Meet Lawrence Ndzanga

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lawrence Ndzanga. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lawrence below.

Lawrence, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

I fell in love with comics at a very young age. I remember my late father would bring me comics and the rest, as they say, is history. This fueled my passion for the medium. It made me want to create my own stories and draw as well as the masters. As I got older I discovered manga and indie comics and my passion was reignited. This drove me to take this dream seriously and study to fulfill my purpose. Now I create comics and self-publish

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I’m the author of the “infamous” web comic, RRBA (Real Rude Boy Association). I wanted to create a comic that celebrated what I love about the medium—the art, characters, story arcs, and action. But I also wanted to infuse real-life elements. Some are a little controversial. The comic is set on Mars in the distant future where humans have evolved into Kurviz. A race of people who are born with superpowers. Our main character is Elmando Laarz. A college student and the son of a famous hero. Rather than follow in his father’s heroic footsteps, he’d rather party and hook up with girls. But the more you run from your destiny, the more you run towards it. Elmando slowly finds that out the hard way. I wanted to blend the action of comic books with the drama and fun of one’s college years. RRBA is NOT a comic for younger readers. It doesn’t shy away from violence, sex, and other adult themes. That’s how I wanted to separate my story from all the others. Hence the REAL in the first R of the name

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

First and most important is drawing. Since comics are a visual medium my drawing skills need to have appeal and I constantly need to be improving them.

The second would be storytelling. Knowing story fundamentals like the hero’s journey, and being able to create interesting and relatable characters, story arcs, etc, is important as well. This is a skill I always try to hone by reading other comics, and books, watching movies, and gaining life experience as well

Lastly, staging and presentation. I also have a background in animation and preproduction. What I learned there really helped take my comic pages and panels to the next level.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?

Whenever I feel overwhelmed I try to take a break. As an artist, we often hit a creative block. When that happens, I try to fall back in love with the medium. I’ll read other comics or manga and try to fire up that passion again. Similar to when I was a child. That usually gets me back into the drawing spirit.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

All the images were drawn by me

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