By: Pieguy259
Username: Peipei
Comics: Herald King, The Faction, DeadFingers

So, bit of background first. The perennial Internet question: Age/sex/location?

I am a 21 year old female from Los Angeles, California.

Your drawing style is excellent. Do you have any particular inspirations or artistic influences?

My artistic influences? My older sister. when I was young, I always wanted to get as good at drawing as her.
Also, I was a heavy Final Fantasy junky back in high school, and I'd always wanted to create my very own video game using my art skills. I began drawing while in this ‘Final Fantasy’ phase if you may.

Where do you get ideas/inspiration for your stories? I’ve noticed some Aldous Huxley influence in DeadFingers especially.

Well, to a certain extent, you can blame all those 80s' sci fi movies I enjoy watching so much ^^;. But for the most part, I'm a dreamer. I take things from my dreams and write them down. This applies to daydreaming as well :3.

And how do you come up with names for your comics?

I came up with the title ‘The Faction’ because the cast of characters I had created and the storyline that went along with it, they were growing in to a little resistance group, all striving for the same things and all fighting to make things better for themselves and their loved ones.

As for Dead Fingers, Well…I would be spoiling part of the story if I said xD hehe :3.

It must be hard, maintaining two comics with that level of artistic and plot depth at the same time, especially daily comics. How do you cope with the workload?

Yes, it's a challenge, as well as a labor of love. I enjoy writing and making my characters come to life. As far as the workload goes, I made most of the pages for DeadFingers during my break time. All that needs to be done is coloring, which is quick and easy for me xD. The Faction takes a little more time, since I spend generally over 25 hours a week making pages for it. ^^;

I’ve noticed fictional languages cropping up in your comics. Have you actually worked out word meanings and syntax for these languages, or do you just make them up as you go?

As far as the main character's language goes in The Faction, I've configured most of the language, but I still do find myself making some of the words up as I go ^^. I'm still working on the language :3

Let’s briefly talk about Herald King, first up. It was your earliest comic, and it seemed quite interesting. Why was it cancelled?

I cancelled the story because it wasn't really well thought out and I had run out of ideas for it xD. As soon as I thought of a new story and started writing it out, there wasn't much left for Herald King.

Can you give us a brief outline of where you were planning to go with the storyline in Herald King, or are you keeping that under wraps?

I wasn't able to make an ending for Herald King xD. I do feel kinda bad about up and abandoning it though. Maybe after DeadFingers is finished, I can try and rewrite the story hehe.

Does Herald King have any relation to DeadFingers and The Faction, or is it a completely separate world?

Herald King is an entirely separate world, entirely separate story :3.

Moving on. The tribe in DeadFingers seems Native American in some aspects. Were you inspired by any particular groups or tribes when creating them?

Yes, in fact, I was :3. The K'homa were heavily inspired by the ancient Mayans as well as the Sioux.

The mainlanders in DeadFingers seem very cruel, and ruthless. Evil, even. Are they really this way, or do they just seem like this because we are seeing them from the villagers’ perspective?

That's a really good question. For the most part, yes. They are cruel at times. But most of the cruelty may be a bit heightened since we are seeing things through the tribe's perspective.

What is the relationship between DeadFingers and The Faction? Does DeadFingers take place earlier, later or at the same time?

Deadfingers is the prequel to The Faction, except this time, the readers are having a complete walkthrough of the life of Chief Pornpi Kwatoko (Also known as Orn from ‘The Faction’.) I had a really fun time with her development in The Faction, and since alot had gone untold about her in the story, I'd decided to give her a tale of her own to explain why she is the way she is in present times :3.

How does magic work, in the world of DeadFingers and The Faction? It seems the mainlanders have no idea of it.

Just like in our modern world today. Many can't get a grasp at the idea of there possibly being supernatural activity going on in this planet. This includes magic as well. The tribes of the wasteland are pretty much like a secret society with not as much technological advances as the mainland. They have managed to seek their knowledge from another means (spirit linking for shamans, sorcery, advanced roguery, necromancy, witchcraft, etc.)

Is DeadFingers and The Faction’s world intended to be the future of our own, or just a very similar world? If the former, how did our world become that world?

These two stories take place in the alternate universe :3. None of it is intended to mimic or mark the future of our planet. Just makes you wonder what things would be like if the universe had been changed xD. If things didn't go the way they did through out history.

There seems to be a “post-apocalyptic” feel in DeadFingers and The Faction. Is this intentional?

Yup, this is completely intentional :3. I have a fascination with stories and movies that take place in a post-apocalyptic era, since I often get bored with ordinary, every day life. Where something new happens everyday, unlike the modern world. I can almost predict what I'll be doing a month from now 0_0;.

Lastly, do you have any tips for budding comic writers? (I’m contractually obligated to ask that, ha ha.)

My bit of advice: You are the captain of the ship. Write your story the way you want it to be written. Make something that you yourself would enjoy reading, so that it can capture your attention long enough for you to make an ending :3. I know I used to have a problem with not completing stories ^^;. Thanks for the interview.

Good luck!

good question, good answers, good comics ^^

Huzzah! Peipei! It's cool to learn more about where you're coming from. All this time I had no idea you were from LA.

Great interview and interesting too. Peipei is such a diligent and talented artist and such a bright and friendly member of the DD community as a whole. ^_^

Yay it's Peipei! Wow that rhymes.

Ooh, you were interviewed Peipei! o:

It's nice seeing more into that brilliant noggin of yours. That's some advice that I'll have to learn to accept >: | mmph!

Nice interview, guys.

I'm actually enjoying Dead Fingers even more than The Faction (if that's possible!), so it's great being able to take a peek at the thought processes behind it.

Another great interview! (We're having so many right now some are slipping past me.)
I've read Faction; it's really VERY good.
It IS fun finding out more about our DD community members through these interviews. Sometimes it makes me feel old; so many of you are so young yet, but I'm also getting glimpses of our future talent. ;)

How the heck did I miss this? Come to think of it how did I miss The Herald King? Although the character designs and general aesthetic feel is pretty different from Deadfingers and The Faction I would have guessed that they were all the same world too. Like maybe The Herald King took place in a different region of the same world. I know that's not the case but that was my impression.
Anyway, great interview! Peipei's one of my favorite artists on the site, I love her character designs.