So let's talk about Gork and Izzy. How did this project start? What inspirations are you drawing on? What are some of the major themes and messages you want to hit?

Jonathan: The project started while doing my Masters. I wanted to collaborate on a comic with someone and a few friends had let me down. I put an ad online and got some very bizarre responses, but one amazing script called Gorky and Izzy's Trip to Mexico. I spent a lot of time researching into the history and foundation of crime noir. Gorky and Izzy focuses largely on the character's need for emotional support, inability or unwillingness to express their emotions and the consequences of it. I found that crime noir drew inspiration from German Expressionism who painting scenes of alienation in the face of growing urbanization. I used many of their compositional ideas to help demonstrate the characters feelings of alienation through juxtaposition of them against unfamiliar urban back drops.

Fahed: Gorky and Izzy started as a short film script I wrote for a film comp. I got the idea for the story after a conversation I had with a friend who was going through a rough break-up. It was an awkward conversation, and I was embarrassed by how little comfort I offer my mate and by how uncomfortable I felt by seeing my friend close to tears. After that, I had this idea about how some men don't really want to hear about the emotional problems their friends are going through.

I wanted to modern masculinity, why the need to have friends you can trust is so important and how this can mean we make bad choices about the people, we let get close to us. I wanted to explore why it is so difficult for both men and women to expose their emotional selves to those closest to them. The inciting incident of the story is a divorce. I was interested in looking at knowing when to walk away from a relationship. Having been a lawyer and that has advised on divorces I always found it frustrating how peoples emotions can let them make decisions that will really damage them in the long run.

The partially-animated nature of the comic grabbed our attention immediately and reminds us a lot of cinemagraphs. Can you tell us a bit about the process? How do you decide when and what to animate? Why did you choose that format?

Jonathan: During my studies I looked at the shift from print to digital in comics and the boundary of comics lies. If we use technology to introduce animation or sound, is the artwork still a comic? You can find my discussion on the topic here: http://www.jonschwochert.com/blog/what-is-a-comic and here: http://www.jonschwochert.com/blog/masters-thesis1

I decided that animation that is ambient and does not its self describe action of the narrative or characters is still in the realm of comic. So for example traffic seen from a distance or rain splattering on a window would still be comic. I used the animation to show the city full of life when the characters were at their loneliest. I looked a lot at Akira Kurosawa's use of movement and weather to describe the emotions of his characters.

I chose the format to push the boundaries of what could be considered a comic. In doing so I did push past the boundaries of what digital readers are currently capable of. Our website is the only place where you can see the comic animated. For the moment everything published on Comixology or Comix Central will be without animation.

Any advice or tips you want to share with aspiring comic and graphic novel creators?

Jonathan: Get started ASAP. Don't wait for the right time or when you feel ready. There will never be a right time and you become ready through a process of trial and error. It takes a long time to build up a career in this field so the sooner you start the better.

Fahed: Write. Write. Write. It will be shit, but you need to get the reps in. Makes sure you understand that this is a collaborative process so don't get too precious and be prepared compromise and take notes and suggestions. Set deadlines if like me you procrastinate. Read as many scripts as you can your hands on. Editing is so important. No one gets it right on their first time. So being able to cut lines and bits you love and staying tight is really critical. Talking to other creators is really important too.