INTERVIEW: Evan Schultz and Lydia Roberts on INTERDIMENSIONAL

Bad Ink Studios’ Interdimensional, inspired by classic comics like Heavy Metal magazine and EC Comics, brings us a brilliant sci-fi and fantasy anthology series honoring decades of classic sci-fi tropes. The creative duo behind Bad Ink Studios, Evan Schultz and Lydia Roberts, have shown us incredible stories accompanied by stunning art that truly brings you to another world the moment you open the comic.

Evan Schultz said that he and Lydia Roberts genuinely love the craft of comics, taking pride in creating stories with incredible art, dynamic page layouts, and an embarrassingly-obsessive attention to detail. 

“Interdimensional is a pretty fluid anthology—” Roberts said, “a standalone short-story form for now. Though for all those wary of anthologies, we're toying with the idea of doing the occasional sequel or companion story where they complement but still build on the universe or storyline- but you could still read them independently. Some issues we may end up doing half new story and half sequel story. It'll vary, stay tuned! We may add some more short comics in the back of issues as well.”

Interdimensional Issue One

Inspiration For Interdimensional 

When talking about the inspirations behind Interdimensional, Schultz said that there were too many to name, “the entire thing is sort of a pastiche of tributes to other things, hopefully with a totally original spin. You can compare still frames from old Twilight Zone episodes to the opening sequence in the first issue of Interdimensional and see our version of the classic sci-fi trope of ‘humans land on an alien planet that looks like a Southern Californian desert’. Or you can look at the way we colored the bikers' outfits in issue two and you'll see that, even though it's not a superhero story, it's got the bright costume colors of an 80s team-book like New Mutants.” 

 Roberts talked about a few details that come to mind when asked what inspired Interdimensional, “there were these woven/trained root bridges in Indonesia that inspired the villages and structures of Cascadia. In ‘Ecomat’ [a story in issue one of Interdimensional], there is a panel with a skull that's ‘exploded’/expanded outward. We were still in the sketches and layouts stage when I happened to visit the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia, and I saw a Beauchêne skull there that was a perfect reference for what we needed in that panel. It was so weird stumbling across it in real life. The first issue of Interdimensional though is honestly inspired by Metal Hurlant and early Heavy Metal artists and stories like Enki Bilal, Moebius, and [Alejandro] Jodorowsky.”

Behind the scenes, Interdimensional, from Bad Ink Studios.

The duo’s favorite aspects of creating Interdimensional

When talking to Roberts and Schultz about their favorite aspects to create for the comic series, Roberts said that it was hard to answer. “I love the worldbuilding and set-up aspects. I do always get caught up in the vehicle designs and making cool gear for them to carry around and use. Probably the mercenary mechs in issue two - I always loved Transformers and random Gundam shows as a kid. Any giant robot or machinery I enjoy designing, [and I especially love] nerding out on what the different instruments and gear will be used for in the story.”

“I am super proud of all of it,” said Schultz “but I guess I'll shout out the actual logo design for the name Intedimensional on the covers. I have no idea how that came together so quickly, but that was literally a first draft, working directly into Illustrator with the pen tool, trying to create a piece of typography that screamed classic sci-fi. It came out very early-60s, like something that [Jack] Kirby or [Jim] Steranko would have done and it's great.”

Behind the scenes, Interdimensional, from Bad Ink Studio

Roberts and Schultz’s Creative Processes

“I try to draw or work on art most every day (sometimes whether I want to or not!)” Roberts said as she talked about her creative process, “but it may vary how much is comics vs some other form of art project. Occasionally in the middle of working on something, an unrelated idea pops up and I have to remember to scribble it down for later in my sketchbook. Or if it's for a future comic idea for Interdimensional, I text Evan a long rambling text out of nowhere that sometimes ends up getting combined with other little bursts of ideas later.” 

When it comes to new ideas, Roberts said “it's split for me between the intake of material and ideas through movies, books, comics, art, nature, scientific discoveries, and cooking even, as well as mulling things over in the subconscious of my mind and letting them work themselves out in the background. If it's a project that I need to figure out ideas for quickly, I'll usually start in my sketchbook, making a list of notes or elements of the project, and just start doodling aspects of the piece and any impulses that pop in my head. Then I alternate between taking breaks or doing other things like chores and coming back periodically to revise or update the ideas or elements. It can be contrary and definitely not something that is ever guaranteed. Some projects can be super difficult and I just stare at a blank page for waaaay too long.” 

Schultz said when it comes to his process of creating “I tend to cycle between reading a ton of stuff and then going on walks to help sort out the massive inspiration-dump that I've recently put in my brain. I think of it like throwing handfuls of change into those automatic sorting machines. You know, those things that literally no one uses any more in our cashless society?” 

The Future of Interdimensional

“We have a vague lineup of different stories planned” Roberts stated, “but issue three is taking precedence at the moment. I'm just starting in on some of the world design and character looks. We're still deciding whether or not there will be some additional shorts in this next one. As far as issue four and onwards, we're chipping away at those in the background.“

Schultz added, “issue three is currently occupying every waking thought I have. We've been brainstorming the story structure and the outline is written. Now I just need to sit down and write the script over a caffeine-fueled long weekend or something. It will be another self-contained story, but more horror-focused than our previous stuff, very inspired by Junji Ito. We're even talking about doing a portion of it in black-and-white screentone shading to further cement our tribute to him.”

Schultz said, “at some point we'll do a Kickstarter for issue three, so hopefully everyone will get excited enough to donate to that. We're going to be offering some really fun rewards this time. Since we are doing an anthology series, it's another self-contained short, so you don't even have to know our previous work to jump in.”

Roberts added, “I am so excited for this next one! And yeah, the rewards will be awesome—getting to design those is always fun. As we progress with the world design and story elements we'll be posting updates on social media too. But this next story will have some cool sequences with shifting art styles, and like Evan said before we're gonna bring in some classic screentone shading for sections. Because screentone is the best.”

Where to find interdimensional 

You can find all their comics and merch at BadInkStudios.com 

In addition they post regularly on TikTok and Instagram as @badinkstudios. Here you can keep up to date with their projects as well as discover more on their creative process and inspirations for Interdimensional. 

Roberts added “we appreciate all the support from everyone! Keep an eye out for updates/ development of issue three of Interdimensional!”

BadInkStudios.com