LET’S TALK KOMIKS: Discovering INCREMENTS with Joanne Cesario

Flipgeeks got the privilege of interviewing Joanne Cesario, one of the creators of Increments. For those of you who don’t know, Increments is a comic book that features short stories that each has a lesson in it. Read on to find out more about the comic and the creator.

FLIPGEEKS: How about some background first? What do you do? How did you get into comics?
JOANNE CESARIO: Hi, I’m Joanne. I’m a Film student at UP Diliman. I’d like to believe that I’ve read a lot of comics growing up, but I’m sure others have read a lot more.  Kapitan Bayaran, the first comic I wrote, was my final requirement for Sir Carljoe Javier’s comic book writing class.

Tell us something about Increments. Maybe a little overview and what it is to you?
Increments is a collection and recollection of short stories. I pitched an earlier version of it to my comic book writing class yet we all opted for Kapitan Bayaran. I’m glad to have pushed through with Increments even after the class and I’m grateful to everyone who encouraged us to continue making comics.

Why Increments? Is there a deep or hidden meaning behind the title?
An increment is something we add to an initial measure or value. Sometimes this addition or increase is slight and barely noticeable. Same as with Increments, however simple the stories are, a piece of insight is gained (by the characters inside the comic and hopefully by the readers) along the way.

What music should listen with while reading this?
All 50+ songs from Boyhood!

 [Check out… COMIC BOOK REVIEW: Get Your Slice of Life with ‘Increments’]

There were many interesting stories in your comic. By any chance, did some of those happen to you?
There were certain parts in each comic that happened to me. I just had to expand on the general idea of each one to make them more interesting.

How difficult was in interpreting your words into images? Were there any revisions?
I think it’s always difficult to transform something into another form. With comics, however, I think Michelle and I have found a process that fits both of us. There were revisions to my original concept, there were revisions to Michelle’s illustrations, and there were revisions even after the comic has been published. We’re constantly learning and improving on things and it is a very happy process.

During the process of making this, did you do thumbnails and would pass this to your artist?
Yes, I drew thumbnails and wrote detailed notes. Since I’m not good with virtual conversations and I prefer to track the work while it’s being done, Michelle and I stayed at my place to do the actual drawings. It involved a lot of falling asleep, missing classes, and panicking, but all remains well. We did this for all of our comics and not just for Increments.

What comics are you reading at the moment?
I was reading Apol Sta. Maria’s N. Tablado before this interview.

Who do you look up to in the local comic book scene and in the international comic book industry?
A lot of people! Adam David, Carljoe Javier, Josel Nicolas, Macoy, Rob Cham, Apol Sta. Maria, JP Palabon, Manix Abrera, Electrolychee (Marcushiro Nada and Bru Sim), Danielle Riña, Trizha Ko, Mika Bacani, Ara Villena, Zel Geronimo, Carlorozy Clemente, Dark Chapel, Michael David, Marlon Hacla, Bong Redila, Gerry Alanguilan, Warren Ellis, Yumi Sakugawa, Adrian Tomine, Jeffrey Brown, Alan Moore, and many others. Labyu ol.

Would there be a sequel to Increments? Are you working on any new projects that we can look forward too?
We just finished our entry to PIKO, a Pinoy Komiks anthology for children. We are in the company of very talented creators. Watch out for its launch!