--How did Deepest Winter start out?--
Deepest Winter has been a developing project for about a year now. Originally just one of 5-6 fantasy stories I was writing, it felt...lacking. The story seemed as if it would come across far more effectively in images rather than a written item. After some discussion with my friend Luca, I decided to try turning the story into a comic and seeing how that turned out. The earliest sketches for the comic date back to January 2008 when I was still attending my local community college (pursuing a Fine Arts major).

--Where did you learn to draw?--
Nowhere, actually, at least not until I started attending Westwood. My earliest days of drawing were back in the Pokemon boom around the time of the anime's first movie; back then I would draw things by eye. Essentially, I worked (and still work) as a mimist, or mimicker. I found a "How to Draw Pokemon" book, which introduced me to the base-shapes concept of drawing forms. I had a brush-up with how to draw the human figure in 10th grade, but it wasn't much.
Basically, I'm self-taught for the most part. I'm terrible at drawing faces and realistic expressions, and I favor using expression to convey character moods, which is why I use manga-style facial design and mood symbols like the oversized sweatdrop. However, I'm also a bit of a stickler for realism, so I try to keep bodily proportions and designs as real as I can. No doubt the designs will evolve as this story continues; the first few pages are proof of that.

--What do you use?--
When I started out, I was using your everyday materials: mechanical pencil, printer paper and a kneaded rubber eraser. [insert hardcore-artist freakout here XD]
Nowadays I use my Wacom Graphire4 6x8 tablet, and The GIMP, a free image creation/editing program designed to rival Adobe Photoshop. I have two laptops, a Dell Inspiron 1420 and a Macbook Pro; I've been migrating to the Macbook and have been using Bootcamp to run Windows on it since college made me buy Photoshop for Windows before I could buy this Macbook.

--Why don't you use Photoshop?--
1) Adobe is vastly overpriced. I had to buy it for college, but I rarely use it, leading to...
2) ...Personally, I prefer GIMP's user-friendly interface and its new Mac-like system of floating toolbars. Adobe is too professional and confusing for me.
3) I'm sick and tired of Adobe's constant updating always screwing SOMEthing up on my laptop(s).
4) College required me to buy Adobe products, so I bought the CS3 Master Suite. Then, a mere month later, Adobe churned out CS4 and college switched to that quickly. Adobe offered a "free upgrade", but when I filed for one they rejected it, saying my receipt wasn't valid. Bull****, especially after I CALLED them and flat out asked the rep if my receipt was legit enough. Basically, I bought something for $1000 and Adobe cheated me on it by making me have to buy what I had JUST bought. Needless to say, I'm not happy with them.

I realize that someday I'll need to start using Photoshop seriously, but I'm not happy with Adobe.

--How often do you update?--
Right now I'm aiming for weekly or bi-weekly updates on Wednesdays at 3 PM EST. However, that's going to be a bit tight for me since with college and work, I'm barely able to get a page done in two weeks. I apologize in advance.

--So, if college/job/life gets too rough, this thing is toast?--
Hell no. I intend to finish this thing. It may take me a while, but somehow I'll pull it through. Unless the internet suddenly explodes forever or something.

--What are you doing exactly?--
Currently I'm attending Westwood College Online for their Game Art & Design major together with Thaedos creator Luca. As such, production of this graphic novel may slow or even come to a standstill. However, I enjoy sketching, so during the "dry periods" of the comic I'll be trying to upload sketch work and conceptual art for the comic, and possibly other projects as well.