Hi guys, first of all thank you for your time! We wanted to know where did you get the inspiration for The Divine’s plot and setting.
The Divine was inspired by a photo of the 90s that we saw, of two twin brothers who were 9 years old and led an army of teenagers against the Burmese Army.
And how come you decided to talk about a tough subject such as child soldiers?
You know, comics often make fantasies seem real. The comic is about the struggle of the war and the clash between adult and children’s life, in which adult’s life is reality and children’s life fantasy. Now, a child soldier is a child who acts like an adult, but of course it’s not an adult, and in the comic we have this mix between adult and child, and real and fantasy.
Just out of curiosity, do you like videogames?
No. We used to play Halo all the time, but now we don’t have time with the kids and all the work, you know.
I asked it because the subject of child soldiers is something you can find sometimes in videogames as well, for example in the popular saga of Metal Gear Solid, so I wanted to know if there was in a way a connection between games and your comic.
No, unluckily we don’t know that game. But actually comics and videogames have this thing in common, they’re both entertainment for young people (usually) and they allow you to do something you can’t do in real life, like you know, killing a zombie.
In comics the feeling of physically being in another place is really strong, because you can imagine you’re there with your fantasy, instead with videogame it’s more active, but yes, there can be a connection between the two media.
Back to your projects, how do you decide the drawings for your projects? Do you have long sessions of artworking or do you just go with the flow?
We do lot of drawings, and you’ve got to have a system, otherwise you’ll never finish in time. Our system is I (Hasaf) do all the layout and sketches, decide how the page is divided and Tomer does all the drawings and the colours. So I do the structure and Tomer the ambiance and the surface.
Was it hard to get along between you two? Is it easier to work with family or can it sometimes become a different relationship?
No, it’s very natural, we enjoy working together.
You both have a successful career, what is the project you are most proud of?
Hasaf: outside of the comics I’m working for a series of poster about the Stanley Kubrik’s movies, I did so far 4 and it’s really challenging.
You’ve also been nominated for an Academy Award.
Yeah, with Waltz with Bashir. Animation was an interesting experience, but I think it’s not for me because you have to work with a lot of people, and for me working with Tomer it’s the best I can do. I don’t feel comfortable when I am a small part of the project, I like to have more control on what I do.
What are your future projects?
We are trying to work on a new book, with the same team of The Divine, but it’s still really too soon to talk about it. It’s going to be really amazing and revolutionary, but I really can’t talk about it yet.
Do you have some advice to give to our readers who would like to follow your path?
The most important advice is never give up, because you have to practice a lot and you won’t always like your works, but if you do it every day you’re gonna make it. So never give up.
Alright guys, thank you again for your time, congratulations for The Divine and good luck for your next projects.
Thank you!
Article by Mariano Adamo and Gabriele Atero Di Biase
