(On the Left) Ian Crowford By Sarah Wagner
Ian Crowford is the creator of Musomic - the digital comic app taking the world by storm. Released this month, this awesome app looks set to transform the comic industry, offering users the chance to write and design their own comics (and their own soundtracks), before publishing them worldwide via the app - all for free.
With interest from film companies already heating up, I grabbed Ian for a quick chat to find out more…
Ian Crowford is the creator of Musomic - the digital comic app taking the world by storm. Released this month, this awesome app looks set to transform the comic industry, offering users the chance to write and design their own comics (and their own soundtracks), before publishing them worldwide via the app - all for free.
With interest from film companies already heating up, I grabbed Ian for a quick chat to find out more…
What was the inspiration behind Musomic?
I was working with teenagers in Europe, and they really weren’t interested in writing. So I drew an ambiguous comic and said ‘I don’t care what you write about – it can be violent, a comedy, it can be about zombies, whatever you want. You just have to write a story around the comic.’ The whole class was really engrossed.
Coming back to the UK, I started working with a musician colleague of mine to see how he could help with the creative process, and it went from there. Ultimately it was my passion for music and comics, and knowing there was a big need to get people really inspired to write, that inspired me really. There wasn’t anything out there that did what I wanted it to do, that included professional images and music worthy of being in a film. I thought ‘it’s not there, I’ll make it.’
How long has it taken to set it up?
From when I had the idea, trialling it, getting the validation, probably about three years.
What was the biggest challenge in the development process?
The biggest challenge was making something that would inspire a 13-year-old, who is new to comics, at the same time as inspiring a 30-year-old long-term comic fan. It involved lots of market research. Also, getting the music processing to work on the app. As a musician, I asked myself ‘if I were using Musomic, would I be disappointed by the amount of freedom I have?’ Creating the algorithms to make it all work was a lovely experience I’ll be glad not to relive anytime soon!
Can you describe how it works for our readers?
When you download it, the first thing you’re greeted with is a library of comics created by all the other users worldwide, which you can download for free. Then you have the choice to create a new comic.
The first thing is the front cover, which you can skip or design straight away. Then you can pick your layout and palette. You’ll get access to multiple packs of images from artists from all over the world, but you don’t need to stick with one – you can mix it up. For example, if you’re making a superhero comic and want to include a flashback, you can pick different images to represent that. You can also make images bigger or smaller, and graphically lay out your comic just as an artist would.
In terms of music, you can choose from a range of beats, melodies and sound effects, which you can layer to make your own soundtrack. The more sounds you add the more you create a film-like soundtrack. Alternatively, you could opt for more limited sound effects, and have it building up as you go through the comic. We’ve designed it so musicians can be quite tasteful as to how they build up the elements. But either way, the algorithms we’ve designed will make it work together as you go along, so even randomly selecting images and sounds can work. You can add your captions and narrative before you add music, or use music to inspire the narrative afterwards.
Once finished, it’s just one click of a button and it’s published worldwide. We have plans that mean very soon it will be like a social forum. Within a few months you’ll be able to sign up via social media, Twitter and Facebook. You’ll be able to see how many likes you have and how people have rated it. We’re hoping to do rewards too, so if you’re a loyal user we can create a hall of fame, and offer rewards, like limited-edition artwork or comics.
I was working with teenagers in Europe, and they really weren’t interested in writing. So I drew an ambiguous comic and said ‘I don’t care what you write about – it can be violent, a comedy, it can be about zombies, whatever you want. You just have to write a story around the comic.’ The whole class was really engrossed.
Coming back to the UK, I started working with a musician colleague of mine to see how he could help with the creative process, and it went from there. Ultimately it was my passion for music and comics, and knowing there was a big need to get people really inspired to write, that inspired me really. There wasn’t anything out there that did what I wanted it to do, that included professional images and music worthy of being in a film. I thought ‘it’s not there, I’ll make it.’
How long has it taken to set it up?
From when I had the idea, trialling it, getting the validation, probably about three years.
What was the biggest challenge in the development process?
The biggest challenge was making something that would inspire a 13-year-old, who is new to comics, at the same time as inspiring a 30-year-old long-term comic fan. It involved lots of market research. Also, getting the music processing to work on the app. As a musician, I asked myself ‘if I were using Musomic, would I be disappointed by the amount of freedom I have?’ Creating the algorithms to make it all work was a lovely experience I’ll be glad not to relive anytime soon!
Can you describe how it works for our readers?
When you download it, the first thing you’re greeted with is a library of comics created by all the other users worldwide, which you can download for free. Then you have the choice to create a new comic.
The first thing is the front cover, which you can skip or design straight away. Then you can pick your layout and palette. You’ll get access to multiple packs of images from artists from all over the world, but you don’t need to stick with one – you can mix it up. For example, if you’re making a superhero comic and want to include a flashback, you can pick different images to represent that. You can also make images bigger or smaller, and graphically lay out your comic just as an artist would.
In terms of music, you can choose from a range of beats, melodies and sound effects, which you can layer to make your own soundtrack. The more sounds you add the more you create a film-like soundtrack. Alternatively, you could opt for more limited sound effects, and have it building up as you go through the comic. We’ve designed it so musicians can be quite tasteful as to how they build up the elements. But either way, the algorithms we’ve designed will make it work together as you go along, so even randomly selecting images and sounds can work. You can add your captions and narrative before you add music, or use music to inspire the narrative afterwards.
Once finished, it’s just one click of a button and it’s published worldwide. We have plans that mean very soon it will be like a social forum. Within a few months you’ll be able to sign up via social media, Twitter and Facebook. You’ll be able to see how many likes you have and how people have rated it. We’re hoping to do rewards too, so if you’re a loyal user we can create a hall of fame, and offer rewards, like limited-edition artwork or comics.
What has the reaction been from the comic community/users?
The feedback we’re getting has been fantastic. One user even said it’s made him late for work. We’ve had interest from quite a few different film companies and schools and universities too.
A lot of our feedback has also come from Comic Cons. We want the app to be true to comic culture, not just getting on the comic bandwagon. We’ve had one diehard comic fan say it’s the best comic app he’s ever seen. Having validation from people who go to Comic Cons is really important to us.
Tell me us about the artists you have enlisted?
We’ve actually met a lot of them at the Comic Cons! Some artists, like Justin Hillgrove, are already established, but we really want emerging talent to get exposure too. People like David Hooper, one of the artists, who’s an up-and-coming talent who is trying to promote and publish himself. His passion for comic culture is really nice, and he’s such a humble guy.
We pay licensing fees both for new and existing art, and we accept submissions too. We’d love it if I’m With Geek fans were keen to send us their artwork – if they just go on www.musomic.com, they can go to the artists’ contact page and get in touch with us via that.
What other developments are you working on?
We’re developing a challenge whereby you can combine characters and music, and then bounce your comic to one of your friends (or another app) and challenge them to create the story to go with it. We’re always up for getting feedback about how it can be made better as well - we try to incorporate people’s ideas whenever we can.
We need to know - when is the android version going to be released?
Now we’ve seen how many people are interested, it shouldn’t be too long. We hope within three to six months, at the latest.
What do you think Musomic means for the comic industry?
It's the future of comics! I feel it will pave the way for a whole generation of people interested in becoming authors. It’s become a one stop shop for comics – you can become the designer and author. It gives instant validation for people looking to get into the comic world.
Where do you hope Musomic will be in five years’ time?
I’d rather be broke and have millions of people using it for free, than put it out at a cost and have money, but only have 50 people using it. We’ve worked on it that long it’s the pride of people loving it that matters.
Having said that, I hope that it will have millions of users. I hope that we’ll have all of our developments in place, so that it’s truly the best, completely unrivalled, comic building experience. I hope that we’ll have started licensing with some really, really big comic players in the world. But I also I want to keep making sure up-and-coming artists have a strong presence too. I want to use it to keep the true spirit of comics alive - just world domination really!
The feedback we’re getting has been fantastic. One user even said it’s made him late for work. We’ve had interest from quite a few different film companies and schools and universities too.
A lot of our feedback has also come from Comic Cons. We want the app to be true to comic culture, not just getting on the comic bandwagon. We’ve had one diehard comic fan say it’s the best comic app he’s ever seen. Having validation from people who go to Comic Cons is really important to us.
Tell me us about the artists you have enlisted?
We’ve actually met a lot of them at the Comic Cons! Some artists, like Justin Hillgrove, are already established, but we really want emerging talent to get exposure too. People like David Hooper, one of the artists, who’s an up-and-coming talent who is trying to promote and publish himself. His passion for comic culture is really nice, and he’s such a humble guy.
We pay licensing fees both for new and existing art, and we accept submissions too. We’d love it if I’m With Geek fans were keen to send us their artwork – if they just go on www.musomic.com, they can go to the artists’ contact page and get in touch with us via that.
What other developments are you working on?
We’re developing a challenge whereby you can combine characters and music, and then bounce your comic to one of your friends (or another app) and challenge them to create the story to go with it. We’re always up for getting feedback about how it can be made better as well - we try to incorporate people’s ideas whenever we can.
We need to know - when is the android version going to be released?
Now we’ve seen how many people are interested, it shouldn’t be too long. We hope within three to six months, at the latest.
What do you think Musomic means for the comic industry?
It's the future of comics! I feel it will pave the way for a whole generation of people interested in becoming authors. It’s become a one stop shop for comics – you can become the designer and author. It gives instant validation for people looking to get into the comic world.
Where do you hope Musomic will be in five years’ time?
I’d rather be broke and have millions of people using it for free, than put it out at a cost and have money, but only have 50 people using it. We’ve worked on it that long it’s the pride of people loving it that matters.
Having said that, I hope that it will have millions of users. I hope that we’ll have all of our developments in place, so that it’s truly the best, completely unrivalled, comic building experience. I hope that we’ll have started licensing with some really, really big comic players in the world. But I also I want to keep making sure up-and-coming artists have a strong presence too. I want to use it to keep the true spirit of comics alive - just world domination really!
Just for fun:
What’s your favourite comic character and why?
I know it’s clichéd but I’m a massive Batman fan. I’m also massively in love with Rick from Walking Dead. I’ve been collecting the graphic novels for a while now, but I’m a bit of a late bloomer with the TV show. Man, what a parallel. A graphic novel that’s amazing and dark and brilliant (not to mention how cool the art is), then the TV show comes out, and Robert Kirkman is on hand to change the plot! It’s one of those rare occasions that means you can love both and not have any spoilers. I also love The New 52, I’m a die-hard fan of the artwork. And I really give credit to indie comics like Dead Universe Publishing - Bertie Bear is awesome.
If you could have any super-power what would it be?
I’d like to go really fast. Only ‘cos my mate’s got a faster motorbike than me.
If you could pit two comic characters against each other, who would it be and why? Who would win?
Judge Dredd and Bane. Judge Dredd would kick his arse.
Keep your eyes peeled for news of our incredible competition in association with Musomic. You heard it here first guys – it’s going to be huge!
What’s your favourite comic character and why?
I know it’s clichéd but I’m a massive Batman fan. I’m also massively in love with Rick from Walking Dead. I’ve been collecting the graphic novels for a while now, but I’m a bit of a late bloomer with the TV show. Man, what a parallel. A graphic novel that’s amazing and dark and brilliant (not to mention how cool the art is), then the TV show comes out, and Robert Kirkman is on hand to change the plot! It’s one of those rare occasions that means you can love both and not have any spoilers. I also love The New 52, I’m a die-hard fan of the artwork. And I really give credit to indie comics like Dead Universe Publishing - Bertie Bear is awesome.
If you could have any super-power what would it be?
I’d like to go really fast. Only ‘cos my mate’s got a faster motorbike than me.
If you could pit two comic characters against each other, who would it be and why? Who would win?
Judge Dredd and Bane. Judge Dredd would kick his arse.
Keep your eyes peeled for news of our incredible competition in association with Musomic. You heard it here first guys – it’s going to be huge!
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