iL-Logic: The Newest Side Project

If you follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or pretty much anywhere other than this blog, then you know that on March 1st, I launched iL-Logic with friend and artist, Paul Selman. iL-Logic is a webcomic that publishes every Monday and Thursday. I write it, and Paul does the art.

There are a million webcomics out there. Many of them even seem to resemble iL-Logic in tone and premise. I've already committed myself to writing more short stories than I seem to be able to keep up with. I maintain two blogs, and now contribute regularly to two other websites. So why did I decide to do it? Am I really so masochistic that I continue to spread myself ever thinner? Yes and no.

To understand why I'm doing iL-Logic, I'm going to share with you some history behind the project. On his blog, Paul gives a behind the scenes tour of the art in the comic, and it's absolutely fantastic (even I learn stuff from reading it, and I write the damn thing). So, this post is going to be my behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the concept.

iL-Logic's first strip opens with Edan, our protagonist, returning from a trip to France. About five years ago, I spent a summer in Spain. When I got back, I had a desire to do a webcomic. To say that Edan is loosely based on myself five years ago, and the rest of the cast is loosely based on my close circle of friends at the time would not be far-fetched. The webcomic never came off five years ago for the very simple reason that I was doing the writing and the art, and I was getting too frustrated by my rusty art skills. So, after scripting the first 20 or so strips, and drawing the first 3 or 4, iL-Logic literally went into a drawer for five years.

I've known Paul for over five years, but only really got to know his art in the past year, since he started his art blog. One morning, late last year, I woke up and thought to myself, "what if Paul did the art for iL-Logic?"

Why this thought occurred to me, i have no idea. I hadn't thought about the project in years. And yet, here was this thought, fresh in my mind. I started thinking about this possibility more and more, and I started pacing around my apartment, which is what I do when I get excited about an idea or a concept. I sat down at my desk, and started jotting story notes, and plotlines, and promotional plans, and website designs, and notes for an email to Paul, all in one jumbled mess. I got to work late that day.

iL-Logic was on my mind that entire morning. I kept thinking what a great fit it would be if Paul did the art. So, I wrote Paul a long, rambling e-mail outlining what I wanted to do, what I was proposing, all the reasons we should do it, and the main reason we shouldn't: it was slightly insane. Then I waited.

Part of me hoped that Paul would be rational and say, "Mate, you've gone bonkers. Neither of us has the time for this." But another part of me really hoped that he would agree. I got home from work that night, checked my e-mail and there was Paul's answer. He was interested. I immediately sent Paul my completed scripts, my notes on the project, and the original iL-Logic strips that I had drawn years earlier.

For days, e-mails (really long ones) flew back and forth as we discussed the concept. Paul, bless him, didn't make fun of my old artwork too much, and had his own ideas about the art, that had me incredibly excited, because it would be something that no other webcomic I knew of was doing.

For my part, I took a long hard look at the story for iL-Logic and decided that part of the reason that I was so interested in doing this, was because here was a story based on the person I was five years ago. I was interested in seeing how far I'd grown since first putting this idea together. So, I set out to be just as ambitious in my writing as Paul was going to be in his art.

The original iL-Logic followed the misadventures of a group of 20-somethings (and a koala), and generally poked fun at every day life. The iL-Logic that launched on March 1st is a whole different animal. Yes, the cast remains a group of 20-somethings (and a koala), but the story is far more ambitious. How ambitious? The iL-Logic story is a 3-act story that will span several hundred strips (not sure if I've mentioned this to Paul, yet). The story has a distinct beginning, middle and end. The strips will still be humourous, but the story also involves looking at socio-political issues in a very serious way. The characters will grow over time so that the characters you see in strip #1 will not be the same characters that you will see in the story's final strip. Just as I am not the same person I was five years ago, Edan will not be the same person in five years.

I have never written a comic before. Aside from reading a couple of webcomics on a regular basis, and having read comic books as a teen, I'm not even much of a comic guy. Despite this fact, I still think that we can make iL-Logic the best comic on the web. I intend to put just as much care into writing iL-Logic as I would put into writing a short story or a novel, and Paul has already demonstrated that every panel of iL-Logic is a work of art. iL-Logic is a labour of love. It's a challenge, and it's an opportunity.

So, if the question remains, what possessed me to do a webcomic? All I can say is that it's something I just had to do.

You can check out iL-Logic the webcomic at il-logic.com, and you can check out Paul's art blog (including behind-the-scenes looks at the comic) at www.pauldselman.com.

Questions about iL-Logic? Drop them below in the comments and let's chat about it.