Sydney Padua's long awaited graphic novel, The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, is now on sale. Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage were 19th century inventors who between them pioneered the world's first programmable computer - still in working order in London's Science Museum. To read more about Sydney's book, see our 2013 interview here at FLiP.
Sydney Padua is an animator, writer and graphic novelist who is working on her first full-length graphic novel - The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace & Babbage. FLIP persuaded her to put down her pencil and answer a few questions about her new book.
In the United States, unless your TV has been broken, your newspaper shut down, and your internet connection failed, you know all about "Black Friday". This term is not in reference to post-Thanksgiving bowel movements. This is the day, the awful day, when media advertisers rile people into such a frenzy as to act out as a mob of deal-hunting vigilantes.
So what's a mild mannered, somewhat sane, hunched and goofy person to do? Well, let FLIP rile you into a geek frenzy with some cool, unique gifts from people who have been featured in this year's FLIP!
My old friend and animation kumrad Sydney Padua has some excellent news for fans of her webcomic - The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. Pantheon books, publishers of the best selling Maus and Persepolis, have engaged her services to complete a graphic novel of the adventures of her Victorian heroes. The real Charles Babbage was a 19th century inventor and mechanical engineer who pioneered the concept of a programmable computer. Though he was unable to build it in his lifetime, a working copy now exists in the Science Museum in London. Ada Lovelace was a gifted mathematician and also the daughter of the legendary Lord Byron - mad, bad and dangerous to know. Sydney's comic has gathered a huge following online and I for one can't wait for the publication of her book. I shall be at the launch party, pestering her for signed copies. - Alex
One of the many privileges of our business is the pleasure of working alongside talented colleagues. I first met Sydney Padua at Warner Bros where we worked on Brad Bird's wonderful Iron Giant. Since then we have bumped into each other on many animation and VFX features including most recently The Chronicles of Narnia - Voyage of the Dawn Treader, where Sydney did some beautiful character work on Eustace, the dragon.
Syd does not neglect her own personal projects and has developed her own highly successful online web comic about the Victorian inventor and computer pioneer, Charles Babbage. The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage has developed a huge following and even the science establishment is very keen to get involved - making science interesting for kids. She recently did a TED talk which you can see here. Syd is an inspiration for every animator who dreams of getting on with their own personal work - while simultaneously balancing the need to do commercial work and of course earn a living. Her web comic is beautifully drawn and very funny, and you can find it here. Personally, I can't wait for the graphic novel. Enjoy! - Alex
