City Weekly‘s blogger Gavin Sheehan got an opportunity to chat with Chris Hoffman, creator of the locally produced comic series Banana Panic. Prominent for the ideal of having his comic free to the public, both published and in the form of an iPhone application. Gavin and Chris chatted it up over his work and national comics in general.

Gavin’s Underground interview with Chris Hoffman

Gavin: You’re one of the few artists around to offer it in the form of an iPhone app. Why did you choose to go that way with it?

Chris: Comic books, like much of old media, are trying to find their place in a world ruled by iPhones, Kindles, and netbooks. Mainstream publishers have been trying experiment with electronic-publishing formats by shoveling the old comics format onto new devices. I took the approach of keeping the electronic medium in mind as I created the comic. In the future I want to take advantage of the medium by adding interactive elements that allow the reader to experience the comic however they want…

Gavin: Did you decide to go with traditional drawing styles or computer drawn, and why?

Chris: I use a hybrid approach. First, I draw all of the pages in pencil then scan all of the ages into Adobe Photoshop. I export those pages into Smith Micro’s Manga Studio then use it with a Wacom tablet to digitally ink the pages. Then I go back to Photoshop to do the shading and lettering. I’m glad digital art programs have evolved to where they are. Before I started using Manga Studio, the inking phase is where my artwork would fall apart. Inking digitally is much more forgiving and has an undo button.