Ping Pong Match

‘Ping Pong Match’ is a new series that brings together Executive Director Raul Roman and Graphic Storytelling Director Eric Andriantsialonina to engage in a spirited back-and-forth about the collaborative process of creating DAWNING’s graphic novels. In this first issue, they discuss their work on a graphic novel for the ongoing research project ‘Planet Moldova’, an in-depth exploration of democracy in Moldova – a geopolitical battleground between Russia and the West.

Eric Andriantsialonina says that working on graphic novels with Raul Roman is like a ping pong match. They have a lot of fun discussing possibilities face to face during fieldwork. But the real ping pong match starts once they get back home.

At home -Eric in Madagascar, and Raul in Washington, DC- they connect online to discuss which ideas will translate into actual graphic novels: entire visual narratives populated with people, places, and scenes drawn from dozens of interview transcripts and thousands of photographs.

EA: Working with DAWNING is always a nice change of pace from my usual routine, drawing alone in my studio. On this and other DAWNING projects, I always have multiple opportunities during the production process to exchange ideas with Raul and other members of the team. This graphic novel in Moldova is a great example of that collaborative process.

RR: The real work begins at the stage of selecting which stories to feature in our graphic novels. We discuss and preselect ideas in the field, and every team member is involved in that. But you don’t have much time to think things through in the field. Once Eric and I are back home –that’s when the rubber hits the road. We decide how many stories we’re going to work on and in what order; the number of pages, and where exactly graphic novel work fits within the larger narrative, which includes photography and text.

“The first draft triggers the creative fire in our ping pong match.”

EA: Once we start a graphic novel it is wonderful because we have all the raw materials on the table: interview transcripts, photographs, a literature review. But it is also scary: we need to figure out the best way to tell the story. The stories are complex and important, and there is no room for error.

RR: That’s right. In this case, there was an added layer of complexity because we decided that the graphic novel needed to feature four different characters whose voices intertwine throughout the narrative.

EA: The rhythm and tempo of our exchanges is also extremely important. I start the process by creating a first draft, which is what triggers the creative fire in our ping pong match. Someone reading the final product would never know it, but the opening page went through five different iterations.

RR: Ultimately, we thought it was important to establish the two main characters clearly, contrasting one against the other. They carry the story, and we needed to establish a visual balance also. Ecaterina supports President Maia Sandu’s pro-EU party, while Galina supports the pro-Russian Sor Party. The two characters become a microcosm of the fierce political polarization in Moldova.

EA: It took us a long time to reach that decision, and it was the right one.

RR: This graphic novel was a bit unusual for DAWNING. Eric wanted to try new ways of doing things, and I am all for experimentation. In all our previous work, the script and the storyboard came together almost simultaneously, but not this time.

“Why don’t we first compose the music and write the lyrics later?”

EA: My first draft included the script. But soon we decided to put the script on hold and just focus on the visual narrative first, as if we were working on a silent film.

RR: Why don’t we first compose the music and write the lyrics later? I think that metaphor resonated with you. It was a risky decision.

EA: It was a risk because we had never worked like that before, but we needed that approach to balance the two worldviews presented in the story.

RR: Yes. We had to determine the spaces and scenes inhabited by each character to fully understand the power of the story.

EA: By doing that, we were able to have the images carry a big part of the story too. For example, the final pages show Galina eating borscht alone in her kitchen, while Ecaterina is also alone, watering her plants. This shows the loneliness the two women are experiencing as a consequence of historical forces beyond their control.

RR: That’s right. This graphic novel is an intimate account of how a climate of political polarization affects the lives of ordinary people.

EA: Another example is the frame that shows Ecaterina’s refrigerator door with magnets from the European cities where her children live. This is a very powerful image, because it conveys that Ecaterina’s children have left her behind in Orhei, a town that’s been hollowed out by corruption.

RR: The photographs that came out of the trip played a very important role in the graphic novel process. For instance, there’s an amazing bird’s eye view of Orheiland on one page. Orheiland is the amusement park created by the fugitive tycoon Ilan Sor, who is an important part of this DAWNING project. That vignette comes from an aerial photograph taken by Nick Parisse.

EA: Yes, the photos our team took were very useful for me in my storyboarding process. I was able to use them as placeholders and sources of inspiration.

RR: In the final stages we also exchange notes about fine details like the color scheme in the sketches of Ecaterina’s home, for example, which was a bit too dark in its first version. I interviewed Ecaterina at her home, and we have hundreds of pictures. I look at every detail: the line, the colors, the light, the textures…

EA: I love that about working with DAWNING.

RR: The fact that we have so much trust for each other is paramount in enabling those kinds of productive exchanges. We go back and forth so many times to try to resolve a problem that sometimes I don’t even remember who came up with the solution! It’s a process that’s very collaborative and full of joy.

EA: Whenever I get a request to change something, I can see that it’s for the benefit of the story. After all, maybe Raul sees something that I don’t see. Each time we have this ping pong match, sending ideas back and forth, I set my artistic ego aside because I know each iteration improves the story.