Q: What is The Song of Xanthia?
A: The Song of Xanthia is a fantasy webcomic that is written & drawn by me, Otis Frampton.
The idea for the story began as a Legend of Zelda fanfic and morphed into the current version, which can either be considered a reverential homage or a blatant rip-off, depending on how you look at it. In truth, it's a bit of both. I began thinking of an original Zelda story based on my love of the video game series and my frustration with the ever changing release date of Skyward Sword. But at a certain point in the creative process, I decided to start shifting it into something new so that I had more freedom to write the story that I ultimately wanted to tell. It also allowed me to play with designs that felt natural to my own drawing style.
But I would like to think of The Song of Xanthia as falling into the same category as Dave Sim's Cerebus; a story that began as homage and transformed into something unique unto itself. Time will tell. For now, I'm just going to have fun writing and drawing a story that I need to get out of my head.
Q: Who is the main character of "The Song of Xanthia"?
A: The main character is a 13 year old girl named Min. She is a fisher in a small village somewhere in the land of Nyrmia.
Q: How do you pronounce "Xanthia"?
A: "ZAN-thee-uh". Like "Andrea" or "pancreas" (or "Andrea's pancreas"). Emphasis on the first sylable.
Q: What IS Xanthia (in the story)?
A: Xanthia is a character in the story that we have not met yet.
Q: How is the comic created?
A: I draw the comic on 11x14 inch smooth Bristol using brush pens and Microns. I color the comic in sepia tones using Prismacolor and Copic markers. One of the reasons that I wanted to make this comic is so that I would have something to warm up with every day before tackling comic, commission or freelance work. I also wanted a project that would get me drawing and coloring on paper so that I could maintain that skill (almost all of my work is fully digital these days). I designed the pages of Xanthia to be drawn (mostly) on a strict 6-panel grid. This keeps the storytelling simple and direct and allows me to pencil, ink and color a panel a day.
Q: Is any part of the comic created digitally?
A: Yes. I draw all of the page roughs in Photoshop using a Wacom Cintiq. I then print the roughs and use a lightbox to draw the pencils on Bristol. I also do all of my design work and sketching for the series in Photoshop. And lastly, the logo/title for the series was drawn and colored in Photoshop. I will also be creating some pages digitally, in full color. I'm hoping that this will give the comic the feel of a storybook, where most illustrations are in black & white or monotone, but every once and a while you'll see a burst of color highlighting an important moment or scene.
Q: Is Xanthia an ongoing story or does it have a definite ending?
A: I have an outline written for the story. It is a finite story with an ending.
Q: What is the schedule for The Song of Xanthia?
A: Drawing, inking, coloring and one panel each day is my goal. A new page will be posted every Monday.
Q: Why are you using a blog format for the comic and not ComicPress or some other webcomic format?
A: I use ComicPress and a standard website format for my other webcomic, Escape From Plabet Nowhere, and frankly it's been frustrating dealing with the ComicPress format. I already have a TypePad account that allows for unlimited blogs and I'm used to the format. Long story short, it was easier to set up and get started.
Q: How will you archive the comic panels and pages?
The archive will be in the form of an image gallery.
Q: Why are you not using full color for this comic?
A: I'm trying to keep the production of Xanthia as simple as possible. For most of my work, I use full color. I even color the line art itself in Photoshop when working digitally, which takes a lot of time. For this comic, I chose to use black lines, a variable line weight (when necessary) and sepia tones for color and shading. The final panels and pages that you see are exactly as they look in real life. Xanthia is all natural, so to speak. No Photoshop additives, I swear.
But, as I said before, every once and a while I will slip in a full color page, drawn and colored in Photoshop.
Q: Will you ever create full color artwork related to Xanthia?
A: Yes. You can see some HERE.
Q: Do you have any plans for a printed version or digital download of the comic?
A: Yes. Stay tuned.
Q: Will you ever sell pages from the comic?
A: Yes. Stay tuned.
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