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Post by Sam on Aug 25, 2008 14:22:09 GMT
Have you ever thought about contributing to STCO as a guest artist? Not necessarily a full scripted story, but something small like a poster as part of the Christmas Poster Mags?
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Post by Nigel Kitching on Aug 25, 2008 15:33:48 GMT
And next year I start teaching my own comic book module. Could I get some info on that? It's a second Year module and it's called Sequential Art. I'll be dealing with visual storytelling - comics, storyboarding, book illustration etc. Trying to get students to deal with narrative in a visual way. The first year it will run will be 2010, I believe. |
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Post by Nigel Kitching on Aug 25, 2008 15:39:30 GMT
This may be something that has been previously mentioned before that I've just missed. Do you yourself read the fan produced issues of STC-Online created within this site? No offense taken if not, but just out of curiosity considering there are earlier comments on the speedlines (before the forum replaced them) from yourself, did you continue to read? If so, have there been any standout strips to you in particular? I do often read the strips but I haven't followed them closely. I keep meaning to read them properly but never seem to get around to it. I liked the Grimer one by Ed in particular. I also rather liked Tom's elephant thing too. But there have been quite a few that I thought were really strong. I've often considered offering to write something but I keep thinking that this may be a bit disruptive to the people who have really put time and effort into this. I don't think I'd ever draw anything - unless somebody wanted a Decap Attack cover - that I would consider. |
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Post by Nigel Kitching on Aug 25, 2008 15:41:46 GMT
Have you ever thought about contributing to STCO as a guest artist? Not necessarily a full scripted story, but something small like a poster as part of the Christmas Poster Mags? I'm not in a hurry to draw Sonic again but a Decap I would consider. Just a single image though I don't think I could ever find time to do a strip. |
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Post by Mark on Aug 25, 2008 17:27:58 GMT
Good day Nigel, my question is: What sort of qualifications did people look for when you went into the comics business? Publishers do not care at all about whether you have qualifications or not. It's the work in your portfolio that counts. I didn't have any higher education qualifications all the years I worked as a freelance. Of course once I wanted to become a university lecturer suddenly I needed a degree. I managed to achieve this is in about 18 months (how is a bit complicated). So I now have a BA in Graphic Design - a 2.1 which I was pretty pleased with considering I was already teaching part-time and running my freelance business while I was doing my degree. Thanks Nigel, much appreciated ;D |
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Post by Mambo's Here! Look Busy! on Aug 25, 2008 17:43:10 GMT
Woah... this is pretty much the Birmingham meet in typed form!  Anyways, I have a mean question: did you get to see the stuff fans sent into the comic HQ and if so, did anyone laugh at any of them? |
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Post by Nigel Kitching on Aug 25, 2008 17:47:07 GMT
Woah... this is pretty much the Birmingham meet in typed form! Anyways, I have a mean question: did you get to see the stuff fans sent into the comic HQ and if so, did anyone laugh at any of them? What's the Comic HQ? |
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dk
Big Time Boomer
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Post by dk on Aug 25, 2008 17:48:20 GMT
Thanks for posting here; this stuff is really interesting.
What do you like music-wise?
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Post by Juliett. Bravo. Alfa. on Aug 25, 2008 17:56:56 GMT
Firstly, thank you for answering all of these questions.
Were there any Sega game based comic strips, you wanted to do for STC, but couldn't?
And, If STC was still going, do you think you would still be a part of it?
Thank you.
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Post by Mambo's Here! Look Busy! on Aug 25, 2008 18:00:51 GMT
Woah... this is pretty much the Birmingham meet in typed form! Anyways, I have a mean question: did you get to see the stuff fans sent into the comic HQ and if so, did anyone laugh at any of them? What's the Comic HQ? Sorry, bad way of putting it.... I meant the main office in London, I forgot exactly where it was! Silly question, I know... I just wondered if they ever showed you guys the stuff us Boomers used to send in... some it was pretty hilarious, I seem to recall.... ;D |
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Post by Nam on Aug 25, 2008 18:11:28 GMT
Couple of questions. How long did you honestly think the comic would last when you first started writing? Did you really think it would last as long as it did, or did you reckon it would get cancelled before then?
Secondly, did you ever imagine that you would A) meet a bunch of the fans grown up as you did back in Birmingham Comic Con (and then again in Summer of Sonic), and that B) you'd be spending your spare time answering there questions on the intricate details of the comic, many of which you overlooked as unimportant?
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Post by The Shad on Aug 25, 2008 19:13:49 GMT
It's a second Year module and it's called Sequential Art. I'll be dealing with visual storytelling - comics, storyboarding, book illustration etc. Trying to get students to deal with narrative in a visual way. The first year it will run will be 2010, I believe. Any chance of an Arts (English and History) Graduate from Ireland getting in, without having to sit through first year again? |
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Post by Lost Mercenary on Aug 25, 2008 20:53:49 GMT
I'm a big fan of the Sparkster strip that you wrote for STC and it's my favourite one right along there with Decap. Was there any particular reason a second one wasn't produced and did you have any possible ideas for what it could have been about?
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Post by Nigel Kitching on Aug 25, 2008 21:59:05 GMT
Thanks for posting here; this stuff is really interesting. What do you like music-wise? Oh a really odd collection of stuff and none of it particularly cool: Elvis Costello Randy Newman Tom Waits Burt Bacharach They Might be Giants Mary Chapin Carpenter The Kinks Rogers & Hart & Hammerstein Dusty Springfield The Beach Boys Joni Mitchell (early) Vampire Weekend (this may not last but I thought I should put in something current) |
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Post by Nigel Kitching on Aug 25, 2008 22:03:11 GMT
Firstly, thank you for answering all of these questions. Were there any Sega game based comic strips, you wanted to do for STC, but couldn't? And, If STC was still going, do you think you would still be a part of it? Thank you. I don't remember thinking about other games - I was too involved in the whole Sonic universe with Decap Attack for a change of pace. I just didn't think of these things as games - they were my strips with ideas I wanted to explore. If STC were still being published I would have been quite happy to have kept on working for it. If I was given the freedom I needed of course. |
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JJ
Script Hume
Bit of a hack, really.
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Post by JJ on Aug 25, 2008 22:07:43 GMT
I don't think I'd ever draw anything - unless somebody wanted a Decap Attack cover - that I would consider. Fantastic! We might hold you to this.  |
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Post by Nigel Kitching on Aug 25, 2008 22:14:05 GMT
Woah... this is pretty much the Birmingham meet in typed form! Anyways, I have a mean question: did you get to see the stuff fans sent into the comic HQ and if so, did anyone laugh at any of them? I did see some of the stuff the kids sent in to the comic but I didn't laugh at it. What sort of creep do you think I am? I always thought it was tremendously flattering that the readers went to this effort and I was particularly pleased when they drew Chuck - he was kind of my design in my style so it was a particular compliment. |
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Post by Matt on Aug 25, 2008 22:14:45 GMT
I was wondering if you could give some information of the full award you teach at university, as the Sequential Art module sounds like something I know a lot of people would rather be doing than our animation course, and I wondered what the full award was etc, sorry it a bit of a departure from sonic questions.
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Post by Nigel Kitching on Aug 25, 2008 22:24:50 GMT
Couple of questions. How long did you honestly think the comic would last when you first started writing? Did you really think it would last as long as it did, or did you reckon it would get cancelled before then? Secondly, did you ever imagine that you would A) meet a bunch of the fans grown up as you did back in Birmingham Comic Con (and then again in Summer of Sonic), and that B) you'd be spending your spare time answering there questions on the intricate details of the comic, many of which you overlooked as unimportant? I always had tremendous faith that the comic could last a long time if it was done properly. I believed that the key was producing stuff directly for the readers - not to please Sega, not to please the editor. I wanted to write to an audience who wanted to read the sort of stories I knew I could write. That's a bit arrogant of me but that's how I felt. I really believed that this comic could work. I also believe to this day that it could have been even better if I'd got my way on a few things. But then again I would think that wouldn't I? I believed that if you kept faith with your readership and treated them properly then you were very likely to get long term readers who would be loyal to the comic. At Fleetway the idiot thinking was the readerships changed every 2 or 3 years and all that rubbish. Market research - how I hate it. Conducted by idiots who just want to confirm all their idiot prejudices. They mess things up and they look smug and say 'I told you so'. Of course things fail when you plan for them to fail. Am I beginning to rant - sorry... As for your other questions about grown up fans well, I never really gave it any thought. I don't think of any of this trivia as being unimportant though. |
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Post by Nigel Kitching on Aug 25, 2008 22:31:19 GMT
It's a second Year module and it's called Sequential Art. I'll be dealing with visual storytelling - comics, storyboarding, book illustration etc. Trying to get students to deal with narrative in a visual way. The first year it will run will be 2010, I believe. Any chance of an Arts (English and History) Graduate from Ireland getting in, without having to sit through first year again? Slow down a bit there... I don't know the situation as far as if you could start on the second year or not but let's not be hasty here. This is one module of 20 credits in the second year and there are 100 credits to be earned elsewhere in the year. Plus an entire third year where the art moduel is run by somebody else - I work on it but most of it is somebody else. You need to choose what you do based on the degree as a whole and not one module. Maybe the course you are on now is the right one for you? |
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Post by Badly-Drawn Manchild on Aug 25, 2008 22:32:25 GMT
I'm a big fan of the Sparkster strip that you wrote for STC and it's my favourite one right along there with Decap. Was there any particular reason a second one wasn't produced and did you have any possible ideas for what it could have been about? Aye, while we're on that subject, you wrote a few strips based on games other than Sonic and Decap Attack. If I remember right, you wrote two Streets of Rage strips, as well as strips based on Sparkster and Shining Force. Looking back now, which ones did you feel worked, and which didn't? |
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Post by Pete on Aug 25, 2008 22:32:47 GMT
Part of the reason why I personally have stuck with Sonic all these years is because of STC, and the situations that you put him in; you saying that you were arrogant has obviously paid off, since when I think back to STC, I immediately think of the Death Egg being shot down by the Floating Island, Sonic stepping out onto Mobius to find it controlled by the Metallix, or Sonic fighting the Drakon Sentinals.
Many of the stories in STC could have easily been adapted for much older readers, but the themes remained, many of which are quite poingnant.
So thanks for sticking to your guns, Nige!
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Post by Sam on Aug 25, 2008 22:36:41 GMT
Part of the reason why I personally have stuck with Sonic all these years is because of STC, and the situations that you put him in |
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Post by Nigel Kitching on Aug 25, 2008 22:40:08 GMT
I'm a big fan of the Sparkster strip that you wrote for STC and it's my favourite one right along there with Decap. Was there any particular reason a second one wasn't produced and did you have any possible ideas for what it could have been about? A second series of Sparkster was planned and I did some work on it. Then somebody found out that the game owners hadn't given us permission to use the character. Not sure of the details - maybe we had permission for the first series and it was withdrawn maybe something else happened, I don't know. In any case I was told to stop writing before I had finished the second series. Actually I just remembered something a bit interesting. Before I began working on the second series the artist I had been working with decided that he would like to do the second series all by himself. He drew out in rough the whole thing and sent it to the editor. I knew nothing of this until the editor sent me the thing for my perusal. Richard Burton (the editor at the time) thankfully didn't even consider replacing me as writer. I guess the artist didn't do anything wrong but it's never nice to find out that somebody is trying to get your work. |
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Post by Nigel Kitching on Aug 25, 2008 22:46:08 GMT
I was wondering if you could give some information of the full award you teach at university, as the Sequential Art module sounds like something I know a lot of people would rather be doing than our animation course, and I wondered what the full award was etc, sorry it a bit of a departure from sonic questions. Have a look here: www.tees.ac.uk/Undergraduate_courses/Animation_Games_&_Visualisation/Now the courses are due to change starting, I'm pretty sure, next year. This is probably what is listed here. Sorry to be a bit vague but these changes don't affect me very much in the first year. Ask more questions by all means but read this first. |
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