The Constellation Chronicle: Interview with two shining stars
The Constellation Chronicle is a pulsating space opera, very well paced, helmed by EMI and SJ, better known across the galaxy as Emevsa !
Hi EMI, Hi SJ, welcome on board !
– Where do you come from ?
Emevsa is a collaborative duo. We actually come from opposite sides of the globe. SJ, our writer, is from the US and EMI, the illustrator, is all the way over on the other side in Australia.
– How old are you ? ( tell it or not !)
EMI: Late 20’s.
– Influences ?
SJ: I mean obviously Star Wars in some respect but for the most part I think we put a lot of effort into making it our own. Like the music podcast we did, I use music to get the feelings down but other than that, I fly by the seat of my pants.
EMI: Lovecraft is right up there though, particularly at the beginning of issue 0.
SJ: For sure yeah! We love us some Lovecraft.
EMI: In terms of style, I kinda pick up different techniques from others and Youtube. I’m always looking for a way to speed things up. But right at the beginning Phobs was right up as a style influence.
– Art school or not ? 
EMI: That really depends on your career goals. In terms of drawing ability, practice is what is going to make the biggest difference but I did gain valuable skills in graphic design, typography and digital marketing as a result of my formal education.
– Favorite digital art software ?
EMI: ClipStudio Pro for lineart and basic colouring. If I need to do anything more advanced I flick back over to Photoshop.
– Your working method ?
SJ: Chaotic neutral, haha. But seriously as a writer, I just find some music for the mood and go at it. So I guess you could say that it’s all done in one or two passes. We’re writing dialogue so I can’t get fancy with it.
EMI: When it comes to drawing I’m much the same. We have the added benefit of working closely together and knowing how the other will think so we take a lot of shortcuts in that regards. We’ve taken the time to really know each other’s creations so it has become almost second nature for us.
SJ: I guess a good overview would be, we work out what we want to do in the issue and then EMI hands me a brief. I produce a draft and we begin moving pieces around until it flows really well. EMI then takes that script and does the drawing. We inevitably change details around here and there but that is a pretty good summary of our process.
– What your webcomic is about, in a symbolic way, the hidden sense ?
EMI: At its heart it, The Constellation Chronicle is a coming of age story. As we’ve grown older we have had to come to terms with what it means to accept hard choices and social/personal responsibility and that is something we brought to the table when making our webcomic.
SJ: I think it could also be considered to be a commentary on how people act in accordance with their place in society, especially women or people who aren’t in the monarchy, like our characters Meris and Yuri who are from a newly formed republic.
– Tell us more about your main character, the hero !
SJ: Where do we even start?
EMI: Haha! Like many fantasy stories we have taken the approach of having multiple view points so we’ll be following a few characters as they try to make sense of the world. It is a big story.
SJ: We do have a core cast though. They are Johan, George, Gabe, Amelia, Ava and Meris.
EMI: At least, that’s the cast for now.
SJ: Dun dun dunnnnn!
– How do you see your future ?
EMI: Apart from taking over the world, I hoping in the next few years I’ll have a dog and a cat and they’ll be best friends.
SJ: Haha our future is so bright that we gotta wear shades! But honestly it would be getting my novel published and adding more comics to our repertoire.
EMI: We want to get to every genre we can.
SJ: Spread our narrative tentacles!
EMI: XD
– Your next goal ?
EMI: At this stage? Getting SJ published.
SJ: And preventing EMI from starting any new ideas before we finish what’s already on our plate.
EMI: Oh yeah!
– Advices for beginners ?
SJ: Just do it. You can’t get better if you don’t go for it at all. You’re gonna have haters but all that matters is that you believe in your story.
EMI: Also fail fast. You’re going to make soooo many mistakes on the way but learn from them and keep going. Because all the errors you make now means your next project will be even stronger for it.
SJ: Also Twitter.
EMI: Yes! Get on Twitter.
– Your technical secret trick ?
EMI: In ClipStudio Pro, there’s a setting for the fill bucket that allows you to fill colour SUPER quickly. That is going to save you so much time! Also, find as many shortcuts as you can.
SJ: Legit ones mind.
EMI: Yeah. No stealing.
SJ: Also, use Google docs and Google drive! Everything saves automatically and you don’t have to worry about losing your work if your computer goes to shit.
– Your social links and website ?
twitter.com/EmevsaComics
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A big thanks to EMI & SJ for having playing the game with fun !
