sharkfinsandfrogs

This week everyone should be aware beware of non-binary people. We exist, hi.

As Crossbite's number one fan, it was only right that I get to be the first to interview its author and creator - Tyler. So enjoy this highly serious and sophisticated interview. 

(And if it gave us an excuse to combine uni work with a hang out session, then that's no one else's business but ours.)

Sharkfin - what is crossbite? Tyler - crossbite is a horror comedy webcomic that's been brewing in my head for three years and that I'm finally getting to work on! it's about a very irritable nineteen year old, Teddy, who treks across the country to find an orthodontist to remove his braces during a zombie apocalypse, because his own orthodontist was killed just as they were due to be taken off. it's very bloody, and very silly, and I can't wait to start properly sharing it!

Sharkfin - How did you come up with the idea? Tyler - when I was about twelve, I bought the game Dying Light. I say bought and not played, because I wasn't very good at video games (I'm still not) and most the games I got myself, my brother would end up taking over and finishing for me while I watched. we decided to replay it together when I was 18, and there are a lot of missions in the game where you have to go to different places and retrieve medicine and other sorts of loot. this got my brother and I thinking and joking about how all the doctors in the game were focused on treating all these sick people with medicine and coming up with a cure for this zombie virus, which is fair, but what about other sorts of doctors and treatment? what if someone's hearing aid broke, or someone's glasses prescription needed updating? what if someone needed their braces tightening!? and it was funny to talk about, but I had braces for almost four years and I have very poor vision. if there was an outbreak, I would have been in trouble in those areas! so crossbite is kind of me thinking about that idea and what sort of kid would genuinely take that risk in a zombie apocalypse 

Sharkfin - when did teddy get his mullet? Tyler - I'd say 'in the early stages of his design' but technically it was the earliest. I had this scruffy kid in my head, and I didn't actually mean to draw his hair so long, it was just meant to be messy, but since I was drawing in pen, it's not like I could have rubbed it out. I tried drawing him with short hair soon after, but it looked off, so I went back and decided the mullet was canon, now. the shaved sides were always a thing, just for the record.

Sharkfin - favourite part of the story? Tyler - I'll try and keep this one vague, don't want to spoil anything (can you do that for something that isn't out yet?) but I lovingly refer to it as 'the ibuprofen scene'. ted and finn aren't exactly friends when they first meet, finn follows teddy around because he knows teddy can hold his own in a fight against zombies or other people, and he's scared of getting hurt himself. ted allows this because finn can guide him to the hospital he's been trying to reach, but he's pretty mean to him on their travels, and finn being quite unconfrontational kind of allows it. in the ibuprofen scene, they’re bickering away, but something happens during their fight that forces this dynamic of theirs to change. it's a big step for finn in a few ways and it makes teddy sort of reassess his behaviour towards this boy. it originally took place a lot later in the story, but I got frustrated at teddy– as much as I love him– and decided his behaviour needed to change much earlier! that might be annoyingly vague, actually, but I don’t think I want to give any more away just yet.

Sharkfin - when did you decide it would be a comic rather than a novel? Tyler - I was writing away, and I was enjoying it, don't get me wrong, but there was something just missing, I think. I could picture the scenery and the characters and their interactions so perfectly in my head, but no matter how many times I wrote and rewrote it down, I couldn't get past the first chapter without thinking 'this is all so different in my head' which was something I hadn't experienced the same way with other stories I wrote. when I scribbled Teddy during a class break, I thought about what Crossbite could look like as a TV series. jumping the gun, I know! but there was a visual aspect that I then knew was missing from the format at the time. I knew the film industry would be very difficult to get into, and just having an illustrated novel wasn't satisfying enough to me. i wanted to see every scene! so i switched it up and tried actually drawing the first fight with Teddy and the zombie, and it clicked. I knew what was up, I was telling this story in completely the wrong format. it took three years to get the ball rolling with the actual comic making process, but we're getting somewhere!

Sharkfin - when can i get the first issue? Tyler - I'll bring it along as a surprise when we hang out some day, just hand it over signed with a doodle on the cover. dead serious, you won't even see it coming.

Sharkfin - Did you like my fan art?? Tyler - I started leaping round my room, of course I loved it! it was awful being sent it so late at night, though, because I had to try to be quiet since everyone else in the house was sleeping. you have the honour of creating the first fanart! and being the first fan. and, like, everything else.

Sharkfin - what's the plan going forward? Tyler - one page at a time! I can't spend an awful long time sitting in front of a screen, I have to break the drawing process down a lot. which kind of sucks, but it makes it manageable. the current plan is to upload one page a week. I'm building a bit of a 'buffer' before I start uploading, meaning that when I upload page one, I'll actually have five pages– just for example, not an exact number– ready, and be working on the sixth. this means if I fall behind at all, being sick, on holiday, whatever, I've got some back up. some day I'd like to be able to put the pages together in physical issues, too, so if i kept at that schedule, I'd have enough pages to be able to release two issues a year! which isn't a lot necessarily, but you know, it's just me working on it right now. if I managed to up it to two pages a week, I'd have enough for four issues a year, which is enough for a whole volume, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. yet.

Sharkfin - will ted and finn ever admit they love each other? Tyler - hey now, what do we mean by that? can I be loose with the 'love' definition? are we meaning platonic, romantic, what's going on here? teddy and finn grow to mean a lot to each other, they save each other's lives over and over, neither of them would have made it this far without each other. they're probably the most important person in each other's life by the end of the story. l think in some way or another, yes, they'll show that, but I'm not sure it'll be as direct as straight up 'admitting it'. whatever that means. wink wink.

Welcome to my page where I will info dump about sharks, hype up my friend's awesome comic in progress and occasionally post crafting updates from whatever my current obsession is (crochet, sewing, baking, cosplay and more...)