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Indie
Comic Creator Interview
with Floyd Lewis April 2013 Name: Floyd Lewis City: Savannah, GA Comics: DARTGIRL, PLANTEVIL, SPYGIRLS, JUNGLE ANN, CAPTURE IMAGINATION, ARTOFFLOYD, ANIME ZOT, REQUESTED DOODLES Websites: artoffloyd.com QRD – How old were you when you first got into comics & did you always stick with them or did you come back to them? Floyd – I was age 5 (1966)... a girl I knew could not afford to buy a comic book… so I folded two sheets of notebook paper together & made her one… that was Superzot… the name came from the sound effect in BC comic strips… (I would give anything for a copy of any of my comics from that era). From that I never stopped making them QRD – What was the first comic book you ever bought? Floyd – My first comic book I paid for was in the early 1960s, Spider-Man Annual No.1 (I still have it). QRD – How old were you when you put out your first comic? Floyd – I was 17 when I first self published my own comic book… 3000 copies… (DARTGIRL & CAPTURE IMAGINATION) QRD – What decade do you think produced the best comics? Floyd – 1968-1978 with a small shining moment in the 1980s when Pacific Comics came & went. QRD – Why comics instead of just writing or drawing? Floyd – It’s pure you… joining the two. QRD – Do you see mini-comics & indie comics as paths to mainstream comics or as their own unique media? Floyd – BOTH (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a mini comic). QRD – How many copies of your comic do you print in your first run? Floyd – Around 7000… depends on the size of the conventions I plan to be at in a year (ANIME WEEKEND ATLANTA & DRAGON CON). QRD – How much do you think comics should cost? Floyd – $1...mainstream charges way too much for a book full of ads. QRD – How many books do you produce a year & how many would you like to? Floyd – 10,000 the rest I put on Amazon (mini comics work well on most B/W readers). QRD – Do you think stories should be serialized or delivered as complete works? Floyd – BOTH, I have one DARTGIRL storyline going back to 1979, but I have plenty of complete short stories & my ANIME ZOT has NO storyline QRD – How are comic strips different than comic books & which medium do you prefer? Floyd – I always liked comic books better… whatever is going to happen in this comic book… is going to happen today. QRD – How long is it from when you start a comic until it s printed? Floyd – One week to draw an eight page mini comic (18 HOURS on MINI COMICS DAY), one week promotion (finding out how many to make), one day to print & mail out orders or deliver issues at a convention. QRD – What do you do better with your comics now than when you first started? Floyd – I now write the story as I draw. QRD – Do you do thumbnails? Floyd – NO. QRD – At what size do you draw? Floyd – I work in 2 sizes for mailing & conventions, mini comic 4 1/2 by 5 1/2 & 5 1/2 by 8 1/2 for specials with ads. QRD – What kind of pens do you use? Floyd – No.2 pencil, black Bic pen, black Sharpie. QRD – What does your workstation look like? Floyd – 6 feet by 3 feet desk (built myself) 2 feet 7 inches from the floor, desk lamp with old 100 watt bulb (got rid of new ones they hummm). QRD – At what point in the artistic process do you work digitally? Floyd – My mini comics do not use a computer (I even do the tones by hand). My digital comics are different; I sketch the models by hand, but make the comics ONLY in the computer… & do not print (FOR THE WEB). QRD – What do you think of digital comics & webcomics? Floyd – Digital comics/webcomics are the best way to see original comics… every time you think you have seen it all... another one comes alone even better. QRD – Do you prefer working in color or black & white? Floyd – Black & White for my mini comics. Color for my digital & video comics. QRD – How many different people should work on a comic & what should their jobs be? Floyd – MOST who make mini comics work alone. But at conventions, I suggest to people who write, but cannot draw, that 2 working on a comic is best (writer & artist)… so you only have to tell the story once. QRD – How do you find collaborators? Floyd – Comic book conventions (small or big). NOT the web... COPYRIGHT (copyright.gov) your stories before you share them QRD – How tight do you think a script should be as far as telling the artist what to draw? Floyd – GREAT DETAIL. Years ago, BATMAN was mainly daytime scenes, until Neal Adams got a script that did not say, one way or the other, so he made it nighttime & changed history. QRD – What comic book person would you be most flattered to be compared to? Floyd – At a con someone said, YOU draw like that guy who does DARTGIRL...I love that moment QRD – What do your friends & family think of your comics? Floyd – As most, family likes it but do not understand. Friends wonder when the movie will come out. QRD – What do you think of superheroes? Floyd – THEY ARE NEEDED. QRD – Marvel or DC? Floyd – BOTH. QRD – What comic characters other than your own would you like to work with? Floyd – At the moment… Spider-Man. I know how to write out of this whole dead Peter Parker mess (no, not the “it was all a dream” trick). QRD – Ideally would you self-publish? Floyd – Yes... no one to look over your shoulder to say, “You can’t do that.” QRD – What conventions do you try to attend & why? Floyd – DRAGON CON & ANIME WEEKEND ATLANTA...they are the best. QRD – What do you do to promote your books? Floyd – I GET a pizza & a Mountain Dew & sit at my computer & put my artwork on Yahoo, Facebook, YouTube (till 4am). QRD – Do you think your comics are well suited to comic shops or would sell better elsewhere? Floyd – Sell them yourself… promote yourself… comic shops will ask you to promote them in your comics. QRD – What other medium would you like to see some of your comics made into (television, film, games, action figures, etc.)? Floyd – I do videos NOW… I used to make games… but stopped. QRD – Do you consider yourself a comic collector or a comic reader or both? Floyd – BOTH. QRD – What do you see as the most viable mediums for comics distribution 10 years from now? Floyd – Sorry to say… the web… but MINI COMICS, will still be there. QRD – What would you like to see more people doing with comics? Floyd – THEIR OWN THING. QRD – Anything else? Floyd – Don’t stop drawing. Don’t stop writing. In mini comics the only rule is there are no rules.
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