It's not a lovely Tuesday here in England, but it must be a lovely Tuesday someplace right? (Unless you're in Australia, in which case, it could already be Wednesday- or if you're not reading this the day I posted it and it's some other day of the week, or some other Tuesday when it may in fact be nice in England)… anyway….

Today, Peipei interviews korosu of FAUST and Chimera! All of these interviews have been interesting so far, and this one is no exception!


Firstly, I would just like to congratulate you on getting one of your stories featured on this site. Quite an accomplishment I must say ^^.
Thanks! I’ve never seen my work get this kind of recognition, so I felt extremely grateful and honored when it happened.

I would like to ask you some questions if that's okay.
Certainly!

How did you get started on your story FAUST?
I really wish I could tell you that on one fateful night I was struck by Zeus’ holy lightning bolt of Ideas, but then I’d be lying. Basically, I was tossing around the idea of starting a new comic ( I was in desperate need of a fresh start in something), and after a few days I finally decided to my own version of the Faust legend.

How did you go about choosing the name for the story?
Well, quite simply, both of the plays that were the inspiration for this story were named after the main character, Faust.

How were your characters developed? Have you based any characters off of yourself or anyone else you know?
All the characters are (loosely) based off their namesake from either the Marlowe or Goethe versions of Faust. But as far as their personalities and appearances go, it all came from my imagination and how I pictured them to be like. They’re not based on anybody I know in real life.


Faust is a very beautiful work of art. Absolutely gorgeous job with the inks used to illustrate the story. What is your greatest inspiration for creating the story?
Besides the actual texts I’ve based the basic story on, I really can’t say. I spend a lot of time imagining ideas for story lines in my head, and everything else came really from just that.


Have you planned out an ending for the story Faust? Or does it develop as the story flows?
Oh yeah, I definitely know how it’s going to end. (But my lips are sealed!) One of the things I always notice about my stories is that I always have a clear idea of how it will begin and end, but everything in between more or less gets developed along the way. Of course as the story goes on I sometimes change the ending, but as far as Faust goes it’s pretty set.


Do you have any future plans for the story Chimera?
I would love to go back one day and start the whole comic over again because there’s a much deeper plot I wasn’t able to get to. Of course, if I do that it won’t be until after I finish Faust, because there’s no way I can keep two comics going at the same time and keep a decent updating schedule.


Was there a reason for why Chimera has stopped in its production?
To put it simply, I just lost the motivation to draw each page. There were just so many things wrong with it (like, the art in the beginning pages), and I decided that if I wanted to continue with the story, I’d have to start over fresh.


If you don't mind me asking, what are your most useful tools in creating your pages?
You mean the actual tools I use to draw? Oh, gosh… My tablet? I don’t know.


Do you have any tips for artists looking to improve their skills?
Be very observant! Before I started college I never had a real drawing class, so everything I knew was self-taught. I always pay attention to the movements of people, like how their arms or legs are position when they turn a certain way, etc., and that’s helped me a lot. But since that might now work for everybody, I’d have to recommend studying art or anatomy books and copying the drawing or photographs in them.


(Now i'd like to ask you a few questions unrelated to the comic.)


What is your favorite color?
Hmm…either brown or blue. I can’t decide!

Do you have an occupation? Are you attending school or training for anything in specific?
I’m in my sophomore year studying Graphic Design in school right now. It’s great!

Do you have a special someone in your life?
Not yet, no…unless you want to count my male characters. They’re pretty special.

If you could make 3 wishes and make them come true, what would they be?
To one day become a professional comic artist, to get front-row seats to a Bruce Springsteen concert, and to go world traveling.


Great. Thanks for answering those questions. And once again, congratulations on the success of FAUST and I wish you the very best .
Thank you very much! As I’ve said, this has been a great experience for me, and I couldn’t feel more grateful for all the support the comic has received.

A really good interview. I've looked at Faust, myself, and it's a shame that you're stalled on the series at the moment. I consider Faust pretty sophisticated: literary adaptations, done well, are very rare these days.
My first book is wholly imperfect and certainly has its setbacks, but I'd never start it over at this point. Sure, I could do it better, my style has evolved a lot. But it's also my measuring stick for how far I've come. Never let your first stepping stones become stumbling blocks…learn from them and use them to progress yourself upward.
All in all, great insight on your series. Hope to see it resume soon! :)

houseofmuses
it's a shame that you're stalled on the series at the moment.

It's not stalled so much as I've been super-busy with school work and ye olde job search, and the comic's suffered because of it. :/ I'm doing my best to have it updated once a week. (Sorry!)

Hey, life's been keeping me incredibly busy lately, too, so I totally understand. Job search comes first, obviously!!!
We'll be here when you get us an update! :)

Studying graphic design is awesome.

I like Faust. I'm glad I read it; it's a much more emotive story than I expected, so far. :D

I hope you'll be able to continue Chimera one day! I actually don't know the story of Faust so your interpretation is quite refreshing for me.

Drawing is something I struggle with all the time :/. I guess I'm not too keen with observations, but I'd like to take an art class one day. One day…