What do giant monsters do in their time off? Creator Joey Weiser answers this and other questions in his webcomic Monster Isle!
1. For the poor souls not already reading, please give a brief synopsis of your comic.
Monster Isle is about the day-to-day life of giant monsters living on an island together. It’s about their life when they aren’t destroying cities or fighting the Anti-Monster Task Force.
2. What materials and/or software do you use?
I draw the strip on bristol with blue pencil, and ink with a brush and crowquill pens. I color and format the comic in Photoshop. There is a walk-through of how I drew a page of my graphic novel Cavemen in Space linked from my webpage, which has a more in-depth list of materials and things like that. It’s pretty much the same process for Monster Isle.
3. Are there any books, movies, toys, artists, or authors that have inspired or continue to inspire your comic?
Monster Isle is inspired by Japanese movie and TV monsters, also known as “kaiju.” I take a lot of influence from the Godzilla, Gamera, and Ultraman series in particular. Other than that, comic strips that I love like Peanuts and Calvin & Hobbes have a lot of influence on my work in the strip.
4. Are any of your characters based on real people in your life?
A lot of the ideas for my strips come from real life, but there isn’t any specific character based on anyone in my life.
5. Are there any actors you know you would want to play or voice certain characters in a movie of your comic?
No, I’m real bad at remembering actors and stuff like that. I would be a terrible casting director.
6. What songs would you like in a soundtrack of your comic?
Even though the action and drama is pretty light in Monster Isle, I think it would be awesome if the great Godzilla music composed by Akira Ifukube could score Gary and the gang’s lives.
7. What is your overall goal for your comic?
Honestly, Monster Isle is pretty goal-free. I purposefully keep it low-stress in order to just have fun and create some work that hopefully others enjoy. It started as a strip in a local paper, but I haven’t pursued print for Monster Isle very heavily because I’d like to just keep it as a fun side-project.
8. How has managing a comic impacted your life?
Monster Isle is weekly, and I typically take one week a month to work on all four strips for the upcoming month. Before I know it, my buffer it gone and it’s time to work on more strips… It certainly has made me very aware of the passage of time!
9. What do you do to advertise your work?
Like I said, I keep Monster Isle pretty stress-free, so I don’t really worry too much about advertising the strip. Whenever I put a new strip up I’ll post about it on Facebook and Twitter. Also, I’ve started making mini-comics to have at comic conventions, which I suppose serve as an advertisement for the strip.
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, I love comics! I love making them and I love knowing that people are reading and enjoying the work that I’ve made. Doing a webcomic is a great way to stay productive and also to keep giving people something new of mine to see on a regular basis while I work in secret on my other projects.
11. Got any other projects we should know about?
I have a new graphic novel coming in February from Oni Press! Mermin Volume 1: Out of Water is the first in a series of graphic novels about a fish-boy who is found washed up on the beach by some human kids. It’s a full-color, hardcover book that collects the Mermin mini-comic issues, with additional scenes and some changes to the pages of the original series. I’m currently working on volume 2, so there hopefully won’t be too long of a wait between books!
I have also been working a lot for SpongeBob Comics recently. Over the next year I’m going to have a lot of work in their monthly comic book, some comics written by me and drawn by other artists as well as comics that I’ve written, drawn, and colored myself!
12. What advice would you give to aspiring creators?
Draw and write as much as you can! Draw draw draw! And if you really want to make comics, make sure you finish the work you start! I suggest starting small with short stories or strips for the web or mini-comics, giving yourself something to work towards, finish, and move on. The more you make, the better you will become!
Thanks for taking the time Joey! I'll be looking for the Mermin graphic novel in February!
If you dig Monster Isle you can show your love by up-voting the submission for this interview at Reddit Webcomics. Up-voting keeps Monster Isle 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 you think. Then ride a pterodactyl on over to Monster Isle!
-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.
Monster Isle is about the day-to-day life of giant monsters living on an island together. It’s about their life when they aren’t destroying cities or fighting the Anti-Monster Task Force.
2. What materials and/or software do you use?
I draw the strip on bristol with blue pencil, and ink with a brush and crowquill pens. I color and format the comic in Photoshop. There is a walk-through of how I drew a page of my graphic novel Cavemen in Space linked from my webpage, which has a more in-depth list of materials and things like that. It’s pretty much the same process for Monster Isle.
3. Are there any books, movies, toys, artists, or authors that have inspired or continue to inspire your comic?
Monster Isle is inspired by Japanese movie and TV monsters, also known as “kaiju.” I take a lot of influence from the Godzilla, Gamera, and Ultraman series in particular. Other than that, comic strips that I love like Peanuts and Calvin & Hobbes have a lot of influence on my work in the strip.
4. Are any of your characters based on real people in your life?
A lot of the ideas for my strips come from real life, but there isn’t any specific character based on anyone in my life.
5. Are there any actors you know you would want to play or voice certain characters in a movie of your comic?
No, I’m real bad at remembering actors and stuff like that. I would be a terrible casting director.
6. What songs would you like in a soundtrack of your comic?
Even though the action and drama is pretty light in Monster Isle, I think it would be awesome if the great Godzilla music composed by Akira Ifukube could score Gary and the gang’s lives.
7. What is your overall goal for your comic?
Honestly, Monster Isle is pretty goal-free. I purposefully keep it low-stress in order to just have fun and create some work that hopefully others enjoy. It started as a strip in a local paper, but I haven’t pursued print for Monster Isle very heavily because I’d like to just keep it as a fun side-project.
8. How has managing a comic impacted your life?
Monster Isle is weekly, and I typically take one week a month to work on all four strips for the upcoming month. Before I know it, my buffer it gone and it’s time to work on more strips… It certainly has made me very aware of the passage of time!
9. What do you do to advertise your work?
Like I said, I keep Monster Isle pretty stress-free, so I don’t really worry too much about advertising the strip. Whenever I put a new strip up I’ll post about it on Facebook and Twitter. Also, I’ve started making mini-comics to have at comic conventions, which I suppose serve as an advertisement for the strip.
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, I love comics! I love making them and I love knowing that people are reading and enjoying the work that I’ve made. Doing a webcomic is a great way to stay productive and also to keep giving people something new of mine to see on a regular basis while I work in secret on my other projects.
11. Got any other projects we should know about?
I have a new graphic novel coming in February from Oni Press! Mermin Volume 1: Out of Water is the first in a series of graphic novels about a fish-boy who is found washed up on the beach by some human kids. It’s a full-color, hardcover book that collects the Mermin mini-comic issues, with additional scenes and some changes to the pages of the original series. I’m currently working on volume 2, so there hopefully won’t be too long of a wait between books!
I have also been working a lot for SpongeBob Comics recently. Over the next year I’m going to have a lot of work in their monthly comic book, some comics written by me and drawn by other artists as well as comics that I’ve written, drawn, and colored myself!
12. What advice would you give to aspiring creators?
Draw and write as much as you can! Draw draw draw! And if you really want to make comics, make sure you finish the work you start! I suggest starting small with short stories or strips for the web or mini-comics, giving yourself something to work towards, finish, and move on. The more you make, the better you will become!
Thanks for taking the time Joey! I'll be looking for the Mermin graphic novel in February!
If you dig Monster Isle you can show your love by up-voting the submission for this interview at Reddit Webcomics. Up-voting keeps Monster Isle 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 you think. Then ride a pterodactyl on over to Monster Isle!
-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.
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