Bryce Oquaye

Comic artist, writer, and animator Bryce Oquaye considers mentorship to be "the most important part" of his journey, whether he's receiving feedback from other creators or working with young people. 

"Because initially," he says, "I made what I made, and I shared it online, and that was helpful. But nothing helped me excel more than connecting with other people in a real way."

Bryce shares the importance of comic conventions to his professional development and describes his process of creating comics, both on his own and as part of a team. The prompts that Bryce uses to develop characters and story structure will benefit writers of all genres.

About Bryce Oquaye

Bryce Oquaye is an illustrator, comic artist, writer, and animator. His comic and graffiti-styled approach have placed him within a wide range of projects. From comics to cover art for publishers like Z2 Comics, illustration for Zox and Netflix, and animation for companies like Group Nine Media, Bryce has placed a focus on story-based illustration and sequential work. 

A resident artist at the Loudoun House and Lexington Art League, Bryce Oquaye operates a studio he calls MADHUNDREDS, where he self-publishes comics and small animation projects as a freelance creator. 

He also works closely as part of a collective called “Six Bomb Boards” where he had his start as a live artist. He travels to exhibit and perform live art in different comic conventions and art showcases.

What is Prompt to Page?

A JCPL librarian interviews published writers about their favorite writing prompts—exercises that can help inspire, focus, and improve your creative writing. Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, a novelist, essayist, or poet, you’ll find ideas and advice to motivate you to keep writing. A partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

P to P Ep 24 Oquaye
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Carrie: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Prompt to Page podcast, a partnership between the Jessamine County Public Library and the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning. I'm your host, librarian and poet, Carrie Green. Each episode, we interview a published writer who shares their favorite writing prompt. Our guest today is Bryce Oquaye.

Bryce is an illustrator, comic artist, and animator. His comic and graffiti-styled approach have placed him within a wide range of projects. From comics to cover art for publishers like Z2 Comics, illustration for Zox and Netflix, and animation for companies like Group 9 Media, Bryce has placed a focus on story-based illustration and sequential work.

A resident artist at the Loudoun House and Lexington Art League, Bryce Oquaye operates a studio he calls Mad Hundreds, where he self publishes comics and small animation projects as a freelance creator. [00:01:00] He also works closely as part of a collective called Six Bomb Boards, where he had his start as a live artist.

He travels to exhibit and perform live art in different comic conventions and art showcases. Welcome, Bryce. Thanks for joining us on Prompt to Page.

Bryce: Thanks for having me.

Carrie: So, we are gearing up for Comic Surge here at the Jessamine County Public Library. It's our annual free Comic Con, and I think you have also been to our Comic Con before?

Bryce: I have, I have. It's, it's pretty cool.

Carrie: What's your experience been like with Comic Cons in general?

Bryce: Varied, depending on, depending on the portion of my career we speak to, because I've never really, I never really have attended a comic convention as just a guest.

Carrie: Okay.

Bryce: I've always gone on a mission.

So, I have fun there. But, yeah, it's always like a, it's always a work type of vibe. [00:02:00] And my first comic convention I went to, was a massive one. It was a comic con in Chicago. It was one of the Wizard World conventions. It was huge, and I got my portfolio reviewed out there, and they ripped my soul out.

Carrie: Oh no!

Bryce: So that was like my entrance into things. But then after that, I began doing conventions more as an Exhibitor and, you know, just peddling the wares and I've gotten a lot of support over the years. So even, even some of the smallest of comic conventions, you know, the love has been amazing.

So yeah, for the most part, yeah, it's great energy.

Carrie: Excellent. As I'm sure, you know, if you're just attending a Comic Con, not as a creator, you have to pay an admission fee to most of them. So that's one, that's one reason that, we like to offer it is because anyone can come.[00:03:00]

Bryce: Yeah, yeah. And, and conventions are, really, really important for creators early in their careers when you start to dive into comics and animation and things like that. Because you have an immediate proving ground. You have a, you have a giant test group. All these people are showing up and they're fans of your medium.

So now you can engage and figure out where your demographic is. You can, you know, you can make mistakes and you can make money. It just depends on how you, how you approach it. And, yeah, they're really, really important early in your career to just kind of figure out the, the, the do's and the don'ts.

I know it personally helped me pivot my style just based on what was resonating with people, you know, being true to myself as a creator, but also factoring in the general public, because it is important.

Carrie: Right. Yeah, that's an interesting way of looking at it. It's kind of like where, I don't know, someone like a poet [00:04:00] like myself might seek, you know, publication in a literary journal.

It's sort of similar in that regard.

Bryce: Absolutely. Absolutely. And I mean, you know, you want to always be authentic in, in what it is that you're creating, but you also want to be aware of your demo and the people that are kind of connecting and resonating with your work. And, and within that paying attention to the, to the public and, you know, if there's something that they love about your work and then there's things that could be improved upon and whatever, like.

It's just a good opportunity for you to be able to really harness all your skills in the right direction and then having people giving you feedback, both professionally and, you know, as consumers.

Carrie: Right.

Bryce: It just, I think that's definitely important for survival as a creator.

It could be understated as well.

Carrie: Mm hmm. Yeah, absolutely. Sean Pryor appeared on our podcast last year, and, he talked about the process of creating comics, you know, from the point of view of someone who writes them and then works [00:05:00] with illustrators, but you illustrate your own comics and then also I think Illustrate other people's comics as well.

Do you want to talk about it a little bit from that perspective? What that process is like?

Bryce: Absolutely, absolutely. First shoutouts to Sean Pryor. That's my brother. I love that man. Um, but, but yeah. For me, the process being visual gives me a completely different, approach to the writing process because at the end of the day, you still have to write.

But, because all of the pieces of my puzzle are visual and come with a certain type of composition and visual language that I have to factor in. I don't have to be as direct as like writing any sort of script as much as, you know, I think about the pacing of the story, you know, how many pages do I have, I look at it like a directive, but, I write to the high points and, you know, fill in the gaps for the sake [00:06:00] of pacing.

If I have to be aware of dialogue, then that's when it can be a little bit more of an official script. But even then, when I'm doing this for myself it's always this mixture of things where it's, it looks more like notes than it looks like a short story. And I know some artists that have the approach of actually writing themselves a script and then kind of using that as a, as a backbone, but yeah, yeah.

For, for me, it's almost like just a bunch of keywords and, and plot points and pacing. And I use something called a Harmon Circle. Which I know a lot of people are aware of, it's kind of like a derivative of the hero's journey, and I take any of those elements to almost create kind of a shortcut for myself, because the work in illustrating is so, it's so labor intensive when it comes to comics and animation especially.

That the time that it takes for people like yourself to write, I know it's comparable and I, that for me, that would make that turn around [00:07:00] that turn a project that could take two months and six months if I'm not careful. So, you know, that's, how I typically approach that alone. But then working with other creators,

when they give me scripts and you know, oftentimes if they have my style in mind when they do that then I could kind of shut all of that down and then everything is purely director mode based off of their their structure and it just requires a little bit less thought as a storyteller from a writing perspective and just more of the animation director director role and then I can focus purely on making the best art possible only.

Carrie: Do you prefer one or the other or do you enjoy them equally?

Bryce: I enjoy them equally. I enjoy them equally because I love, I love storytelling in general and I never really work on things that I'm not somehow resonating with, you know, be it the message of the story being told or just generally just the cool story of like, man, this would just be [00:08:00] fun.

And, yeah, I love helping other people get their visions in front of people. I like to see things come to life. And then for myself, having the ability to go through the whole process and not have to, skip any. Well, I mean, I can't skip steps, but not necessarily have to rely on anyone else.

If I want to tell a story, I don't have to hire an illustrator. I don't have to hire a writer. I remember I could use, you know, friends to help me edit and things like that. But otherwise, like, I don't feel like I have any restrictions in any territory and it gives me a certain level of respect for the other creators that I work with because I'm not a full writer, but I know enough of the process to say to myself, I get what this person is getting at and I can speak the language in a way

to just Make sure that I'm accounting for everything that somebody else is doing. So it just, it all blends together perfectly for me.

Carrie: Mm hmm. Right. So I didn't catch the, you mentioned the circle. I didn't catch the full, full name [00:09:00] of that.

Bryce: It's called a Harmon Circle.

Carrie: Do you want to explain that a little bit for people who might not know?

Bryce: Okay. Yeah. So, I'm hoping I'm not messing, messing his name up I believe the guys', name is just Dan Harmon, but he's one of the writers who, he's known for like writing on Community and I think like Rick and Morty and stuff like that, but like, you know, he's a television writer.

And what he did was he kind of, he broke down the, the story structure that's used in the hero's journey. Into a way to give you very clear beats so you can do, you can write an effective story without necessarily, having to do too much, labor intensive work because in comics and animation, especially in, in film and stuff, like sometimes when, you know, when you got to get the thing done, you got to get the thing done.

And yeah, and it's a essentially, you know, it's an eight part structure, so it factors in all the story elements where you have a story beginning in your norm, right? [00:10:00] And then the character will typically have something that will completely pull them away from their norm. So that it be it a goal or something that's thrust upon them.

And within that, you know, they go to try to achieve that goal. And throughout that process, they run into whatever the difficulties are, and then within finally tackling those difficulties, you know, they'll reach their goal, but then they have to sacrifice to get what it is that they wanted that changes them or changes the setting or something.

So now in that sacrifice, they come out different, and then eventually they have to return home to a new normal. And so it's a very clear structure, and it factors in everything that you would expect within storytelling, but it's broken down into almost like a pie chart, and it makes it easy [00:11:00] when you need to get the beats right for a story.

So, you can like... Mark everything down for your character or for the structure of your story within this pie chart and then in comics, I can introduce a page count, I can say, well, this is a 12 page comic and here's the structure of my story, and I can set up my pacing by literally numbering each, piece of the pie, page 1 and 2 is this, and 3 and 4 is this, or whatever, and it gives me parameters, so I don't overextend in ways where I'm trying to, like, get this thing done, or I can put it within Seconds or, storyboard, panels.

I could, just anything, it just, it's a, it's a nice, uh, I think of it like a cheat code.

Carrie: Yeah, and it kind of sounds like, I mean, that's kind of a writing prompt in a way, because it's giving you a structure to follow.

Bryce: Mm hmm.

Carrie: And speaking of, what writing prompt did you want to talk [00:12:00] about today? You've already kind of talked about one, but do you?

Bryce: Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, so I definitely, I'm very heavily inspired by that in particular, and like, you know, as the hero's journey type of thing.

I don't necessarily go about it in the most in super direct ways as far as like, having the singular character be the direct hero as much as I like to write to general scenarios. So I'm very, I like to make sure that no matter what my characters come out completely different than who they began as.

It's important to me that regardless of what the setting is, I want the character to always leave having grown or experienced a level of loss that's just transformed who they are. So a lot of times that Harmon circle or you know just different aspects of the hero's journey I keep that in mind.[00:13:00]

And I, and I like to always write from the perspectives of urban environments because just, just from where I'm from and what I connect with. I look at urban environments like the new nature in a sense, if that makes sense, because, like even the way that I draw landscapes and things as far as like cities and stuff, it's manmade nature.

So. If you think about like old stories where, you know, at one point in time, like we can go back to like Greek myth, right? Where, you know, it's the, it's the unknown, going into nature, diving into the cave, all these different things. This massive unknown that that purely exists because it's grown here, it's existed or it's existed longer than you. And now, we, we live in this massive man made environment that for a lot of us, you know, it's what we [00:14:00] knew from the beginning and it's what we've grown with it.

So we have generations of people that, you know, are born into these, urban environments. And for us, for a person like myself, it'd be no different than a kid with a forest in their backyard. So I write in that sense, keeping that energy, thinking of it, almost that, you know, like, like that classic style of writing the mystery of what is this or what is that.

Or, you know, within, the city street and having this person's perspective in mind, no matter who it is, of what is it that they're diving into, maybe that anxiety, or, maybe they're comfortable with this environment, but like, and how do they maneuver through it, and having that structure in mind that's, derivative of the hero's journey, to make sure that the character is not who he is, or not, well, not who they are, by the time they leave.

Carrie: So if you were going to sort [00:15:00] of give someone an exercise based on, you know, that kind of your, your thought process, how might you phrase that?

Bryce: I typically tell my students think of what your character believes in or where your character starts and what would be the thing that would completely uproot that belief.

That's, that's how I go about that. Like, I don't like to think of conflict generally as just, something that you could punch or something that you could purely solve, but maybe something that generally challenges your reality. Or something that makes you have to look outside of anything within your expectations of what is true or what is not.

So, you know, a perfect example of that even could be like a person like Superman, within comics where Superman is a character who is, [00:16:00] you know, that's the immigrant story, right? And Superman is a character that was immediately thrown into a situation to where he felt like he was like everyone else

but there was something there that made him slightly different and he couldn't put his finger on it. Next thing you know, it massive power and ability manifested in within this person, which changed his perspective of what reality was, he went from everybody else to all of a sudden something different.

And what does, what does that mean for that character? And how does that, how does that realization, change his worldview? I think writing like that is so much more interesting than direct conflict that can be solved.

Carrie: Yeah, absolutely. So I read a profile of you in Undermain where you talked about the ways that you had both sought out mentorship as a young artist.

I think you kind of mentioned that with your first Comic Con, but also the ways that you try to mentor other young [00:17:00] artists. Can you talk a little bit about the role of mentorship and why that role is important in your life as an artist?

Bryce: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I think it's the most important part of my journey.

Because I know, and a lot of us as, you know, creators, it's, it's so solitary and it's, it's such an individual process, right? That like, it's very easy for us to settle into this mindset of, I have to lock in and get this thing done. And you can't see me till it, till it's finished. And it's not healthy.

There's no growth there. There's no alternate perspectives. You're basically, you're limited to the completion of the project and how the public will receive it. So all your growth is on the back end. Doing things like looking for mentors and surrounding myself with groups of artists that are doing what I do and, and experiencing what I'm experiencing gave [00:18:00] me the ability to kind of jump ahead. Because initially, before I'd even gone to get my first portfolio review, I made what I made and, you know, I shared it online and that was helpful, but nothing helped me excel more than connecting with other people in a real way.

So even outside of that portfolio review, you know, again, to mention Sean Pryor, he was one of the people early in my career that helped me from the storytelling perspective. And being part of Six Bomb Boards. That's a collective of artists who, in varying levels of their career or in, you know, different stages from professional to hobbyist, everybody's perspectives

gave me something to, uh, to build off of and to grow from, and I don't think that I would be in the position that I'm in now without having people invest that energy in me. And then in turn, knowing how important that it is when I work with children or just anybody in general, I make sure that [00:19:00] they know how important it is to have a collective or have some sort of community because nobody really tells you that in the beginning.

You look at the romantic, the romantic artist that's locked in the studio and everything's amazing. And they're, you know, they haven't showered in days. It's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. Go outside, make some friends.

Carrie: Yeah. Yeah, because getting inspired is one of the things that helps you as a creator too. So yeah, you do have to leave your house every now and then.

Bryce: You have to, you have to. Well, and, and, and it's just from every angle, like, even if, even if you're not connected with other artists, like just life experience, you have to have success, you have to have loss, you have to have pain, you have to make mistakes, you need to love, you need to you know, you need to fumble a little bit

and, and I put, I definitely emphasize the mistakes. I definitely emphasize the, [00:20:00] the, the loss. And the reason being is because we can go out here and we can revel in all of the wins and, and, and do all the safe things. But I think the biggest, the largest amount of growth is making the mistakes, go, go fumble a little bit, make something that isn't successful, make friends and from different walks of life, learn what fits and learn what doesn't.

You know, love, love, love some people. Have some, you know, have, have great relationships. Go through some breakups. I don't know, but have, have something that you can pivot your work off of. And, and then of course, don't just do it for the sake of work, but like do it for the sake of life and throughout that you will, you will learn

about everything that you want and don't want. And it informs you as a creator and it just informs you as a person in the world. And I feel like, [00:21:00] who we are as individuals affects our art and affects the way that we love the people around us, which will also be reflected in, in, in the art and how people receive you.

Carrie: Yeah, yeah, that's beautifully said. Thank you so much for, joining us. We really appreciate you being here.

Bryce: I thank you. I really, I really appreciate you having me. It was, it was really nice.

Carrie: Thanks for listening to the Prompt to Page podcast. Join us on Saturday, October 7th at JCPL for the 7th Annual Comic Surge. Comic Surge combines all the elements of a larger Comic Con, vendor and artist booths, professionally judged costume contest, cosplayers and costumed characters, live performances, gaming, vehicles and props, an art exhibit, [00:22:00] etc.

with the welcoming, thoughtful atmosphere of your public library. To learn more about the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning, visit Carnegiecenterlex.org. Our music is by Archipelago, an all instrumental musical collaboration between three Lexington based university professors. Find out more about Archipelago songs from quarantine volumes one and two at the links on our podcast website.