It Is A Circle Blog

How long has your webcomic, Alone In A Crowd been running?

 

Alone in a Crowd’s first comic hit the web on January 28, 2008. I had been developing the strip since 2006 – forming characters, writing scripts, doing practice strips – but just around the beginning of 2008 was when I decided it was time to make things public. However, that’s just when I started posting the official comics to aiacrowd.com. At the time I still really didn’t know what I was doing, and each comic was taking a long time to produce, so my update schedule changed a few times. A few times it wasn’t met at all, and I simply posted fanart or a sketch. I knew I was lacking in ability, a complete website, and time management, so I never promoted AIAC outside of a forum or two I visited and friends of mine. I was allowed to learn and go through the bumps in the road because not too many people were reading it. Around Mid-July, I knew that Alone in a Crowd needed to have a better website, a solid update schedule, and more of a buffer if I was going to take it further. So from July 16, 2008 until September 17, 2008, no new comics were posted so that my web designer Dyana and I could build the website I use now. I also used the time to build up a buffer and get a bit quicker at drawing the strip so I COULD keep to a promised update schedule. So, in a roundabout way, I look at September 17, 2008, as the real start of AIAC, because that’s when I went at it with a more professional attitude and really began to push it with advertising and such to build an audience. Things have been growing quite steadily since then. I haven’t missed an update and only twice did I put up strips that weren’t “real” AIAC strips (unless you count the two for April Fool’s Week too).

 

What led you to doing comics?

 

Well, like all cartoonists, I was a prolific doodler as a kid. So when I first discovered comics like Garfield, Peanuts, and The Far Side, I absolutely fell in love with them. I really liked creating even back then – whether through drawing, writing, or (to be honest) LEGOS – so the idea of using sequential art to tell stories felt like a natural fit for me. For many years, I drew my own crude comics in various notebooks with a friend of mine. We were notorious in middle school for being “the comic guys.” Of course I dreamed of being a cartoonist when I grew up, but one day I learned about how people got into the cartooning industry (as it was at the time). Seeing how difficult it was to find your way in and even then stay there really discouraged me. Sadly I put my dreams aside and took the advice that I needed to focus on preparing for a “real” future. In many ways that was a good thing because it let me focus on building some skills to fall back on. However, I wish I had kept drawing comics as a hobby on the side, since obviously I would be much more skilled at this point than I am. I guess I just lost the love and found new things. That, and the comics I was aware of began to grow pretty stale. It wasn’t until my early college years when I discovered webcomics that my interest in the field took shape again. Webcomics seemed so fresh and different to me. Around the same time I also discovered independent comic books, which was where I found the comic that changed my life: Serenity Rose. I was so taken in by the unique approach to the story and art; it was like nothing I’d never seen before! I always say Serenity Rose was the biggest inspiration that made me finally say “Oh my gosh, THIS is what I want to do! Maybe I CAN do this! It is possible now!” (as cheesy as that sounds, but its true). The web just seemed to open up the door for so many possibilities, as a well as an air of freedom for creativity that I never knew existed in comics. When you grow up thinking all that’s out there is simple newspaper gag-a-day strips and superhero books, discovering this other side of the field really is quite the eye-opener. All of this revived my own will to draw comics again, but not just any comic. I wanted to create something new and different like these ones I had been exposed to. So I set out to do so …almost four years later, but I did. I’m also proud to say I don’t have any plans on stopping anytime soon.

 

Were there any particular sources of inspiration for the characters?

 

The three characters actually all came to me at the same time, believe it or not. What needs to be remembered before reading this story is that before this, I had been trying to come up with a workable idea for a webcomic for the longest time. I had such a desire to make my own, but I just couldn’t come up with anything I felt was worthy or that I could get behind.  Anyway, I had just moved to a new college campus and a dorm room after previously having commuted from my house for the first two years. It was kind of a rough transition for me, and being that it was an incredibly large school, I was feeling a bit lost in the shuffle. I don’t think at any other point in my life did I feel so (wait for it…..wait for it…..) alone in a crowd. I would be surrounded by all these people there for the same reason I was, but I felt pretty out of place. So one night, when I was lying awake in my dorm room having trouble falling asleep because of everything, these three characters just sort of came into my head. I swear, it wasn’t like I forced myself to construct them; all of a sudden they were just…there. I saw these two sisters, one who was older and basically acted as the younger one’s mother because their parents had passed away years ago. The younger sister was this quiet, dark haired girl who didn’t have any friends because she was born with cat ears. The other kids would always tease her because of them, so she didn’t have a lot of confidence. Then there was this bright and cheery girl that the two of them took into their care who, who was the first friend the younger sister ever made. I felt compelled by their individual personalities, to the point that I was thinking of all these funny, cute, or sad stories involving the random things that happens in their lives. In retrospect, I look at it as coming from the “Seinfeld” approach to writing: engrossing characters with no overarching story. The plot didn’t dictate who the characters were, but the characters themselves would dictate what various plots there would be.

 

I think that was my problem in the past year or more of trying to come up with a webcomic idea. I kept trying to think of this overblown ideas and stories that I thought might stand out and grab people. However, everything just felt so hallow. The concept surrounding these three girls was MUCH much simpler, and they felt so alive to me. As I pondered over “my girls” (as I began to call them), I realized that if you put the three of them together, you would have me. I basically took all my fears, ambitions, talents, faults, etc. and split them into three parts. What connected them specifically was how each one felt alone in a crowd in their own particular ways. And there was the title: “Alone in a Crowd.” So if Hope, Faith, and Sara are inspired by anyone, it would first be myself. They are me in so many ways, whether who I am, was, or would like to be. That’s not to say I don’t draw inspiration for some of their traits from other places. For example, I have two friends who absolutely adore video games. I’d say they’re a BIG reason why Sara loves video games as much as she does (because I certainly don’t play them that much anymore). Little quirks like that can come from all sorts of different places (and usually do).

 

Who do you like to read?

 

Oh there’s so many cartoonists I adore and follow. Sometimes I can’t keep up with all of them at once because time and what-not, but I’ll always be sure to get back to them at some point. At the top of the list is Aaron Alexovich with “Serentiy Rose” (heartshapedskull.com), who I already gushed about above. Another cartoonist who was a huge inspiration to me is D.C. Simpson of “Ozy and Millie” (ozyandmillie.org) and “Raine Dog” (rainedog.com). I would still call “Ozy and Millie” my favorite webcomics of all time. I also should make special note of “Count Your Sheep” by Adrian Ramos (countyoursheep.keenspot.com/), who inspired me a great deal as well. There’s just so much to love in that strip, and I think some of its cuteness rubbed off on AIAC. More recently though I’ve become a huge fan of “Girls with Slingshots” by Danielle Corsetto (daniellecorsetto.com/gws.html). I’m not sure there’s a better strip out there right now than GWS. Plus I got to meet Danielle at the New England Webcomics Weekend, and she is as nice as nice can be. Of course, I adore the works of my fellow Below the Fold partners in crime Jimmy Misanthrope, Tom Brown, KayLoveMeow, ZombieHamster, and naniibim (links provided on aiacrowd.com’s front page). They all rock hard in their own special ways. Other artists I enjoy include Jay Naylor, Christopher J Paulsen, Kiyohiko Azuma, Eric W. Schwartz, David Willis, Kōsuke Fujishima, Dave Kellet, Scott Kurtz, Kris Straub, Dan Hess, Ken Akamatsu, and, of course, many more.

 

Do you plan ahead or make it up as you go along?

 

Kind of a little of both. Before I launched “Alone in a Crowd” online, I spent quite a while writing scripts. I felt like I wanted to plan things out and have a clear idea of where I wanted things to go until I got to a certain point in the story, at which things would loosen up a bit more and I could do less linear stories. Even after I started posting the comic online, I was still writing much further ahead than I was drawing, mostly because I had a part-time job that allowed me to do so when there weren’t any customers or calls coming through. Sure, technically my boss of that old job would have been upset to hear I was doing that, but…I didn’t like that job, so tough nuts. Since getting my current, full-time job, I haven’t had as much time to plot things out like I used to. Where as in the past I had practically every strip planned out exactly, now I take more time to write strip ideas and maybe one or two strips that go with it. More like capturing detailed concepts as opposed to fleshed out stories. I collect them all and when its time to start a new story, I’ll reference the notes and write the rest of the story around that. I find that’s the best way to deal with the whole “oh, I have a great idea for a story…but I can’t use it YET” syndrome.  It’s nice to have these notes in some kind of a database because then when I get a new addition to the idea (whether it be a story point or a whole fleshed out script), I can pull up said idea section and add to it. I’ve found the Things app on the iPhone to be especially helpful for when ideas strike in random places on the go.

 

Even when I plan ahead, it’s not like I’m not still writing for the strips I’m currently working on. There are quite a few strips in the AIAC archive that were added as I was working through the original scripts and thought “oh, there should be a comic about this…” Instances like that helped me to not blow through my backlog of scripts as quickly as I would have otherwise. The big problem I had with all the planning ahead was that I ended up not liking an original plot point at all. Originally, Hope’s parents were supposed to be stars of Archeological TV show that were in a plane crash and presumed missing.  Even though there was more too it than that, the whole concept felt way too over the top to me as I was getting closer to actually drawing the strips. So I ended up changing the story so that Hope’s parents were wealthy snobs who were never there for their child by their own selfish choice. It allowed me to still have Hope come from a rich upbringing, while at the same time giving more of an emotional weight to her detachment. Consequently, I had to rewrite all the comics that came after that to reflect the new plot point. In many ways, it changed some strips quite a bit. So I’ve found that while it is helpful to plan ahead so you have a clear idea of where the characters are now and where they’re going, it can also come back and bite you on the butt. That’s why I tend to be a lot looser in how I plan ahead and don’t flesh out complete strips until I’m closer to actually drawing them.

 

I essentially put it like this: I know exactly how “Alone in a Crowd” begins, and I know exactly how “Alone in a Crowd” ends. Everything in between is where I get to have my fun.

 

 

I can’t tell these things, not being an arty type…. do you do it all on the computer, or do you use paper at all?

 

While I use more paper than computer, “Alone in a Crowd” is a combination of the two. Once I have the script all tightened up, I proceed to sketch out the strip on Srathmore Bristol board with a non-photo blue pencil. After everything looks how I want it to, I ink the line work with some various art pens I’ve collected (but mostly Micron’s). Now I take the inked strip and scan it in at a high resolution dpi and save it as a .tif file. The non-photo blue pencils come in handy here because they wont show up on the scanned image. Not only does this save time of having to erase the pencil underneath the ink, but it also keeps the ink work very crisp. In the past I would use graphite pencils and after erasing the lines, the ink would lose some of its boldness and quality. Anyway, once the comic is scanned in, I use photoshop to add sport blacks and clean up any smudges or things of that nature. I also take this opportunity to use my Wacom tablet to fix anything that I feel like I didn’t draw right (or just plain messed up) during the inking stage. Sometimes I’ll erase lines and re-draw them digitally. I guess the question most people would ask is why I just don’t ink the entirely strip with the Wacom tablet. Frankly, I don’t feel like I’m good enough with the tablet yet to do this. Not only that, but I like having a piece of original art that can be sold later. I haven’t started offering them for sale yet, but it’s something I’d like to do someday I think.

 

 

Thanks for these, it was fun!

–
Thomas D. Szewc
www.aiacrowd.com