The Cinderella revolves around the idea of "what if, for one day, we could all be perfect?"
Dan chats with Toben Racicot and Alaire Bowen from Sweet Pork Comics about their fascinating urban sci-fi webcomic series, and the dynamic of their creative collaboration!
How would you describe the story of The Cinderella?
Toben:
Imagine the fairy tale of Cinderella, set in modern New York. What our Cinderella does is take the spell of the fairy godmother and makes it an injection that reverts your body to your 'prime', youthful days. We expose a bunch of characters to the Cinderella serum and see what happens.
How did you evolve your ideas for The Cinderella?
Toben:
I was living in the Dominican Republic and everyone was obsessed with medicine. Everyone popped pills no matter what ailment they had.
A runny nose, take a pill. A cough, take a pill. You had a haircut, take a pill. Ridiculous.
They are also a pretty vain people. What if all this medicine actually made them young and beautiful, like the fairy godmother's spell? But that would mean it’s temporary, so you'd have to pop another pill.
The evolution came when we began creating our cast. Philip's character was pretty basic. But characters like Rachel and William, Dennis, and Dan all came from saying, "who else would benefit from something like this?".
How far in advance have you planned The Cinderella?
Toben:
Philip is the character that the whole story revolves around, so his arc will take the longest. I know how most of the characters' stories end.
There’s a lot of story left to tell and a lot of cool things to show off. The serum was made in New York but it's gonna leave the state and even the country, and things are going to get crazy!
How much give-and-take do you and Alaire have in the way each other tells the story?
Alaire has really good story ideas. She helps a lot with character development and with hitting some good story beats.
Sometimes I use them and sometimes I stick to my ideas but I want to keep the environment open so that there is discussion. I don't want to be a dictator in my storytelling.
Her character designs - actually seeing these characters - has changed how I write them. Seeing them helps understand their character and personality.
In terms of scripting, I write full script. That's total panels, descriptions, captions, and dialogue. From time to time, Alaire will add an extra panel but for the most part I write the panels and descriptions and she has total freedom to illustrate her vision of what I write.
How did you guys start working together?
Toben:
Alaire and I met at the university comic book workshop. It was the first day and we were drawing portraits to post on the wall to show all the members. Mine was terrible. I stood looking at everyone's, because I was scoping for artists.
I saw Alaire's and was intrigued with the style. She was leaving already so I chased her down and pitched her a different idea and since then it's just been burgers and chaos, in a good way.
What art tools do you use, Alaire?
Wacom Bamboo tablet and Photoshop CS6.
What’s been your most reliable source of inspiration in making comics?
Toben:
I've only read two books about making comics: Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud and Words for Pictures by Brian Michael Bendis. It took me a long time to figure out my scripting style. I read a lot of interviews, listened to a lot of podcasts, and looked for scripts online or in the back of collections.
Also, just reading comics and seeing how much to put in each panel, how to make the story flow, and then trial and error doing it your way is what has helped.
I have changed a lot by having an artist actually touch my scripts. I have learnt where to be tighter and looser and also how lazy I can be because I know their talent will cover it up!
Having an artist attached to a project and learning how they interpret scripts is so helpful. No one ever saw a script I had written until Alaire came along. That really changed things!
You've got a habit of publishing a quote alongside The Cinderella episodes - how do you pick the quotes?
Alaire:
The Cinderella covers lots of themes: Mortality, morality, love, greed...
The world is a beautiful place, and as humans have come a long way in improving our behavior, technology, medicine, etc. However, every good thing in this world usually gets taken advantage of in some way at some point. That part is terrifying.
What drew you to using Tapastic as a publishing platform?
Alaire:
Tapastic is a lot like Patreon and Kickstarter where users can help support you or purchase goodies as well as read your comic. It's also really clean looking and user-friendly.
What's something you're excited about in the future for The Cinderella?
Toben:
There is one character I have been waiting to reveal for a while. She is a model who can't model anymore. And when she gets her hands on the serum…
Alaire:
I'm excited to explore how the serum effects things that aren't human.
Dan:
Thanks so much for chatting to us, Toben and Alaire from Sweet Pork Comics!
Check out their webcomic, The Cinderella, on Tapastic now! It looks like their character Dan is about to have a very interesting 24 hours...
