Rogo: Petitecreme is the artist of our latest Premium title, The Wastelands! Check it out in the Premium Section!

Rogo: What got you started as an artist?
Petitecreme: My mother used to draw and create with me when I was little, and I've always drawn throughout school. I used to read a lot of Beano and Dandy (UK kid comics) too. It became apparent that it was the only thing I was somewhat good at during school. Around then, early 2000, when manga and graphic novels were becoming more available to me, I really liked the idea of being a comic artist, and made the plunge to dedicate myself more to drawing.

R: Can you tell us some of the artists and media that most inspire you?
P: Yasuhiro Nightow (of Trigun/ Gungrave) is my main inspiration. I saw his work when I was 15 and just absolutely loved it, I became obsessed with his work (and still am to this day). I'm also really inspired by Italian artists Juanjo Guarnido (Blacksad) and Alessandro Barbucci (Sky Dolls). My friends also really inspire me, wonderful folk like Naniiebim (Mephistos) and DivineStar (VOCO).
Video games also inspire me greatly, I'm a huge fan of  Hideki Kamiya's direction work (Devil May Cry, Bayonetta) and Naughty Dog's Uncharted series. If I'm not drawing comics, I'm either sleeping or playing videogames. It's a big part of my life.

R: You spent some time studying abroad. Did that influence you artwork or storytelling in any way?
P: Oh totally! The comic scene in UK isn't as large as in Belgium. Where I lived there were 6 comic shops within 10min radius! I was overrun with local comics and bombarded with such treats. I was studying Bande Dessinée, which is the French way of comics. Completely different to how I taught myself how to tell a story in comics from UK comics and manga. I learnt a lot from my strict teachers. It was hard work.

R: As a professional illustrator, you get to work on a lot of different projects. What’s it like having to move from project to project? What do you like/dislike the most about working on these kinds of projects?
P: In honesty, I don't receive a large volume of work because I guess I'm not that well known (I don't think I can even call myself a professional haha). When I do receive projects I do my best to work with the client who has the closest deadline. I enjoy getting varied work, especially if they have a solid idea and work with me throughout the process and we're bouncing ideas back and forth. I love that! I dislike clients who are indecisive and are constantly changing their mind. They're the most destructive when they don't have a solid idea.
Always know what you want when you're hiring an artist, kids. Make sure you have all your information and details to make it easier on us.

Let’s talk about your promoted series, The Wastelands. How long have you been working on this series, and where did you get the idea to create it?

The idea came in 2008 a month after I started college when I was involved in a serious bus crash. That night I had this weird dream about a girl getting off the ruined bus I was in and in a barren wasteland with masked creatures, I woke up instantly and drew everything I remembered.
It was in 2011 that I found the drawings and story from that dream and used it for my final project in university. I enjoyed what I was creating and after the project was finished (which was CH1 Amy + CH2 Giant) I realized I wanted to expand and explore this world I just created.
I then started working on RAHU, where I wanted to make a short story based on the land and a character exploring an empty temple. It was originally going to be a short 30page webcomic that I was drawing to pass time until I would be employed when I graduated. But that never happened, so I continued the story and Rahu became a fan favorite and the 30 page story rocketed to over a 140 pages, crazy!

The Wastelands seems to take a lot of ideas from many different ancient cultures. How much research do you do (if any) for a series like this?
I have a ton of books and references that I use for research. Because I take so many different cultures I have to be really careful to blend them together comfortably. All the gods are loosely based on existing history scripts from ancient cultures when worshipping gods was a daily requirement (such as in Mayan culture). I believe if you really want to create a good fantasy story that relies heavily on a lore, you need to research everything you possibly can.
I break down my research for cultures:
- Tibetan for names/places/language of gods/beliefs and prayers.
- Mongolian/Central Asia for geography
- Mayan/Aztec for elements and designs
I have to research the architecture, the clothing, the tools, the hierarchy, the temples/shrines, the art, everything. It can be really exhausting but I want to create this world that's really fascinating for people to look at and read, and the more I learn, the more ideas that spring into my head and excites me how I want to develop the story more.

The Wastelands seems to have a fairly bleak world view with gods abandoning the people. Why did you choose to write this kind of story?
It's something I've never really read or seen before. There are stories of people who believe in their faith/god and when nothing goes their way they abandon it. But what about if the Gods were actual beings? Giants and titans that lived with the people? The people depend on them to help bring the rains, to fertilize the soil, to bless them with fertility and smite the demons alongside them. When they all go, they're helpless. Like children without adults approval. It becomes a story on how they cope.
Do people carry on praying, hoping for them to return, or do they go and find out where the Gods have gone? Or are there those that have given up and choose their own path of living without the aid of their Gods? There are so many different views on this one notion; "The Gods that you have always relied on are gone, what do you do?" and this is something I really would like to explore. Do they fight the demons, or let the demons take over?

Many artists have other comics they’d like to create in the future. Do you have any stories on the back-burner?
OH MAN DO I? Haha!! I'm a terrible person that comes up with stories almost every day, just never the time to get them down on paper. I draw a lot of mini 2-6 page comics that are on my tumblr when I'm not drawing The Wastelands. Mainly they're fan art/videogame related comics just for laughs to let me try illustrating a new style or if I'm able to tell a story using the comic form.
I do however have large comics that I'm ever so slowly working on, that are nowhere near finished for viewing.

Ayden Lamia was a story I uploaded onto MM this time last year. About a witch who ran a teashop but was stealing souls for her master on her after hours. It was something I wanted to do just for the Halloween period. But after writing 40 chapters and only drawing 3, I had to drop it as I was rushing it without a thought.
I also have a sci-fi story that I'm collaborating with a friend about a bounty pirate and the relationship with his spaceship. It's an R rated/yaoi/ m/m story that we're working on for mature readers. Another is a '40s noire detective style murder mystery.
I also have a lot of Wastelands spin-off stories. One involving a Prince and his right hand woman who are first to witness when the Gods disappear. I want to do viewpoints from all sorts of people!
So many ideas, I hope I'll be able to finish them all someday.

Thanks for your time and good luck!

Thank you so much!