Hey Ian! =D

Hmm, what made me do this. Well, there's three main reasons.

1 - This is actually a story that I wrote in high school and I always wanted to do something with. Obviously what I wrote back then was pretty rough and unpolished (and not in comic format) but I liked it all the same. =p I finally feel like I'm at a level where I can tell the story the way I wanted to tell it to the public.

2 - I've been working on another webcomic for about four years now with another person, but I have extremely little creative control over anything from start to finish. So I guess my main motivations for starting Purgatory at this point in my life were two things: I wanted to see if I could do everything - writing, drawing, coloring, lettering - myself (and I really needed a break from being told what to draw and how to draw it, honestly. I realise it's part of having a job, but being a creative person, it's hard to not be in creative control).

3 - The last reason was just that I neded some practice with the things that I don't usually get to do in the comic process - writing, coloring, and lettering. =p Just doing the 13 pages I have up, I feel like I've gotten much more comfortable with all three things, so it's working out well for me.

=)

Oh! It's called Farlight Saga, you can find it at farlightsaga.com. =) Forgot to mention that, lol.

Yep, right now I'm working on both at the same time - Purgatory is pretty much done in small doses in the middle of the night after I've gotten home from my other job (I also work night shifts in a copy center, ugh). =)

I do storyboards, pencils and inks for FLS, there's someone else doing the writing and lettering and someone else again doing the coloring. I wouldn't really say I'm a cog in the machine (since there's only a handful of us working on it right now), but as far as the story direction goes (and the layout of some pages), I don't really have any control because I didn't create the idea or characters. =) The drawings I do for FLS have to be approved before they go live, which I do understand the need for, but it's nice to have a project of my own where that step isn't necessary.

Of course, that also means I have no one but myself to blame if they come out like crap. lol!

Hm, I can't go to the site either, it must be down, lol. But yep, I'm not doing the coloring for Farlight, it's a guy named Johnny Beaulieu, he's based out of Canada, I believe. =) He really does some nice work.

Farlight Saga is pretty good. I like it, but so far you've drawn me into this one more…

I don't know why I'm bugging you on the forums, maybe it's because they are here, but wewt.

But, one thing I am going to ask is this. You said you wrote this story back in high school, correct? Then what, if I may ask, brought the storyline to you? I mean, what was the main inspiration, the spark that started it all? I'm just curious.

Workin' with other people makes you feel a bit limited? Hmm, I find it rather a great, but challangin' experience^^ Usually when you have a couple of people responsible for somethin', they're in conflict, because everyone imagines it differently - that leads to arguements about how the chars should look and so. It's also harder to put everythin' together. One person can delay everythin' if the part is not delivered on time. But it's also cool, because you never know what it would look like after your co-worker's touch. I'm really keen on collabs. I'm usually the one who draws and seein' my work colored by someone else is always a surprise, because it joins our originalities in one. It's never like what I would do on my own.

I'm gonna have somethin' opposite to your work on Farlight Saga soon - I'll be the one to write the script, fill in halftones and organize the bubbles. It differs a lot from what I usually do, but that challange can bring me experience. I'm really lookin' forward to see the effect, as the drawer's style varies from mine a lot (it's classic manga, whereas mine is somethin' more like American comic). She has already drawn the chars multiple times as I had maaaany “but's”. Anyway we both find it fun.

Yay, Flies!

Ravaana
But, one thing I am going to ask is this. You said you wrote this story back in high school, correct? Then what, if I may ask, brought the storyline to you? I mean, what was the main inspiration, the spark that started it all? I'm just curious.

It was actually an assignment in high school. lol! We had to write a series of short stories for one of my classes, and Purgatory was what ended up coming out of it. A lot of stuff was very different (For example, it actually took place in a city, not a tower, and Cai was, randomly, a cult leader, lol.. there was also a coyote-type named Jeluss who followed Aisha around and worshipped her because she saved him. Jeluss got the axe in this version. =p Among other things.) and most of the names were different, except for Aisha (who was still a thief) and Margensen (who was a scholar). =P I'm not exactly sure what inspired the story outside of the assignment. The marsul (the race that these folk are) are part of the world that I've been developing for a long-ass time now, and I think I just wanted to do a story that focused on them. And this is what came out, lol.

Friedenmann
Workin' with other people makes you feel a bit limited?

Yes and no. =) It is a challenging experience, like you said, and I do enjoy working with other people, because it's fun to explore other's ideas, and working with someone else gives you a broader range to work with. I'm not really doing Purg because I don't like working with others, I just needed something to work on that I had complete freedom with, because 90% of my time is spent doing work for others now. =)

And good luck with your new project! It's fun doing things that you're not used to, I bet you'll learn a lot from it. =3

silentkitty
Yes and no. =) It is a challenging experience, like you said, and I do enjoy working with other people, because it's fun to explore other's ideas, and working with someone else gives you a broader range to work with.

So I think^^

silentkitty
I'm not really doing Purg because I don't like working with others, I just needed something to work on that I had complete freedom with, because 90% of my time is spent doing work for others now. =)

I'm wonderin' when I will need such a diversion from workin' with others myself…

silentkitty
And good luck with your new project! It's fun doing things that you're not used to, I bet you'll learn a lot from it. =3

Oh, thank you^^ I'm sure I will.

ooo!!! i gots a question! how long have you been in the “art”/“drawing” biz? and have you any other past works you would like to mention? :)

Well, I've been drawing since I was old enough to pick up a pencil, literally. I'm pretty sure my mother still has some drawings from when I was like 3, because she hoards things like that. (I'm 26, almost 27, now, for the record.) lol!

I started wanting to do art seriously as a career when I was in middle school, then went to college for graphic design and discovered that I absolutely hated it, so I changed my focus to illustration.

I haven't worked on a lot of projects that have seen the light of day, sadly. I've done some work for a trading card game that's (apparently) still planning on being published someday, and some work for small-press tabletop RPG books. Lots of one-time freelance pieces for people. I've also done a couple of tattoo designs for people.

The only other comic I'm currently involved with is Ethos, which is also being posted on DD at the moment. I do the pencils and inks for it; it's written by Jared Koon and colored by Johnny Beaulieu.

i thought i recognized your work! ^^ i saw “farlight saga” somewhere on the ethos page, but i didnt know they were one and the same! its really good ^^ i REALLY like the way the main catwoman character is drawn. almost as good as purgatory :D

ooo! wanna see the first non crap piece of art ive done? it took me like an hour or so today lol. its actually fanart for a comic called “south of sanity” which i highly recommend for asphyxiating luaghter ^^ but yeah..i pmed him sooo who knows he might put it up :P anywho, keep it up with purgatory, it rocks! :D i might make some fanart for you soon, but to be honest, im intimidated by your awesomly drawn characters :) im afraid you would recognize them if i drew them :P

night! ooor morning/afternoon depending on when u read this

Question- What do you use to draw and edit the comics?

Shikiro
ooo! wanna see the first non crap piece of art ive done? it took me like an hour or so today lol. its actually fanart for a comic called “south of sanity” which i highly recommend for asphyxiating luaghter ^^ but yeah..i pmed him sooo who knows he might put it up :P anywho, keep it up with purgatory, it rocks! :D i might make some fanart for you soon, but to be honest, im intimidated by your awesomly drawn characters :) im afraid you would recognize them if i drew them :P

Sure, you can either PM it to me or post it here. :kitty: And don't be intimidated! Fan art makes me happy inside. Like fuzzy bunnies.

Allciron
Question- What do you use to draw and edit the comics?

I use Photoshop to sketch, ink, and color, and then Illustrator to put the text bubbles and sound effects in. :3

Hi Sarah. <3 As if I didn't stalk you enough.

Anyway, I'm hoping Nadya will be as great as PT is in story and art, but I was wondering-

Do you write out your scripts every time? And do you have the whole story written out in a normal novel format somewhere?

Hey Dom~

Yep, the scripts are written out a bit ahead of time, I have up to about halfway through chapter 4 scripted right now. Beyond that, I know what I want to happen, but it's not actually scripted out. The whole story is kind of just floating around in my head at the moment, haha. I like to leave myself a little leeway to change and alter things as I go along, as I get a new idea, or discover something that works better than I had originally intended, etc. It's harder (for me, at least) to change even minor things when I have the whole story written out ahead of time.