Gina “Nanogirl” Miller is known about town for her 3D animations and graphics, plus her paintings on the side. But recently she self-released a graphic novel (Lazarus) using those graphics as the artwork, which you can grab from Amazon or B&N online. Gavin Sheehan over at the City Weekly took some time to chat with her about her career and the book.
Gavin’s Underground interview with Gina Miller
Gavin: How did the idea come from to write a graphic novel?
Gina: Before my animation work I was very focused on nanotechnology, I developed a web portal and nanotechnology news service. This is why you will sometimes see this topic in my artwork and animations. Nanotechnology is an emerging science that is on a scale so small you can not see it with the human eye. It is one billionth of a meter. If fully developed nanotechnology could provide some amazing benefits to humanity. For example: cures for diseases, one could have nanobots roaming the body and repairing any nasty viruses or cancer cells. Nanobots could be sent out into the atmosphere to repair pollution. Nanotechnology could also help fight starvation via molecular food synthesis. Before I began the graphic novel I had watched a lot of movies and read books where humans build a great technology, then this technology turns against humanity and endangers it. I knew that I would like to see a story where it wasn’t so black and white. As I progressed with my own art I began thinking why can’t I make that story. The plot itself developed quite unexpectedly. A few years ago I began seeing pieces of the Lazarus story in my mind. Over time the details began to fill in and I wrote the story out. This must have awoken something in my mind because after that I wrote out more stories that perhaps will take a life of their own one day.
Gavin: What was the process like for you in writing the story for Lazarus and developing those characters and their world?
Gina: I had the story written out as a linear plot but later had to rewrite a second version as a script so that my characters could speak to each other. Once I completed the script I could then go ahead into the 3D computer programs. The initial part is a lot of set up, what should they be wearing, what should they be sitting on etc. it is basically a gathering of parts. Then the fun part begins, creating the the 3D images that you see in the graphic novel. I did this image by image and page by page looking at the script as I went along. I used Photoshop to put the text above the images and arrange the page layouts. I proofed the final version for months. In the 3D world it is easy to have feet standing through a mountain or a toe poking through a shoe, so there are a lot of details to watch out for.
