ALL AGES READS: THE ODDLY NORMAL TEAM

[MattBrady]

by Tracy, Sarah and Shelby Edmunds

A few weeks back, we reviewed Oddly Normal by Otis Frampton. I am especially impressed with Otis’ work because he manages to make it appeal to everyone without relying on double entendre for the adults like so many “all ages” works do. To follow up on the review, we caught up with Otis and the two artists working on Oddly Volumes 2 and 3.

All Ages Reads: First, we need a little background. What is your professional training and how did you start creating comics?

Otis Frampton: I have no real professional training; it's all from practice, research and independent study of the various skills that make a comic book creator. During my brief time in college I was in the film program, but otherwise it's all me.

I've been interested in comics all of my life, but it hasn't always been my main focus. My primary interest has always been storytelling in general, film in particular.

I've been writing all of my life. I wrote a number of plays in high school. Five were produced at a summer school for talented youth and one I directed at my high school during my senior year. I think of myself primarily as a writer, but I've always been able to draw, so comics were good way of getting my stories out there in a visual form. Thanks to computer graphics, comics allow me to control all aspects of the process in an inexpensive way, so I moved from film to comics to get my stories out there without having to work my way up in Hollywood. Hopefully, my work in comics will bring me full circle into the world of film. We (Viper and I) are actually making some headway on that front. But I can't really talk about it yet.

AAR: It’s not nice to tease you know! Be sure to let us know when you can let the cat out of the bag. Is Oddly Normal the only comic you’ve created?

OF: I've done many comics and comic strips during my lifetime, but Oddly is my first published work. Aside from moving forward with the Oddly franchise, I've begun work on a new series of graphic novels for Viper Comics and I'm also working on a script for another series which I hope to pitch to Viper very soon.

AAR: Where did the idea for Oddly come from and why a ten-year-old girl?

OF: Oddly began as a sketch of a little goth girl with a teddy bear. I drew it in my sketchbook in the fall of 1999 and wrote the words "oddly normal" next her. I didn't have any story to go with her, it was just a sketch. As the years went by, the idea of a little girl named Oddly Normal began to percolate and the story grew from the idea of a kid too weird for the real world and too normal for the world of fiction. That was the basis for it all. In early 2003 I began working on what would become the webcomic version and the rest is history.

Oddly is a girl because that's how she came into the world, so to speak. But in general, I prefer using female protagonists. The main character in my next book is also a 10 year old girl. There aren't enough female protagonists in the central role in comics, in my opinion. Some of my favorite comics have that element though. Nausicaa by Miyazaki, Akiko by Mark Crilley and Bone by Jeff Smith . . . they all have strong women at the center of the stories. I grew up around two very strong women and most of my friends in my life have been women, so I just feel more comfortable with that kind of character. The person in my life that most reminds me of Oddly is my sister Tracey, so maybe that's another influence.

From a writer's standpoint, in stories that have male protagonists, there is a built-in expectation that they are up to the physical challenges they face. It's the "boys are tougher" mentality. It's a cultural bias, and it's absolutely wrong. But as a storyteller, I like to create characters that are perceived to have everything going against them in every possible way and create stories that show how they overcome the odds. Oddly is one tough cookie and I'm going to throw everything I can at her during her time in Fignation, but she's more than up to the task.

AAR: Oddly Normal is truly all ages – you’ve got something in there for everyone, from “Oopie, oopie” for the little ones to literary references for adults. Did you have an intended audience when you were writing the story?

OF: Oddly Normal, as well as my next book, Flynn, are absolutely intended for all ages. When most people read "all ages", what they hear is "for kids". But I really want everyone to read my books. There's something in there for everyone. My favorite storytellers are those that create stories that kids and adults can enjoy equally (L. Frank Baum, George Lucas, Hayao Miyazaki) and I want to be that kind of storyteller as well.

The best compliment I get is when adults tell me how much they and their children enjoyed the book. It's like hitting a bullseye for me.

AAR: You did all the art for the first book yourself, but now you’ve decided to have someone else do the pencils and inks. Can you tell us what prompted that decision?

OF: The main reason I'm using different artists on the next few Oddly books is that I want to keep the franchise going, I have other projects I want to do, and time is a factor. If I could clone myself, this wouldn't be an issue. But my new graphic novel is a story I've wanted to do since I was 17 years old and the time is right to do it. So in order to keep all of these balls in the air, I decided to bring on new penciller/inkers for the Oddly books. I'm still writing and coloring Oddly Normal, which are my favorite parts of the comic book process. So now working on Oddly is a total joy for me . . . I have the best job.

And I plan to come back to the series and do the final book all myself. I recently broke the story for it and I couldn't hand that off to anyone else. I need to do that one myself.

AAR: Who are the new artists, and how did you find them?

OF: I met Sergio Quijada (the artist on Oddly Normal: Family Reunion) on deviantART.com. His work just blew me away and fit the Teen Titans Go! look I was after for the second book in the series. Coloring his linework has been a treat and he's even pushed me into areas I normally wouldn’t go as an artist, which is great. Sergio sent me page one of the book and he colored it himself as a way of convincing me to do painted, cel-like backgrounds. It was a bit of arm-twisting that paid off, and I'm doing the colors on the book in that style. I've never worked that way before, so it's been educational. But the pages are looking great, thanks to him.

I knew Jessica Hickman (the artist on Oddly Normal: Fignation Times) through my work on various sketch card sets. I'd come to love her work and eventually decided that a softer look was needed for book 3, and Jessica's style was just the right fit. We met at the San Diego Comic-Con this year and that's where I popped the question, so to speak.

I’ve already begun looking for an artist for book 4.

Interview with Sergio Quijada and Jessica Hickman

AAR: Tell us a bit about your background.

Sergio Quijada: I live in Santiago, Chile. I’m 28 years old and I’m a graphic designer from the University of Bío-Bío. After being an otaku for many years and drawing only manga, I kept trying to find "my own" style, going from the American one, Ameri-manga, and other several tests... this allowed me to go through several styles, adapting myself and adapting them to each task. Finally, I discovered the style that suits me better: Cartoon (animated). This gave me the chance to develop some 2D animation projects. Also, I'm working on Trading Card Games, some Comic projects for Fablewood Studios and several commissioned works.

Jessica Hickman: I graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Art. I then worked with Disney Interactive doing concept art for their video and computer games. I've also done illustrations for Penny Farthing Press and IDW Publishing. I've most recently worked on the Wizard of Oz and Lord of the Rings Masterpieces sketch cards.

AAR: How did Otis find you?

Sergio: While watching his website, I read that he was looking for pencilers for the next Oddly Normal issue. I knew Otis through the web and I was very interested in working with him, so I sent him an email. I made a couple of samples on my style, Otis liked my work, and here we are.

Jessica: I got to know Otis when I first started working on sketch cards. We met online at a sketch card forum and finally in person at the San Diego Comic Convention.

AAR: Taking over an established book can’t be easy. How do you make your work cohesive with the first book?

Sergio: From the beginning, Otis gave me creative freedom about characters looks and general art, so the important thing here is to keep coherence on the story and some details that make a book remain related to the other one, like characters’ personalities, and color palette of course, which I receive from Otis. We’re always in contact by email to handle any specific stuff.

Jessica: I make it a point to communicate with Otis as much as I can. These are his characters and I want him to be completely comfortable in the artwork I'm turning out. I keep his Oddly Normal 1 book on hand at all times. If I have any further questions, I can always contact Otis.

AAR: How do you communicate with Otis? What is your work process like?

Sergio: This is interesting, being abroad has never been a problem. Procedure is simple, we do the whole thing through the Internet so, the difficult part is trying to keep a fixed work schedule; as many others, we work on several business at a time. Otis sends me the scripts, I read them and make the thumbnails for the pages layouts, then I make the pencils and inks. Color is decided by Otis, and I must say he’s doing a great job with it.

Jessica: We speak a lot via email at the moment. As for my work process, I like to do a lot of 'rough sketching' at first – just quick little drawings to get comfortable with the look of the characters, always trying to find the happy medium between Otis' original designs of the characters, and my own personal style. We have yet to start on book 3, so for the moment I'm just drawing the characters that book 3 will be focusing on. I then send these drawings to Otis and he's great when it comes to critiquing them. He tells me what works and what doesn't, and then it's back to the drawing board (and I mean that in a good way)!

AAR: What’s your favorite part of drawing Oddly Normal?

Sergio: It's a very nice story, I really enjoy drawing it. Specially, I like the way
Oddly looks like animated style, she's very pretty. Dealing with magical characters allows me to play with imagination, Otis suggests their appearance but lets me design the final looks, and I enjoy that also.

Jessica: The creative creatures and world Otis has created, definitely. Each character is so unique and fun to draw. Also, it's nice to be collaborating with a writer and artist. Otis is very open minded when it comes to my style of artwork and is always interested in my opinion. It's exactly the type of collaboration I enjoy the most.

AAR: Thanks everyone! We’re all looking forward to reading more Oddly Normal.

Otis Framptons weblog

Sergio Quijada’s online portfolio

Jessica Hickman’s site

Email the author: allagescomics@hotmail.com

[Mike Bullock]

Otis is great people and Oddly is a great book. It's amazing how it seems like there isn't that many solid all-ages books out there, yet week after week Tracy, Sarah & Shelby find yet another one to spotlight.

[ssava]

Yeah...this is amazing. We're making all ages books...and I've not heard of many of these...ha ha.
Thanks for enlightening us gals.

[davidhopkins]

Oddly Normal is a great series. I'm happy to see both a second and third volume.

[dcorsetto]

Ah man, the art on this looks GREAT!! Wish we could see the colored pages, though - I'm getting 404 errors on the last two.

d

[otisframpton]

Thanks for the kid words, everyone.

And thanks again to Tracy, Sarah and Shelby for the great interview!

-Otis