It’s Friday! That means it s time for an Effective Nerd Creator Spotlight. I love getting the chance to speak with one of you every week. It helps widen my perspective and let me know what issues are important to other creators.
This week I got to have a chat with Greg Moquin of SeerNova Comics. I have known Greg for some time now. It is great to see the work he has been doing. SeerNova has a lot on their plate for the next year, so make sure you keep an eye on them!
An Interview With Greg Moquin
Aaron Iara: It is great to get a chance to chat with you. Tell the readers about who you are and your role in SeerNova?
Greg Moquin: Thank you for letting us do this interview Aaron! Well, I am one half of SeerNova Comics LLC. I am Greg Moquin, the creator of The Seer Chronicles and well our entire comic universe that will finally be introduced this year. I am the writer as I am not very good with drawing, haha.
Aaron Iara: Welcome to Effective Nerd! Please give the readers the quick synopsis of your comics.
Greg Moquin: Our comics are all centered around a fire that starts in a research lab and then the floodgates open with exciting characters that go through hardships and such. Our comics are mostly superhero genre, but I love horror and looking into that as a major genre. We already have ideas for a few series in that genre as well.
Aaron Iara: I see that you also want to branch out into video games and animation. I really like the idea of having a multi-platform universe. How did you come up with this idea?
Greg Moquin: We came up with the idea of a multi-platform universe through the idea of our city map that was originally born as an idea to help just our comics and the fan base we are looking to gather from there. Instead Dillon (who is the other half of the company) which is the web designer, marketer, and much more came up with the idea with me that we can do much more with the map than just letting readers interact with one another and explore our “fictional” world. After we realized this it sparked something fierce inside us which later created The Indie Revolution. This map will not only help our readers interact with the world we are providing, but they will be able to watch indie film/shows, listen to indie music from rock to hip hop to folk, etc. As well as view art from indie artists on the streets or in a gallery.
Aaron Iara: This sounds like a great series of projects. With a scale this big I am sure there are snags along the way. What are your biggest obstacles when it comes to making art? How do you overcome them?
Greg Moquin: Well we hire artists as I said earlier I am not very good at drawing, but if you want to say writing is a form of art which I believe it is then to answer your question on what are my biggest obstacles and how I overcome them? After when I get off work I open up the ol’ laptop and start editing/writing away. I have other things to focus on like going out to get groceries or spending time with loved ones, but everyone is now busy with their own lives I have enough time to do work I’d like to do. The only real challenge is I have to try to get my writing in after work when sometimes I just want to do nothing, but putting on some music and letting me write keeps me sane. I really went on a rant there, I most likely need to get my time under control and I just got a planner to help do just that.
Aaron Iara: I am sure a lot of us can relate to that feeling. I can be difficult to maintain motivation and productivity when there is other work to do. What made you decide on comic books as your preferred medium? How long have you been drawing and writing?
Greg Moquin: I actually always liked superheroes and I like storytelling from a very young age. I was bored one night watching Everybody Loves Raymond reruns and decided to start writing after glancing over old song lyrics I wrote. I started writing a story about a firefighter and it set ablaze over a 1200 page trilogy and then later added solo series.
Aaron Iara: That is quite the accomplishment! What creators would you say have had the biggest influence on your creative style?
Greg Moquin: Stan Lee (REST IN PEACE) for obvious reasons and actually I gotta give credit to my 7th grade and 8th grade English teachers. In 7th grade I was assigned a narrative story which I’m in the process of reworking to release possibly this year and it was supposed to be a 15 page story in a composition notebook, mine was 85 pages. After that I decided I just really loved writing. Now my 8th grade English teacher emotionally helped me with words of encouragement for following your passion.
Aaron Iara: There are a lot of moving parts to making comics. How do you and your team work together to meet deadlines and work efficiently?
Greg Moquin: Dillon and I discovered planning out a small to do list helps me. The end of the last year I started doing it and I bought a planner that will not only help myself with goals for a month, but for weeks and a year. This planner will help me better with scheduling for our upcoming podcast, paying artists, etc.
Aaron Iara: I recently switched over from using to-do list apps to using a day planner. It hasn’t been that long, but I can already see the difference in my productivity.
It can be hard to muster up the energy to make art on a consistent basis. How do you stay motivated with your creative endeavors?
Greg Moquin: How do I stay motivated? Dillon is a pretty motivating guy as well as the people he introduced me to like Gary Vaynerchuk, Grant Cardone, Tim Ferriss, etc. Also, I want my story to be told and to do that I need to keep writing. Also, there is a bigger long term goal.
Aaron Iara: The passion to do the work is a great thing to have. Do you have any strategies or routines that help you balance regular life with making comics?
Greg Moquin: Well planning on what I am going to do after work helps balance life in some way, but it has meshed in with my regular life I think for the most part. After work I open the laptop and get working on the company when I’m not answering questions, emails, etc during work. I get that RIGHT NOW I need a full time job to pay bills and what not and well my artists, but everyday it gets more annoying to wake up to go to a job where I don’t get paid enough and try to scrape on by with paying bills and such. I go to the job because I know it is helping me pay for those things I need to pay for so I can later on not need that job.
I technically don’t need it as I also am looking to branch off with a side hustle with writing for others which I do on Fiverr. I have one client so far and looking for more as I am trying to do that to replace the job I have right now until I can go all in on SeerNova Comics. I make sure to always make a new post either about our subscription service we just launched, our comics, or most of the time doing shout outs to other indie creators. I believe I can do even more with SeerNova Comics, but that full time job restricts me from doing so with the small amount of pay and the time it takes from me which for me my time is everything.
Aaron Iara: Who are some of your favorite current indie creators?
Greg Moquin: To piggyback off of shouting out to other indie creators some that are my favorites in no order are: Todd Rayner the creator of Icepick, New Leaf Comics which are coming out with Uriel and Goose and many other comics, Archangel’s Comics which have released a few different comics like Death With Us as well as others soon like Drake’s Revenge, etc. Something Real which focuses on the boogeyman creature in a different, but interesting way. Afterlight Studios which is a comic publisher of multiple horror comics like Wendigo Wood which the first issue was amazing! Arc Comics which just released their first comic called Alpha 1. Dream Fury Comics which released Crescent City Monsters which is full of voodoo and New Orleans culture, but haven’t read even though it looks very interesting. EMP Comics comics which Shane (the artist) gave me FREE comics last July of The Believer and Omens which I still have to finish reading. Black Fly Press which though I haven’t read it I see his posts daily and the art is amazing for Arsenal. Sigil Comics which released two comics, one is Freelancers and the other is a Prologue for a superhero comic called Supreme Seven. I can do this all day, haha.
Aaron Iara: That is quite the list! I am fans of some of those creators as well. I will be having Black Fly Press featured on the blog in the upcoming weeks.
What advice can you give to people who want to start making their own comics?
Greg Moquin: What advice can I give to people that want to start comics? Hmmm…well at the start of things I was like oh pshh this will be easy. I have a story written now I just need an artist. Oh, wait there is money involved…a lot of money. Wow okay of course I’m gonna need to pay the artists and everyone involved. Damn. I want to make this very clear so tune the hell in. DON’T ASK FOR ART FROM ARTISTS AND NOT PAY THEM! I have seen this happen to multiple artists and it sucks! My own artist just had that happen to him by someone else. He was asking for help from me if I could have his client send me the money through Venmo or something and then I’d pay him because his client owed him a lot. In the end he said nevermind because it wasn’t the first time it happened to him, but it is wrong to get art or anything from someone when they were looking to get paid.
Most artists/writers do that as their full time job. Not only did you steal from them, but you wasted their time. So the advice I’d give is to make sure you have money to pay artists, writers, whatever you’ll need unless you can do it all on your own then good for you, but you’ll need to market it for the masses and we at SeerNova Comics can help with that. Just don’t rip off hard working talented individuals and don’t EVER give up if someone doesn’t want to read your comic right off the bat.
Aaron Iara: What is in the future for you and your team? Are there any other projects or events on the horizon that would like to discuss?
Greg Moquin: In the future there is A TON to lookout for. We are looking to release a holiday type of comic series this year in sort of in real time, multiple solo series as well as The Seer Chronicles, and the City Map with our first city and possibly second city this year! Also, the very far future we want to get into indie film/animation. I actually have said I want to be a voice actor for a few characters in our shows/movies.
Aaron Iara: Let the readers know where they can find you and your work!
Greg Moquin: You can find us at…
Our Website: https://seernovacomics.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/seernovacomics/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/seernovacomics/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SeernovaComics
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/seernovacomics
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/seernovacomics/
Thanks to Greg Moquin and SeerNova Comics for taking the time to speak with me this week! It looks like they have a lot of great projects coming up this year. Keep an eye out for what they have in store.
Are you an independent creator? Effective Nerd wants to talk to you! Regardless of your craft, we want to hear about your story and creative process. Hit me up on social media or email me at [email protected].
Have a great weekend everyone! Come back on Monday where we will continue our theme of Harnessing Ideas.
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