So I had the chance to chat with both writer and artist behind the excellent Anubis: Dog of Death, which is currently on Kickstarter for the second installment! I found out more about the process behind the creation of Anubis, what inspires the pair behind this comic and what they have planned for it next.
- What was the inspiration for Anubis: Dog of Death?
Sindre L. Finnøy: I first had the idea of Anubis The Dog as the villain of a Doctor Who fanfic I was thinking about writing, but decided that he was too interesting a character to not be the protagonist of his own story. The world I later developed around him is very reminiscent of American Gods by Neil Gaiman, a book I love. But there were also a lot of “talking animal fiction” that inspired the comic. Like Babe, Creature Comforts, and Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey.
John Barry Ballaran: The first thing I looked at when I got the brief from Sindre that Anubis was going to be an irate pet was Garfield. The design decisions centered around trying to make him look grumpy, yet lovable at the same time. And I thought Welsh Corgis are just the cutest, so I basically tried to make a Garfield and Corgi mashup. I also have a rescued dog that we picked up off the street that kinda looks like Anubis who I’m always playing around with, so she was also part of the inspiration.
- Why Anubis and not any other Egyptian god?
SindrElf: Anubis has always been my favorite Egyptian god, I’m not sure why though. But beyond that, he fits the best with the story I wanted to tell.
The Anubis in our comic was once a jackal-headed god who has since turned into a purse dog. The god Bast turning into a house cat is not as interesting, and neither is Ra turning into an eagle. There is a certain sense of freedom to a cat, they seem like they are just as much our owners as we are theirs. Eagles can fly, and I can’t think of a greater symbol of freedom than that. Dogs on the other hand, no matter how amazing I think they are, seem like “declawed” versions of their previous selves. Dogs used to be dangerous wild animals, before we domesticated them. Linking that idea with religion and the mythological seemed interesting to me.
Follow up: I like that the theme of freedom was used to adapt Anubis’ situation and show his weakness now he is in LA. Will this be a continuing theme across the next issues?
For sure, but there are also so many other themes to play with here too. Like the importance or non-importance of faith and belief, or how fame/faith equals power.
And then sometimes I just want to do something really silly with this quite silly concept, but I’m trying to weave the themes naturally in with the silliness.
- What was your thought process when constructing Anubis’ story in modern-day LA?
SindrElf: LA mirrors our version of Ancient Egypt in some ways.
First, visually. Both settings are sun-drenched, littered with palm-trees, and filled with exuberant architecture.
Secondly, the gods in our comic get their power from believers. From the stories people tell about them. From their own fame. What better place for these gods then, than LA?
Follow up: Will Anubis’ story take us to other regions? Maybe back to Egypt (if you can say?)
Issue #2 will have some very short flashbacks to Northern Europe 400 AD and North America 1800 AD.
And I have a plan for a storyline that would take Anubis back to Egypt in modern times, but that storyline is still a ways away yet.
- How difficult was it to get the visual representation down for Anubis and the other mythology aspects?
John Barry Ballaran: I didn’t have a hard time with getting the designs approved as Sindre has always been open to everything I did since the beginning, which is why it is such a joy to work on this project. In terms of research, there are a lot of Egyptian-related material out there as people have been captivated by these people and their culture for years, so it wasn’t that hard to look for inspiration. The trick was coming up with something unique enough to call our own but still remain recognizable and familiar for people who are fans of these kinds of stories.
- Were there any challenges in bringing Anubis: Dog of Death to life? Such as your Kickstarter campaign?
John Barry Ballaran: I got stressed out a bit when developing the art style in the beginning as I was looking at a lot of Moebius’ artworks and I was trying to at least get close to his mastery (which was impossible in retrospect, as he is the god of comics). I’m pretty happy with the style we came up with and we’ll push to continue getting better at it as more of Anubis’ stories unfold. The lettering part also intimidated me as I never lettered anything before, but the book ‘Comic Book Lettering: The Comicraft Way’ basically saved my ass. I also looked at Blambot’s online articles and we used a lot from their indie font collection for this issue, so we owe a lot to that site.
Follow up – SindrElf: How do you see yourself overcoming certain challenges with the awareness of Anubis: Dog of Death?
Now that we have gotten the ball rolling, I feel like it will be easier to gain more momentum than when the ball was completely still. I’ve heard it is harder to go from zero customers to 100 than it is to go from 100 to 1000. At least I hope so, as I may not have as much time to promote the next Kickstarter campaign as I did for this last Kickstarter campaign after my daughter and first child will be born later this March.
Follow up – JBBallaran: What, if there are any, improvements would you implement in the artwork for the upcoming issues?
One of the critiques you had when you reviewed our comic, and that has also been mentioned by a few artist friends of mine, was that the poses for my characters tend to come out rather stiff. So I’ll do my best to improve on that in the next issue and make our characters look more dynamic, especially when they’re in motion. I’m also looking at Ghibli films for inspiration on how to breathe life into background visuals. It doesn’t seem to matter what’s in the background in those movies, everyone and everything still has character and are always interesting to look at. I’ll try to incorporate more of that into our backgrounds.