Welcome to Noteworthy. I’m Will Scott and it’s my job to highlight projects, publications, and artists that Sequential Highway believes, due to the quality of their work or the creative message they’re sending, warrant more attention from the comic book market. This installment: Trent Kanuiga
Trent Kaniuga is an artist that more people in the comic industry are coming to know about—and rightly so. Trent has worked for the independents, for Marvel, and for the videogame industry. Presently he is producing the web comic Twilight Monk which is a whole lot of fun.
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Will Scott: If I remember correctly—and please correct me if I’m mistaken—you were still a teenager when you started working as a professional, and CreeD was your first professional work. CreeD went through at least two publishers, Lightning Comics and Avatar and had a notable following. Please tell our readers where your career has taken you since then?
Trent Kaniuga: Yes, that’s mostly correct. It had a small run at Image as well, and was later collected into an omnibus by IDW.
I was 16 years old when I started self publishing CreeD. Wizard Magazine did this article about me and sent photographers to my school. It was quite a game changer for me back then, and spring boarded my entire career.
Lightning comics offered me a CreeD publishing deal, and it all just kinda blew up. This was crazy—for a 17 year old kid to deal with movie licensing and action figure deals and all that. I feel incredibly lucky to have experienced all of it. I could never repay all of the people who’ve helped me.
After Lightning left comics, and Avatar and I had creative differences, I left the business altogether and went into fashion design making raver clothes for a couple of years. Then Joe Quesada asked me to draw Ghost Rider for the new Marvel Knights imprint. I loved working for Marvel, but more than that, I wanted to create entire worlds. So I got into video game concept art where I worked on Final Fight: Streetwise, scripting, directing cinematics and voice acting. Later I was the concept artist on two World of Warcraft expansions (“Burning Crusade” and “Wrath of the Lich King”), Concept Artist on Diablo 3, and now I do contract work for various games including League of Legends.
I kept drawing CreeD books in my free time over the years, and eventually it was all collected into an Omnibus through IDW last year. At that point, after 17 years of drawing CreeD, I was ready to do something new. Now I’m 120 pages into my new series Twilight Monk.
WS: Twilight Monk is a web comic updated on Mondays and Wednesdays. Would you please tell our readers something about it?
TK: Twilight Monk is a fantasy Kung Fu adventure set in a whimsical, almost fairy tale, kind of world. The story is focused primarily on three orphan monks that get kicked out of their monastery and team up with a rogue swordsman that’s hunted by really crazy over-the-top bounty hunters. My old books didn’t have much action in the story and so I’m really facing a lot of new and exciting challenges with this series. Also, this series is all persistent. Unlike CreeD, where I had to start over with new first issues frequently, everything that happens in Twilight Monk has a cause and effect consistent with the universe. Things compound and get crazier with every turning point in the story.
CreeD was very dream-like, and though most people never read too much into it, I think the dream within the dream kind of recollection of his life after death just confused most people and seemed like inconsistencies. But with Twilight Monk, consistency is everything. This series is the culmination of everything I’ve learned about storytelling through writing in video games and comics. I chose to do the book in black and white so that I can create more content and really let the characters grow. Already in the first two books we see the characters making choices that impact who they will be, from that moment on until book 10 or 20 (assuming that I get to make that many books).
After every book (roughly 60 pages each) I take a break for a few months to polish the script for the next book. This is still only a part time project for me while I do concept art in video games.
WS: What are the benefits of digital publishing—as distinct from publishing in print media? Is it an easier way for you to build an audience?
TK: It’s really a double edged sword. It’s easy to get people to check out your book if it’s free online. But the audience is CONSTANTLY bombarded with free content. So you really have to stand out with great content. I like to see creators keeping and managing their characters and universes. You can go to twilightmonk.com and get everything related to the universe.
The biggest advantage of digital distribution is the immediate feedback. When I put out a page, I get to see how the audience reacts almost instantly. Also, I can go back and change dialogue or redraw a panel if it need to. All of that editing and changing can be done before the book goes to print.
I think it’s easier, conversely, for people to pick up and buy a book if it’s on a shelf, or featured on their most-used digital reader. I believe that readers of webcomics and comic book shop goers are two completely different audiences. When I do comic cons, or send books to comic shops, they sell like hotcakes. But through the site, it’s contingent upon press, advertising, and whether or not a lot of people are sharing or linking to your work. If you like a webcomic, share it! We rely on that just to keep the book going! It’s a huge boost to my productivity when I get fan art, or spikes in traffic because someone shared the link.
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WS: You have just published a hardcover collection of Twilight Monk. Book 1 is available now and Book 2 will be available in April? Are you selling books in comic book stores or is it exclusively ordered from your web site? Can retailers contact you to stock your book?
TK: Yes, that’s right. You can order both books in hardcover and get it all in April. Right now it’s all distributed just through the site. Retailers can order in bulk and get discounts through lulu.com. I’m always tweeting discount codes also. I would release it to major comic distributors if the right partner came along to do so.
WS: How do you go about producing Twilight Monk? Is your art created digitally using, mostly, a Cintiq or are you more inclined to use pen or brush and ink? Does each page go through many revisions?
TK: First I have a rough outline of each book with notes on the beginning, the end, and all points in between. Then I write all of the dialogue according to my bullet points. My process of drawing has changed. I started out Book 1 drawing on paper, penciling and inking. But I was only able to do one page per week, and it took too long. I still like working on paper so I sketch out covers and some art and then scan it. But primarily I work in Photoshop and Painter on a Cintiq, or MacBook with tablet. Here’s a link to a video of me drawing a few pages at once.
I revise as I draw panels, infinitely swooshing things around; it never feels truly finished or good enough to me. But the deadline tells me when to stop. Some entire scenes get cut or delayed until the next issue. There was an entire 28-page story that I started years ago that will be in a future book. Most of it will be in Book 4 according to my current script.
WS: How has the market changed since you began to work in comics?
TK: In every way. When I started, I was using my Mom’s old typewriter and gluing together letters pages. This was in 1993. There was no email; there were no cellphones, no contact lists, no readily available information on book printers or distribution. We had no internet. We only JUST discovered electricity…Just joking—I’m not that old.
The most important thing remains the same. If you want to succeed in any industry, you have to want it more than anything else in the world. If you don’t succeed, you didn’t want it badly enough.
WS: Do you prefer the independence of having your own web comic or would you consider a relationship with a mainstream publisher—for instance, Marvel or DC? Would you consider committing to a monthly book?
TK: Yes I would work with a publisher. As long as it’s a publisher that wants me to do what I do best. Presently I’m one guy doing the job of ten guys. It would be absolutely amazing to work with a publisher that really supported the book, organized marketing and convention presence, market visibility, etc. I spend as much time doing that stuff as I do working on the actual book. I have to take a break between books because that’s when I fix all of my relationships that get stretched too thin during book release. But you’re getting me all excited even thinking about it. I just don’t know if that kind of publisher/creator partnership exists anymore.
As for drawing another book like Spiderman or TMNT or something, I would definitely want to. But I don’t think I could do it for more than a few books before wanting to write and draw my own books. Beyond that, I’m also a concept artist in video games. I have to balance what I consider two very successful careers.
WS: Do you follow the work of anyone in particular in comics? Do your personal tastes and aesthetic preferences incline more to America or to Europe?
TK: I follow many artists and books: Ketsuya Terrada, Bachalo, Frezzatto, Dragonball, Naruto, Bleach, Yoji Shinkawa, Mike Mignola, Akihiko Yoshida…
My tastes are probably more Eastern influenced than Western and there are far too many to mention. I’m not fond of photorealism in 2D art. I prefer artists with a lot of personality and soul in their craft.
WS: Lastly, do you see Twilight Monk as potentially an animated movie—or, alternatively—a feature film?
TK:Yes. But who could direct a Western-CG-fantasy-kung fu film? Peter Jackson, Maybe?… Michael Bay?… The RZA?
I’m not bombarding studios for film deals, so it’s not likely to happen unless some ambitious talent scout just loves the book and seeks me out. It’s much more likely you will see a Twilight Monk video game in development. I’m actively seeking programmers who love platform RPGs to partner with for such a project.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.