Allen: Let’s talk about the comic book MAYA. We can also talk a little bit about your work as an art director at Rough Sea Games. We can also talk about your present work at Bluewater Productions. Are you up to the interview?

Chris: Yes I am. Before we start let me say Thank You for your interest in my work. I appreciate it.

Allen: Tell me what your plans are for Maya.

Chris: My plans for Maya are simple: I want to create an exciting and compelling visual story. A story I would love to see on the big screen or on the small screen as a TV series. Because I’m in no position to make this happen I’m doing the whole thing as a series of comic books instead. I love comics! I love to write and I love art and drawing. And I’m a perfectionist which altogether makes it plausible to make a comic and do all the art and writing by myself.

Allen: Who will be your publisher for Maya?

Chris: To be honest… I don’t know yet. I already got the okay from Bluewater Productions a while ago but over the last months other Publishers have shown interest in the book too. I think when the time is right I will go with the publisher whose portfolio has the right books. Books I want to buy and read, something Maya has to fit in perfectly. A good deal isn’t everything. The book needs the right audience. And the audience comes with the publishers concept and ideology.

Allen: What genre would you say would fit for Maya?

Chris: Maya is a science-fiction action drama. The comic version of a James Cameron movie describes it. There are some horror elements too, but it’s not a horror series. I am a huge fan of James Cameron by the way. I really like his storytelling and characterization. He can tell a fantastic mainstream story with lots of action and drama and at the same time make his characters exciting and feel real. This is exactly what I have in mind for Maya.

Allen: Tell me about the characters and setting for Maya.

Chris: Mayas story takes place in our world. It begins in the past and the main part is set in the not so distant future. I like stories I can relate to. For example: It’s like in the first Matrix movie where Neo finds out the world he has lived in his whole life isn’t real. Because this illusionary world was like our real world the audience could relate to the story and more important Neo as the main character. And who doesn’t want to take the red pill? Who doesn’t believe sometimes the world he lives in isn’t real? A huge problem I had with the Matrix sequels is they didn’t show us our world in the Matrix construct anymore. Instead they showed us a Matrix with super beings like vampires and ghosts.

The human element was gone. The humans in Zion I couldn’t relate to because they live in a world I know doesn’t exist. The sequels to the Matrix are fantasy movies. The part of the Matrix which was the most intriguing to me were the slaves inside the Matrix. This part was taken away in the sequels. Too really care about characters I think there has to be some real elements to a fictional story. That’s why Maya is set in our known world. Readers will know exactly what Maya feels and why she is doing what she does.

Regarding Maya as the main character of the series I can tell you she is a 22 year old girl with special powers. She has to deal with this powers and a world she doesn’t really know.

Mayas best friend is a talking toy, a teddy bear she got as a kid. I can’t tell you any details about her friend because it would take away too much from the story but I can let you know he isn’t what you are expecting from a cute looking fluffy toy. ;)

Other important characters are Mayas father Dr. Thomas Krueger, who is a biotech scientist. Then we have Nathan, an old man living alone with his dog Dandy in the Rocky Mountains in Montana and Orson a mysterious stranger who will become some kind of mentor to Maya. And we have Jack - the Albino, an assassin who is sent after Maya to get back something she got from her father, something Dr. Krueger has stolen from a huge organization.

Allen: How did generation of idea for Maya come about?

Chris: Maya is based on a concept I have developed over 10 years ago called „The End“. The basic idea came from a dream I had then. The images I saw in the dream were very vivid and I had to write the story to make sense of the images. Over the time Maya developed to a complex concept with a beginning and an end.

Allen: How many issues are planned for Maya?

Chris: It will start with a three-issue-story-arc.

Allen: How hard has it been for you to develop Maya story by yourself?

Chris: There was too much fun involved to term it hard. With Maya I don’t have to worry about tight deadlines which makes it a lot easier to develop… but time still is a problem because I only can work on Maya in my spare time.

Allen: Do you often do both illustrating and writing jobs?

Chris: Only apart from each other. Regarding writing I don’t do any fictional work beside Maya these days. I’m writing articles for Game Developer magazines.

Allen: Are you still considering doing the story in black and white style?

Chris: No. The original idea behind doing it in B&W was to save time. But also there are great B&W comics out there which show us a B&W comic can be really good I think Maya should have colors to show the right mood. Another reason was that the story developed to a more blockbuster kind of story and I can’t show this in B&W anymore... readers don’t want to see a B&W blockbuster.

I came up with a color style which is fast enough to let me do the whole art by myself. So it definitely will be in color.

Allen: Do you have plans to write more issues of Maya if mini-series sells really well? Or will three issues be enough space to tell the story?

Chris: Of course I have plans to do more issues. The whole concept is based on that. The three issues are more like the first part in a movie series. You can compare it to the new Star Trek movie or a TV-series pilot: Show the audience who the characters are and what drives them. However Maya will not be a monthly series. I have planned the books as a series of story-arcs. The first story-arc will be three issues followed by three or four issue arcs.

There is an ending to Mayas story which I already have planned out. I really love the idea behind a TV series like LOST or FRINGE regarding how things fit together and were planned ahead in time. So when you decide to buy Maya you have to keep in mind it is the beginning of a story with a planned ending.

Allen: When will Maya issues be able to be ordered by any comic book shop? Will the text be in English or other languages? What will be best way to get issues?

Chris: Because I still have to finish the final art for the first books and I don’t have a publisher yet I can’t name a date for the release. This is way too soon. Maybe I will do some free online sequential before the first issue will hit the stands. The books will be made for the American market in English. The best way to get the books will be like with all your other favorite comics: Your local comic shop ;)

Allen: Do you have plans later to publish Maya as a collected series trade?

Chris: I love trades. So yes I have plans! Trades are great. Even when buying a series monthly I buy trades of the same series because they have additional stuff like a sketchbook section and it feels good to hold a ‚book‘ in your hands. The fanboy in me has to buy trades… so Maya has to be a trade. ;)

Allen: Tell me about your position as art director at Rough Sea Games. When and how did you get this position?

Chris: I’m a partner at Rough Sea Games. My teammates and I started working on a browser game in 2008. At the end of 2008 Rough Sea Games was founded and I’m responsible for everything art related.

Allen: What are your responsibilities at Rough Sea Games?

Chris: I’m responsible making our game we are working on right now kick ass visually 

Allen: What are some of your favorite projects working at Rough Sea Games?

Chris: We are working on our first game right now. I can’t get into details yet but I can tell you it will be fantastic 

Allen: What is Rough Sea Games website?

Chris: You can find the company site at http://www.rough-sea.com and you can read weekly updates on development and art related information on our blog at http://blog.rough-sea.com .

I have an art series there called ‚Famous Movie Monsters‘ where readers can suggest their favorite movie monster to me and I will draw it in one of the upcoming parts.

Allen: Let’s get back to Bluewater comics. What happened with your Hillary Clinton cover for the Female Force series? Why was it rejected?

Chris: That’s a funny story. I was asked to do a new cover because the first cover for the book wasn’t exactly what they had in mind. The American flag had the wrong number of stripes and stuff. So I did the new version which was accepted by the publisher. Some days before the book should go to the printer Hillary Clinton’s people told Bluewater Hillary doesn’t like the way she looks on my cover. It looks to comical and Lara-Croft sexy. So the cover was changed and a third cover was made by another artist. A version suiting a politician So my sexy Lara Croft comic style version wasn’t used as a front cover. The whole story you can read on my blog at http://www.chrisnoeth.com .

Allen: Have you been working on other Bluewater Productions projects?

Chris: I have worked on different stuff for Bluewater in the past. The last was some concept art for the new original William Shatner comic series Chimera. I can name it now because he recently talked about it himself over at www.comicbookresources.com . Before this I did some pitch work and the first two books of the four issue mini-series "It Came From Beneath The Sea… Again!“ which will be out later this year.

Allen: Are you working on any other comic book projects for other companies?

Chris: I did sequential and a cover for the new „Tales from the Crypt“ comics for Papercutz. Unfortunately I had to finish working for Papercutz because I don’t have the time to work on this kind of deadline projects anymore. I did a page a day for this books including thumbnails, layouts, pencils, inks and colors.

Allen: What are your favorite tools like to use when illustrating?

Chris: I can’t name any traditional tools because everything I do nowadays is 100% digital. I’m using my Wacom Intuos4 tablet and Adobe Photoshop to create all my art. Even my sketches.

Allen: What is the best way for some one to contact you?

Chris: The contact form on my website at www.chrisnoeth.com or via email to contact@chrisnoeth.com .

You can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ChrisNoeth or you can add me as a Facebook friend at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=777191257

Allen: Thank you Chris. I look forward to future interview with you. Would you like to leave our readers with any closing thoughts?

Chris: No :). I just want to thank everybody for his or her interest in my work and for reading this interview. Thank you Allen.