Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Web Artist Wednesday: Lilith Dark interview

This fearless warrior battles the evils of bath time! Welcome to the world of Charles Dowd's brave battle-ready girl Lilith Dark!




1. For the poor souls not already reading, please give a brief synopsis of your comic.

Lilith Dark is about a little girl who likes to pretend that she's a D&D type of warrior who fights monsters. Most of the time her imagination gets a little carried away, and instead of fighting monsters, it turns out she's actually just fighting with the family dog, or her big brother Dewey. That is until she discovers a tree full of real monsters just across the street!

2. What materials and/or software do you use?

I'm trained in most traditional art materials, but for Lilith Dark I'm pretty much 100% digital. I do all of the penciling & inking in Manga Studio with a Wacom drawing tablet, and I do all of the painting in Photoshop.

3. Are there any books, movies, toys, artists, or authors that have inspired or continue to inspire your comic?

Lilith Dark is a celebration of all the stuff I was exposed to as a kid. I'm drawing inspiration from all of those classic 80's fantasy and horror films like The Neverending Story, Legend, The Dark Crystal, Evil Dead, and The Gate. Jim Henson's work has always been a huge influence on me, especially his dramatic works like Labyrinth and The Storyteller series.

4. Are any of your characters based on real people in your life?

Lilith & Dewey are really just caricatures of my kids, at least visually. Some of the stuff they do, and the way they get along with one another are definitely reflected in the characters. Honestly though, that's as close to reality as they get. Lilith for example is really based more on myself as a kid. I was out crawling around in sewers and chasing down ice cream trucks on my bike. There was always an adventure!

5. Are there any actors you know you would want to play or voice certain characters in a movie of your comic?

I'd love to see Lilith Dark played by someone like Maria Lark. Maria may be a little old at this point, but she's the type that would really fit the roll.

6. What songs would you like in a soundtrack of your comic?

I've always imagined Lilith Dark to have a punk rock & metal soundtrack. I'd love for Lilith Dark the Movie to feature classics like Danzig and Slayer, and some current bands like Arch Enemy & Cradle of Filth. Bikini Kill's Rebel Girl would be the theme song. That would be awesome.

7. What is your overall goal for your comic?

The ultimate goal of Lilith Dark is to prove to the comic industry that you can make a comic book that's safe for kids to read, that stars a little girl, and people will like it and want to spend money on it. Publishers just don't seem to be into taking a risk these days, so it's just super heroes and licensed characters doing the same things over and over again. Time to shake things up a little!

8. How has managing a comic impacted your life?

It's a ton of work. I do everything myself. I'm the writer, artist, CEO, marketing dept, treasurer, and secretary. It takes a lot of time and sacrifice. I don't get to go out every weekend, or come home at night and veg out on the couch. I have to keep making more comics. Don't get me wrong, I love it, and it's a fun job, but it's a job, and that means work. Thankfully I have an extremely loving and supporting family that puts up with my late night comic making.

9. What do you do to advertise your work?

I buy ads a couple of times a year, I go to cons all the time. The best thing to do is to be available to talk with your readers, either on social media or in person. Word of mouth is still king. If you're a nice guy, people don't mind helping to spread the word. That's the best way to get your work out there in my opinion.

10. Web comics can be very time consuming and sometimes expensive to keep up. Often there is little reward in regards to money and sometimes public attention. Why do you do it?

Well Mat, maybe you're doing it wrong because I've found that I make tons of money and am wildly successful. Oh wait, none of that's true at all!I do it because I love it. It's in my blood. I'm compelled top create. If I wasn't working on Lilith Dark and my other projects, I honestly don't know what I'd be doing. Maybe watching Honey Boo Boo and eating Ding Dongs. I happen to think creating comics is more fulfilling than that though. It's like, who I am.

11. Got any other projects we should know about?

I just finished being a part of a horror anthology called Winter's Eye. I did the cover art, and illustrated a short story written by Martin Brandt. That'll be out in print just in time for Halloween. I'm also part of Zazz Comics, along with Joel Poirier of Stripped Comics, John MacLeod of Space Kid!, and Jess Boudrie of Dax and NightMaiden. You can check all of that out at ZazzComics.com. We'll have some great collabs and other stuff coming out in the new year. I'm pretty excited about that. I'm also in the early development stages of a sprawling epic that will knock your socks off when it finally sees the light of day. Look for that hopefully late next year.

12. What advice would you give to aspiring creators?

Get off your @$$ and do it. Sitting around thinking about it won't accomplish anything. This is a new era, and there's literally no excuse why you can't start a comic right now. Get a website and just do it. Marvel and DC are never going to come knocking on your door. You have to do it yourself if you want to break in. Stop making excuses and draw some comics!





Thanks for taking the time Charles! I'd love to see an animated Lilith Dark battling some baddies to Slayer!

If you dig Lilith Dark you can show your love by up-voting the submission for this interview at Reddit Webcomics. Up-voting keeps Lilith Dark on the front page of the webcomic category longer which means more people get to see it!

Thanks again for reading! Drop us a comment to let us know what ya' think. Then dare to join Lilith Dark as she battles a world of monsters as big as her imagination!

-Mat
evanyeti.com

If you would like to be interviewed about your web-comic send an email to evanyeti@yahoo.com titled "interview" with a link to your comic.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the chat Mat. As far as question 5 goes, I'd love to see Lilith Dark played by someone like Maria Lark. Maria may be a little old at this point, but she's the type that would really fit the roll.

    ReplyDelete
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