This interview is of BlkKnight, whose comics are: Crossing Death, Zephyr of Fate and others!
(interview conducted by elektro!)



Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I'm a doctoral candidate that can almost taste the end of the process. While my doctorate and my other two degrees (statistics) have absolutely nothing to do with webcomics or art in general, it has always been a hobby of mine.

How did you come up with the username “BikKnight”?
Actually, it's “BlkKnight” with an “L.” The username was a suggestion from a friend when I signed up for an online game waaaaay back in high school. It has since stuck.

What or who inspired you into drawing comics the most?
My interest came from other webcomics. It all started with webcomics such as 8-bit Theater (back around the time it first started), RPG World, and Adventurers!. Essentially other fantasy-based video game parody webcomics.

Who has influenced your art the most?
I can't name anything in particular, but I get my influences from everywhere. The earlier CD style, which also doubles as Isis's “Happy” style, has art influences from Order of the Stick. My current style has some anime/manga influences, but I've always been one to avoid distorting proportions.

Where did the idea for “Crossing Death” come from?
Crossing Death's idea is technically the fourth idea I devised. The two worlds in my stories originated from an original RPG parody I named “Initial Fantasy” (Real original, I know.) which by my current standards is pretty bad. The Final Fantasy forum I showed it to, however, loved it and wanted a sequel. Naturally, I created a sequel (which took three years to do compared to the one month of Initial Fantasy) called…wait for it…Secondary Fantasy. I toned down the RPG parodies a bit to allow more original content. While I still rate Secondary Fantasy's story as bad by current standards, it still introduced some of the divine characters in Crossing Death. Secondary Fantasy is currently being rewritten as Zephyr of Fate. The third story, I named “Generations” is the story that covers events between Zephyr and Crossing Death, and isn't really being worked on heavily right now. Crossing Death, in a sense could be considered the ending of Generations. Leave it to me to present my saga in a fashion similar to Lufia 1 and 2. Guess I can't get away from the parodies afterall.

What program do you use to make the comic, and do you use a tablet for it?
I draw and color in Illustrator CS3, and use Photoshop CS3 for the shadows, text, etc. It is all done with a tablet.

What made you decide to switch from sprites to drawing?
Sprites were strictly from when I worked with the concept in an RPG format. I personally find sprites more time-consuming for a comic medium (Janlyn in her current state would be a tremendous pain for example), so I had to do the comic drawn.

How often do you work on the comic?
I work on the comic weekly right now during breaks in my dissertation work. Somehow, everything stays on schedule…for the most part.

Who is your favorite character in “Crossing Death”?
Now that's a loaded question. Each character has their own admirable trait, from Isis's general insanity, to Serra's quirkiness, to Vilia's sense of leadership. So in a sense, my favorite rotates on a constant basis.

What is the weirdest reader mail you have ever gotten in response to the comic?
Believe it or not, I've never gotten reader mail despite the contact link. Though I would have to consider the Russian spambot commenters I got a while back strange.

What are your favorite webcomics, either on DrunkDuck or beyond.
I hate to play favorites because I'll usually leave something out, but my recommends should provide an appropriate starting point.

Finally, a less serious question: if you were a priest, and zombies were attacking your congregation, would you “kick arse for the lord”?
According to Aeren, Goddess of Death, undead cheat death and she hates being cheated. So I would gladly fight off the undead masses turning them into charred and gooified masses of nothingness.