Hello Fellow Wordsmiths and Page Turners,
Today I am posting something I should have posted way back in November, but due to a series of issues I have been unable to until now! – I would like to thank Hamish Steele for doing this interview with me back when!
He was a joy to work with, and I can honestly say thus far out of the people I have interviewed, I have not met a more enthusiastic and motivated gentleman in my entire life, I found speaking to him very uplifting and motivating.
So without any Further Ado lets get to know my guest Hamish Steele!
Please introduce yourself to our readers, and tell us a little about your story
My name is Hamish! At the moment, I’m mostly an animation director involved in developing a few shows to series. But in my spare time I make and sell comics! I’ve always wanted to draw and make stories. I’ve just never stopped. In 2013, I made a short for Cartoon Hangover called “Dead End” and that was basically the start of my professional career.
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Who inspired you as a child when you were developing your drawing style, who was it you looked at thought “yup I want to be as good as that guy/girl”?
I was part of that “omg Scott Pilgrim is the greatest thing ever!” generation. There’s no shame in that – Bryan Lee O’Malley is a hugely talented writer and artist and I still look up to him. I read a lot of Mato’s run of the Pokémon Adventures manga at the same time I was first really getting serious about drawing. I liked its chibi style and grown up storytelling. I still wish my comics looked half as good as either of them.
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I have seen your animated short, “Dead-End” which clearly is the origin of the comic, and it too in my humble opinion is pretty bad ass!, are you hoping to eventually animate the DeadEndia comics as well?
That’d be amazing but I doubt we’ll see Dead End animated again. I don’t have a big
enough fanbase to kickstart the funds needed to make something like that. I loved doing the short and was disappointed it didn’t go to series but I think it ended up well. I love doing the comic and I’m working on other animated projects now directly thanks to working for Cartoon Hangover.
I do have got a few atypical special issues planned which sort of break the format of regular comics, so an animated issue isn’t out of the question.
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Was the creation of Dead End / DeadEndia, a eureka slipped off the toilet and banged your head, flux-capacitor kind of project. Or was it something that built up and evolved over time?
Definitely built up over time. There were eureka moments, such as when I was adapting Dead End into a comic and I suddenly decided to set it in a theme park. But the short itself was developed from a number of different sources. I originally sent Cartoon Hangover a comic I’d done featuring early versions of the Barney and Norma characters and a little animated short featuring an early version of Pugsley. They liked the characters but none of the settings so I went through a few in my head and haunted house worked. I love horror and comedy horror so… yeah! It sort of clicked over time.
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If you had to sum up your book series “DeadEndia” in 140 characters or less (the length of a tweet) what would you say?
I always fail miserably at doing this when people ask about it at my convention tables but here goes!
“Young, queer kids and their dog work at a theme park ghost house and try to stay alive, fight demons and keep its dark secrets! “
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what’s next in the world of DeadEndia? or are you thinking of branching out into a different series?
DeadEndia is gonna reach Issue 8 (I’m just finishing 5 right now) and then take a break. That’ll be like a “Season One”. There will be a Season Two eventually but before that I might do a few mini comics. I love DeadEndia and fully intend on doing at least three seasons but I’ve hankering to do something about gays in space or maybe something more serious. I love too many things – I wanna pay tribute or give so many different genres a go.
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What advice would you have to someone who was trying to break into the indie comic scene?
You gotta think what your story is REALLY about. Don’t go in thinking “I wanna do something about monsters and spaceships and cool people” go in thinking “I wanna do a story about family or depression” or whatever. That’s my advice for people wanting to do something fantasy / sci-fi kinda based but it works for everything. What’s the point of doing this? What do you actually want to say? What’s your unique POV that makes your story worth reading?
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What element of your work gives you the most personal satisfaction?
Reading the comments. I know some people say not to do it but I genuinely have great fans who give amazing feedback and I love seeing their reactions, good or bad.
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What do you do to recharge your creative batteries?
I like playing Animal Crossing and Super Smash Bros, watching Doctor Who… fairly standard nerd stuff. Although I love nothing more than just relaxed with friends and discussing media – good films, bad films, things we’d do differently.
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And Finally, what comics or animated series are you watching / reading at the moment?
I’m currently reading all the Jinji Ito horror manga stuff – trying to make DeadEndia more creepy! And I’m watching all of Sailor Moon after my flatmate demanded it!
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That about raps it up for this post, thank you again to my most awesome guest Hamish!
If you wish to find out more about Hamish, you can follow him on Twitter, and have a look at both the her Official Website, all of which are listed below.
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Tumblr : HamishMash
Twitter: @hamishsteele
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Until next time, read more books
Between|the|Blurb 