Israeli born digital comics fan Tsach Weinberg turned his graduation project from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design into a fully fledged app on the iTunes Store. Needles and Dust is the story of Ziv an Israeli forest watchman who keeps an eye on a local woodland one summer and all the things that happen to him over the months.  We reviewed it in the Sunday Digest two weeks ago describing it as having “cool art house sensibilities… which make it different from the usual superhero wannabes we see on the app store”, but we wanted to find out more about how Tsach went about putting together this fantastic mix of back to nature story-telling and high-tech visuals. Here Tsach tells us his story.

Tell us about the inspiration for Needles and Dust, it feels like a very personal story is it based on your own life or those of someone you know?

TW: In Israel about 70% of the forests are human-planted. I grew up in a small town in the Negev desert called Meitar, which is surrounded by such a forest. It takes 10 minutes to get to the woods, and another 10 minutes to find yourself in the open desert. As a kid, this all seemed natural, but as I grew up I started to feel ambivalent about it. The pine trees seemed detached from their surroundings, their dry needles don’t let anything grow. Furthermore, being born in the Middle East, as a grandchild of European immigrants, I questioned my own belonging to this land.

The story itself is totally fictional. I wanted to convey the conflict I felt through the eyes of Ziv, the hero.

You’ve released it as an app rather than via a storefront like ComiXology, why did you pick that route and what benefits does it bring for you having it as an app?

TW: The app is actually my graduation project in Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. It started as an academic experiment and ended up as a finished product. I figured that publishing it as an independent, standalone app, was the fastest way to reach international audience. I’m not sure that in terms of marketing it’s the perfect solution, so I might consider a different approach in the future.

Tell us a bit about the process of putting it together? I’m assuming it is all done digitally, if so how do you create the artwork and then how do you create the different layouts?

TW: After the script was done,  I designed a grid that would work best on a vertically positioned iPad screen. Then I started story-boarding, breaking the scenes into pages (using a pencil and a cheap notebook) . The final illustrations were all done digitally. I work very spontaneously, referring only to the storyboard thumbnails. First I decide about the color palette for the scene, then I lay down rough color spots and shapes to represent the characters and other elements in the panel. Finally I go into details and stop when the image is clear enough to read but not over-ripe.

You mix elements of animation and some slick layouts to make it more than just a flat page turner, did you look at any other titles for inspiration on this or did you look to create your own style?

TW: I did look at other titles, but when I got to develop Needles and Dust I tried to forget all of them and invent my own system.

Has releasing it as an app helped you get a global audience and what has the response been like so far?

TW: The response so far has been very supportive. As an app, the book is available for all iPad users, but getting attention is not an easy task. I’ve only just started and hopefully my audience will grow bigger.

Finally, what’s next for you? Will you produce a follow up or a new title and what have you learned about the creative process that will inform your next work?

TW: Needles and Dust is my first step into digital story telling. I intend to keep exploring the medium and use it to design more interesting story structures. I’ve got an Idea for a new, longer story and I’m looking for a way to finance the production.

Needles and Dust is available from the iTunes Store here. You can also find out more about Tsach and his work by visiting his own website.