In which the creator talks far Too Much

This was never supposed to be this way. Memento Mori started out sometime in 2005 as just another idea I figured would end up getting doomed to the backburner. But after a little while, I decided to start working on it; I figured it was about time to actually do my own webcomic, and this could be it. When I began, my main intent was simply to make the thing. I would try to put aside my crippling perfectionist tendencies, and just focus on production - so I decided to make it as simple as possible. I came up with a new, more stylized drawing method and opted to leave out fiddly backgrounds. I also swore to abstain from going back to fix mistakes on pages, as forward motion was the goal. It was all a bit reckless, especially since I hadn't figured out the entire story and didn't even have an ending in mind when I started. But I went ahead anyway, although school duties meant I had little time to actually work on the comic. I did, however, realize that 1.) my "simple" drawing style was, ironically, far more complicated and difficult than my normal style, as the clean lines demanded extreme accuracy, and 2.) that I really needed to sort out the overarching plot. Anyway... in 2006, while graduation loomed, I found out about a Master's program in Sequential Design and Illustration, which was exactly what I was looking for. The course required a project proposal, and this coincided with my renewed desire to tackle MM. I found that I really wanted to make it a proper piece of work, not just an exercise in production and updating - so I decided to submit it as my proposal for the MA. I was accepted on the course, and in September 2006 I began work on the comic as a bona fide Project. I continued working on the storyline I had begun in 2005; while I certainly made more pages, I spent a lot of time dealing with the writing. Shifting attention slightly from the visual side, I turned to world-building and plot mechanics and character development. When I eventually finished the first "issue" of the comic in early 2007, I found that I had a much fuller story and a more complicated piece than I had originally conceived. My tutors decided to have me begin on another, different project, so MM has been on hold for a while. However, I definitely will return to it. This first issue, although hardly epic, is an important part of setting up the story as a whole... but because it was assembled over such a huge span of time, it is not at all cohesive. In the beginning, my intentions were entirely different, and my skills were even more lacking then than they are now, so I'll have to completely rework that first issue. And then, I can really get into telling this story. As for that first bit I completed: however cringe-inducing though it may be, I've gone and put Issue One up here. Hopefully, you can still enjoy it despite the wincing, and maybe you'll even find the process interesting. Thanks for coming by! Comments, questions, etc: email me.

Technical notes: Memento Mori takes place in a version of Victorian Britain, circa 1880. Alternate history, gaslamp fantasy, gothic steampunk wotsit? Sure. The art is penciled and inked by hand, then scanned, colored, and lettered in Photoshop.

[Any future FAQs go here.]