Positive Worlds; Negative Spaces is a selection of my comics and illustrations from 2010-2024! 126 pages of full-colour goodness on heavy, beautiful paper, in A4 size.
It includes excerpts from my long comics, including a dream sequence from Part 2 of 14 Nights, and chapter 2 of Alethia printed in A4 (Alethia was only printed in A5 before).
Hello! As y’all know, I’ve been talking to various webcomic creators about their individual comics. Earlier this week, however, I got to talk to Kristina about her creative process and how she brings her webcomics to life. Check it after the cut!
Me: Do you start with a set idea for a story or does it come gradually?
Kristina: I usually start out with a feeling i want to convey or a problem i want to explore, for example with 14 Nights the problem was "Can you have a relationship without sex?" and then I try to find the answer to my question through the story.
Me: Has working on any one comic proved harder than the other?
Kristina: Hm. Well, at the beginning it was very difficult in general, just because I only had a few skills, and over the years it's gotten easier as I accumulate more. But actually, yes, I’ll say it's been hardest to work on the short anthology comics. I just don't ever feel satisfied with them because they're so short. If I'm not satisfied with the comic then it's very hard.
Kristina: The one I did for Monster Anthology: Demon Edition was the hardest because I don't think I ever really said what i wanted to say.
Me: What would you consider the "perfect" comic length to be?
Kristina: Well, it depends on the story, but I'd say the minimum length for a complete story is probably 50 pages. I can't think of a comic that's less than 50 pages that I've read and had a very strong reaction to. The maximum length could be thousands of pages, ideally. The more pages, the better.
Me: When you create comics, what do you focus on the most to tell your story: setting, characters, or symbolism? Symbolism meaning an underlying theme or a special object or something like that.
Kristina: When you put it that way, I have to say symbolism, more specifically, the underlying meaning. The reason I write comics is to give me a platform to express my beliefs, so I'm very focused on whether I accurately represented my own POV. The characters and the setting are tools to accomplish that goal. But, of course, the characters must be treated with compassion, otherwise you end up creating pawns to do your bidding.
Me: Do you find it harder to draw for anthologies?
Kristina: Yeah, definitely. It's hard to make a decent comic story in 10-25 pages. And all the while knowing you can't really go any further with it, if you like it.
Me: Is there a story that you've done that you really connected with?
Kristina: I'd say that if I put in the effort to finish something,I connect with it 100%. I wouldn't waste my time otherwise; I mean drawing comics is way too much work for less.
Kristina: Well, no that's not completely accurate because I just said the anthology comics don't meet that standard.
Kristina: So all my personal comics, Yasha Lizard, 14 Nights, and Alethia,I connect with 100%.
Me: Since your comics are bilingual, do you ever worry that things get lost in translation?
Kristina: Nah, not really. At least, not yet! Maybe in the future, but so far I think it sounds basically the same in both languages. Although, sometimes little things don't really bother me. For example, there's a character in Yasha Lizard named Anastasia Anole, and the translator used the word for 'chameleon' instead.(变色龙 in case you're wondering.) But I’ve never seen an anole in China and I don't think Chinese readers will know what an anole is, so I’m fine with the change.
Me: Do you prefer working in color or black and white?
Kristina: I think I prefer black and white. I like the way it looks when it's done. B&w comics are, to me, aesthetically superior to color comics. However, knowing that I feel that way, I felt I had to challenge myself to come up with a color comics art style that I would like just as much as I like b&w comics. I'm not there yet.
Me: Do you have certain color families you stick to? Or just whatever matches the tone?
Kristina: Yeah, definitely! Right now I can't seem to get away from teal and magenta. I love blue-greens in general and always want to use them. I need to branch out more.
Me: How do your readers react to your work? Do you seem to draw a specific type of reader?
Kristina: One thing I've noticed is that people only tend to say positive things about it. If they don't like my work, they keep it to themselves. There must exist people who hate my comics, but for some reason, they don't say so publicly. I wonder why? As for type of reader, I seem to have a variety. But they are probably all liberal-leaning. I don't think a very socially conservative reader could get much out of my work.
Me: How do you feel about the webcomic medium and the print comic medium?
Kristina: I love webcomics as a medium. I like digital everything. I'm kind of a technophile that way. I read all my prose books on a screen, too. I only print comics in order to have something to sell at the conventions. If it wasn't for that, I'd never print anything. As a reader, I don't like having a lot of physical things sitting around. I move almost every 2 years.
Me: Do you find that you get more interest in your work after cons?
Kristina: Oh yeah, absolutely. And the cons in china are enormous, so I meet hundreds of people each day at them.
Me: Do you only sell books or do you sell other related merch?
Kristina: I sell prints of my stand-alone illustrations and stickers of cats and guinea pigs. Everyone loves cat stickers. It's how you guarantee you'll make back at least the table cost.
Me: I saw your guinea pig! So cute! Tell me about being a female comic artist in China.
Kristina: *laughs* I don't even know any male comic artists here. I mean, I know they exist but I never see them. All my comic friends are women. Next month I'm going to share a table with some friends, two women. The majority of the attendees are female as well.
Me: Have you collaborated on works outside of anthologies?
Kristina: I haven't collaborated on anything, ever, to be honest. The anthology stories were also my art + writing. I've never done a comic with someone else, although I've been offered money to try it.
Me: Is there anything you want to share about your experience with comics?
Kristina: My experience with comics has been...It doesn't pay money. It's a masochistic career choice.
Me: Any advice for people getting into comics?
Kristina: *laughs* Well it depends on what their goals are. Other people likely have very different goals than me. I don't ever intend to work for a major publisher, if I can help it.
Kristina: Ok, but, my advice to female cartoonists is: Use a comic to say the thing you are absolutely the most terrified to say. Dig down deep and find that thing you think you'd be kicked off planet earth for saying, and say it. Put it under a pseudonym if you have to. but once you do it, you'll experience a freedom you never knew was possible.
You can check out Krisitna’s portfolio work and all of her comics at her main site. Don’t to forget to check out my earlier interview with Finnish artist Niina Eveliina.
If you want to share your own thoughts on the creative process or want to be interviewed, feel free to comment on this post or send an ask or a message.
introducing a golden opportunity to pay money for something that has been and continues to be available for free: Yasha Lizard, a comic about the reptilian underclass in a mammal-centric world. purchase it on comixology for 99cents
this issue contains the first two stories, Yasha Lizard Waits in Line and Yasha Lizard Attends a Banquet
Presenting Guest Comic number one by the fabulous Snager!
I actually received three different guest thingies, so instead of lumping them all together right now, I'll space them out and present one a day. Thank you everyone who submitted!
