I have loved comics since I was a kid. Growing up in a fairly religious environment, western comics always represented not only a wonderful escapist opportunity, but a bout of fantastical creativity and artistic effort. I dare argue that comics were what got me into drawing, and what I used as my primary artistic reference as a kid. In my time working on this project, I have come to understand why an actual comic book is a team effort. There are certainly still creators out there who do the writing, pencilling, inking and even the publishing of their work by themselves (whom Neil Gaiman called “madmen”), however working the entire production process on my own has turned out to be a much more time and effort-consuming project. Research for my project, performed mainly through interviews, has just begun at the moment. My other method, reading, involves both technical and fictional books which help me with my art style as well as story. I have come to appreciate dynamic framing and perspective in stories, as well as experimentation regarding light and shadow, and how dynamic lighting allows me to dramatize certain scenes. The novels I am currently on (which also qualify as my outside source), on the other hand, are helping me to understand the atmosphere and general public mindset present in Western Europe toward the end of WW2, as this atmosphere is what I am going to try to convey both visually and thematically in my work (along with quite a bit of sci-fi squeezed in).

I want to know more about comics as an industry – I more or less understand the creative and artistic process, however it’s the editing, publishing and distribution of comics in particular that fascinates me. It’s certainly a complex and time-consuming process, so I want to orient my interview questions not only around comics as a craft, but how the often independent creators manage to carve out a niche and maybe even a decent income for themselves. At the same time, I’m equally curious to know how other writers, artists and editors stand out from the crowd and maybe even rise up the ranks of large comic publishers, a select few attaining renown, wealth, or even status among fans. In a world where comics are a growing but still fairly niche form of entertainment, I want to see how the comic industry itself is rising up, and how I can contribute to said rise. This is why I, to the best of my ability, cover all the bases of comic creation in my essential question. I want to explore not only comics as an art form, but comics as a product and comics as a multi-faceted industry.