First Comics News: What most attracts you to writing?
Norm Konyu: Writing is a great creative outlet, and for me personally, it’s a way of getting out some of the weird stuff that’s bouncing about in my skull and inflicting it on other people!
1st: How did you learn your art style?
Norm: My style was the result of experimenting with conflicting techniques I enjoy- the first being flat vector shapes that I often use in animation, the second being watercolour and acrylic paint textures. I welded them together – scanning in real world paint textures and combining them with purely digital vector work, and hey presto – my own style!
1st: What genre is “The Space Between the Trees?”
Norm: I suppose The Space Between the Trees (or TSBTT as I will refer to it from now on to save my typing fingers) falls into the horror genre, but not on the blood and guts end of the spectrum. Somebody once described it as ‘quiet horror’, which is personally the way I like mine – that vague sense of unease, the building of tension, and the fear of that thing ‘just out of sight’.
1st: What is the first thing readers of “The Space Between the Trees” will notice about this book?
Norm: I think people tend to notice my use of colour in my books first and foremost. I love colour; how it can be used to create a mood instantly, how it can separate one section of a tale from another, and I use it liberally
1st: What about Meera and Mark will make readers want to know more about them?
Norm: I was deliberately vague on the details of Mark and Meera, other than the fact that their relationship is loving and supportive – I’ve given no specific prior traumas to draw upon for either of them or much of a back story. I’m hoping that many readers will imprint memories upon the couple based on their own relationships, past or present, and connect with them in that way.
1st: Are the forests like a character in “The Space Between the Trees?”
Norm: Absolutely. Many stories have the landscape as another unnamed character- how the sea treats the sailors upon it, the harshness of a desert, etc. In TSBTT, the forest is a deceptively beautiful character with ulterior motives.
1st: “The Space Between the Trees” make people think twice about a hike in the woods?
Norm: Oh, maybe for a second, but the last thing I actually want to do is make the reader skip one of the simple pleasures of life, a walk in the woods!
1st: Why will people love “Downlands?”
Norm: Downlands, though it still falls into that ‘quiet horror’ genre that I spoke about earlier, is quite different than TSBTT. It’s more complex, a tale that unfolds over centuries of interwoven history, which also draws upon some of the fantastic folk lore and superstition of the British Isles. I would hope that readers would love the ways these elements are mixed into the story.
1st: Can you tell us what “A Call to Cthulhu” is about?
Norm: A Call to Cthulhu is a bit of fun with the works of HP Lovecraft, the influential horror writer – a sort of sampler of his stories strung together with Dr Suess rhymes. Think of it as a storybook for grownups (though its excellent for kids as well). For those who already know his work, it’s a tongue in cheek homage, for those that don’t know his work, it’s an introduction.
1st: Can you tell us what “A Call to Cthulhu” is about?
Norm: A Call to Cthulhu is a bit of fun with the works of HP Lovecraft, the influential horror writer – a sort of sampler of his stories strung together with Dr Suess rhymes. Think of it as a storybook for grownups (though its absolutely fine for kids as well). For those who already know his work, it’s a tongue in cheek homage, for those that don’t know his work, it’s an introduction.
1st: How did you get the name Mooseboy?
Norm: Ha! It was an animation marketing tool that just sort of took flight. I freelance, and I have a surname that people have a difficult time recalling exactly- “What was that guy’s name? Canoe? Kontu? Konnu? Something like that?” So I made up a nickname for my animation website based on my Canadian background, and so ‘mooseboy’ was born, and potential clients could find me more easily.
1st: Are there comparisons to being an animator and a comic book artist?
Norm: Both jobs are storytellers. In a way, a comic book artist is creating a full on storyboard that could be handed over to an animator to add the motion element to. It wasn’t a big leap at all to go from animation into comics.
1st: Would you like to find yourself in the forests in “The Space Between the Trees?”
Norm: Hey, I love a good forest, but maybe I’ll skip this particular one…
1st: What would you like to say to the readers of your books?
Norm: Just thanks for taking a chance on this particular creator, and I hope you enjoy the ride!
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