Q:
This comic is for adults only, right?
A: Damn straight, Son. This
is for grown-ups and I forbid youngsters
from buying my books at my convention
tables. However if anyone wants a
kid-friendly commission, Ill
happily oblige!
Q:
Where's the Best Place to start?
A: For the Jacobi saga and
to start off where I started off, I would
start from Books 1, 2 and 3. These books
mostly represent my raw edgier
underground period with a more
straight-to-the-point plot with plenty of
action.
For the Shemsu-Hor saga and my best work
to date, go for Books 0 part 1 and 2.
This saga represents a more complex
plot-driven arc that relies more on
suspenseful horror and drama than action.
The events of Book 0 is set just before
Book 1, so its not a prequel in the
common use of the word, but the saga does
explore the events of Genma Visage 9000
years before the present and what made
the world what it was.
The Jacobi Saga incorporates the earlier
experimental artwork whereas the Shemsu
Hor Saga sets the baseline art style and
story writing that has been used as a
template for progression since. However,
the trend of traditional B&W comic
art and fully painted panels and pages
has been prominent throughout all books.
Although both sagas reference each other
at times, they both bring you up to speed
as independent comics so that you
dont have to read one to understand
the other. But if I had to be flash,
Id say buy the lot, hahaha!
Q:
How did this all come about?
A: I would say Genma Visage
had 3 separate Birthdates, that being
2007, 2010 and 2012, with adaptations of
story concepts I had when I was much
younger. The first series of pages were
done during 2007 when the comic was
originally called Psyomaster Ryuken:
Overkill and was originally going to be
an offshoot of a series of short stories
that I wrote during college and
University called Kouryu Sukuinushi. I
eventually decided that the Kouryu
Sukuinushi had long given up the ghost
and that Overkill should be its own
completely different title. Channelling
multiple comic and manga influences at
the time, I first tested the water by
making Overkill a webcomic and a
smallpress run for Zine fairs in order to
gain feedback from viewers. As a one-man
team between Uni and Work, it was hard to
meet a weekly update rate. With the
detail going into each page, I had always
felt that that the series was aspiring to
something more than what the webcomic
mould typically allows.
By 2009 through 2010 the story moved away
from the darkened martial arts fantasy
motif in favour of being an Action Horror
Thriller Comic with a few relevant traits
from Super Heroes. Adapting more Science
Fiction and Occult influences, the series
took a more anarchic tone towards its
former influences and current peers at
the time as a means of exploring
characters in more uncharted detail. I
did regularly go through tests of
faith of the art world by that
point, and the passion I developed from
that was channelled into the drive for
creating characters that are good or bad
in believable terms not just purely
because the story says they have to be.
The series was renamed Genma Visage, a
title I chose when I had established the
key moment of death and rebirth in the
characters life that all the other
characters would relate to as the story
progressed.
By mid-2010 I decided I would complete my
comics and expand them into published
books. I finally abolished the webcomic
mould completely. The original pages were
rewritten to match the current context
and in 2012 the first 3 finished books
were released, pretty much when I started
doing this shtick professionally.
Ive been working on the series
ongoing since.
Q:
What goes through your head when you
create this crazy stuff?
A: Just 25 years of
practice, hard work, dedication and
thats basically it. Im
usually just focused on having a finished
accomplished piece of work. Beyond that I
keep myself flexible with whatever
Im working on at a given time or a
particular time as the mindset can change
regularly. Youd have to point out a
particular artwork for me to give you the
lengthy explanation of that piece, but I
would advise to always be in control of
the artwork, and not to let the artwork
be in control of you, or else youll
start missing deadlines!
I would say for a horror comic an
immersive atmosphere is important for
myself and the readers. Quite often I
would plug in some dark ambient music to
really get into the mood of the work.
Music can certainly influence the
stronger of my pieces and I recommend it
as something to play with, responsibly of
course.
Q:
What \ Who are your influences?
A: I did once have a list of
artists, writers and titles as long as
your arm and Im always eager to try
new things. In short, my artwork is
mostly inspired by European comics,
animation and fully painted fantasy and
album cover art. The Manga influence is
there in my art as well. In particular,
its comics from Hong Kong which
inspire my decision to regularly jump
from simple shaded to fully-painted tonal
art within my own work.
With the writing side of things, I mostly
take my influences from film, animation
and videogame storylines. I did a lot of
story studies in my university days along
the way. Mythology and the analysis of
History are probably the biggest
influences on my style as well as a point
of interest for much of my work.
I would say the influence and style
aspect tends to become a second nature
after a while, and Im mainly
interested in simply having an adventure
with my work, to follow a journey and to
see where that takes you. Most of my
ideas are thought up when from taking
long walks through woodlands, the
countryside, cities and coastal areas as
well as sightseeing at historical sites
and holidays.
Q:
What does the title Genma Visage mean?
A: Within the storyline,
Genma Visage refers to the pinnacle
experiments used to create the ultimate
weapon and control the Shurokiu malady of
the Drago Visage. The title name is based
on the creators Nishin Genma, the occult
order whose name in Shurokiu tongue means
The Lightbearers of Nishin.
Nishin is the primary deity in Shurokiu
religion seen in the comics logo, a
dual-headed Hydra both male and female
who created the universe. Its
believed that Nishin sits at the heart of
the universe constantly breathing in
impure matter, purifying it and
regurgitating it to keep the universe
clean and safe from evil. Because it
bears the weight of the entire universe
on its shoulders, Nishin cannot directly
interfere with mortals, but the Shurokiu
honour its principles of progression.
Mortal heroes are heavily favoured over
gods in Shurokiu religion as it is
believed they have communed with Nishin
directly for her wisdom. Nishin Genma set
themselves up to the Shurokiu as the
legends who spoke to the god Nishin the
most. They added the eye or serpent eye
into the tail within Nishins emblem
to represent an awakened 3rd eye of
wisdom that watches all.
In the context of a horror comic, the
premise of the title is to have a clash
of opposites, a holy name to describe an
unholy act of unspeakable evil. The name
Genma was inspired by Japanese Kanji
expressions for Phantasm, and "Janma"
is a Hindi word for Rebirth. The idea of
Genma meaning Lightbearer derives from
the associated translation to the name
Lucifer, a.k.a the devil you know.
Q:
What themes do you deal with in Genma
Visage (if any?)
A: The theme can change from
book to book and story to story, but I
would say Corruption, Apostasy and
Responsibility remain the recurring
themes throughout, and the story focuses
on cases that show that without
responsibility anything can be defiled
and made into evil. The dark underbelly
of human nature is often explored when
meditating on power. As mentioned before,
the sense of history and mythology
remains a key point of interest within
the story when exploring fact and
fiction, as well as how characters grow
with the legends that is built up around
themselves and their world.
Whilst I do like to give the readers some
room to breathe, I also enjoy having a
playful dig at certain flavours of
worship particularly for comic relief.
Q:
How long does it take you to do a page \
book? How does your creative process go?
A: I generally release a new
book once a year on that basis. Between
other jobs and commissions, its
normally about a days work a page,
including sketching, inking and painting.
Its approximately another
days work to work in the colours
depending on if its a full-colour
piece or if Ive already worked in
colour in the first place. With the
writing and lettering I normally set
aside a month or two a year to focus on
the story, the script, the lettering
process and proof reading. The front
cover is normally the longest and most
important page in the book, and the same
can be said about the back page, so I
wedge in about a weeks work each.
Organising a print run can normally take
a few weeks for the first time, and about
1 week for every other week, assuming
there were no major revisions to do
beforehand.
So to go through the creative process, I
may spend weeks, months if not years
brainstorming beforehand a plot or
character to work with, then I write down
several summaries along the way
shortening and streamlining as I go
along, design the characters, I write a
script, thumbnail page layouts, get the
artwork done, do the lettering, sort out
the cover and the printing and ignoring
the X number of mini chores in between
thats the creative process in
summary. To answer the question through
examples, Book 2 (56 pages) would take
about 4 months (ignoring the tasks before
character design) and Book 1 about six
months. Book 0 parts 1 and 2 at the 140
page mark was roughly a year each.
Keeping in mind I am working on other
things in between and real life to
contend with, I certainly dont get
much time for luxuries, hehe!
Q:
Do you keep a journal?
A: The main journals I keep
thatll bring you up to speed are
the newsreel on this page as well as the Facebook
page,
and the DeviantArt
journal
where I may announce upcoming shows.
Beyond that the more detailed
descriptions of my work is included in
either pictures uploaded on DA or
convention photos and the sketchbook
galleries in the facebook and my similar
Media accounts may follow the same
pattern at a whim. I avoid keeping a
personal blog about my life (i.e. what
sandwich I ate, what I did today, my
opinion X etc) because I simply consider
that to be a thief of my time. However,
feel free to strike up a conversation
with me on my accounts as well as at
conventions in real life. I dont
bite! :D
Q:
Is Usheana dead?
A: Nope. She's still alive
if not exactly kicking after the last
pages of Book 1. The same as before,
Usheana is still in a coma on Shuromij as
Ryuken jumps back and forth from Earth to
visit her between battles. The scene with
Ryuken's vision at the end of Book 1
while open to interpretation is going to
relate to the forthcoming conclusion of
the Los Rokuma saga. Keep your eyes
peeled for Book 4!
Q:
What was the deal with those Wardog and
Dinotown shorts in Book 2: Exhumed?
A: These were done for the
"UK Web and Mini Comix Thing"
conventions in East London 2009 and 2010.
For all the events the organiser put
together a comic anthology with
contributions from the exhibitors. Each
anthology was designed with a rotating
yearly theme; 2009 was the planet Mars
and 2010 was Dinosaurs, so I did mine
accordingly.
Because younger readers were going to
look at this book, I toned down the
graphic mature nature of my work to some
extent, hence why these are so far the
only "kid-friendly" venture
Genma Visage has taken to date. I should
note that Wardog is officially part of
Genma Visages continuity whereas
Dinotown is non-canon. All images
involving Relicia and Lumriya acting as a
team are non-canon. While the two have
acted as partners at certain points
throughout human history, they have cut
off all ties by the time the Genma Visage
series starts, partly to do with Jacobi's
involvement.
Q:
How come Book 2 is shorter anyhow?
A: Book 2 and Book 3 were
originally going to be one story, and
part of it was even going to include the
events that ended up happening in the
short "Kiss from a Rose."
In March 2009 I had to cut Book 2 short
so that it would function as one story to
be printed in time for the then
convention UK Web and Mini Comic Thing.
By the time it was rewritten, I decided
that this particular edition deserved the
most bonus content in regards to the
other titles.
Q:
I've noticed there are variations in art
styles throughout the books. What can you
say about that?
A: As brought up before, the
comic pages and some individual pages
were done at different points of time
before they were all unified into books.
The set storyline remains the same, but
because I was either at a certain skill
level at one time or trying out a
different influence \ experiment at
another, the pages may come off like
theyve been done by different
artists, but apart from one page
everything is done by me.
The work done for the Lore stories in
2018 showcase the closest to my current
benchmark for comic art as of this moment
in writing.
Q:
Is there a timeline to go by and keep
track of things?
A: Yup! The story chapters
are in the following order (please note a
floating timeline within the dates).
. Ryuken is born, intended to be an
ultimate weapon for Nishin Genma but
fails due to his dragohaemophilia. He's
nevertheless trained in the psychic arts.
. Ryuken's parents are murdered,
triggering his Drago Visage for the first
time. Nishin Genma takes further interest
in Ryuken's potential power and train him
further.
. The Britonum War starts. A young Ryuken
is sent down to Earth with his team. He
is the only one to make it out alive as
Britonum city is burnt down by a
mysterious fire.
. Some months later as Nishin Genma
studies their chosen test subjects, the
Genma Visage event takes place, granting
Ryuken and Maud their transcendence.
Nishin Genma is overthrown and disbanded.
Ryuken and Maud part ways. Ryuken
eventually resurfaces after training and
honing his powers to embark on various
adventures.
. Genma
Visage Prologue.
. The Demonic Terror of the
Bloodfeud Nightmare.
. The Battle of Bulru Shonat and Mahn
Gurudhum.
. Beasts of Tygrontuk.
. Sometime at this point, Grail attempts
to return to Earth and possess Tanya
Azpiri. Through several battles with
minions, Ryuken foils Grails plans.
Collectively it is known as "the
Grail incident"
. Ryuken travels to the lost Krugeri
island on Earth and befriends Zulie
Zerpent. Prior to this he enjoys a loose
friendship \ rivalry with Hiero and Maud
on seperate encounters.
. The Lamia and the Beast.
. War Dog.
. The Kiss from a Rose.
. Monstro Corpz.
. Maud has stopped bounty hunting and has
worked for Jimmy Wizardkid for about a
year. Mauds Rumble in the
Common occurs and she takes
on Big Wong afterwards. Later
she remains stationed in the Bahamas with
Jimmy Wizardkid to avoid the Masked Crazy
crisis in England.
. Book 0 Parts 1, 2 and
the upcoming Part 3 take
place.
. The Vengeance of Czaetzar.
. Books 1, 2 and 3 take
place. Mauds hunt for Simon Green
happens along the side.
. Upcoming Book 4.
Q:
What are your preferred mediums?
A: Im clicking my
knuckles in preparation here.
. For script writing, I use a mobile
phone, Microsoft word, and a browser with
Grammarly installed.
. For Lettering, scanning, formatting,
art editing, digital art (cel and
painted) I use Photoshop. Certain digital
Artworks with traditional inks are often
aided with my library of personal
textures and photos. Recently as of 2019,
I've converted from traditional to the
digital platform, and so pencils, inks,
colours and paintings are done entirely
in Clip Studio Paint.
. For the website design, I use Frontpage
Editor for the basic template, Notepad to
edit in fancy codes and CoreFTP for
uploading.
. For the traditional art which is the
bulk of what you see in the comic so far,
I use and abuse the following (and please
note that I may experiment \
mix-and-match with my extensive pen
collection).
-Sketching and Tonal Art:
A Zebra Delguard 0.5 Mech pencil with
Pentel Ain 4b leads, a Jakar 2mm clutch
pencil with HB leads, a Faber Castell TK
9400 2mm clutch pencil with 3b-6b leads,
and a Cretacolour Classic 5.6 mm clutch
pencil with 2b-4b leads.
-Inking: Edding
1800n propipen 0.1 for fine details,
Copic Multiliner SP 0.5 for a bulk of the
linework, and Kuretake Sumi Brush pen for
the shading and certain textures. For
special occasions, I also keep handy a
Unipin 0.05 fineliner for really fine
details and Daler Rowney FW mixed media
paint marker 1-2mm round with Manuscript
acrylic artists ink for covering large
areas.
-B&W Painting:
Pentel Water Brush pens fine medium and
broad, Neocolour 2 water-soluble wax
crayons 4 tones, Tombo ABT Brush pens
black and gray, one smudge stick and one
Daler Rowney FW mixed media paint marker
1mm with water-soluble white ink.
-Colour Painting: Daler
Rowney Aquafine watercolours and Tombo
ABT Brush pens (20+ plus colours in both)
-Equipment: A3
scanner, Wooden drawing board with page
rest, 2 different sized Sharpeners to
match the clutch pencils, Metal non-slip
ruler, flexicurve, set squares,
protractor, Faber Castell dust-free
eraser, Pentel clic eraser, Pentel Micro
Correct, Xerox colour impressions paper
120gsm a3 or a4 or Bristol board 200gsm
plus a4 or a3 (whichever brand I can get
hold of), and refills for all of the
above.
-Honourable Mentions:
Pentel Pocket Brush, Pentel 120 a3dx
0.9mm mech pencil, Pentel N50 permanent
marker, Pentel Studio set, Neocolour 2
other colours, Derwent Watercolour
pencils, the other sizes of Edding Copic
and Uniball pens, Staedtler Pigment liner
pens, Staedtler lumocolours Medium and
Fine, all manners of brush pens to
practise with over the years, and finally
hot beverages, good healthy food, good
music and enough sleep to help me through
it all!
Q:
Will the Genma Visage comic be in
Full-Colour?
A: Not for the foreseeable
future due to the roots as an Underground
Comic with traditional Manga influences.
I do make an effort in the Character Bios
and frequent online artwork to showcase
what the Genma universe looks like in
colour, yet the aforementioned
obligations mean that the black-and-white
ship will have to set its course
throughout the upcoming Lore novels, Book
0 Part 3 and Book 4. After that, we shall
see, but unless you're basically waving a
very hefty cheque around my nostrils,
don't count on me to go back and recolour
the current library.
With other projects, however, such as
Prints, Merchandise and other comic
series including Lust of the Marid, I'm
open to the idea of colour.
Q:
Can I give you gift art of your works?
A: Sure! Much appreciated if you
do! Send it to my email address stated
above. It will go up in galleries of my
Facebook, Instagram and Deviantart
accounts. :)
Q:
Where can I get a copy of your work?
A: Online outlets including
PDF and Kindle are now available in the Store page. At this present moment
in writing, from me personally. See the
guidelines in the Book Store section and
email me at tstuke@hotmail.com , then Ill fix you
a quote and arrange posting details.
Q:
Hey, Man! What the hell have you got
against Pixar, huh?
A: Are you kidding? I love
Pixar!
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