Lembas sounded too much like glow in the dark asses and that there had to be another type of bread with another name… she would just call it mystery bread until she figured it out…and well. At the same time we had an image of a Batman like hero that was a loaf of bread. We were both given to the sudden urge to draw it. I wanted to put in DrunkDuck, but she wanted to make one too, so we just started doing our page trade off…at least that is my version…she would tell you something different. I'll leave that to Dave!

Posted at 8:03AM, Mar. 3, 2009

Hmmm, all that talk of bread makes me want a sandwich…

Posted at 8:03AM, Mar. 3, 2009

I could have sworn I had put the picture that inspired Red and White up. Must have forgot.

Posted at 10:03AM, Mar. 3, 2009

It's a great interview- and you did a wonderful job writing questions for 2 people on the other one too. :]

I might have messed up somehow and edited out the photo when I was going through doing links and stuff- it doesn't look familiar though. Cute photo, very wintery and it's always interesting to see other media in an interview. :]

Posted at 1:03PM, Mar. 3, 2009

Great interview! Nice to see such good collaboration!

Posted at 2:03PM, Mar. 4, 2009

I read Ludeshka's comic every time it updates, so this is ESPECIALLY neat!

I wanted to put in DrunkDuck, but she wanted to make one too, so we just started doing our page trade off…at least that is my version…she would tell you something different.

At first, I was going to do an entirely different parallel series where Bread would be a dramatic noir detective and dames would stand around wearing little black dresses and fishnets and holding lorgnettes! Of all the bakeries in all the world…

I compromised by giving him a detective costume for a few pages - the costume in Niccea's sig. Incidentally, if someone were to have read Niccea's interview and they liked my drawing, and they just so happened to shoot me a PQ stating the page number where that costume first occurred, it seems I would try to draw something for that person.

Posted at 4:03PM, Mar. 4, 2009

I saw a Mystery Bread Sailor Moon parody in her sketch book too. <^.^> Everyone start requesting that she finds it!

I read Ludeshka's comic every time it updates, so this is ESPECIALLY neat!

I wanted to put in DrunkDuck, but she wanted to make one too, so we just started doing our page trade off…at least that is my version…she would tell you something different.

At first, I was going to do an entirely different parallel series where Bread would be a dramatic noir detective and dames would stand around wearing little black dresses and fishnets and holding lorgnettes! Of all the bakeries in all the world…

I compromised by giving him a detective costume for a few pages - the costume in Niccea's sig. Incidentally, if someone were to have read Niccea's interview and they liked my drawing, and they just so happened to shoot me a PQ stating the page number where that costume first occurred, it seems I would try to draw something for that person.

Posted at 5:03AM, Mar. 5, 2009

You know, I can totally see the Sherlock Holmes vibe Ochitsukanai mentions in Mystery Bread. XD

I had fun with my assignment because it turned to be such a fun read :D

I seriously apologize for the missing picture, Niccea, I must have messed up somehow.
And it's a really cute picture too! :D