Interviews

Flat Life Interview

By Hervé St-Louis
May 7, 2006 - 17:36

How long has Flat-life being online?

Lee: We just passed our first birthday as a web comic but the characters were created over seven years ago for a screenplay.

Dan: We then toyed with the idea of doing an animated series but it would have taken way too long. We are hoping to have some animated shorts done later this year as promotion for the comic.

What are your backgrounds?

Lee: Well we met at art college and found we had a common love for geek culture in all it's forms. I was more a comic book geek and Dan was more a film geek but we shared a love for most of the same things. We would stay up all night writing bad comic books and watching Indiana Jones or Star Wars movies.

Dan: After art college I studied Graphic Design and Illustration at University.

Lee: I did a little more college and the started working in web design.

How is the workload split on Flat-life?

Lee: Well I run the web site but most of the workload week to week is producing the strip. So I guess the comic usually starts with me, I write the outline for a strip and send it to Dan for feedback. Often the strip is part of an ongoing story arc that we have come up with together. Dan will send me feedback and I will rewrite it based on what he has added or criticised and then send it back to him.

Dan: I usually make a few changes mostly taking out the bad language. Then I decide how best to make the panel flow with a couple of thumbnail sketches. When I have one I'm happy with I first draw it in pencil then ink it with a 0.1 and 0.3 fine liner, scan it and send it to Lee

Lee: Then I will take that scanned hand drawn artwork and bring it into macromedia Flash to colour. After breaking it down and colouring all the outlines I will fill the rest of the colour in and then add backgrounds and some other detail. Once that's done I will add in the speech balloons and text and it will be ready to go online. But first I have to write the blog that goes along with it. Sometimes it will relate to the strip but most it will just be a random stream, of consciousness based on whatever else I've been up to that week.

You mentioned that you tried this series as a movie and a cartoon first.
What made you decide to use the comic book format?

Lee: Well we got to the point that we realised it was going to take us a few years to finish the TV show pilot and although we had a some interest from producers, we decided that it would be better to try and build a fan base and prove we have something people would enjoy. That way we could come back to the animation and do some animated shorts to promote the idea of the comic becoming a TV show again.

What kind of response did you get from producers?

Lee: Well the response was good until we got to the point where we explained that we wanted them to help finance the rest of the pilot so we could try and turn it into a TV Show. And that point they would always say that they would "get back to us", or they said they would put us in touch with someone else. It became apparent that these people needed something with more evidence that it was going to work behind it before they put their money
where their mouth was. But they all liked the idea, although some suggested we tone down the sex and drugs. What would we have left! (Laughs)

What have you improved, changed after meeting producers?

Lee: Very little to tell you the truth. We decided that if the guys doing South park aren't going to compromise then neither should we! besides it wasn't so much the content that prevented the pilot being made as it was the fact that we were two unheard of guys with a script and a few minutes of animation asking for money.

Dan: If the producers had wanted to change things I don't think we would respect their opinions, after all we know the market we are aiming for better than them because we are that market.

What kind of pilot did you try to create?

Lee: It would have been a 22 minute animated television show much like The Simpson's or South park.

Dan: It would also show what the rest of the possible series would have been like. Getting people use to the characters and format. It would have lots of referencing to other films lifting out scenes and characters from our favorite films. For some reason we found our selves referencing Cliffhanger and Rounders!

What has been the response to the comic strip so far?

Lee: Overwhelmingly positive! Although we haven't come close to Penny Arcade numbers, we have had nothing but glowing praise from other comic creators. And I don't want to seem like a name dropper so I wont drop the names but we have had some great compliments from some big people in print comics too!

Dan: The comic is read around 13,000 times a month. We hear that's more than the other well know online comics had in their first year.

What's easier with the online comic book format?

Lee: Well it's easier than an animation because it takes a lot less time and money. It's easier than a print comic because you can have people reading and enjoying the comic with far less work that it would take to write and draw an entire book.

What's difficult with the online comic book format?

Lee: Well you are limited to telling a story in 3 to 5 panels each strip, and often we feel obliged to include a joke or two in that (laughs).

Dan: The scripts do take a while to work out even more so know we are going for the story arcs. How much of the story do we want to reveal in each strip and is it enough to keep people coming back

Is it possible for you to update the site more than weekly?

Lee: Well I think we put a lot more time into each comic than a lot of other web comics. We are always full colour, including the outlines and the outlines alone add a lot to the time it takes. Also we try to make each panel a a little more dynamic than most other webcomic's. The truth is we could do two or three strips a week but the quality would suffer, and I prefer quality over quantity.

Dan: But if you want to give us enough money so that we can quit our jobs we could give you 3 strips a week.

How do people discover the Web site?

Lee: Well we are listed in most web comic listings and have done very little advertising. We did a lot in the first few months but the expense didn't justify the amount of visitors. Most people come to the site based on word of mouth.

Dan: We have also recently joined the Eyeskream and Rampage webcomic groups.

Have you thought of making a physical comic book series?

Lee: We have and we would love to do that, but I honestly think Flat life works better as either a strip comic or a TV Show. it's not that suited to comic book format. Although we are putting out a book collecting the entire first year and story arc (which ran into this year and is about to conclude).

Is the storyline continuing a larger scheme or just individual stories?

Lee: Well the first six months was mainly character development but we did lay the ground work for the story line that was the original screenplay. Since then we have continued that story arc and in the future we intend to keep to three to six month story arcs.

Tell me more about the characters?

Lee: Art is our main character, he prides himself on being an Über geek. He is very opinionated and stubborn and we try to write him as a lovable assole. Seth is our smart, sensible voice of reason. He holds the group together and tries hid best to keep Art's insanity in check. Kurt is our lovable stoner and Natasha is our heroine, smart, sexy and alternative is her style. The characters are based on ourselves and people we know. Both
Art and Seth have traits that belong to each of us and neither is more him or me more.

Dan: Apart from Art's dress sense which is all mine. Art is also based on the characters that would usually be the side kick in our favorite 80's teen flicks. Duckie in Pretty in Pink, Styles in Teen Wolf and Brodie in Mall Rats

Lee: Except more of a jerk.

How does the story differs from others aimed at the 20 year-old market?

Lee: Well we try and write characters that feel like people we know (although exaggerated to humorous proportions) but they live in a world where things that only happen in movies surround them. We also try and drop as many pop culture references in as possible. I think we really stand out from most other web comics and are more like a Kevin Smith movie that slept with a John Hughes movie.

Dan: They live in this amazing world that we wish we could be a part of but still don't have the motivation to do anything unless really forced.

Is there a 20 something market for stuff like Flat-life?

Lee: God I hope so or we're screwed! (laughs) I think that there is a whole "demographic" as they say out there that are sick with the bland mundane people they see on shows like friends. There is a disenfranchised youth that don't see themselves in the media, and when they do they are bad stereo types that make them look bad.

How do you plan on reaching them?

Lee: Through hard work and word of mouth. We are going to produce an animated short this year and hopefully we can get that on all those great website's that those people spend hours on. you know those million and one website's full of funny video clips, I think we'd fit right in and the viewer would appreciate our humour.

Tell me about this online comic book collective you're now part off. I've
never heard from them!

Lee: Eyeskream is a fairly new webcomic community created in 2004 by Erik Bouchard and Douglas Curtis. Douglas is better known in the comic industry for creating the "Spacehack" three issues mini series from Kenzer&Co. He also collaborated on the "Hackmaster" RPG. Simply put Eyeskream provides a gathering place for webcomic creators and fans.

Have you tried a Web toon version?

Lee: Not yet but the animated short will essentially be a web toon, we will post that on the site as well as as many places as we can find that would be interested.

What have you learned from the process of creating this series?

Lee: How hard it is to write and colour a strip each week while working full time on other projects!

Dan: It is tough at times but its also nice to set goals and meet them each week. And with all the positive feedback we know its worth it.

What influenced Flat-life?

Lee: Everything I have ever watched or read and related to! We really try and fill Flat Life with references from everything we love and have been influenced by. I guess our biggest influences would be 1980's teen movies. Anything by John Hughes or starring John Cussack.

Dan: Kevin Smith, South Park, Star Wars all our favorites.

What are your goals for the upcoming year?

Lee: Produce at least one animated short. Win an animation festival, get a TV show and conquer the world!

Dan: To speak to a lady and get off the crack.

Last Updated: November 29, 2025 - 16:51