Thread "Round 6: PIT_FACE interviews catya of Jack, Cute n' Spicy, and others!" in forum "Interviews"

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

This interview is of catya, whose comics are Jack, Cute N' Spicy, and others!
(interview conducted by PIT_FACE!)

Catya, to better acquaint your readers with you, go ahead and tell us a little personal information about yourself.
My full name is Cathrine Alvheim,I'm 22 years old,born and living in Norway. My nick goes by " Catya". I prefer making horror comics and Jack is my best one. I started drawin Jack back in 2005 and that comic is now 3 1/2 years in counting. People has probably pictured me as a black metal girl with long black hair and red eyes who hates everything in life. I'm not like that, I dress in black,spikes, chains,baggy clothes and sometimes black and white,b'n'red,black'n'blue and black and green.I have dark brown hair and a blond mohawk that keep changing color (it's Magical!! Not really,I dye it)

Besides comics, what else interests you, what kind of hobbies do you have?
I have other hobbies than just making comics. I like Arts & Crafts, I make sculptures, I sew things, I make plushies, I paint, I play video games, I love music and I've even tried Taxidermy,stuffing dead animals (mostly rats I bought as frozen snake food in the pet store,I could never kill an animal,even if I had to.)Oh,and i make text rants on my DeviantART account.

What was your inspiration for Jack? Any relation to Jack the Ripper? Long lost brothers maybe?
LOL,not even close,sister. Alot of people has wondered what my inspiration for Jack was and some has even called it a rip-off of Jason from Friday the 13.th, but truth to be told,I've never watched a single Jason movie. Except for Jason X,(which wasn't that good),mainly because Jack wears a hockey mask. If Jack was a rip-off of Jason, I would have made him a un-dead mute killing machine.

The inspiration for Jack goes back to 2005. I had a 8 week trial job on some paper print factory and I drew Jack during my lunch break. He started out as Redneck Jack,but I didn't like that name,so it's just Jack now (or Chainsaw Jack).

Anyways,get to the point: The real inspiration for Jack was Ghost Hunter on PS2,I had recently bought it when I created Jack, and the swamp Level was my favorite,the swamp environment ,the characters,the boss fight,everything about it,and especially the Redneck crocks and the Boss fight. This is were Chain came in. In the boss fight, there's this huge man who was swallowed by a giant crocodile and the crock seemed to be in charge of this man and they fight eachother, and that was the inspiration for the "relationship" between Jack and Chain. The swamp environment and the characters was my main inspiration for Jack himself,and Guns N Roses music helped alot too. So there you have it.

Was there anyone or anything in particular that inspired your style of writing and art? How would you describe your style?
My art style? I dunno,I've been constantly trying to improve it,so I'm not quite sure what,if anything,has inspired it to this style. I guess I'm getting inspired from looking at other peoples artwork and that inspires me to improve my own style, but I still have anatomy flaws in there.

What's been your favorite part of Jack to create and why?
Hmm….tricky question….his past I guess. He has a very cruel past,from when he was growing up,to the time he was in Jail,which wasn't his first Jail time. His past is probably my favorite, cause I wanna draw more about it,that's why there's been so many flashbacks, and he's constantly changing in personality (thanks to Chain…)But there's still alot to come,both arcs of his past and his future….if he has any.

Where do you plan on going with Jack? any publishing or anything like that?
Dunno….I think he'll stay on the internet for now,I haven't found any comic publishers that might be interested in this comic style, but self-publishing on Lulu.com is always a valid option.

After Jack's done, where do you think you'll take your talent?
I have no idea….keep making arcs with no sense? I haven't thought of that yet.

There are a lot of interesting characters in Jack, and after seeing the Sid arc, will there be any off-shoots of Chain or anyone else?
Yes,it can't all be just Jack,my poor boy needs rest sometimes.

You moved out on your own recently, does that effect how you work on your comics in a good or bad way?
It's currently in a bad way, 'cause I'm such a lazy bastard when I have to work on comics,but I get easily distracted. "I wanna watch YouTube ranters,I want a snack,I wanna watch a movie,I wanna play video games,I wanna make something."

Honestly,it's a real pain when I get distracted like this,so one page can lay half inked on my desk for days before I start on it again. Or sometimes I'm in a really good and artistic mood and I get 2-3 pages done in a day. My creativity goes up and down….constantly….

Do you think living in Norway has made your work different? Has your culture had an impact on your work that you think stands out?
I doubt it….The Comic world of Norway has most focus on humor comic,which I rarely draw or is good any at. But I prefer drawing horror anyways,and it doesn't need a punchline to be good.

If you were approached by someone just starting in webcomics, and they asked you for advice, what would you say to them?
I get that very often and I can only tell them to PRACTICE and avoid making their character a frikking re-color. I don't mind or care what kind of style your comic or character is,if it's simple and cute,realistic or anime,just don't make it a re-color,because it's a lousy,easy and lazy way of making a character and it will NEVER be truly copyright to you,no matter how much you change the characters personality or adds small changes. Trust me,I'll be honest here, I made Sonic re-color characters once,but they was never MY characters because the were RE-COLORED and already Copyright to someone else.Avoid re-colors.

Anything else on your mind?
Brains.

Will you buy me anchovies pizza after this interview? I'm really, very hungry.
Sure,if you want a pastry crust filled with fat and puke.But I know you too well and you'll probably appreciate a pizza.

If the answer was yes, then thank you, if not, then yer a JERK!!! Thanks for the interview and looking forward to more of your creations, Cat!

Posted at 7:03AM, Mar. 10, 2009

ROTFL! Great interview. It's surprising that there is not a modern marketplace for horror comics such as we saw in the 50's and 70's. With the rise of halfway decent horror films over the last decade, you'd think this would be the case.
The Comics Code in America has fluctuated according to the politics of the day in the past 50 years or so. To see a new rise in the horror comic market, these great stories need an enthusiastic audience. Give Catya's books a read, and here's to many more stories!

Posted at 5:03PM, Mar. 11, 2009

Awesome interview. And people know my secret inspiration for Jack and Chain now :)