1. Who are you and what are you working on right now? (2 questions in 1, I know!)
I’m Liam Sharp, the founder and CCO of Madefire, which is a digital storytelling platform. I’m an artist with 26 years to my name in the imaginative arts, but I’ve written too – including comics and a novel. Right now I’m writing MONO, and writing and drawing Captain Stone is Missing… for Madefire. I’m also working on a couple of other VERY exciting projects we have coming up featuring a couple of the industry’s legitimate legends! Can’t say more than that!
2. What drew you to digital comics?
Ben Wolstenholme (co-founder of Madefire, and CEO of Moving Brands) and I realized the industry was ready for a new take on storytelling a few years ago, and the advent of the tablet computer sealed the deal. What we were wanting to do was use all the assets a tablet, iPhone and iPod had to offer but keep it a reading experience – not a passive watching experience. We wanted readers invested and participating, and that became the mission.
3. Webcomics or digital comics?
Neither! Madefire motion books are a completely unique experience to either of the other options! 🙂
4. What do you think works with digital comics?
Sound, limited motion, interaction, live lettering, Easter eggs… the sky’s the limit! Must be ‘reading’ not ‘watching’! Key!
5. Can digital comics replace print comics?
They shouldn’t ever aim too. We all love, and come from, print. To paraphrase Douglas Adams – you shouldn’t mistake the plate for the food…
6. How can print comics work with digital comics?
Episodic digital first. Print collections to follow…
7. What don’t you like about digital comics?
What’s not to like? In scope it’s limited as a medium only by your imagination. And I love the fact it can also be completely grass-roots…
8. What digital comics/webcomics do you read?
Bottom of the Ninth was amazing!
9. Where do you see digital comics going from here?
Forward!
10. Who do you think we should look out for in digital comics?
I’m biased, but there’s an AMAZING Neil Googe ‘Treatment: Mexico City’ story coming up, and Dave Lupton – who drew Metawhal Alpha – is doing a dark seasonal story for us that is fantastic. Very different takes on digital storytelling, but both wonderful. I love that Dave’s traditional approach to art really works in this new medium – which you might not expect!
“10 Questions With” is to be a interview session with digital comics creators – there’s a lot of great people I’ve got lined up and I hope you enjoy seeing what the creators are interested in.
If you are a digital creator and am interested in participating, please contact me!
