This interview is of MadMindInk, whose comics is: Denizens! Attention!
(interview conducted by Annie2495!)
1) Glad to be interviewing you! Let’s start with the old interview opener-tell us a little about yourself!
Ah, starting with the difficult questions first. I am Lesya. I am a girl. I am 22 years old. I cannot say I am passionate about art, because that separates me and it. In truth it’s become as much a part of me as an arm or a leg. I think visually. I read a lot. I think too much. I am a winter/autumn person. I am old fashioned. I find it difficult to talk about myself. Because I don’t know what to say. English is my 3rd language, and I’ve still not gotten the hang of spelling. Also, I hate the sound a piano makes, crickets make me angry, but when it rains I love the whole world.
2) ‘MadMindInk’ is an odd (but cool) username, how did you come up with it?
Oh that… it just seemed right. A mad mind (from the point of view of those who prefer sunshine and nice wholesome things, like bunnies and daisy-chains) is what I have. I think life is much messier and often darker, and you can’t show that by drawing sunshine. And ink. I like the word and the visual image. Ink produced by a mad mind, which is then used to make art.
3) Denizens! Attention! is a very interesting comic with a rather unique storyline, what inspired this?
I feel I should have… something better to tell. But really it started off as a doodle of Alicka in psychology class a few years ago. Then as I tried to get better at storytelling and other story ideas, it grew and changed. And finally the web comic ‘Scorch’ found here on Drunk Duck, really made me push myself to start it for real.
That’s want inspired the beginning, (and I always have characters first, then I decide what to do with them) and then came the story. I think if this as… history for the future life of other character who have yet to be born into these eight worlds. To them, looking back, this is all history. For Alicka, Winst, and all the others, it is life.
4) In the artist’s comments, you’ve often given advice pertaining to freedom in creativity. Do you believe there are any rules in art?
Yes. And No. I think ‘rules’ is the wrong word for it. I think there are no rules such as “This and only this is the way to make a comic!†things like that. But I do believe there are guidelines where a beginner SHOULD start. I think EVERYONE would benefit from figure and portrait classes, or drawing from life. But I don’t believe everyone needs to start from the very bottom, as they make you do in some art classes, IF you UNDERSTAND what the beginning steps are all about. I think the teaching of art, is all about learning to understand what you see, and how you see it. The actual painting and drawing is just learning control over what you know.
Oh, and I don’t believe in abstract art.
5) Who influences you the most as an artist?
Um… nothing specific. The need to create. All my early memories are in vivid vibrant colors. Except the ones of snow. Any art I like inspires me to make more of my own. I don’t have any specific sources of influence, like Sailor Moon or something like that. I started out drawing anything I liked the look off. Then I became Dr. Frankenstein and took the way an eye was drawn here, a nose from there, and peace together a style that’s my own.
6) I love the limited palette used, is there any symbolism behind this theme of yellow for Alicka and Winst and blue for the Undine?
I started off in color, but it just looked bad. So I changed it. I could never do black and white. But this just worked for me. I actually think of it as green or a yellow-green, although everyone says yellow. And I ink the entire thing with a dark purplish-red. Hooray for color theory. The undine is that shade of blue in my head. Not her personally, just the idea of an undine. I can’t do one thing for too long. I need things to change, so the undine part had to be different while still using the same color for inking.
7) Though a hard question, who would you say is your favorite character in Denizens! Attention! Why?
Ah… you know once I read a book, well a trilogy. And it was nice and great in some parts. But there was always something not quite right, something slightly off. Latter I found out that the writer hated her main characters. I can’t do that. My fav is Alicka, because I have to be in her head the most. But there is one other who has not been introduced yet.
8) The pages look painted! How long does it usually take you to complete one?
One day, more or less. Unless I start too late and then it drags on to the next day. I’m getting faster then I was at the beginning. The longest time I spent on a page would be page one. Not the cover, just page one. Took forever. It varies, but no less than 6 hours. Mind you I demand better speed from myself, so it should get better.
9) Our protagonist’s mother is a rather intimidating character and she works well in portraying Alicka as a strong girl, but did you ever plan for a different back story?
Alicka was always going to have to be a strong girl. A lot of it is because I get anger, and Alicka was meant to be angry. Also I never liked it when the main character was soft, or fell apart too much. This story is not about how a soft week person became hard and strong. Life is not like that. Sometime you had to learn much younger and much faster. This is about what happens after and how you can then affect those around you.
10) Winst’s bunny hat is a strange, yet interesting possession. Is there any symbolism or meaning behind it?
Heh. No, not really. My stories shift quite often, it’s only the pages I’ve already done that are set in stone. I have that problem, as many writers can relate to, by the time I get to the middle, the beginning has changed in my mind and then I start all over and never get to the end. This story originally was something a bit like Alice in Wonderland. Get who Winst was? Yeah, White Rabbit as the brother, not just someone Alice chased after for no reason. But that changed. Although the characters still kept their original design idea/inspiration, the meaning behind it all changed. Now the hat is…like a blanket or a teddy-bear you can’t let go off. And Winston, although being a normal boy who does all him homework, is not all that normal, and the hat is his weirdness floating to the surface.
11) Every character has realistic traits to them, even in those we see very rarely. Did you put any personal qualities into them?
Oh yes, into all of them. I have to. If I cannot get into their mind and understand and relate to how they think and why, I can’t write about them. But it’s not really personal qualities, it more like emotion. Anger, fear, courage, doubt, denial, rage. Possibly everyone knows what they feel like.
12) I’ve noticed you talk about comics being harder than writing because it is already there for you in words. Do you usually write more often than you draw?
Um, no. I mean I wrote lots. I tried to. Really I took a creative writing class and everything. But I just can’t do it. I’m not a writer deep down. Pictures always take first place in my heart. Writing is not easier, it harder for me.
13) Another thing said often is your love for wordless pages. Why is that?
See Q#12. I can’t write, not the way I want. Even when I had decided that I would tell one story in book form, I always caught myself wondering how I could sneak in a few pictures in to show what I REALLY meant. Eventually it all ended up as pictures. I think I took the term graphic novel to heart. I want to write novels in picture form. That’s why all the silent pages. It’s like Tolken putting in all that description of nature into his writing. There is no dialogue, just description of the scene.
14) Mind giving us a little sneak peek of what characters are in store at Winterkill?
Well, the hatter, the Cheshire cat, the dormouse, the March hare. Or some far off versions of them. If you really want to know, you’d have to go to my DeviantArt gallery where I have old versions of the gang.
15) Anything you would like to add before we come to an end?
This was fun. But also when I learn something, I always want to pass on the knowledge to others. Can’t say I’m a teacher, and I’m still learning all this as I go along, but if anyone ever wants to know what I do, how I do it, or just some help with something art related, I’d love to hear from you. I want to help. Thank you Annie2495 for my first interview ^__^
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Round 9 - Annie2495 interviews MadMindInk of Denizens! Attention!
'Bout time! Kick-butt interview. Insightfully X-TREEEEMMEEE.
I too love the act of writing, but I cannot write to save my life. Some have said I can, but it's mostly because I have a very particular writing style. Still doesn't mean the words I write down make any sense, luls.
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