It’s that time again! The time when I can randomly interview a webcomic artist I enjoy, just because I’m the Editor in Chief and I don’t have to ask for permission to do so on this site, (Don’t tell the higher ups I said that). For this entry, I’m interviewing Cody Baier, the creator of the high flying adventure comic, Cloudscrather. It was a joy being able to chat about where the idea for the comic came from and the many, MANY, references the comic has, below you can read the interview in full.
Bagogame: First off, thanks for agreeing to take time out of your schedule to speak with me.
Cody: It’s no problem! I was flattered you asked!
I’m a fan of Cloudscratcher, so having you say yes is amazing to me, so I guess the feeling is very much mutual.
Hey man, I’m just happy see when anyone’s enjoying the comic!
Lets start with the simple stuff. How long have you been drawing beyond the hobby level?
Hard to say. I’d take commissions and such as far back as high school, and I started doing professional art jobs (usually corny drawings for corporate stuff) about a year or two before I started Cloudscratcher. I’ve been drawing my whole life so the change to a more serious and professional thing was kinda gradual.
How do you find the time to juggle drawing art for work and drawing art for your own personal projects? That has to be exhausting and frustrating.
The art I do for work is generally really easy to do, and I haven’t done much of it recently, so that makes it easier. It’s the day job that makes it a challenge. Most of my free time is spent working on comics (Cloudscratcher or otherwise) since I want to get to a point where I can do them full time.
When did you get the idea for Cloudscratcher?
Several years back I was playing Crimson Skies on the first XBox, and I really dug the dieselpunk world-in-the-skies aesthetic. A passing thought hit my brain of this kind of look mixed in with the kind of cartoons I watched as a kid (no idea what even brought that thought on) and that triggered what was basically idea diarrhea. A whole concept and story just blasted its way out of my brain, brought on by that passing thought. I sat on the idea for 7 years after that for a few reasons, ranging from “I don’t know how to draw anthro characters or anything cartoony” to “I don’t wanna get called a furry”. Eventually I just sucked it up and decided to make the comic, going on a whole bender of downloading old model sheets and learning the 90’s toon aesthetic.
I do enjoy the look of the universe, it looks like the universe ran on steampunk, yet the aesthetics felt different, now I know why. Were there any other inspirations that helped create the story and/or characters? The ongoing war within the story feels very GI Joe or early 90’s Saturday morning cartoon
The story itself goes for a feel of the cartoons I grew up with, without directly pulling or referencing anything. The simple idea of “resistance fights the evil empire” is a simple enough cartoony premise to build a story on, and from there I built the world, characters, and deeper aspects of the story. I’m going for an “all ages” feel, so while there’s colorful characters, goofy moments, and action for younger readers, older readers can enjoy the more nuanced character moments, lore, and intrigue. The look and feel of the comic is an overall hodgepodge of what I watched as a kid. Even tonally, as I try to never go darker than, say, Batman, Gargoyles, or Don Bluth’s films would go. It’s also worth noting that the aesthetic itself deliberately pulls from specific shows moreso than the writing does. Female feline characters, for instance, are designed in the style of the female characters from Swat Kats, while the sky pirate Hev E. Meowtal is designed to resemble Dragon (the farmer’s cat) from The Secret of NIMH. While I strive to have the writing stand on its own, I will throw in shout-outs in the visuals.
Don Bluth’s movies could get a little dark, it’s difficult to balance light and goofy moments with dark themes. How long does it take you to write a chapter, from concept to final approval?
Interesting to hear about cut characters, that sounds maddening, wanting to introduce important characters and developments. How many ‘episodes’ do you have planned for each season, seeing as the episodes themselves lasts a good while?
It varies from season to season. I view it like this: Cloudscratcher is a cartoon that exists solely in my head, and what you’re seeing is my attempt to convey that cartoon in comic form, but I only recorded the important episodes. So while season 1 might have had 20 or so episodes, I only recorded 8 of them on my magic mental VHS tape. So season 1 is set to last for 8 episodes, then a movie. Season 2 only has 3 planned, followed by a “Special”. Each season has an overall theme to it, so that’s more of the focus for me than episode count. Season 1 is all about introductions, with each Episode introducing major recurring characters, so it’s set to be 8 Episodes long since it’ll take 8 Episodes to introduce much of the central cast.
How would a movie work exactly?
Each episode is about 4 chapters long, give or take. The movie is gonna be much longer, with a big, high-stakes plot. I’m even planning on a musical number! And yes, I’m fully aware of the challenges of doing a musical number in a comic, that’s why I wanna do it; to try something challenging and new. See if I can’t convey the sequence well enough that the viewer can hear the song in their head as they read it.
A musical special? That’s something I would love to see, who would be the best and worst singer from the current cast?
Well the musical number is planned to make sense in story, and I won’t spoil it too much other than the main cast does not break out into song… It’s gonna be one heck of a spectacle, though! As for the main cast? The best is actually a spoiler so I won’t answer that, but the worst singer is definitely Felix.
Poor Felix, I bet he has the confidence too.
He’s so in his own little world he’d sing with the most bizarre cadence in the world and have no idea why everyone’s giving him looks afterward.
And yet The Captain would cheer him on. Speaking of, are we going to see The Captain’s backstory soon? In the comic his previous life has been mentioned and hinted at, I’m guessing we can expect more of his story in a special or movie?
Yes, actually. Don’t wanna say exactly when, but I’ve been coy with details like what happened at Whitmore and what his first name is for a reason. His first name isn’t a major spoiler, mind you, but I feel like the revelation of his first name goes along with the revelation of who he is in a deeper sense. So the audience doesn’t know his name because there’s a lot about him they don’t know quite yet.
Yes, we mostly know he’s former military and saved a kitten Felix, I would love to see how he handled a baby Felix and the life they lead together.
Oh you’ll see all that when the revelations happen.
Tantalizing! So that brings up another question that will be answered with more teasers, the crew. Will everybody receive their own separate stories, showing how they ended up together beyond dialogue?
Basically. Some overlap with others, and several will be answered at once in the aforementioned reveal.
Recently some powerful characters have been introduced, with multiple organizations now getting involved. Will we start seeing more characters that can use their Chi as a weapon?
Yes, actually, Tiequan may not be the most common thing in the Cloudscratcher world, but it does have multiple practitioners. The various uses of Chi specifically come from two related groups of people who get involved in the story later on down the line (anyone who knows Chinese can probably make some guesses if they caught the clan’s name in Chapter 13). With Cloudscrather having a heavy emphasis on adventure, I always felt that a big, exciting adventure wasn’t just about the places you go to, but the people and things you see there, as well. So the story isn’t just about all the places the characters visit in their fight against the Empire, but the people they meet, and the crazy things said people can do. Like meeting a biker chick detective that can throw shockwaves in the middle of a robot-riddled underground ruin!
Can anybody learn to use their Chi in a similar fashion? Kali talked about the hardship to do what she does, but surely other have found more peaceful ways of using their chi?
There are more peaceful ways of using Chi, yes. I don’t wanna say too much, but Tiequan does have a sort of “sister” art.
Speaking of sisters, Nina and Kali are wonderful and are full of character! I noticed that Hip-Hop and Rap has made their way into the comic. The Outkast album cover reference and a Hip-Hop ninja are simply a joy to read.
There’s a ton of music references in the comic. I’m a huge music nut. Even Nina and Kali’s names are references: Nina’s named after rapper Tech N9ne (who often uses the nickname “Tecca Nina”), and her sister’s named after his protégé Krizz Kaliko. And that’s not even getting into the cover parodies…
My goodness, I love Strange Music!
Peak taste.
Now I have to go back and see if I can spot the other references.
Well the Union agents are easy mode; all their code names are song titles.
What is your favorite music genre to reference?
I listen to pretty much everything, so my references are all over the place. Though without doing it on purpose I find I reference my personal favorite artists more than others. Lord knows how many Devin Townsend references are plastered all over all 8 seasons.
Music lovers are going to have a field day with that knowledge
Haha, I hope so! I’d like to see more people catch the references on their own!
Lets talk about your art style, you love using thick outlines. I noticed more webcomics use the thinner ‘cleaner’ lines for their art.
I guess it comes from the model sheets I studied. It always felt like thicker outlines were a staple of the cartoonier look…
Have you ever tinkered with thinner lines, at least as a way to practice?
I use thinner lines in my regular art style, actually. For Cloudscratcher I go with thicker outlines because it has that old hand-animated feel.
Usually when a animated show gets a movie the art style changes for better animation, for the Cloudscratcher ‘movie’ will we see the same thing, a change in art style to convey the difference?
Probably not. The “movie” thing is just to convey that it’s much longer and grander than a normal “episode”.
How long does it usually take to finish a page?
Hard to say, because my day job takes up so much time and messes with my schedule so often. It’s also because of this I often have to take shortcuts I don’t want to in order to get an update out on time. So I end up losing track of just how much time a page takes me. Chapter 13 Page 8 is an example of what most pages would look like if I were doing this full time, and that took somewhere around 10 hours, if I remember correctly. A simpler page with a lot of close-ups takes a lot less time, while elaborate establishing shots will up the production time. So overall 6-14 hours depending on the level of detail.
This recent chapter had some cool establishing shots thanks to the mystery of the ruins, its civilization and their tech.
Yeah this Episode has really let me have some fun with the environments.
The action scenes were fun too, seeing a bunch of characters with abilities that trumps even the crew’s skills, it looked like a season finale kind of deal.
Well this Episode gives the audience a peek into the greater scope of the Cloudscratcher world, including a look at some of its biggest of Big Bads, like Caxtur and Kharmanothoa. Like seeing what the level 100 boss characters are like when you’re still at level 5.
And hopefully allies too, right? The newer characters all have their own agendas
Oh definitely. It’s already been established Kaliko and her deputies are friends with the Cloudscratcher crew. Then you’ve got the Union, Nina, all kinds of wild cards. The comic’s world is much bigger than just the Cloudscratcher crew and the Empire. There’s lots of craziness going on!
I enjoyed that the story can focus on other characters outside of the main crew, seeing Nina and Kali’s quick history as children was a nice surprise. How deep of a background story will we get with the newer characters?
Pretty deep, actually. There’s lots of stories to tell!
How exciting. While I would love to keep talking story and characters with you, I don’t think you would want to give away too much
So lets take a step to something different, health. Working on comics can be emotionally straining, what do you do to unwind and de-stress?
I don’t, haha! Making comics has been my passion since I was a little kid. I’ve got a ton of other comic projects I wanna work on aside from Cloudscratcher, too. It’s practically an obsession! Though I do need to step away from working on the comic for a few hours, since when I don’t the art quality tends to drop. So I’ll usually play some fighting games for a couple hours or something.
A workaholic! How do you keep yourself running like that?
It’s just my natural state, really. Make the comics! Birds fly, cats loaf around, I make comics. Don’t even really need to think about or push myself, just return to neutral and make-a de comics.
That’s quite the drive to have, so for you it’s, ‘If I stop I’ll go crazy’.
Oh yeah. If I go to bed without having made progress in something I feel physically ill.
Oh wow, so every day is a productive day for you, but surely even you experience burnout?
It’s less about burnout and more a matter of spreading myself too thin. Between Cloudscratcher, another comic I’m working on, a gaming project I’m the team lead on, and work on a Cloudscratcher video game, I’ve got way too much stuff I wanna do and not enough time to do it. It’s very frustrating.
Talk about having a full plate. How do you manage all of that, your time management skills must be impeccable
I honestly have no idea at this point. Cloudscratcher’s the main thing I focus on because I have Patreon donors and I owe them results, and when that’s done I do a little bit of work on the other projects. Luckily I have a team involved with the game stuff, though the Cloudscratcher video game has been on hold for a bit. Vivid’s gonna be helping with that one later on down the line.
Can you talk about any of the other projects you’re working on, especially your ideas for the Cloudscratcher game?
Don’t wanna say too much, largely because there’s not much to tell. The other project is more of a hobby thing, it’s a mod for Megaman 8-Bit Deathmatch. I got a team of guys for that one. The Cloudscratcher game is designed like a throwback to licensed NES games from the 90’s, to keep in line with the comic’s whole shtick. 2-D platformer, lots of levels, cool upgrades and secrets, all that good stuff.
8-bit goodness.
Not sure what the timeline is gonna be on getting that one out, still in talks with the guys at Vivid.
What about animation, ever thought about making Cloudscratcher into an animated project?
If I had the money or connections? Absolutely! As long as no one demanded any changes be made, I’d be down! Last one’s imperative, though. Hell I’d turn down a Disney contract if they told me to tone down the violence or change the music references.
Sticking to your metaphorical guns, nice. If you could choose a studio or distributor who would you love to pick to help create the show?
I honestly have no idea. The animation industry seems like such a quagmire these days, and little studios seem to come and go. Maybe hire a Japanese studio? They seem more stable nowadays.
Or a Canadian studio perhaps, plenty of networks love working with them, I would love to hear the soundtrack to such a show.
Possible. Either way I don’t have a studio in mind. As for soundtrack, I have some stuff in mind that I’d do if I had the budget. There’s a song in particular that needs to be the show’s opening song. I’d pay for the rights out of pocket if I had to! The song in question being Youtopia by Armin van Buuren. That’s always been the opening theme to the show in my head.
An Armin van Buuren song? I really want to hear this soundtrack now, maybe a Spotify list of songs?
If enough people asked for it, the comic basically has a soundtrack in my head. Several characters have theme songs, and there’s a handful of songs I’d insert into certain scenes. One of which I actually wanna pay to have animated for the season 2 special. It’s played out in my head so attached to the song I don’t think I can depict it in comic form without it!
So many possibilities, I’m sure your fans wouldn’t mind funding a pilot (no pun intended)
I’m sure we’ll get something animated in the future. Just gotta get more support!
I’m looking forward to that, I must say, it was a joy speaking with you and learning more about Cloudscratcher
Hey, it was fun! I had a good time!
Same!