OUAT Artist Interview - Becca Hillburn

What is your story about?

My story is a retelling of the classic Japanese fairytale, Momotaro.  In the original tale, a childless elderly couple couple desperately wish for a child.  The husband goes out fishing one day and comes across a beautiful giant peach floating down the river.  He takes it home, attempts to slice it up, and ends up slicing the little boy inside!  This child, whom they name Momotaro, bears this scar for the rest of his life, and goes on to become a man of Japanese legend.   My retelling is much simpler- an elderly couple in Occupied Japan recieve notice that their son has passed away.  The wife falls into a horrible despair, and the husband tries his best to cheer her up.  With the last of their money, he goes to a black market and happens upon a peach.  In better times, he, his wife, and their son would share peaches beneath the peach tree by their home, and he purchases it for her as a last resort.  As he returns home, the peach grows and grows, glowing in the cold moonlight, until he's doubled over with this happy burden.  His wife perks up a bit from her futon when he enters, and when he slices it, the beautiful baby inside is happily unharmed, and together they can start to make a new life.

Where did you get your ideas and inspiration for your story?

I've always loved mythology from all over the world, and I was introduced to Japanese folklore at an early age in my grandparent's copy of Childcraft.  Last December, I was fortunate enough to travel to Japan with a school group, and we were required to create an 8 page comic as part of the assignment.  This retelling was inspired directly by a trip tothe Meiji Era museum, which is full of scale models and life size replicas of Meiji Japan, so reference for this story was a snap.

What made you decide to do a story for Gurukitty Studios anthology project?
I've wanted to participate in an anthology project for awhile, and I love fairytales!


What other comics have you done?
I've done several mini comics, which are available in both digital and garage print format.  I'm working on an autobiographical series right now, as well as preparing for my Masters thesis, which is a reimagining of stories involving little people, heavily inspired by classics such as The Littles, The Borrowers, The Indian in the Cupboard series, and Gulliver's Travels.

Where else can people find your work? Are you included in any other publications or a website?
My work is online at www.nattosoup.com, and I have a process/inspiration/tutorial blog (www.nattosoup.blogspot.com)

OUAT Artist Interview -Table Flip Studios

What is your story about?

(Aileen) It’s about a very well-known fairy or forest nymph in Philippine Mythology. There are actually quite a lot of versions/stories about her and she is well-loved by many. 

(Lindsy) There were some versions where Maria was actually kidnapping men and forcing them to be her husband. We were mostly drawn to this version we used for the Anthology because it showed a little more of Philippine history.

Where did you get your ideas and inspiration for your story?

(Aileen) I first heard about this story from my great grandmother. She likes to tell me about all sorts of stories she heard from her parents when she was growing up. I don’t think it ever bore me!  

(Lindsy) Art wise, it was mostly experimental. I did look to Veral Brosgol and Emily Carroll for influence and it was fun trying to translate my usual American-manga style into something more streamlined! 

What made you decide to do a story for Gurukitty Studios anthology project?

(Aileen) The first time we did a story for Gurukitty Studios was for the Ghost Tales anthology. Lindsy saw a retweet with the info and we decided to check it out. And the rest is history! For this anthology, we felt that we should submit as well since we actually like working with them! 

(Lindsy) Ghost Tales was an enormous joy to work on and it really pushed Aileen and I to properly work as a team since it was pretty much our first proper project together. We were very determined to work with Gurukitty Studios since our last experience was amazing and we all got along so well!

What other comics have you done? Tell us about them.

(Aileen) We have an on-going webcomic series :EPOCH Files (http://epoch-files.smackjeeves.com) 

(Lindsy) Aside from our sci-fi webcomic, we’ve done work for other anthologies and have been working closely on other projects that we’re super excited about!

Where else can people find your work? Are you included in any other publications or a website?

(Aileen) My blogger, http://grimcirco.blogspot.com has all the links of my side projects, on-going & future comic projects Lindsy & I are working on. 

As for other publications, we are published on the Indie Ladies’ Comic Anthology and Ink’d Well Comics this year and Gurukitty’s Ghost Tales Anthology last year. 

(Lindsy) I’ve pretty much left a small digital footprint on a lot of sites, but I frequent more to my DeviantART (shenli.deviantart.com) and my blog (lemuinabox.blogspot.com).

How did you come up with your cover design?

(Lindsy) Unlike the previous cover I made for Ghost Tales, this cover didn’t come to me in a stroke of inspiration. I had to search and look up different book covers and come up with concepts for days. I know I wanted to give it a kind of ‘classic’ look, but had no idea where to start. Working in a library definitely played a big part. We have a lot of books that are fairy tale-esque and I remember running into a few cover designs that struck me as perfect for the anthology.

OUAT Interview - Jayleen Weaver

What is your story about?

A family of penguins who suffer a tragedy, and have to band together to make things right.

Where did you get your ideas and inspiration for your story?

From an old folk tale I think it was called “The wolf and the Seven Little Kids”. I just prefer black and white animals to ones with colour, so adapted it to an Antarctic tale.

Concept art By Jayleen Weaver

What made you decide to do a story for Gurukitty Studios anthology project?

Well, being one half of Gurukitty Studios, it seems like it’s an obligation for me to participate… However, I love doing short stories and the anthology compilations we do are really just so we can publish our short stories right away, ha!

What other comics have you done? Tell us about them.

I’ve done a story called “One Day to Live” that was a life story of a fly, I collaborated with Donut and Bevan to create the “Ghosts in the Capitol” story for the Ghost tales anthology.

I’m working on 2 comics right now, “Conflagration” – which is years away but will have some chapter as web comics and some as print only. My big focus now has been “Hello, Albertosaurus”, which is a Graphic novel Memoir of the time we went to Drumheller Alberta with our Dad. It’s 8 chapters, full colour (coloured with markers). You can actually have a cameo in it if you get one of the Indiegogo perks! Check it out!

Other anthologies I’ve been in are Ink’d Well comics “fearsome fables” and Cloudscapes “Giants of main street”

I also have a few other short comics in the midst. 

Where else can people find your work? Are you included in any other publications or a website?

Gurukitty.com

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2987832/

twitter.com/marker_guru

facebook.com/gurukittystudios

twitter.com/gurukittystudio

I participated in a childrens book called “a world of stories” as an illustrator, I did animation for several companies in Vancouver for shows like “Bobs and Lolo –get on your feet” dvd, and Class of the Titans TV series. I’ve also done other freelance animation for numerous other companies. You might also see my logo designs on a law firm and a hotdog stand in the city, as well J

OUAT Artists Interview - Michelle Silva

What is your story about?

Hi my name is Michelle Silva, I love comics!! My story is called Lindorm King, which is a love story between a dragon prince and his servant boy.

Where did you get your ideas and inspiration for your story?

The comic was inspired by the tale "The Bride of the Lindorm King" or also known as "Lindorm Prince" the story originates from the Scandinavian region. I really wanted to do something with dragons in it and I re-adapted the tale in a modern twist.

Concept art by  Michelle Silva

What made you decide to do a story for Gurukitty Studios anthology project?

Fairy tales and folklore evoke our childhood and past.  The stories have lessons, and deal with life's challenges, but as the tales are retold the meanings and details change depending on what society made them. These morals that are depicted affect us today in modern society and how we view ourselves.  Currently I'm working on a upcoming graphic novel called, Click Track Lolita which is inspired by the "once upon a time" genre. One day while I was researching,  I stumbled across Gurukitty's project.  When I saw Gurukitty Studios was going to do a Once Upon A Time Anthology, I had to submit!

What other comics have you done? Tell us about them.

The biggest project I've worked to date is a graphic novel published by Oni Press titled Love Buzz, written by Len Wallace. Love Buzz is a college romance story about finding the right one . Some published anthology projects I've participated in would be Outlaw Territory vol. 1, Negative Burn issue. 6,  The Girls Guide to Guy Stuff, Sugar Ninjas: Spicy Book 3, and Trickster: Native American Tales.  I also publish comics digitally and have multiple mini comics which are available on my website to read for free! 

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~silva039/

Where else can people find your work? Are you included in any other publications or a website?

I like post all over the internet but my main hangout would be my sketch blog where I post my latest art and happenings, which would be

www.0becomingX.blogspot.com

Thanks for reading!

OUAT Artists Interview Reetta Linjama

What is your story about?

A crooked rich guy and an arrogant monster, both getting their comeuppance from a hero they underestimate. It's a folk tale peppered with slapstick violence and a matter-of-fact take on so called monsters.

Where did you get your ideas and inspiration for your story?

"The Evil Boyar's Farmhand" is adapted from a Mari-El folk tale. Technically the Mari-El live in Russia, but their language is one of the Fenno-Ugric languages, a close relative of my native Finnish. As the starting point for the visuals I used Finnish scenery, old traditional Finnish clothing etc. I've made a few changes to the plot and characters, both for the story flow's sake and so I could draw stuff that I enjoy -- like snow. I'm also quite influenced by Eurocomics and classic gag cartoons.

What made you decide to do a story for Gurukitty Studios anthology project?

Mostly that the theme of the anthology meant I could adapt a tale rather than write a comic from scratch. I'm slowly venturing into writing my own comics, but I feel better about a gentle start. And, well, I know Guru&Kitty in real life, and I knew they're not just talk ;)

What other comics have you done? Tell us about them.

I'd been making one-page comics for my own amusement before, but my comics-making hobby really took off after joining Cloudscape Comics, when I started collaborating with writers. I'm interested in drawing all kinds of comics, but my own writing skills lean towards humour and cute gags right now, like my first self-scripted comic "Revenge of The Ghost Spider" in the 2011 Gurukitty anthology "Ghost Tales" shows.

Where else can people find your work? Are you included in any other publications or a website?

I have a website, including links to most of my profiles around social media. So far I've been in the Cloudscape anthologies "21 Journeys" and "Giants of Main Street", and Gurukitty's "Ghost Tales"

OUAT Artists Interview Jeri Weaver

What is your story about?

My story is about a winged lion who keeps a lair of bones guarded by two white ravens.
Every time he goes on a hunt, he brings the bones back to his collection.

Where did you get your ideas and inspiration for your story?

It is actually based on an African folk tale called "How the Lion Lost his Wings". I
chose it because it kind of reminded me of the man eating lions of Tsavo who were said
to keep a lair of bones from their prey.
I am drawn to African legends in general, they are always creative and get right to the
point.

What made you decide to do a story for Gurukitty Studios anthology project?

Well, I am Gurukitty studios, so it would be kind of silly if I didn't put a story into my
own anthology project. Our reason for doing anthologies is to help give fellow comic
artists a chance to get their work published. We remember a time when publishing
seemed like an impossible task and an unacheivable goal and we want people to know
that if there is a will, there is a way.
Our fairy/folk tale theme was inspired by our love of history and a book we had
growing up. It was an amazingly illustrated folk tale book, all traditionally done of
course. It is unfortunately out of print now, but we still have our original copy.


What other comics have you done?Tell us about them.

Well, I created the Daqueran series we have posted online, started in 2007.
I've also created a few other short comics for other anthologies, "Rules for
Ghosts" is in our last anthology, Ghost Tales. A short called "Spirit Bear" will be
in another anthology by ink'd well comics.
I'm currently working on a story for Cloudscape Comics for the "All Canadian
Superhero" anthology.
I also created a 4 page teaser for a graphic novel I am working on called "The
Gourd Wife". The characters and everything have changed dramatically, but the
graphic novel is still a go and in the scripting stage.

Where else can people find your work? Are you included in any other
publications or a website?
Well, most everything can be found on my website http://gurukitty.com
I've been published in the March 2009 Estonian "For Him Magazine" (random and odd, I know).
The Ink'd well Comics "Fearsome Fables" Anthology that will be released at Halcon 2012
All the GK anthologies of course.
I've also done some illustration work, most recently for "A World of Stories" for the Rotary Club.
I also do guest pages all over the place wherever and whenever I can.

OUAT Artist Interview - Bevan Thomas

What is your story about?
“The Happy Prince,” illustrated by the talented Ksenia Kozhevnikova, is about a swallow flying south who befriends a golden bejewelled statue of a prince. The swallow is so filled with love for the Prince and the Prince with love for his own city that they offer up everything of themselves, destroying themselves for love. In the end, an angel takes their souls up to Heaven so that they can be rewarded for their selflessness.

Where did you get your ideas and inspiration for your story?It’s an adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s fairy tale of the same name. Oscar Wilde wrote numerous tragic tales, such as “The Angry Giant” and “The Star Child,” in which the protagonists martyr themselves for compassion and love. They’re very sad and mournful, but also very powerful and beautiful. I wanted to adapt one and “The Happy Prince” seemed the best fit for the anthology.

What made you decide to do a story for Gurukitty Studios anthology project?

I’m always interested in getting involved with local graphic novel anthologies and I really enjoyed contributing to Gurukitty Studios’ first book, “Ghost Tales.”

About the artist

What other comics have you done? Tell us about them.

I wrote “Ghosts of the Capital,” with art by Jayleen Weaver and Donut, for Gurukitty’s “Ghost Tales,” an exploration of various ghost stories and hauntings within the city of Victoria.

I’m also a frequent contributor to Cloudscape Comics’ various anthologies. For “21 Journeys,” I wrote “Flyaway,” featuring art by Reetta Linjama, which juxtaposed a woman escaping a toxic lifestyle with a swallow flying south for the winter. Then for “Giants of Main Street,” I created “Fallen Star” with Ksenia Koshevnikova, the story of “Theseus and the Minotaur” from the Minotaur’s point of view, and “My City” with Oliver McTavish-Wisden, about a man who keeps a city in a bottle. For Cloudscape’s next anthology, “Waterlogged,” I intend to create an autobiographical story about my relationship with my late maternal grandfather and also a story about a woman’s fascination with a powerful female pirate.

Oh, and I’m spearheading “All-Canadian Comics,” an anthology of Canadian superhero stories inspired by 40s Canadian comics. That’s a big personal project for me. I’m the editor and wrote three of the anthology’s stories. Basically, I like to keep busy. 

Where else can people find your work? Are you included in any other publications or a website?

A lot of my work is linked to off my portfolio at http://www.bevanthomas.ca. That’s also the location of my blog, where I post news about my professional and creative work, as well as various articles about things I find interesting. A lot of my work can also be read at http://www.cloudscapecomics.

com, the website for Cloudscape, the comics society I’m prominently involved with.
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Once Upon a Time Atist Interview - Jason Hart

As part of our indiegogo campaign to raise funds to print our anthology, we are doing interviews with some of the artists.

First up is Jason Hart, artist of "Small Wars of Inconsequential Beings" and the cover artist for the Special Edition Variant cover, available now only through a $30 donation on the Indiegogo campaign.
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What is your story about?

"Small Wars Of Inconsequential Beings" is a take on an old Greek/Roman story, "Batrachomyomachia," about a war between mice and frogs (which has been speculated may have been a satire of Homer's Iliad). My take doesn't modernize it necessarily, but attempts to make the story a little more universal.

The king of the frogs invites his friend, the mouse king, to a celebration at the frog lodge. On the way there, the mouse king accidentally drowns, and a war between the two species ensues...



Where did you get your ideas and inspiration for your story?

I was looking for a tale that had what I saw as a flaw to it – so that I had somewhere I could improve it with a re-imagining. The latter part of the original tale brings in the Greek gods, which for the sake of the parody, worked at the time, but didn't really make sense from a modern perspective.

I also really try to have a theme or driving message with my stories, and the basic setup of the frogs/mice war lent to something I wanted to say about the interconnectedness of our world today – that any war or struggle, even of a very small or seemingly unimportant people, today has a very significant impact on its neighbors and on the world balance overall.


What made you decide to do a story for Gurukitty Studios anthology project?

I've been writing comic scripts for a few years now, and about 6 months ago, I just sort of hit a wall, where I had all this stuff written, but nothing published to show for it. My wife suggested I look into anthologies, and so I started hitting up any comic anthology that seemed legit and that I could find a story to develop under its theme.

I have a long love of folk tales, so Once Upon a Time... was a natural fit. It was also only my second time illustrating my own work, something I'm developing more now. (And yes, there was a reason I chose a story with very few humans in it.)


About the artist

What other comics have you done? Tell us about them.

I have upcoming short comics in Melaina Comics' Cartoonists Against Bullying and Grayhaven Comics' The Gathering: Kids Fairy Tales, with a few more pending – as well as a 7-issue circus mini-series that's been scripted and a 4-issue adventure/comedy mini-series that an artist and I are developing. Currently, I'm illustrating two new stories for anthology submissions.


Where else can people find your work? Are you included in any other publications or a website?

The two listed above haven't been published yet. Updates on my work can be found at my blog: showerstorm.tumblr.com



About the cover

How did you come up with your cover design?

Even with single-image illustrations, I really get excited if I can tell a story, or at least hint at one. The hard part was finding an image that would evoke the genre without being too specific to any one tale (while still being interesting). I came up with a scene of a young adventurer who seeks out folk tales to collect in her snake-skin cloak. She confronts a spider in its lair, who also collects tales and hoards them in its subterranean web. A sort of parallel to the idea of the anthology within.
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Raising Funds for OUAT

Well, we're nearly there! We're almost ready to print Once upon a Time...! So exciting this is! We just need some help from you! We've begun an indieGoGo Campaign to help us raise the funds to print our artists copies. The artists copies can cost us nearly 1000$ to print and ship to them, and that usually comes our of our own pockets but we're a little strapped these days, and we need help. You can help out by donating of course, but also by sharing the campaign!
If you'd like a widget like this:
 
you can copy and paste this code:
<iframe src="http://www.indiegogo.com/project/197179/widget/175406" width="224px" height="429px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>

Or simply use this link and tweet and share!
http://igg.me/p/197179?a=175406

Thank you so much for your continued support :D
You guys are the best!