Thread "Round7! TheFlyingGreenMonkey interviews sifueagle of Cloud Eagle and Shinobi Sheriff!" in forum "Interviews"

Posted at 2:05AM, May. 29, 2009

This interview is of sifueagle, whose comics are Cloud Eagle, Shadow Wings and Shinobi Sheriff!
(interview conducted by TheFlyingGreenMonkey!)

First up: Tell us about yourself.

I began my rigerous training under the tutilage of the St. Samurai. He was preparing me for my destiny that I was fortold to….now that I have your attention. My name's Duanne Barbour. I've grown up around martial arts and comics since I was a child.

Cloud Eagle is literally the culmination of everything I'm interested in from martial arts and comics, as mentioned above, to hanging with a group of friends, standing for something, faith, and modern culture.

Speaking of faith, how did you come up with the ideas to use all those Christian angles? I mean you named attacks after and the whole channel the chi though fate?

For the religious, miracles and solutions are answered through faith. This seemed like a fun and unique way of portraying abilities in a comic.

Before anyone feels I'm preaching to them I'm not. Religion can add richness to characters and stories. Kitty Pryde is Jewish, Nightwing is Christian with recurring visual Christian motifs in his early series, and many of Daredevil's stories revolve around his Catholic faith. I use a Christian angle in the unlikely contemporary urban noir setting.

Well explained. Okay next classic question, when and why did you start making comics?

My most vivid early memories are of watching Battle of the Planets and Super Friends. I think it has something to do with the coolness of the capes. I'd trace Batman and Robin in coloring books but would draw the capes myself. Over time I started drawing what I saw. Once my imagination started kicking, I started sketching (very badly) my own creations.

Why do I do comics? I think first and foremost I'm a creator. Whether bouncing ideas around with a partner, taking a photo, manipulating images, or drawing; I thrive on bringing something original into reality. To be more specific and personal, for myself, it's a dream come true each time I can take my ideas and see it become a reality in front of me.

Cool! Speaking of taking photos tell us about the photos you have in your comic. Did you find these people or did they inspire your characters' design?

Models as visual representations of my characters is yet another way of bringing my creations to life. The models are fellow black belt friends. The characters' personalities would become solidified based on the visuals from the shoots. I'd approach each person if I felt they had something to add to the story. Magiddo, the team leader, has the cool J-pop hair, Miracle is the adorable kid, Anjell is a real half Japanese redhead, and even myself pulling off the moody loner vibe with Godspeed.

Okay this one I've been wondering ever since I started reading your comic, how do you come up with those amazing team symbols?

Ha ha! Thanks. That's probably the one thing I'm proudest off. The original blame goes to Superman & Batman for their iconic symbols as a visual inspiration. I've always liked eagles and would sketch them but I honestly couldn't tell you the logic behind how I formulated the visage. However I do recall the work place, room, and desk in which I created the original sketch.

Since the Cloud Eagle symbol would be such a staple of my work I tried to put some symbolism behind it as well. The CE symbol is a silhouetted bald eagle head encompassing a silhouetted dove head as a spiritual yin yang symbol standing for strength and faith. The eagle is the aggressive physical representation and the dove is the defensive soul & heart. The two birds also represent a pairing, stating no one can go it alone but together the unit is one.

It is a cool symbol especially when its glowwing from chi. Speaking of chi why did you choose to call chi users, chi'ters? Don't get me wrong, I love it, but was there any other ideas you came up with or did the name just stand out.

The term chi-ter was chosen as a play on words for "cheater". It's seemed very street in my opinion. It can also been seen as a miscommunication of older society not understanding or accepting this generations' culture. For example, traditional martial art dojos that are afriad to adapt some contemporary methods. Without accepting new elements, it can ostracize the school from modern practioners.

Of course, I may be looking too much into this.

Okay Party man and Godspeed are my favorite characters. Do you have a favorite character(s)?

Wow, thanks for saying such. That's the first time someone's come forward mentioning having favorite characters. Party Man is a cult favorite among my friends and myself. There's something about him that lets me cut free and have fun when drawing him. The best way I could describe him is GQ meets Triad meets Joker.

Following Party Man would have to be Anjell. There's something about a half Japanese redhard black belt that is pure comic book. Most female protagonists are uber sexy, well endowed, and outgoing. I like having one that is so demure. It forces me to work more with personality. She's been the center of the story since the beginning and after the current arc I'll be moving her to the back so I can bring some of the other Eight Eagles into the spotlight.

Now to get serious….Do you watch too much anime? Lol its one of my favorite lines in your comic.

I'm definitely a fan of anime but surprisingly I don't watch a lot. I'll tend to watch the same things over and over. Ninja Scroll, Batman: Gotham Knight, Macross, Robotech, the more serious stuff. I got hooked on Naruto for the beautiful artwork during fights. GATCHAMAN is my guilty passion.

You mentioned you had your comic publish. Hows that going?

The Shadow Wings was published for a martial art event. I've learned a lot of lessons from that, both good and bad. I'm currently working on publishing the Cloud Eagles. I never felt my art was good enough for pro publishing and distribution, but if I keep waiting it'll never happen.

Well I think its good enough. Okay I already have a favorite line do you have a favorite line, dialouge, or maybe just a favorite page? My favorite line was Goodspeed's "Eden is my past," line.

My favorite line is a discussion between the Dark Devout on Chapter 2, page 1.

Anjell: â€œWhatâ€™s wrong? Youâ€™ve been moping more than usual.â€
Godspeed: â€œDonâ€™t worry about it. I donâ€™t burden my friends with my problems.â€
Anjell: â€œIâ€™m your friend so itâ€™s no burden.â€

Without the "You've been moping more than usual" line this is an actually discussion a friend had with me. I don't like being a hinderance on anyone and when she replied back to me caringly, the lines stuck in my head. I planned to use the conversing lines one day in a work and 10ish years later I finally got to.

Tell those who might not have read Cloud Eagle before, what its about.

Cloud Eagle is a self titled genre of urban ninja noir, incorporating both American and Japanese style elements. Cloud Eagle is the beautiful people with amazing abilities doing miraculous things in stories filled with unlimited imagination, angst, drama, and action of fighter video games, manga, and Hong Kong style movies combined. They are representing a force and ideal in the modern world.

Now why should someone read your comic?

All out action with distinctive unique personalitied characters the readers will grow attached to. For a fun read it's got the over the top beat em ups. With a second look there's an underlying message to push on for what you believe, whether it's faith, friends, or ideals.

Plus you'd hurt Party Man's feelings if you didn't. Oh wait, he could care less. Sorry.

Well I have grown attached :D. How does the creative process work for you? Do you plan out what will be in the next page? Do you just come up with it as you go?

I have a basic layout for the long run but as I go along each situation, as the characters become more distinct, depicts the specifics of what happens. For creating a page, I'll emphasize the most import panel/action and work the other panels to compliment it.

While we are on the creating a page subject I have two questions. How do you go about making a page. Do you shetch it out in pencil, then ink it? Use a tablet?

And my secound question is how long does it take you to make a page?

I sketch out my pages in ball point ink. Yeah, it's weird. I've always sketched with ink pens. When I have the basic layout done, I'll lightbox it. From there I ink the page. The tones and effects are added with photoshop. I use a mouse instead of a tablet. I just found out Adam Hughes does this as well so I no longer feel that odd about doing art "incorrectly". I average about 5-8 hours per page. I could probably cut the time in half without the added photo textures and excess tones but then it wouldn't have it's distinct visual anymore.

Okay last question I could think of. Why did you join drunkduck and what do you hope to gain from posting your comics here?

Drunk Duck was the cleanest of all web comic communities that I came across. I joined in hopes of getting feedback and exposure on my work and the CE.

Okay I'm out of ideas. Do you have anymore questions you want asked or any last words to go out on?

I think it's funny that after a pretty successful Free Comic Day of selling Cloud Eagle ashcans and doing an interview pushing them, I'm suddenly getting an urge to do Six Shot Shuriken Sheriff again. Go fig.

Nice words to go out on indeed.

Thanks. You did some good questions and I appreciate your opinions and high lights that you like about the work. It makes it worth it.

It was my pleasure sifueagle.