 Hi guys, welcome back to The Average. Today, I am working on a commission by my friend, Shan, who is currently running a Kickstarter campaign for her graphic novel, Overlord. She asked me to create a print that is gonna be one of the rewards in the Kickstarter, and I was more than happy to work on this because I think her stuff is so good. It's really hilarious and beautiful and you should go check it out, but anyway, we'll get more to it. I'm drawing one of the characters in her story called The Hero. So basically in her story, it's this over the top world where heroes exist and everyone's in competition over each other to be the best hero in the land. And I don't know too much about this character because I haven't read the whole thing yet, but I have from the previews. I think that she is pretty badass and her whole point of her story is to show how heroes are idolized within the universe that Shan has created. So I think this character is a cool kick-ass woman. I jumped at the chance to draw her. So I'm just using watercolors and pencils. What I'm gonna do is just chat to Shan now, so let's take it over to that. So I'm here with the creator of Overlord, Shan Jefferson. I really wanted to say Shan Jefferson then, but we know each other. We went to uni together and we met each other on our art foundations and we basically been doing comics since uni. Both did animation and we were both like meh and yeah, that's true, right, Shan? Yeah, that's pretty much exactly how that played out. We both like comic sales. So Shan's doing her comic Overlord and what you've seen, I've probably already discussed this during the video, but is the process of the commission I did for her, which is gonna be part of her Kickstarter rewards, isn't it, Shan? We're doing like a series of guest artist prints and like Steph said, we've known each other for, oh my God, like really 10 years now, I think. It might actually be 10 years. Yeah, no, cry. Yeah. I had just read your latest comic, Emily, is burning. And I was already a fan of this stuff anyway and I was like, I need her to make a print for this. So then I bribed you with money. Yeah, well, I mean, you've got to be a fan of mine because you're my friend, so. Yeah, that's right. That's 100% how that works. We're just gonna talk a little bit about your comic because these guys want to know because when I did Emily is burning, everybody was like watching along and they liked getting tips and stuff. So do you want to just tell us a little bit about the story and what it's about and the art and stuff? Yeah, okay. So it's a self-contained graphic novel. It's just under 170 pages long and basically the premise of the story is that it's about a guy who accidentally becomes an evil overlord and it just completely snowballs out of control. It's such a good hook. When I first heard the first line, I was like, yep, I'm sold, I want in on this story. And I've actually had the privilege of reading a few preview pages and I was basically laughing my mm off because it was so funny and super sassy and I think the writing style is just really comedic and really lends itself well to the beautiful art and everything. Oh, thank you. What made you write the comic? What are your inspirations? I've got those two questions, but they kind of go together, so. Oh yeah, fair enough. No pressure. No pressure. The ground for it now. Although that's a question that people ask me a lot now that it's live on Kickstarter and I'm kind of like, oh my God, I need to think of something. But realistically, the reason that I wanted to write it and what inspired me to write it was partially because I'd already done a short project on this theme and it kind of stuck in my brain. And then more recently, I wanted to write something about people not necessarily fitting into boxes or stereotypes because I feel like generally as a society, we have all this access to social media and all of this stuff. Lots of people that I was meeting in conventions, I think they felt under pressure to conform in one way or another, regardless of which groups of friends they were hanging out or which parts of society they were engaging. And I could kind of relate because I think we all do that where we go on social media and look at the best bits of people's lives and we're like, oh my God, I totally suck and I'm failing at everything. Oh for sure. And the best way that I could think to write a story about that was to be like, well, everybody grows up with stories of heroes and bad guys, good guys and swords, so many swords. And I thought it would just be really cool to write a story about this over-the-top world where everybody's either good or evil and have somebody who actually doesn't fit into either of those categories and how they kind of deal with that and what they decide to do about it. Because realistically, you can't put people into boxes or stereotypes or categories. It just doesn't work. Like historically it doesn't work. So it'd be nice if we didn't feel under pressure to do that to ourselves. I really liked that answer. That was really cool. There you go guys. I guess I think especially as artists, we're probably like a bit misfitty. If I dare to say that, yeah, that's really cool. And I'm really looking forward to seeing like the whole project. Lots of people who watch the YouTube channel, my YouTube channel, they like comment that they want to make art making comics as well and how to get into it. So do you have any tips for beginners? I mean, in terms of practical advice, yes, because I've been making comics for six years now. A lot of it has been trial and error because like you said, we did animation at university which was endlessly helpful in lots of areas. And then in other areas was just completely useless when it came to the practicalities of making comics. But if you're new to making comics and you're a little bit unsure about starting, I guess the best piece of advice I could give is to just do it. And I know that sounds like a Nike commercial. So sorry about that. But you really should just start. And it doesn't matter if you think that your art isn't good enough or your writing isn't good enough. You don't really know what you're doing because you are going to learn as you go along. Most comic artists that I know, truthfully, are just making it up as they go along. And it's trial and error. But also the other bit of advice I would give you is if you're making comics, you should make them for yourself. Make the stories that you want to read and the art that you enjoy because there are over 7 billion people on the planet. I guarantee you that someone else is going to think that your stuff is good too. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And with what other people make a comic for yourself. And if you start with you, you'll find other people who like your stuff and like what you like as well. Also go to comic conventions because they're great. Yeah, I would say adding to that is for sure. Like you need to be inspired by other comics and other artists. Definitely you should consume what you create is what I really live by. Moving on, you've finished Overlord. Do you have another project coming up next or you've not thought that far ahead yet? I mean, I'd like to say that I haven't thought that far ahead and that I'm just going to relax and enjoy Christmas. But I think I might be a bit addicted to work. So I've got a couple of ideas that have kind of been sitting on the back burner for a while. But I haven't really settled on any specific one yet because Overlord was so long in the making. I think it took me about two years to actually get it from concept where it is now. I think whatever I do next is probably going to be a shorter format. Like I was literally looking at your comic the other day and I was like, Steph has got this right short format comics of the way forward. Definitely when you work on a big project, it's really, you feel so good and proud of yourself once you've finished it. But it's also nice to do like a smaller thing because you just feel that same accomplishment. And yeah, you should definitely do a few short stories on something next maybe. Yeah, I think as well on some levels I have something to prove to myself because pretty much everything that I've done so far with the exception of Overlord because it is self-contained, everything I've done up until that point, sort of in issues, I kind of need to prove to myself that I can do some short format. Oh, you definitely can. If you've done it long, like a massive project you can do a shorter one. It's just, I felt like the same. I get a bit carried away when I do projects. I'm like, I always get carried away and make them bigger than they need to be. So when I did the horror comic I was really like, no, cut that out, edit that out. Like you just have to be really strict with yourself because I was like, I could see this going massively on forever. But if I just make it like I swear to myself, no, no. You could definitely do it. You should be really proud of what you've accomplished so far and it's really exciting. And I bet everybody who's discovering your art through this channel and stuff is gonna be really excited to see what you produce next. And we all can't wait to get a hand on the copy of Overlord for sure. I'm so excited. So guys, check out Shan's. Check out Shan's Kickstarter down below. I think it's finishing on Wednesday, is it? You know what? I don't know what day that is but I do know it is the 20th of October and I'm pretty sure it finishes at 11 a.m. So hurry up guys, go grab your copy. Oh, I wanna show Shan my commission and see what her thoughts are in the end. Stephanie has sent you something. Oh, what? That looks amazing. I don't know if she is a big part of your story, but I think she's obviously important to the story. Yeah, she's very important. Secretly feeling really, really pleased that you did this with watercolors because it looks so good. Oh my God. I'm glad you like it. Yeah, this is so beautiful looking. I wanted to do like a sort of pose that you see in like a tarot card baby and like sort of accentuate that like the hero of the journey. And I thought because from what I've got from the preview is that she's kind of a legend. So maybe this could be like stuff somebody else has created within the story to be like, look, it's the hero, you know? You totally nailed it because she really is like that kind of idealized character is why nobody actually knows her name because they're like, oh, you know, she's like the hero. And it's like, great, she was a real person. She's become legendary now. So it looks so great. I'm so excited. Yay, I'm so glad you like it. Okay, well, that's it from me and Shan and please guys, go check out her comic overlord down below. It is 166 pages long, which is crazy long. And it's, you know, a really reasonable prize as well for a big chunk of book that you're gonna get for your money. So go check it out and you'll also get my print maybe if you want it and you get the rewards and everything. Come on, guys, let's all go. And yeah, that's it. So say bye, Shan, thanks for coming on, Shan. All right, guys, I will see you later.