Deviation Actions
Creating & Publishing
Who named Mace and Whip?
When we first began talking about the idea of a story in the dream world, my
roommate Brad named Mace. Then I named Whip, and the ball was rolling.
Number 1: Where did you get the idea for this comic and how has it changed
throughout the years?
My roommate Brad was having nightmares in college, and mentioned how awesome
it would be if there was a protector in his dreams to fight them off. This got
us talking about the concept, and we came up with Mace and Whip. That summer
I went home, researched dreams, and created a cast- Lilith, Namah, Bast and
Igrath.
It was originally planned to be a pitch for a TV show, but I switched it
to a comic to retain creative control. Volume 1 was the next stop, and from
there, we just kept creating.
Number 2: Who?
'The Doctor' works just fine.
Number 3: What?
A Tardis.
Number 4: When?
Inapplicable.
Number 5: Where?
Varies.
Number 6: Why?
For kicks.
Number 7: How?
With a screwdriver.
4) Care to share a tip for people struggling to make webcomics?
Sure! We have time for some basic stuff. First tip, have fun- or you're
doing it for the wrong reasons. Second, make something as incredible and worthwhile
as you possible can. To aid in that here are two key questions will help your
story: "Who cares," and "Why." You have to know why readers will be interested
in your concept, your characters, your current page, your next page. Who cares?
And Why? Why applies to your characters as well. Why are they taking their actions?
What do they want? 'Why' is the single best writing tool in your arsenal. That's
what I had with me when I made Volume 1. A library of books on writing and storycraft
has helped since then, but 'Why' is where it started. Last tip- if you make
something great, you have to market it or nobody will realize it's there.
2. What inspires the Nightmare designs? Do you pull references from horror
sources like Lovecraft, monster movies or scary games like Silent Hill or Amensia
the Dark Descent?
I think I pulled a lot of influence from Giger and Tim Burton's work, but my
earliest influence would be Ghostbusters. I've heard of Lovecraft, but haven't
read him yet- and I haven't played virtually any recent horror games.
3. Currently, stuff like Kafel's "Wayward Astronomer" fanfic is non-canon;
since you and Liz are the makers of DK, what factors must be meet for a non-canon
form of media to be regarded as canon in the DK?
I have an idea, not sure if it's good, but here goes.
Maybe canon isn't up to me. Now, whatever's canon *in my books* is of course
up to me- I'm the author. But what about other Dreamkeeper fanfics and concepts?
Even if I had the time, should I really sift through and declare some 'official,'
but others not?
Aside from being a bit arbitrary, that could eventually lead to some kind
of Star-Wars-esque rambling universe of obligatory stuff that any 'real' fan
is supposed to know because it's 'official.' Which means any new authors have
that much more stuff they are forced to memorize as the price for making their
own contributions. It snowballs. And, inevitably, glitches and inconsistencies
between authors can pop up- it's fiction, after all, and we're only human. So
here's my idea:
Canon is reader-determined. Every individual gets to decide what Dreamkeeper
stories they like and consider 'real.' The 'Lillie' canon includes the books
I'm making- Prelude, the graphic novels. If other authors want to match the
'Lillie' canon, then they can read our stuff and make it as consistent as possible.
And if not, heck! Have fun. Readers can figure out what they want to keep for
themselves.
And, really, I think that's how it works anyways when you get down to it.
Every reader judges and selects their own personal head-canon. So I think we
can officially put them in charge.
1. Have you ever considered doing a "The Art of DreamKeepers" book ?
Yes! It's on my list of things to do eventually. I want to knock out a few
more graphic novels first though.
2. The scenery in the DreamKeepers comic are absolutely stunning; I'm currently
trying to improve on my background drawings for my own project-do you have any
recommendations? Any dos and don'ts when doing backgrounds ?
Hmm... First, think through it as much as possible. When staring at a blank
sheet of paper, if you don't have a mental construct in place, it'll be really
hard to start.
What mood does your scene have? How does the background influence it? Is the
setting helping the character? Hindering them? If you know how the setting is
supposed to influence the reader, that will help make a lot of subsequent decisions.
What is this place, and how did it get this way? There's almost always clutter
of some kind around that describes an environment. Look around your own room,
right where you are, right now. Is every surface blank and clear? Is there anything
on the walls? On the floor? What have you been using recently- what could a
reader deduce from seeing that in the image? If it's a natural formation, what's
the history of it? Is it fresh? Eroded? Overgrown? A setting helps ground plausibility
in a story.
Google references. Reference is your friend.
Last thing to consider before I dash is lighting. Where is the light coming
from? What's the color? How does it influence the scene and the overall color
palette? When you get down to it, light is all we really see of anything- and
it marks the difference between a drawing and an illustration.
How do you make the characters so endearing?
Well, I get a big initial boost by making them cartoon animals. After all,
what is it about Hello Kitty's personality that attracts people? But the initial
visual lure isn't enough. Three keys to portraying magnetic characters: They
must care. They must have something at stake. And they must try.
First part- passion is infectious. We have to know that the character's
goal is actually important- nay, crucial- to them. After all, if they don't
give a shit about what's going on, why should we? We have to see that they care
about things- and, especially, about the wellbeing of others. Mace can be kind
of a jerk at times- but the first thing we see in V1 is him helping Paige out
of the water. We know he cares about others, and so we care about him. There's
actually a writing label I've heard for this- called giving a character a "Care
Package," a scene where we see them caring about someone else. A care package
can add empathy to a hero, and layers of complexity to a villain.
Second, the character must be in some kind of danger. There has to be a
risk. It can be physical, emotional, social- but there has to be some kind of
threat to the character that they cannot avoid by simply ignoring it. If they're
not in danger, well, then good. That's nice to know. No need to keep reading.
And three: The character has to struggle, with everything they've got.
If they just give up and break down, *without* getting back up... Well, not
much of a story there. A story is *about* the character struggling with a difficult
situation.
So, endearing characters must care, be at risk, and try.
How do you write all of Tendril's poetry?
Um... With a laptop? I don't really know much about poetry. We ’shine a lantern’
(point it out using story) on this when Lilith addresses him in Volume 3 about
how poorly planned it is.
Besides Mace, has anyone else had their power changed over the course of development?
A few I think, such as Igrath, but Mace's was the most drastic.
What's your process when deciding what animal (or not animal) a character will
be based on?
I'm not entirely sure. It has gone both ways- sometimes we start with an animal
idea, and the character's personality emerges from that springboard. And sometimes
we have the character's personality established, and then we have to match it
to a fitting form. Color enters into the equation as well. One thing we try
to do is compare the entire cast before making a final determination, so we
don't wind up having five different brown deer guys. So really, just a lot of
playing, batting ideas back and forth, and doodling- and then things start to
emerge.
How do you pick names for things?
Sometimes I'll look up lists of baby names, or research scientific terms for
obscure things, but just as often I'll make up my own words because I like how
they sound.
How does switching back and forth between focusing on adults and focusing on
children affect the writing process?
It has strengthened it. Prelude writing helped us define our characters, so
we have a better understanding of their roots when we continue writing graphic
novel scenes.
Now that you're further along in the story, is there any earlier stuff that
you wish you'd done differently?
Actually no. Not that I think our earlier work is perfect- not by far. Neither
is our current work. And our future work won't be perfect either, none of it.
But it's all going to be the absolute best that we can do. I went at Volume
1 giving it my best effort, and the result is an accurate portrait of my attempt.
If I'm improving, that's great- but not a reason to scorn the footprints that
brought me here. You've got to start where you're at, or you won't ever start.
When giving a Dreamkeeper a power, how do you make sure it isn't more powerful
or less powerful than what you had in mind?
We actually have a rating scale that the Troika developed to classify powers...
It's not spoilery, I should probably just post it sometime.
But generally, even if there's the occasionally powerful Dreamkeeper, well,
there's going to be a Nightmare that will give them problems. Fear of Mary Sues
often leads writers to avoid powerful characters like it's some kind of literary
sin- but as long as you have those characters clash with antagonists that meet
or exceed their capacities, you can still have fascinating struggles. And the
more powerful a character is, the more their power could wreak unanticipated
havoc and work against them. When power is portrayed with realistic consequences,
it's not a problem.
That reminds me, do you have any other projects once you finish dreamkeepers,
or will you start another beautiful series?
Actually yes- there are more projects planned beyond DK.
1) We known and loved the universe of Dreamkeepers, but I want to know if you
have other stories in mind? More comics or such?
AGH, I've been caught. I'm currently plotting a novel series, and have another
few concepts percolating- none of them are Dreamkeeper related.
I normally wouldn't mention anything, because I try to announce results rather
than plans. But you asked.
Question: how much time do you take to draw a page?
Way too much... Probably 12 hours or so just for the pencils.
and also how long does one piece of a comic page take in coloring?they are
so beautifully done.
One comic page... Roughly eight hours of color blocking, and shading will take
me a day of work usually- about ten or twelve hours. So just the colors for
each page will take somewhere from 20 to 30 hours of solid work, depending on
how elaborate the art is.
.Also do you have a word or quote to inspire yourself no matter how many the
pages you are going to color or draw? Pretty simple questions 
"Your future depends on many things, but mostly on you." ~ Frank Tyger
"The secret of getting ahead is getting started" ~ Mark Twain
What are you and Liz's roles in the comic? Like, ive gathered that you do the
pencils and stuff like that, but what do Liz do for the comic?
It starts with the concepts. Liz and I bounce the ideas off one another, talk
about characters, and collaborate on where things are going. And then the ping
pong begins:
I do a story draft, and take it to Liz for revisions. We finalize it together.
She gives me notes on how it should look, and then I go and doodle up some
thumbnails. We review and edit the thumbnails together.
I do blueline pencils, and Liz checks over the poses and if necessary suggests
alterations. Final pencils are then done, and layed out. Liz blocks the characters,
we usually send background blocking to the freelancers, and then I do the shading
with feedback from Liz. We do a final pass on the dialogue together. Everything
is meshed pretty closely.
Lets say Dreamkeepers suddenly becomes one of the most famous comics in the
world. Offers from big companies will come pouring in. They want to release
all kinds of merchandise, which will make you richer then hell, but also want
to change the story of Dreamkeepers to max out the selling. Would you accept
the offer and be a sellout, or would you stay a lot less rich, but maintain
the story line?
Actually I have a blog that sort of covers this subject:
vividstuff.blogspot.com/2011/0…
But it's not bad to reiterate my thoughts in brief. I think there would be
a balance. On the one side, I don't want to sell out and see a painful travesty
of Dreamkeepers gain public prominence as being definitive. On the other, I
don't want to be an artsy snob and refuse to let a show get off the ground over
my precious, precious ego.
So there's a scale. The more influence or assurance I would have regarding
the quality of the story, the more I would be open to green-lighting a show.
Being rich doesn't really factor in either way- I sure like money, but that's
a secondary issue.
Where did you guys get your inspiration for Dreamkeepers?
Primarily from an 80's childhood saturated in traditional animation and Jim
Henson.
who out of all the characters you created has been the most challenging for
you?
Scinter is the biggest pain to draw, because he's got so many gadgets to keep
track of. But he's work intensive, not difficult. What's difficult, actually,
are Tinsel and her boobs. Drawing realistic breasts wouldn't be too terribly
hard. But DK is stylized to look exaggerated and cartoony, yet still have a
somewhat real feel to it. Making something look unrealistic and still somewhat
believable is a challenge. I'm not there yet, but trying to get better.
and where do you get reference from those amazing backgrounds?
Google is the easiest, and I also take photos of landscapes and such whenever
I have the opportunity. Real life reference provides excellent fuel for the
process of making up crap.
Will you be able to make more tutorials?
I really hope so. At present I can't afford to break focus from the graphic
novels- but if we get big enough to attain a bit of a buffer, I'd love to make
some more. I've got one on perspective that has had artwork ready to roll for
like two years, but there's no time for me to assemble it just now.
Are you planning an animated series some time in the future?
I certainly like the idea. If we grow large enough, pursuing an animation might
become possible. But at present there are no concrete plans.
3. When will you open commissions
At conventions I open for pencil commissions. Online, I won't open until I
get through my current que- a few more years at least.
In the special edition of V1, Jeneviv's original sacrifice is much more gorey.
Why did you decide to tone it down?
The scene was supposed to warn readers right off the bat that this isn't intended
for children. But beyond that, there wasn't a need to really revel in the gore.
The scene was more about Void's return, and dramatizing that element. In the
original version, he was just kind of there, and popped some Sandmen to show
this. But why'd he pop some Sandmen? And why did the Sandmen run up to the body
in the first place? It just had some stuff happening that didn't make complete
sense. Making it shorter and more dramatic worked, so we went with that.
Is there ever going to be a cop-drama spinoff of Dreamkeepers called CSI: Anduruna?
Oh God, I hope so. That sounds like the worst idea ever and I love it.
Hi, my name is Manuel, I live in Buenos Aires Argentina.
I really do admire your work, and I really enjoyed reading the comics online,
unfortunately I have no way of acquiring the physical comic in my country.
Is there any chance that the comic come to Argentina and other Latin American
countries? not necessarily now, but in the future.
Licensing the foreign publishing rights is certainly possible at some point.
I don't know when I can take the time to investigate potential literary agents-
and, of course, if no publishing companies are interested in buying the rights,
then that's that.
I always wanted to ask: Do you use a special technique to make the outlines
of your chars colored? And how exactly do you publish all your Books? Like do
you print'em by yourself?
Actually, we have a tutorial that covers that subject pretty well: youtu.be/SVWKECLQhNc
Short version, turn the lines layer to 'multiply', and then paint colors onto
it with the brush mode turned to 'lighten.' We publish backlist titles via print
on demand companies, and frontlist titles we've been able to afford offset runs
lately. We sell and deliver the books all ourselves currently.
Also, have you ever considered using you're publishing company to publish other
people's graphic novels? Just curious.
Definitely. I'm planning to host and announce submission guidelines this spring.
Would you ever get a webcam and stream your drawing(though not from the graphic
novel cause spoilers, but maybe your monthly commission and your web-comic?)
I have trouble focusing on drawing if I'm also online with socializing happening.
I'm not strongly opposed to the idea, but I don't have any plans to try it presently.
Does your merchandise (printfection) ever go on sale? $61 shipped for two T-shirts
is rather steep.
It's steep indeed. They have to be custom printed for every order, so there's
not an easy way to lower the price without saddling ourselves with hundreds
of shirts. Printfection is the best we can do at present.
When it comes to essentially drawing/shading/painting in photoshop is there
a book you personally recommend that you know of?
There are probably good books on the subject, but I haven't read them. I would
start with online tutorials for free, and see how things go from there.
Oh, and also, any chance you could make Happy Birthdat to the Floor with Bast
and Whip into a wallpaper? I love that bit. 
That sounds like a fun wallpaper, now that you mention it. I'll try to remember
to do that sometime when a good chance comes up- if you want to e-mail me a
reminder down the road, that helps the odds of me remembering and getting it
done.
Do you have any pointers on how to do water? I LOVE how you draw and color
it ^^
Sure! Water is inherently gorgeous- it's one of those things we can spend a
lifetime chasing, and still never really capture it. But here are some tips
on trying:
Reflections- Make a copy of your image and flip it upside down. Move your upside
down colors to make reflections on the surface of your water- maybe blur them
a bit, mask them in and out if the water is rippling, turn down the opacity-
but it's an easy way to make something look glossy and smooth.
Transparency- in the right lighting conditions, we see through the surface
of the water to murky things beneath. Try painting some fuzzy things down there,
and mask the water surface out in areas where it's closer to the viewer.
Sharp highlights. If you take a big ball of clay and shine a light on it, you'll
get a big soft highlight. But make that clay wet, and suddenly you get a small,
sharp highlight. Hard highlights make things look wet- and nothing's wetter
than water. Give it some white glints and see how it looks.
Do you have any thoughts on doing more animation in the future?
Two thoughts: One, I really want to. And two, I need to focus on Volume 4 without
distractions. But down the road- I'd like to find time for more animations.
How do you get a cameo in the Comic?
By asking! Just e-mail me with a description of your character. I can't guarantee
we'll have a good spot, but I try to add reader characters as extras when the
opportunity presents itself. It’s better in email form rather than at a convention.
Not guaranteed, but we try.
On your website you have a vast amount of lore created for the world of Dreamkeepers,
rich with detail and imagination. Where did you get all these ideas from to
form this archive?
A lot of the graphic novel storyline is tied in to the past of the Dreamkeeper
world- so writing the story necessitated a history of Anduruna and the Nightmares.
From there, it was easy enough to write it up and put it on our site.
Would you ever be willing to work with a writer? (ie-- do someone else's material?)
Sure! There are a lot of great writers out there.
Serious questions:
How do you approach drawing each page?
Starting with the script, I break it into panels and draw a thumbnail. The
thumbnail is critical for organizing the flow of the page, avoiding redundant
camera angles, and establishing the dominant focus of the page. From there,
I just take the thumbnail as a springboard and then use blueline pencils to
sketch out the panel illustrations. Then final pencils, and that's the process.
How did you find your current style?
I started experimenting in high school. I really liked the dynamic feel of
anime, but wanted to capture it in a more realistic style- so I tried some fusion
stuff. In college I was exposed more to animation and cartooning, and then tried
to learn how to create animation-friendly distinctive character designs. It
all kind of mixed together into Dreamkeepers.
What tools do you use.
Pencil and paper with Photoshop.
Silly Question:
Ed-209, yay or yay?
Um... I'm not sure what that is, so I'll say YAY! Because that's the most fun.
What kind of food do you have near hand while drawing?
Coffee, coffee, coffee.
what are your inspirations that got you into doing dream keepers ?
Growing up in an 80's and 90's flood of gorgeous traditional animation.
Do you have any pictures from your character design/development process that
you would be willing to show?
That is, pictures of your characters before they looked the way they do now.
Yes! We have some early, early sketchbooks and stuff. I've been meaning to
add a concept art section to our site for ages, but I haven't found time to
put it together yet.
In Volume 1 and 2's special commentary on Graphicly, you mentioned something
about each book having an unintentional theme - since this was before V3 was
finished, what would you say is its unintentional theme?
Hmm… I would say it kind of nailed home the idea that splitting up = BAD IDEA,
KIDS! It was also a chance for all the main characters to touch base with their
roots before events took them forward.
Is Volume 4 gonna be a Kickstarter thing like the Prelude Collection was, or
just a straight up preorder deal? Also, how much wood would a woodchuck chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood? (that's almost harder to type than to say)
V4 I'm not certain yet- I really like the visibility of Kickstarter stretch
goals. I may wind up doing a Kickstarter with Paypal Pre-Orders simultaneously
counting towards it. And if a woodchuck could chuckkkkkkaaaaahhhhhGGGGGGG!
