Sprinter Webcomic: Interview with creators Marowe & Isto !
Sprinter is a stunning webcomic written by Isto and beautifully drawn by Marowe.
Marowe has answered our questions, and Isto was not too far away… lucky we are !
Hi Marowe and Isto !
– Where do you come from ?
Sunny Los Angeles B)
– How old are you ?
28
– Influences ?
Magical girl anime/manga like Sailor Moon and Utena, and basically anything by CLAMP. Rayearth and xxxHolic especially! Many action scenes and environments are inspired by video games.
– Art school or not ?
I went to school for 3D art but I ended up not liking it a lot. I model most of my backgrounds in 3D though!
– Favorite digital art software ?
Clip Studio, that sexy beautiful beast. Best lineart and comic suite I’ve ever used. Photoshop is where I do final colors and touch ups – it’s more powerful than CSP in that sense. I use Maya for 3D.
– Your working method ? 
I get the script from Isto and sketch storyboards then page thumbnails. Isto reviews my work to make sure each page flows well and feels good as a webcomic page (since we update once a week, we try to keep each page interesting on its own). The layout is finalized by the time I start inking. Before I start a scene in a new setting I’ll have it modeled in Maya, which I use to render out lineart that I clean up for the final page.
– What your webcomic is about, in a symbolic way, the hidden sense ?
Isto: Sprinter is about failure, how it affects your sense of self, coping with and overcoming it. To a lesser extent, it’s about technology and change, and the ways people react to it.
– Tell us more about your main character, the hero !
Sprinter is still a bit of a mystery right now, but she’s a young kid that’s overwhelmed by the task that’s been given to her. I think a lot of us can relate to that. We’re going to see her coping with that, not always in a healthy way. I’m excited to see how other characters and readers react to her choices!
– How do you see your future ?
Sprinter is a side project that has made both Isto and I push ourselves in our respective areas. What I’ve learned from Sprinter makes me want to get more involved in the comics industry as an editor. I guess we’ll see what happens, as I’d also like to stay in the video games industry. Good thing most games have comics now too! Isto is definitely going to be a big shot writer at a game studio in the near future. I hope we can keep working together on Sprinter and other projects!
– Your next goal ?
Someday I want to draw fast enough to release 2 pages a week, but I’m really far from being able to achieve that right now.
– Advices for beginners ?
“Just go for it” is the most solid advice you’re ever going to hear. Beyond that, I’d recommend anyone starting a comic to decide what their personal goals are. Do you want to get better at drawing backgrounds? Do you want to draw faster? Do you want to make money? Webcomics are hard and time consuming, so knowing these will have a huge impact on your happiness and help you narrow down what to focus on. My goal is definitely NOT to get better at drawing backgrounds, which is why I take so many shortcuts there 😛 whatever your goal is, put 90% of your effort into that and everything else will fall into place!
– Your technical secret trick ?
CSP’s vector lines!!!! Each line is saved as a path that can be manipulated with no loss, and it’s easy to go back and increase/decrease line thickness. When two vector lines cross, the eraser tool will easily chop off the intersecting lines.
– Best links to read Sprinter and follow you ?
sprintercomic.com
the artist: twitter.com/Marowowe
the author: twitter.com/Istosu
Thanks to Isto and Marowe for the kind interview !
