SP talked to Catherine Epps, @doodlecatcreations, about her new comic Lil And Friends Die For Real, in which the title characters try to avoid dying both online and in real life!
🗣️Tell us about Lil and her friends, who are they? Have they appeared in other stories? How did they manage to anger a grim-reaper-in-training?
😺Lil and her friends are a group of dorky misfits who happen to have one thing in common: they love gaming together. This is their first appearance together as a group, although I've drawn Lil before- she's honestly just what I look like when I wear my favorite red fuzzy sweater with the hood up. As for why they anger Death Jr.—let's just say it's a big misunderstanding involving an emotional support possum, the ghost of said emotional support possum, and a failed grim reaper entrance exam.
🗣️The characters are playing a multiplayer computer game when they’re confronted by their nemesis. Can we expect the game to somehow affect them in their real world?
😺Lil's friends are quite confident about who they are and what they want to be in life, and it shows in their character selection before the game starts. Lil, however, isn't sure who she is without her friends, and grapples with that idea through the context of the game. This theme, as well as the look-and-find mechanic that the game incorporates into the story, will continue throughout future issues of the series.
🗣️Let’s talk about that amazing full color spread in the middle of the comic! The detail is fantastic. Why did you decide to include it?
😺In all honesty, I just like making high-detail illustrations, and wanted to include it somehow in this project. I didn't want to just slap an I-spy page into a comic for no reason, though, so I created the plot around the idea of having a comic with a look-and-find spread every few pages. This idea ended up morphing into a comic with just one look-and-find spread in the middle- I'm saving my ideas for future issues!
🗣️Is this your first comic of this length? Did anything surprise you about creating it? Will you do anything differently for your next project?
😺This is my first comic made with serious intention of having people other than my friends read it! Although I was highly motivated to finish the character arcs I had in mind, I was surprised with how long the process took. However, I am very proud of what I have achieved so far, and can't wait to dive back in! Next time I'm going to pace myself a little better—maybe take a year to write it instead of 7 months!
🗣️Did you base Look and Find Quest on any particular game?
😺Look and Find Quest II: Remastered Is a convoluted-titled web browser game based on the simple but fun flash games we all used to play as kids. You know, when teachers let us loose on the school computers. The aesthetic of this game, however, is mostly based on side-scrolling games like Terraria and Super Mario Bros, as well as Minecraft. I was going for that colorful, blocky, multi-biomed world look.
🗣️Which of the characters in the story is most similar to you? And why?
😺Lil, 100%. She's literally based on a drawing I made of myself as a video game character! For story purposes, though, she's more insecure in who she is, as well as the strength of her friendships. She's also waaaaay more extroverted than I am, I wish I had her energy!