The Adventures of Stabby McStoo

Meet Richman, winner of the 2004 Lineage II Wallpaper Contest and the creator of the Lineage II fan comic Mini-Lineage2: The Adventures of Stabby McStoo. Lineage II players have followed Stabby's journey in Richman's comics for over a year, and he spared some time to talk about his background, inspiration, and more.

1. What is your background/training in art and comics?

I have been drawing since I was a kid. Comics were a big part of my life growing up and have always enjoyed reading, collecting and drawing them. I have had a few short stories published through Antarctic Press and Radio Comix. I did go to the Art Institute of Seattle to take some art classes, but I have mixed feelings about my education there. I would get into my experiences there in detail, but I don't want to get in trouble for slander.

Currently, I am throwing around ideas for submissions to Tokyo Pop and Seven Seas whom I have met at the most recent San Diego Comic Con. One of the stories I have is a full-fledged story of Stabby that deals with her past and how it is leading her through the lands. Of course, I had to change a bunch of stuff around in the story to keep from getting in trouble.

2. How long have you been playing Lineage II?

I have been playing since Open Beta. In fact, the friend of mine that got me hooked on Lineage II got me into the Japanese Open Beta. I played on the Japanese servers for a month until the US ones opened up.

3. What is your character name and server? Which class do you play?

Current character of choice is Stabby McStoo located on the Lionna server somewhere deep inside Apostate! Stabby went the route of Bladedancer. I enjoy the class because it allows me to be supportive in a group situation. I get a kick out of it when some of the people in my group say things like: “Wow! I just crit for 1500!” (which is sad cause I am criting for 300+!)

I have a Light Elf named Vallhalla and a Dark Elf Wizard named Mangella (both of which show up every once and a while in the Mini-Lineage 2 comics) but since I have limited time to play, I hardly touch them anymore.

4. What do you enjoy the most about Lineage II?

I really enjoy the graphics in the game (that was the primary thing that sold me on the game). I like the look of the characters, the monsters, the landscape… everything. Another thing I like is the interaction I have with my friends in game. I have met so many people from all over the world in this game… sometimes it feels like I am in a chat room instead of a game. I have stayed with the same group of people in my clan because I get a kick out them so much.

I was in an alliance over the summer called “Short Bus” with my clan and clan Noob. I tell you… every night that I logged in to play was like partaking of a comedy show. People were just being silly, grouping up here and there and going to the Catacombs. It was just so much fun being with all those guys/gals. Ah… memories. Then the alliance broke up cause I think someone didn’t approve of some of us going Dawn. Oh well. :(

5. Why did you begin drawing The Adventures of Stabby McStoo?

To be truthful… I started drawing the comics because there were issues in the game that popped up that made me think, “This is funny”. Think of them as “political cartoons” that you see in the newspapers to make fun of issues going on in our world. Same thing was going on with Stabby. For example, the first and second strips about the big language barrier that we had along with all of the bots that appeared to hinder our playing experiences.

As time went on (and as the strips became more popular), I decided to actually have fun with some of the littler issues that I noticed (the flying adena, people getting stuck on trees, fun with quests, etc). Now days I seem to be having fun with some of the people I have met in game and some of the things we have talked about or came up (like Kiroth’s summon).

6. What inspires your comics?

Inspiration for the Mini-Lineage comics comes from what happens inside the game. Let it be something I notice or something that someone says, those things give me ideas for new strips.

As for my other comics that I do, I take inspiration from anything. For example, in my serious “Stabby” story, I took inspiration from “Lost” to do Stabby’s flashbacks and will make the world a brutal, unforgiving place like “Deadwood”.

Artistic inspiration comes from whatever artists I like. I have too many artists that inspire me.

7. What are the steps to create a mini-comic, from conception to completion? How long does the process take on average?

The steps for making the mini-comics are pretty easy. I start off with an idea or something that has happened in game that has made me laugh. I then think of how Stabby can utilize this to her full potential to make it even funnier. I will then make a little rough of the comic so I can get the layout done and see how the dialogue fits in with the strip. When the layout is done, I then draw and ink in the full strip. I scan the strip into Adobe Photoshop and then save it as a PSD file that I can open in Comic Works to do my toning. I do the lettering in Illustrator when the toning is completed. I then take everything back into Photoshop and merge them all together to make the final piece.

I can finish the penciling and inking process in a couple hours (my pencils are pretty rough and I do most of the details when I ink it in). Toning and lettering both take about an hour each. Depends on how much I need to tone and letter.

For a full comic layout… I follow the same routine but the time to finish things takes longer. I can (maybe finish the pencils on a page in 4-5 hours) and take about the same amount of time to finish inking it. Toning and lettering could take about a couple hours each to do.

8. What advice would you give other artists who want to create Lineage II comics and art?

First off… don’t limit yourself to just Lineage II art and comics. There’s nothing wrong with fan art, but also think about other things that you can do with your inspiration from the game. Also, get inspired from real life as well. Draw things and people around you. Learn anatomy and coloring using various tools and programs.

If you are doing comics, think of things that have happened in game and see if there’s a funny twist that you can do on it. I have seen some of the stories that people have done in the Player Stories forum that would make interesting comics, but then you’d have to deal with licensing and that would be a pain.

9. Any hints of what awaits Stabby in the future?

More silly stories as Stabby progresses through the lands! Future things that I would like to have appear in the strips are: soulshot addiction, the Catacombs, Dawn/Dusk, female Orcs, and enchanting weapons. Now if only I had the time to do these on a regular schedule like what I was doing at first.

I would still love to do a full-fledged Stabby story. Maybe I will post some of those pages with this interview.

 

Now is your chance to get your first look at the story of Stabby, generously provided by Richman. Thank you to Richman for answering our questions!