Joystiq profile: Dueling Analogs' Steve Napierski
Taking time away from creating a poll that marginalizes the artistic merit of gaming comics into a silly competition, we decided to take a new look at a webcomic we've been watching since almost its inception -- namely, Dueling Analogs' Steve Napierski.
DA has always been close to Joystiq, even going so far as to dedicate a strip, sort of, to PSP Fanboys' Andrew Yoon. We're glad Napierski took time out of making a full-sized Konami Code poster to reveal some insight into his life.
Tell us a little about yourself. What is your "other life"?
As far as my personal life, I'm married, have a baby girl and am an avid collector of video games and anime. As for my career, I create websites and web related content for automotive dealers and OEMs (original equipment manufacturers). Plus I am also a freelance web designer and graphic artist.
Why did you start making webcomics? Why game-related?
I always wanted to get into comics, but the prospect of doing an entire book before anyone would even read it seemed overwhelming. Now, with webcomics you do one strip or page at a time and people all over the world have instant access to it. That appealed to me.
I was already working on the outer circle and that took care of my character driven strip. So, I created Dueling Analogs to take care of my gaming and gag strip needs.
With your experience so far can you (or have you) turn this into a full-time, financially stable career?
Not yet. Though it has been able to supplementing my income considerably. It is still going to be a few years before the prospect of that would even be option.
What is your creation process, from idea to publishing? What mediums and technology do you use?
The ideas come from everywhere. What I play, what I read, what I collect. From there I create the rough pencils and scan those into Photoshop. Then, I import the newly scanned image into Illustrator. I trace all the characters, apply shading, backgrounds, layout and dialog in Illustrator and then save for the web. That's about it.
We dig the Mega Man villains and "What if artist X did Dueling Analogs" strips, but our favorite comic by far is the Konami Code -- So Dark the Contra of Man. Where did that idea come from and how do you feel about its execution?
I was out at dinner one night and someone was talking about the Da Vinci Code and The Last Supper and I thought to myself that it would be wicked if the Konami Code was in the last supper. I decided to hold off until the release of the movie and create the comic then. Right now the comic is only available for the web, but I am working on a poster size version of it.
Do you have a timeframe for the poster?
I'm really hoping to have it done and ready before July. But, a lot of that depends on time and my distributor.
What are your favorite strips?
You've got heart, man... [Ed Note: be sure to read the description if you don't know all the list items]
Somewhat off topic, but Kindergarten Cop: greatest Schwarzenegger performance ever?
Agreed, though Twins is a close second.
