Black Page: Interview with the Diamond Beetle studio !

Black Page is a supernatural detective webcomic produced by a small independent studio named Diamond Beetle, a pool of creators, writer and artist.

They did a hell of a job !

Hi Both, welcome on Art Of Webcomics !

– Where do you come from ? 
The Netherlands
– How old are you ? ( tell it or not !) 
24 (artist) and 31 (writer)
– Influences ? 
For this comic in particular; Carl Gustav Jung, Paulo Coelho, the Sandman comics, Hellblazer, White Wolf’s World of Darkness, Occultism, Mysticism, Folklore, Mythology, Lovecraft Mythos and a whole bunch of horror movies and Theological studies of various religions.
– Art school or not ? 
Yes, we attended art school in the Gaming-branche, where both of us found our appreciation for visual storytelling. While one focused more on the art aspect the other one took up writing and design.
– Favorite digital art software ? 
Artist: Photoshop (for now, maybe Clip studio is going to be my new favorite?)
– Your working method ? 
Writer: What makes a good story to me is the combination of set-up and pay-off moments, as well as ‘mysteries to be revealed’ ,and those just can’t happen without proper planning. I structure a whole story-arc into mayor plot points and character-arcs to make it all come together in the end. And if need be, write the ending. Then I proceed to write it chapter by chapter, panel to panel and pass it on to the artist. Artist: I’d love to say I do a lot of preparatory work for the comic, but to me it all comes down to a solid character design sheet and a bit of research of the environments the comic will display before I get down to work. Once I receive the script I start thumbnailing the whole chapter, when we both agree with the outcome, I start creating each page from sketching to colouring.
– What your webcomic is about, in a symbolic way, the hidden sense ? 
The overarching theme is self-discovery and exploration within the meta-physical context. We don’t want to spoil or give away too much, but it also explores what it means to be a hero, what it means to be a villain and the duality of life.

The phrase “Die a hero or survive long enough to see yourself become a villain.” is perhaps befitting.

– Tell us more about your main character, the hero ! 
We actually have four main characters! These four students are for the most part only united by their common situation and would otherwise not have much reason to hang with one another. But it is through the events of the story that they realize they have far more in common on a human and social level than what society has taught them. All the while they are chosen to represent all of humanity in a grand game between various deities.
– How do you see your future ? 
To be frank, we just want to be able to keep creating entertaining content for anyone who would enjoy it, it is our desire. We like to spend our years doing what we love, giving back to the world of entertainment that has sparked our passion! The reality is that our bodies need food and shelter in order to do so, but we like to think that our content is enjoyable enough for people to want to support us so we don’t have to resort to other careers unrelated to this one.
– Your next goal ? 
Our first and utmost goal is to finish Arc 1 of Black Page, which means a whopping 24 chapters of fun. Ofcourse once we reach that goal we have many to follow (already plotted them, too!)
– Advices for beginners ? 
For people who decide they want to collaborate on a long-term project, or start a project on their own for the first time, we’d like to advise you to take your time to get a solid base for your idea, but then start as soon as possible! Your learning process won’t start until you do. There are going to be pitfalls, but persevere, and above all, keep that passion fire lit. Artist: It’s hard to give advice when I have a hard time following my own, but try not to focus too much on perfecting your artwork if it means you’re not going to share any of it. Also don’t be so quick to post something that you hardly put any time or efford into. The trick is to find balance! Likewise, color-theory and perspective help… Writer: Plot Theory, Story Structure, Character Arcs, all these things are immensly important to writing a good captivating tale. Yet I see them dismissed so often by amateurs and professionals alike. This causes for cool concepts that look amazing on paper but then fall apart during their execution. There are many books and videos one can find on these subjects and none of them are at all difficult to understand. But the knowledge of these things, understanding how to draw plot-lines the way an artist understands color-theory, and understanding story-structures the way an artist understands anatomy and composition, is what separates writers from people just winging it. Oh and patience, sometimes it takes re-writing a chapter eig

ht times to make it good.
– Your technical secret trick ? 
Writer: I do a ritual for Ananse, the god of stories, once every day by sacrificing an unwilling writer to the torture or rewriting a chapter until it’s good. But all jokes aside, having an ending in mind helps a whole lot. And not just an ending for the story, but an ending for each and every mayor character so that you have at least some idea of where it’s all going. Aritst: I’m sure I’m not the only one, but I need to have a music playlist ready, or else I’ll be slowly sucked into the void we call Youtube.
– Favorite quote ? 

“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

– Your social links and website ? 

Black Page is on Tapas and Webtoons
Twitter: twitter.com/Diamond_Beetle   
Artist : twitter.com/xKokobael
Facebook: facebook.com/BlackPageOnline
Patreon: patreon.com/DiamondBeetle
…
Thanks to the Diamond Beetle team !