March 14, 2024 • 22 mins
#KamilaKról #Rusalka #SlavicMythology #GraphicNovel #AwardWinningIllustrator #ChildrensBooks #FolkloreArt #DreamlikeTales #Storycomic #IllustratorInsights #MythicalStories #ArtAndMyth #CreativeProcess #PigeonMakesArt #VisualStorytelling Step into the mystical world of children's literature in this captivating episode of We Make Children's Books. Your host, Barney Smith from Storycomic.com, is thrilled to introduce Kamila Król, an internationally acclaimed illustrator whose work transcends the ordinary. In this episode, Kamila shares insights into her latest masterpiece, the award-winning graphic novel "Rusalka | Part 1". This enchanting tale, inspired by Slavic mythology, unravels the story of a mythical woman endowed with strange powers and harboring a dark secret.
Join us as we explore the dreamlike folklore that shapes Kamila's graphic novel, offering viewers a glimpse into the profound depths of her creativity. For those enchanted by the fusion of art and mythology, this episode promises a journey into the heart of Slavic legends through the eyes of a visionary artist.
Dive deeper into Kamila Król's world and discover her stunning portfolio at http://www.pigeonmakesart.co.uk/.
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See more of Greg’s work at: https://www.instagram.com/gregory_c_giordano_art/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Music.
(00:12):
Welcome to We Make Children's Books, the podcast that takes you through the
imaginative minds of children's book authors and artists.
I'm your host, Barney Smith of StoryComic.com, and in today's episode,
we're excited to have with us the internationally acclaimed illustrator, Camilla Kroll.
Camilla, thank you for coming. Thanks for inviting me. You're welcome.
(00:35):
So talk to us about, before we jump right into it and start talking about this,
for for some of the folks who are kind of interested in wanting to learn more
about your, your artwork and your style, give people a bit of a background of,
of how you got into your illustration.
Sure. So I kind of have always been sort of that kid who liked drawing all the
(00:58):
time and reading comics and stuff.
So there's no sort of very exciting story with it.
But I think it's probably being into
comics instead of being into art books and
things like that that got me
into illustration as well so it's like I've always loved drawing
and painting but I never thought sort of
(01:20):
where I can apply this kind of work and then
when I was in high school and I discovered that graphic novels
are a thing I just thought this is
something that I'd like to do and I think this is this is how it started
pretty much but then when I
was 20 I ended ended up leaving Poland because
I'm Polish I should have said and so I left Poland
(01:40):
and I came to Cardiff Wales where I'm still
almost seven years now let's see the story
yeah talk a little bit about that how do you do your
style yeah sure I think sort of
doing like the art education I've tried like
a little bit of everything like different techniques just to
see what works for me sort of like trial and error but
(02:02):
what i really love is like ink drawing and
ink and brush and all the brush pens so it's like really dynamic line so that's
what i'm usually using and then adding colors in photoshop but recently and
especially for more of the comics work i've been working fully digitally and
that's been also really fun to just like experiment with different effects and brushes.
(02:24):
So I guess it kind of depends on the projects and how I feel as well,
sort of jump between fully digital and analog techniques.
When you do digital work, are you using like Photoshop, Procreate?
How are you doing this? It's all Photoshop.
So these ones, the ones on the screen now, they are the traditional drawing
(02:48):
with the ink brush pen. I think it's the Pentel brush pen.
It's really cool. It's kind of like if I could just keep one art tool forever,
I would keep that brush pen probably.
And then I just sign it in and then it goes into Photoshop. and
yeah and everything else is done in photoshop i like sort of
playing with the colors of the line as well and with
(03:10):
different textures and some drawings as well okay so
you draw you draw it out pen and paper and
then you scan it in and then photoshop it yeah yeah and especially with the
newer work i'm trying to not just do flat color i sort of play with different
textures and brushes which is still something that I think I'm experimenting
(03:32):
with and sort of trying out different things, but I like the mixture.
I think I like the mixture of traditional and digital together.
And so as you talk about with, with, you know, experimentation and trying new
things, what have you noticed recently?
What have you, have you there's something that you've noticed recently that
(03:53):
you've tried to experiment with that you haven't.
Say all right this is going to be on in my in
my tool set this is something i'm going to be using all the
time now i like what i did here yeah i think
i think the textures playing with textures in photoshop
which i think i've
sort of tried to like find oh i can like hear like the
(04:14):
little like grainy textures i've been using loads
of different brushes and sort of constantly being not
satisfied side with the effects and then then something just
finally clicks i guess like repetition is is key
in this case yeah yeah
i think i think i really enjoy when a
digital image still has that traditional feel
(04:37):
to it a little bit a bit of graininess and i sort
of i don't like it perfect if that makes sense i like when
it's a bit of wonky line a bit of imperfection i
think it just makes it a bit more alive so talk to
us a bit about as well your passion for for
character design yeah it's strange i don't know sort of
if there's any explanation to it i'm just really drawn to drawing
(04:58):
people i'm really drawn to strange characters i like playing with different
shapes and making them slightly exaggerated and stylized instead of seeing how
can i convey like a certain and personality within just like one character drawing
and that's something that i've been.
Practicing for a long time now i think and these characters are
(05:21):
from my slavic mythology art book so that was a really fun series when i was
doing a bit of slavic mythology research and then sort of reimagining different
creatures for myself and thinking about like different symbols that they they
can have when there's, I think,
16 of these characters that I've created.
(05:42):
It was last autumn. That was really fun to work on.
And so when you put this together, so you said at the top of the hour,
you went to Cardiff to go to art school, correct? Yeah.
So for those that might be thinking about this is the time of year people might
(06:02):
be applying for art school, would you still say the fact that now in this day
and age, you can pretty much learn everything online?
Line is there still importance on
going to going to art school as
compared to what you could probably just learn on on your
(06:22):
own right now yeah it's it's really
important to think about i think personally instead of
from talking to different people into different artists
because people have very different experiences of
art school and i think it does depend on I guess
what do you need and what are you expecting as well
so I don't think it's necessary
(06:45):
to to study an art course to
then enter the industry for me personally it really helped and I think for me
it was a great opportunity because sort of the amount of resources and the whole
community around for example my illustration course that was something that
I don't think I would really have the experience anywhere else.
(07:07):
And also, I think an experience like studying in a different country,
it's in itself like a bit of an adventure.
And I would really recommend it. I think like, yeah, it's sort of,
yeah, you just can't really get it anywhere else. So, yeah.
But there are a lot of different ways now to sort of gain the skills and like
the amount of sort of workshops and courses.
So I guess just sort of, it's important to choose what's in soon. Yeah.
(07:31):
Now I wanted to, I was kind of curious to ask you about this,
about your, your artwork.
It's there's, there's a level of kind of this 1950s vintage color plate feel
to some of your artwork as well.
Do you have, how did you come up with putting together your palette for this?
I think with coming up with a palette, there's just a lot of experimentation and trying things out.
(07:58):
But what you said about sort of the mid-century feel to it, I've been looking
at a lot of old prints and old postcards and even things like old Soviet postcards
and the way that the paper texture is visible on it.
So i was trying to have this
nostalgic look to this comic and i
(08:19):
guess them all the greens so they can be associated
with like being underwater or maybe being in the forest that was that was the
idea for it the image doesn't do it justice but you do have kind of a pattern
like a filter or an overlay almost to make it feel as though there's this vintage
feel to the the story yeah Yeah, yeah, that's it.
(08:40):
So this is the set textures that I
use throughout this comic that I think contribute to that nostalgic feel.
And yeah, I really enjoy that effect. But I don't actually do it in a lot of my other work.
I think I just wanted something very consistent and quite like a limited color palette for this story.
Right and do you have yeah
(09:03):
looking at some of your other some of your other
work here and you've done as you mentioned some editorial so you've done some
publications and illustrations for some publications a little bit yeah i've
been collaborating with some polish magazines and some online magazines as well
and it's a lot of illustrating for i really enjoy illustrating for like lifestyle articles,
(09:26):
or ones that talk about like psychology, body image, these kind of topics.
So slightly straying away from the folklore there.
So where did you find like the textures and stuff? It's like if there's an artist
that might be watching says, hey, I do digital art, where can I find...
Where can I find some of these textures? Digital textures. Yeah. Yeah.
(09:49):
I really recommend scanning things in, in general. Like sometimes I had bits
of like old paper or like crumpled paper that I thought, oh,
that might be interesting.
Sort of scan it in, in good resolution.
You can experiment with that. You can change things like levels or curves in
Photoshop and have really interesting effects.
But also there's sometimes you can just get a sort of licensed but free texture pack somewhere.
(10:13):
Where they actually hit the spot and again
just trying things out so i think that's that's the
way to go do you have
is all of these comics or is there going to be in different are
you gonna have a in a polish language or is this all in english it's
going to be in polish actually i'm in the process of translating
it now which is also quite interesting so i
(10:36):
haven't i guess translated my own work before
but yeah i'm very happy that it's going
to be printed in poland as well i was lucky enough to
to talk to some like comics groups
in poland and i'm collaborating with someone there to have this printed and
have it sucked in blood as well so from the translation aspect of things is
(10:59):
there any aspects of the story which seems to be either told in a in a a richer
way in English or in Polish,
depending on how the translation works?
Yeah, I think some of the expressions or some of the descriptions,
I can see I need to tweak them because if I translate them literally,
(11:19):
they're just not going to have the same, I guess, emotion or just the same atmosphere.
So that's a really interesting experience trying to just get this get this right
right as well yes there is a bit of a difference but because because i wrote
it in english to start with so it's almost like i am translating this now to my first language,
(11:41):
so the other way the other way around it happens yeah so talk to us a little bit about.
Designing that designing the comic now did you
you said you worked in photoshop do you
then have to do you format it in
photoshop or do you format it like in design or or
on any other publishing program i think
(12:04):
to prepare it for print this
is going to be in design but at the moment it's it's been all photoshop and
when i worked on the script that was photoshop as well so i've been doing just
just loads of digital thumbnails and just thinking about different compositions
and how the layout of the page sort of might work.
(12:25):
And I guess working digitally there is quite useful because with digital,
you can sort of fix and move things around very quickly. Okay.
So that worked very well.
So you said this was kind of your first go at creating like a long form,
you know, graphic novel.
Did you actually end up sketching things out? Did you have like a list of ideas
(12:47):
or did you write like an actual script?
Yeah, it's been all of these things because I've been working on this story for a really long time.
It's one of these things that the idea for it came to me maybe like three years ago.
And then I had a few attempts of trying to turn it into a bigger story.
And it only happened this year. So I had different sketches and notes,
(13:10):
sort of both like notebooks filled in with notes and different thumbnails like just done with pencil.
And then this year when I felt like
yes I have more expected material that
I can sort of just try to make it in a more organized way and
then I moved everything digitally but I had just
a script that was just written just text and then different
(13:32):
thumbnails to work on the pages so I
need both text and image I think when I plan things out I think I typed it I
think sort of in my head I try try to imagine this story like it's an animated
film okay so i think when i was writing the the script which was just text it's
sort of like a bit of description of what happens uh in every panel.
(13:55):
And and then obviously the speech bubble sort of in different
fonts so i can like visually distinguish it but it's not a terribly organized
script i have to admit because because it was just for me so so i think i think
it's been a bit chaotic but but yeah but it's very descriptive So I know what
kind of atmosphere or emotion I want from every panel.
(14:15):
Yeah. So another piece of advice to give to artists, when you opened this up
and you started working on this thing, did you do it at like 300 DPI or did you do it higher? Yeah.
I usually go for 400. Okay. So the 300 dpi is recommended for print,
but I'd say for the safety, and especially if you want to work on smaller details
(14:38):
and close-ups, then going 400 or even 600 is probably ideal.
For making a poster print size? Yeah, for A4 and more. If it's just for the
screens, then I guess it doesn't matter as much.
But then again, if you want to work on more detailed elements,
then having higher resolution is always always
better okay so you
(15:01):
meant so let's talk about some world building pieces to
this so you mentioned this this is that this is your it's inspired by slavic
mythology so it's not you're not just taking the characters and just writing
about it so you're kind of putting your own twist on it is that what you meant
by inspired okay yeah and do Do you, so is there more?
(15:22):
Because I just saw you on here. You had a Baba Yaga t-shirt as an add-on. I do like Baba Yaga.
From a Western, Baba Yaga seems to be the most popular.
Like when you talk about Slavic mythology, that's the one where she rides around
in her hut with chicken legs, right?
Yeah, and eats children.
Yeah. Yeah, that happens.
(15:44):
Yeah, I think she's in loads of pop culture media at the moment as well.
So is there going to be, are you looking at creating like a Rusalka part two,
or are you going to do a different book with like a different,
character inspired by slavic mythology what's your plan what's
your what's your long-term game on this this is exciting there's
(16:05):
a lot of plans but yeah i would love to i would love to create the second part
of risauga especially that as i said i already have a good idea of the script
for it so i'd like it to be a bigger thing but actually speaking of baba yaga
i also have an idea for a a longer story,
possibly a graphic novel, and that will be focused on Baba Yaga and is based on a Russian legend.
(16:31):
Called Vasilisa the Wise. Very fun.
So yes, I'm hoping to be working with, I guess, adapting all of these old folktales
and adapting them for a modern audience and having a bit of a twist for them.
Right. And are there going to be mutually exclusive stories or are they going to be inter...
(16:53):
Are they going to interact at all or how does what's
true i'm not sure yet yeah i think at the
moment they are separate stories but they
definitely will have some some mutual elements
just because because they are so heavily based on
these specific legends and i think
there'll be some some common elements to them will uh
(17:15):
risaka be the same color palette or
are you gonna change change it a bit or and then
have your other characters have a different color
palettes how is that what do you envision that looking like i
think i see rusauka with this color palettes i
think in my head as well this sort of like
underwater foresty colors are just what i
(17:36):
associate with that story but i think for the other projects
i generally really like playing with different color and color
combinations so i think i couldn't
just sort of stick to one palette led for a very long time
right five different things so who
would you say the audience is for this is it for children or
is it for young adults or what would you i think
(17:57):
yeah i think young adults is probably yeah yeah
that's probably the best way and yeah but.
I guess just anyone who's into like dark fantasy or
folklore and mythology i think this
is quite a like dreamlike and magical story like strongly built atmosphere as
well so anyone who enjoys the kind of thing what would be some advice that you
(18:20):
would also give for folks who are who are looking to kind of create a long form
comic like this what would be some advice that you would give people.
Um I'd say don't be afraid to take your time and sort of think things through and try things out,
I think with setting for creating a
(18:42):
bigger story it's really important to pick the topic that you either really
care about or just makes you really excited and feel passionate about it because
well I'm personally I'm still quite new to comics and what I have discovered
is that But it really takes so much more work than you would think, I guess.
(19:02):
So, yeah, I think if it's something that you're really passionate about,
then that's super important.
And yeah, for me, it really helped taking notes and planning out elements of the world.
And even though it's a short story, sort of imagining it as a part of a bigger
world, it makes it seem more real, even if it's just for you while you're creating it.
(19:24):
Where do you see the best response
community response that you've seen is it through twitter is
it through where did your where's the your community mostly coming from do you
think i think instagram is my main platform at the moment and i had a really
lovely response and people were really connecting with it which was great but
(19:46):
also surprisingly like the comics Facebook groups,
like there's some really great places there.
So I had a really amazing response from like the Polish comics community,
sort of way more enthusiastic than I even anticipated at the beginning.
I really, really appreciate that. Yeah. It's been really great.
And so that would be kind of the recommendations, kind of find your family in
(20:10):
a way, find the people that you kind of connect with the most and help with that. Yeah, I think so.
Because at least for me, I think that's like, I guess the most genuine because
you have a group of people and you're sort of passionate about the same medium or the same topic.
And yeah i think that's the part of
(20:30):
it that i enjoyed the most is actually talking to people and talking
to other artists about the work and like connecting on that level i
think that's really important and where do
you see also is you know some advice on looking
at some passive income aspects of things because i
do see you you also have an etsy
page i think it works really well and if you
(20:52):
can sort of hit the
niche as well with your work that's that can work
very very well but it does take a bit of self-promoting i guess as everything
does but and i would recommend the etsy as the platform as well because they
have their own search engine so you can really get completely new people coming
to your work through that what do you seem to be that people seem to to gravitate more towards?
(21:18):
Well, the Slavic mythology art book is by far, I think people are drawn to it the most.
Yeah, I'm actually planning to release some more prints over the next month.
But yeah, I think print sales and stickers as well. Like people,
I think people like sort of little things as well, like stickers and patches.
(21:39):
And where can people, if people are interested in learning more about your work, where can they find you?
So through my website, if you like, there's links to all my social media,
but I'm on Instagram as a pigeon X person and on Twitter as your little pigeon.
(22:00):
There's all different versions of the pigeon.
I'd say if you'd like to check out my work, I'm mostly hanging out on Instagram. Okay.
Perfect. Well, thank you very much, Camilla, aka pigeon, for coming on the show.
This has been great. This has been great.
Thank you. Thanks for having me. That's been fun.
(22:21):
Music.
Music.
(00:12):
Welcome to We Make Children's Books, the podcast that takes you through the
imaginative minds of children's book authors and artists.
I'm your host, Barney Smith of StoryComic.com, and in today's episode,
we're excited to have with us the internationally acclaimed illustrator, Camilla Kroll.
Camilla, thank you for coming. Thanks for inviting me. You're welcome.
(00:35):
So talk to us about, before we jump right into it and start talking about this,
for for some of the folks who are kind of interested in wanting to learn more
about your, your artwork and your style, give people a bit of a background of,
of how you got into your illustration.
Sure. So I kind of have always been sort of that kid who liked drawing all the
(00:58):
time and reading comics and stuff.
So there's no sort of very exciting story with it.
But I think it's probably being into
comics instead of being into art books and
things like that that got me
into illustration as well so it's like I've always loved drawing
and painting but I never thought sort of
(01:20):
where I can apply this kind of work and then
when I was in high school and I discovered that graphic novels
are a thing I just thought this is
something that I'd like to do and I think this is this is how it started
pretty much but then when I
was 20 I ended ended up leaving Poland because
I'm Polish I should have said and so I left Poland
(01:40):
and I came to Cardiff Wales where I'm still
almost seven years now let's see the story
yeah talk a little bit about that how do you do your
style yeah sure I think sort of
doing like the art education I've tried like
a little bit of everything like different techniques just to
see what works for me sort of like trial and error but
(02:02):
what i really love is like ink drawing and
ink and brush and all the brush pens so it's like really dynamic line so that's
what i'm usually using and then adding colors in photoshop but recently and
especially for more of the comics work i've been working fully digitally and
that's been also really fun to just like experiment with different effects and brushes.
(02:24):
So I guess it kind of depends on the projects and how I feel as well,
sort of jump between fully digital and analog techniques.
When you do digital work, are you using like Photoshop, Procreate?
How are you doing this? It's all Photoshop.
So these ones, the ones on the screen now, they are the traditional drawing
(02:48):
with the ink brush pen. I think it's the Pentel brush pen.
It's really cool. It's kind of like if I could just keep one art tool forever,
I would keep that brush pen probably.
And then I just sign it in and then it goes into Photoshop. and
yeah and everything else is done in photoshop i like sort of
playing with the colors of the line as well and with
(03:10):
different textures and some drawings as well okay so
you draw you draw it out pen and paper and
then you scan it in and then photoshop it yeah yeah and especially with the
newer work i'm trying to not just do flat color i sort of play with different
textures and brushes which is still something that I think I'm experimenting
(03:32):
with and sort of trying out different things, but I like the mixture.
I think I like the mixture of traditional and digital together.
And so as you talk about with, with, you know, experimentation and trying new
things, what have you noticed recently?
What have you, have you there's something that you've noticed recently that
(03:53):
you've tried to experiment with that you haven't.
Say all right this is going to be on in my in
my tool set this is something i'm going to be using all the
time now i like what i did here yeah i think
i think the textures playing with textures in photoshop
which i think i've
sort of tried to like find oh i can like hear like the
(04:14):
little like grainy textures i've been using loads
of different brushes and sort of constantly being not
satisfied side with the effects and then then something just
finally clicks i guess like repetition is is key
in this case yeah yeah
i think i think i really enjoy when a
digital image still has that traditional feel
(04:37):
to it a little bit a bit of graininess and i sort
of i don't like it perfect if that makes sense i like when
it's a bit of wonky line a bit of imperfection i
think it just makes it a bit more alive so talk to
us a bit about as well your passion for for
character design yeah it's strange i don't know sort of
if there's any explanation to it i'm just really drawn to drawing
(04:58):
people i'm really drawn to strange characters i like playing with different
shapes and making them slightly exaggerated and stylized instead of seeing how
can i convey like a certain and personality within just like one character drawing
and that's something that i've been.
Practicing for a long time now i think and these characters are
(05:21):
from my slavic mythology art book so that was a really fun series when i was
doing a bit of slavic mythology research and then sort of reimagining different
creatures for myself and thinking about like different symbols that they they
can have when there's, I think,
16 of these characters that I've created.
(05:42):
It was last autumn. That was really fun to work on.
And so when you put this together, so you said at the top of the hour,
you went to Cardiff to go to art school, correct? Yeah.
So for those that might be thinking about this is the time of year people might
(06:02):
be applying for art school, would you still say the fact that now in this day
and age, you can pretty much learn everything online?
Line is there still importance on
going to going to art school as
compared to what you could probably just learn on on your
(06:22):
own right now yeah it's it's really
important to think about i think personally instead of
from talking to different people into different artists
because people have very different experiences of
art school and i think it does depend on I guess
what do you need and what are you expecting as well
so I don't think it's necessary
(06:45):
to to study an art course to
then enter the industry for me personally it really helped and I think for me
it was a great opportunity because sort of the amount of resources and the whole
community around for example my illustration course that was something that
I don't think I would really have the experience anywhere else.
(07:07):
And also, I think an experience like studying in a different country,
it's in itself like a bit of an adventure.
And I would really recommend it. I think like, yeah, it's sort of,
yeah, you just can't really get it anywhere else. So, yeah.
But there are a lot of different ways now to sort of gain the skills and like
the amount of sort of workshops and courses.
So I guess just sort of, it's important to choose what's in soon. Yeah.
(07:31):
Now I wanted to, I was kind of curious to ask you about this,
about your, your artwork.
It's there's, there's a level of kind of this 1950s vintage color plate feel
to some of your artwork as well.
Do you have, how did you come up with putting together your palette for this?
I think with coming up with a palette, there's just a lot of experimentation and trying things out.
(07:58):
But what you said about sort of the mid-century feel to it, I've been looking
at a lot of old prints and old postcards and even things like old Soviet postcards
and the way that the paper texture is visible on it.
So i was trying to have this
nostalgic look to this comic and i
(08:19):
guess them all the greens so they can be associated
with like being underwater or maybe being in the forest that was that was the
idea for it the image doesn't do it justice but you do have kind of a pattern
like a filter or an overlay almost to make it feel as though there's this vintage
feel to the the story yeah Yeah, yeah, that's it.
(08:40):
So this is the set textures that I
use throughout this comic that I think contribute to that nostalgic feel.
And yeah, I really enjoy that effect. But I don't actually do it in a lot of my other work.
I think I just wanted something very consistent and quite like a limited color palette for this story.
Right and do you have yeah
(09:03):
looking at some of your other some of your other
work here and you've done as you mentioned some editorial so you've done some
publications and illustrations for some publications a little bit yeah i've
been collaborating with some polish magazines and some online magazines as well
and it's a lot of illustrating for i really enjoy illustrating for like lifestyle articles,
(09:26):
or ones that talk about like psychology, body image, these kind of topics.
So slightly straying away from the folklore there.
So where did you find like the textures and stuff? It's like if there's an artist
that might be watching says, hey, I do digital art, where can I find...
Where can I find some of these textures? Digital textures. Yeah. Yeah.
(09:49):
I really recommend scanning things in, in general. Like sometimes I had bits
of like old paper or like crumpled paper that I thought, oh,
that might be interesting.
Sort of scan it in, in good resolution.
You can experiment with that. You can change things like levels or curves in
Photoshop and have really interesting effects.
But also there's sometimes you can just get a sort of licensed but free texture pack somewhere.
(10:13):
Where they actually hit the spot and again
just trying things out so i think that's that's the
way to go do you have
is all of these comics or is there going to be in different are
you gonna have a in a polish language or is this all in english it's
going to be in polish actually i'm in the process of translating
it now which is also quite interesting so i
(10:36):
haven't i guess translated my own work before
but yeah i'm very happy that it's going
to be printed in poland as well i was lucky enough to
to talk to some like comics groups
in poland and i'm collaborating with someone there to have this printed and
have it sucked in blood as well so from the translation aspect of things is
(10:59):
there any aspects of the story which seems to be either told in a in a a richer
way in English or in Polish,
depending on how the translation works?
Yeah, I think some of the expressions or some of the descriptions,
I can see I need to tweak them because if I translate them literally,
(11:19):
they're just not going to have the same, I guess, emotion or just the same atmosphere.
So that's a really interesting experience trying to just get this get this right
right as well yes there is a bit of a difference but because because i wrote
it in english to start with so it's almost like i am translating this now to my first language,
(11:41):
so the other way the other way around it happens yeah so talk to us a little bit about.
Designing that designing the comic now did you
you said you worked in photoshop do you
then have to do you format it in
photoshop or do you format it like in design or or
on any other publishing program i think
(12:04):
to prepare it for print this
is going to be in design but at the moment it's it's been all photoshop and
when i worked on the script that was photoshop as well so i've been doing just
just loads of digital thumbnails and just thinking about different compositions
and how the layout of the page sort of might work.
(12:25):
And I guess working digitally there is quite useful because with digital,
you can sort of fix and move things around very quickly. Okay.
So that worked very well.
So you said this was kind of your first go at creating like a long form,
you know, graphic novel.
Did you actually end up sketching things out? Did you have like a list of ideas
(12:47):
or did you write like an actual script?
Yeah, it's been all of these things because I've been working on this story for a really long time.
It's one of these things that the idea for it came to me maybe like three years ago.
And then I had a few attempts of trying to turn it into a bigger story.
And it only happened this year. So I had different sketches and notes,
(13:10):
sort of both like notebooks filled in with notes and different thumbnails like just done with pencil.
And then this year when I felt like
yes I have more expected material that
I can sort of just try to make it in a more organized way and
then I moved everything digitally but I had just
a script that was just written just text and then different
(13:32):
thumbnails to work on the pages so I
need both text and image I think when I plan things out I think I typed it I
think sort of in my head I try try to imagine this story like it's an animated
film okay so i think when i was writing the the script which was just text it's
sort of like a bit of description of what happens uh in every panel.
(13:55):
And and then obviously the speech bubble sort of in different
fonts so i can like visually distinguish it but it's not a terribly organized
script i have to admit because because it was just for me so so i think i think
it's been a bit chaotic but but yeah but it's very descriptive So I know what
kind of atmosphere or emotion I want from every panel.
(14:15):
Yeah. So another piece of advice to give to artists, when you opened this up
and you started working on this thing, did you do it at like 300 DPI or did you do it higher? Yeah.
I usually go for 400. Okay. So the 300 dpi is recommended for print,
but I'd say for the safety, and especially if you want to work on smaller details
(14:38):
and close-ups, then going 400 or even 600 is probably ideal.
For making a poster print size? Yeah, for A4 and more. If it's just for the
screens, then I guess it doesn't matter as much.
But then again, if you want to work on more detailed elements,
then having higher resolution is always always
better okay so you
(15:01):
meant so let's talk about some world building pieces to
this so you mentioned this this is that this is your it's inspired by slavic
mythology so it's not you're not just taking the characters and just writing
about it so you're kind of putting your own twist on it is that what you meant
by inspired okay yeah and do Do you, so is there more?
(15:22):
Because I just saw you on here. You had a Baba Yaga t-shirt as an add-on. I do like Baba Yaga.
From a Western, Baba Yaga seems to be the most popular.
Like when you talk about Slavic mythology, that's the one where she rides around
in her hut with chicken legs, right?
Yeah, and eats children.
Yeah. Yeah, that happens.
(15:44):
Yeah, I think she's in loads of pop culture media at the moment as well.
So is there going to be, are you looking at creating like a Rusalka part two,
or are you going to do a different book with like a different,
character inspired by slavic mythology what's your plan what's
your what's your long-term game on this this is exciting there's
(16:05):
a lot of plans but yeah i would love to i would love to create the second part
of risauga especially that as i said i already have a good idea of the script
for it so i'd like it to be a bigger thing but actually speaking of baba yaga
i also have an idea for a a longer story,
possibly a graphic novel, and that will be focused on Baba Yaga and is based on a Russian legend.
(16:31):
Called Vasilisa the Wise. Very fun.
So yes, I'm hoping to be working with, I guess, adapting all of these old folktales
and adapting them for a modern audience and having a bit of a twist for them.
Right. And are there going to be mutually exclusive stories or are they going to be inter...
(16:53):
Are they going to interact at all or how does what's
true i'm not sure yet yeah i think at the
moment they are separate stories but they
definitely will have some some mutual elements
just because because they are so heavily based on
these specific legends and i think
there'll be some some common elements to them will uh
(17:15):
risaka be the same color palette or
are you gonna change change it a bit or and then
have your other characters have a different color
palettes how is that what do you envision that looking like i
think i see rusauka with this color palettes i
think in my head as well this sort of like
underwater foresty colors are just what i
(17:36):
associate with that story but i think for the other projects
i generally really like playing with different color and color
combinations so i think i couldn't
just sort of stick to one palette led for a very long time
right five different things so who
would you say the audience is for this is it for children or
is it for young adults or what would you i think
(17:57):
yeah i think young adults is probably yeah yeah
that's probably the best way and yeah but.
I guess just anyone who's into like dark fantasy or
folklore and mythology i think this
is quite a like dreamlike and magical story like strongly built atmosphere as
well so anyone who enjoys the kind of thing what would be some advice that you
(18:20):
would also give for folks who are who are looking to kind of create a long form
comic like this what would be some advice that you would give people.
Um I'd say don't be afraid to take your time and sort of think things through and try things out,
I think with setting for creating a
(18:42):
bigger story it's really important to pick the topic that you either really
care about or just makes you really excited and feel passionate about it because
well I'm personally I'm still quite new to comics and what I have discovered
is that But it really takes so much more work than you would think, I guess.
(19:02):
So, yeah, I think if it's something that you're really passionate about,
then that's super important.
And yeah, for me, it really helped taking notes and planning out elements of the world.
And even though it's a short story, sort of imagining it as a part of a bigger
world, it makes it seem more real, even if it's just for you while you're creating it.
(19:24):
Where do you see the best response
community response that you've seen is it through twitter is
it through where did your where's the your community mostly coming from do you
think i think instagram is my main platform at the moment and i had a really
lovely response and people were really connecting with it which was great but
(19:46):
also surprisingly like the comics Facebook groups,
like there's some really great places there.
So I had a really amazing response from like the Polish comics community,
sort of way more enthusiastic than I even anticipated at the beginning.
I really, really appreciate that. Yeah. It's been really great.
And so that would be kind of the recommendations, kind of find your family in
(20:10):
a way, find the people that you kind of connect with the most and help with that. Yeah, I think so.
Because at least for me, I think that's like, I guess the most genuine because
you have a group of people and you're sort of passionate about the same medium or the same topic.
And yeah i think that's the part of
(20:30):
it that i enjoyed the most is actually talking to people and talking
to other artists about the work and like connecting on that level i
think that's really important and where do
you see also is you know some advice on looking
at some passive income aspects of things because i
do see you you also have an etsy
page i think it works really well and if you
(20:52):
can sort of hit the
niche as well with your work that's that can work
very very well but it does take a bit of self-promoting i guess as everything
does but and i would recommend the etsy as the platform as well because they
have their own search engine so you can really get completely new people coming
to your work through that what do you seem to be that people seem to to gravitate more towards?
(21:18):
Well, the Slavic mythology art book is by far, I think people are drawn to it the most.
Yeah, I'm actually planning to release some more prints over the next month.
But yeah, I think print sales and stickers as well. Like people,
I think people like sort of little things as well, like stickers and patches.
(21:39):
And where can people, if people are interested in learning more about your work, where can they find you?
So through my website, if you like, there's links to all my social media,
but I'm on Instagram as a pigeon X person and on Twitter as your little pigeon.
(22:00):
There's all different versions of the pigeon.
I'd say if you'd like to check out my work, I'm mostly hanging out on Instagram. Okay.
Perfect. Well, thank you very much, Camilla, aka pigeon, for coming on the show.
This has been great. This has been great.
Thank you. Thanks for having me. That's been fun.
(22:21):
Music.
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