nijicx

[nijicx]

Are there anymore students in business course like Eite? Have you considered adding more?

I did at one point have a little team of them! Now when I consider the school I'm making for them I was considering scrapping that course all together and just adding Eite to the main class. But now that I'm looking back at what little doodle I did of them, I like how much character they have, and how Eite is like, their momma hen, so I feel like I want to actually give them some presence in his life. I feel like that would be where Eite learns a lot of the leadership skills he brings to the main casts entire class since he is their only communications person~ (god this was drawn in 2021, paainn)

Also sidenote because I had to scour my art folder for this obscure sketch, look at how much this dork has grown. It almost makes the pain of looking at my old art worth it.

[nijicx]

Is there any info about Ren and/or Kuze? Like how their abilities work and how they initially met?

I do! I had a big background post written, but it still refers to their powers under the old terms, but it's more or less the same in their new universe~ The only thing left out of their background post was that Ren noticed Kuze wasn't how he presented himself since like, the beginning of their time in highschool together, and more or less fixated on him silently before the incident in their classroom where Kuze abused the fact that no one knew about the true nature of his art. This is Ren's power(s)

This is Kuze's

How they met and became vigilantes: (i wrote this years ago dont make fun of meeeee)

Ren has always used his powers to enact his own brand of justice, and saw the same dissatisfaction for how society treated its own rules brewing in Kuze. Another thing left out of the story above is that the guy who assaulted Kuze's sister actually attacked Ren first. Ren fully did not intend to kill him during their encounter, but the guy rushed him and stabbed him before Ren could even tell him he REALLY shouldn't do that, so Ren's choice was either to die, or to let the scumbag who assaulted Kuze's sister and nearly drove her ending her life, die, and he chose the option that would kill the most birds with that one stone. So thats when he went to Kuze and lied about having killed the guy on purpose in order to run away with him and kind of have him all to himself. After all:

[nijicx]

So as a creator and storyteller, what do you thoughts about strong female characters? And how would you go about if you want to try?

Oh boy, this one might be a bit of a ramble, get something to eat, i might get lost in my own tangents as I work through this out in my head lol I never really set out to make a 'strong' character from the get I think, strength means different things to different people as well. So I guess it depends on what 'strength' looks like to you, or even more importantly, what strength looks like to your all of your characters. Sure there is like, physical and mental toughness, but I don't think that encapsulates strength in a character. It can also be so varied. I definitely have characters that would not consider themselves as 'strong', but others do, I think the perception of strength is something worth exploring, and will likely be defined more by your cast as a whole, rather than the individual in question if that makes sense. I think what might be a helpful exercise would be to go through your whole cast and just think about what strength means to each of them, or even think about characters you find 'strong' from franchises you like, and break down why it is you think they are a good example of a 'strong' character. You often times learn lots about yourself in the process~

To use a personal example, I made my main character my strongest (physically) right off the bat. Winston by far surpasses most of my cast in physical strength, but is by far the weakest in character. I wanted to play around with what strength MEANT to someone who was already the definition of physical strength. He thinks Diss is strong because she is able to pick herself back up from one of the worst mistakes of her life, apologize to those she hurt, forgive herself, and not repeat the mistake. He thinks Monomiya is strong because she is able to perceive and meet people where they're at without judgement, sometimes taking the brunt of peoples words in the heat of the moment just because she knows they needed to get it off her chest. Often putting other peoples emotions before her own. He thinks Izumi is strong because he can confront what he knows is wrong without worrying about what people think of him for it, or for making waves. These are all things that Winston lacks. Winston gives up on himself and wallows in self pity when he does or says something out of anger in order to lash out and struggles to take accountability for it. Winston doesn't really understand the small personal sacrifices one makes when they care about people, and avoids challenging things that he may know are wrong, but just doesn't want to stick out, or draw negative attention to himself that might effect his image. It takes Winston a long time, and a lot of effort to sort of conquer the self-hatred he has for himself for all of his own shortcomings. Strength to him is more a part of how to just keep moving. Meanwhile Monomiya treats people that way because she herself is judgmental, and flawed and mean on the inside, and so she is able to see when people feel slighted or hurt, and knows when is best to let the person have some space, or whether to nip it in the bud before it spirals. Monomiya doesn't see her meddling in others affairs as a strength, but as her penance for deceiving people. The strength Winston perceives in her, is in her perspective, what she has to do to make up for not being the bubbly smiley girl she projects. It is the person she wants to be, but not the person that she is. Winston perceives her as strong and caring, while Monomiya views this aspect of her as a candy-coated rotten apple. So I guess TLDR: Strength has so many different shapes, and forms and nuances, that it's really difficult in order to tell you exactly how to make what is considered a 'strong' character. I would do some run-on sentence exploration about what strength means to your characters, what you feel is strength in others, and what that means for the narrative you want to tell.

[nijicx]

Oooh can we get some more info on Atsumu and Kei? I love their designs!!

Thank you so much!! 0: I can't remember if I ever posted their full cards here, I need to make one for Atsumu because he never got a formal character sheet (he was originally an adopt I made to sell, but I do love me the scrawny tired long haired mens, and I kept him ^^; ) Atsumu's power is that he gets stronger when he preforms a habitual greed, but I may change that up a little bit. His nephews power is a lot more fun~ (Atsumu is gunna be the combat director for the kids)

Kei is a water vampire~

I love Kei, he's a little bean, he's like the dps in his little cell. Mugi is the tank, and Yua is their healer

just a little guy

He's pretty quiet, because his voice is pretty raspy and he can damage his throat if he talks a lot while he's low on fluids

Oh heres his full suit:

[nijicx]

Since the kids are going to a new school, will we be seeing any new staff that work at Bright Star? Will we see the principal who owns the school?

Its funny I get this ask now, because as I was storyboarding out the comic in my head I was like "...OH YEAH, I DON'T HAVE ANY STAFF BESIDES LIKE TWO TEACHERS" But I decided I'm gunna tweak Mr. Atsumu's design and he is going to be largely the combat teacher~ While Miho is more or less their homeroom teacher/babysitter since she remains in the dorms as a guardian, and Paloma will teach support/fitness. I need to draw scrawny little Atsumu again, I feel like it'd be a hilarious scene to have the kids be introduced to their combat instructor, and see this skinny little gaunt man and be like "Okay but where's the rest of him?"

He's also Kei's uncle~ Instead of the others being older than them, I think I may just have them be in a separate class all together, as their program is supposed to be kind of the first of its kind more or less. So Mugi, Yua and Kei will be able to interact more with the main cast~

[nijicx]

Hope you have a swift recovery

Thank-you!! I actually found out I've had this concussion for like, two weeks already before I made that first post, so I am most of the way there now! I'm hoping to be able to try and draw again soon!~ Thanks for wishing me well!

[nijicx]

feel better soon!

Thank-you!! I already feel a lot better! I can feel my whole face again! :D

[nijicx]

Sorry, probably won't be posting much besides text answers for the next few days, I got a concussion and its making drawing a little difficult, not dead again, just trying to give my eyes a break~

[nijicx]

I don't think anyone has asked this before but what are the kid's favorite season?

Shimi is the only one with a currently canon favorite season, it's early spring~ Cherry blossom season is his favorite because everything is pink, even his special move is based off of a huge gust of cherry blossoms~

Yun-Yeong's favorite is late autumn, specifically the Chuseok (kind of like Korean thanksgiving but not quite) It's the one time she gets to see both of her parents.

Izumi's is Christmas, his birthday is on the 22nd of December, and has fond memories of celebrating it before his powers developed. Being used by criminals for them after really killed any enjoyment of the holidays, but the gang kind of brings it back for him.

Jin's is Lunar New Year~ His dad is a big celebrity back home on the mainland, and so even if he can't make it home for Lunar New Year, him, Bunta and Diss always celebrate together, and have video calls with various family members if they can't make the flight home and are on standby.

Winston's ughhh Christmas I think, sorry I have been trying to finish this post for like 3 days but I have a concussion and it's just not happening ^^;

[nijicx]

THIS IS THE COOLEST AAAAH

They look so good!! I am honored you wanted to be apart of it ;__; your artstyle is so nice too! One of these days I will doodle them if its okay!!

This made my whole day and I also appreciate you putting up with me and my brats for so long ;__; thankyou!

I was bored so I doodled Masato in @nijicx 's oc superhero universe

because I have been a fan of it for years!!

It's so cool seeing her art grow,and the story develop .. anyhow byeeee

[nijicx]

Since Deon and Iori were originally Shiketsu students, will they be in bright star now or a entirely different school?

I had considered it initially, but I was thinking of making them perhaps from another satellite city that also has a fledgling program for art users. I still would like to keep them separate from the main cast as they are pretty balanced in terms of personality, but Deon and Iori's stories do intersect with the main plot that my kids are on, so I've always had them be late-game entrances. Right now though I've yet to find the peeeerfect spot to fit in. But I have a vague idea of where they need to go and when, i really need some kind of app that will allow me to put all of the events on like, a timeline so I can move nodes around and plan it out visually. 😅

[nijicx]

Will we ever get to see what Mobia originally looked like before they started stealing people's bodies? Is that something you ever thought of drawing before?

I actually don't think so! I gave Risa art of her real body, but because she still inhabits it, it made sense for her to have a design of what she looks like beneath her projection.

But part of Mobia's story is that she can't even really remember what she looks like any more, and she looses more and more of the memories of her own body the more she jumps into others~

So I felt like it would be more impactful if the viewer never got to see what she originally looked like either, but we do get to see all the bodies she's inhabited, same with Garrote, especially since he often has nightmares or intrusive muscle memories from the body parts he's taken. Part of their story is remembering them, but Mobia's isn't.

I hope that made sense 😫

[nijicx]

Also a little villain Izumi because I've never really drawn a villain suit for him. Poor little bean.

[nijicx]

Working on updating all of their character sheets, but it will be a slooow process...tweaking a lot of things, especially about the hero suits, rip my free time from now until I'm 80

Finally added Winston's undersuit to his ref, there are metal conductors as well as pinchers that can send a current through his mucles and body to trigger his art, as well as two injection sites where he can flood his body with painkillers and temporarily halt his ART so he doesn't accidentally hurl a paramedic working on him into deep space lol

[nijicx]

So uh, Miss Diss since your legacy hails from Korea, what are your thoughts on K-pop, and have you ever thought of becoming one.

"Even if I did, do you really think I'm passing the headshot submission with this face?"

Diss also doesn't like listening to management about anything she writes, which is why she's always been a soloist. She doesn't take direction...well. That goes for all things, including her A.R.T. management. For that reason she doesn't have the best opinions about the hyper controlling industry, but doesn't really have all that much to say about the music.

[nijicx]

thankyou to everyone who has left me little welcome back messages in tags and in comments 👉👈🥺

I'm happy to be back!! Hearing people remember me made me even more motivated!

[nijicx]

I'm a sucker for villain arc Shimi, what can I say? Also I forgot to draw Shimi's 'Hanagasumi', a move he creates by mixing his poison in a canister with thin pieces of paper, which get released like a grenade and creates what looks like a storm of cherry blossoms, but when the little thin tissue-paper petals land on you, it eats through any natural fibers and burns clear through skin.

I was thinking of making it something that his body can just produce, but decided to keep the canister method. Cankerblossom has always loved cherry blossoms, so the idea of him putting the cannisters together in that way is kinda cuter than having it just be something his body can make.

I also decided to keep it manufactured because after his late-stage art mutation, the toxin thats normally only dangerous if you come into contact with his bodily fluids, (tears, spit, sweat ect) is transferrable through his skin. Meaning when Winston punches him, like he has here, his skin just begins to peel off.