overlymetaromantic

[overlymetaromantic]

what is your process between planning out / drawing each episode?

It's mildly chaotic LMAO 😂 A lot of the pre-work I do is either done in my head via daydreaming lol or just done right on the spot—I usually have specific vibes or goals for each of my chapters, but not usually a fully laid out plan of how each chapter/panel will look until I start sketching them out :') There's a reason I keep a massive buffer ahahaha, I would not be able to sustain my process otherwise 😂 orz I do have some degree of a system aside from that, though!

I always start every episode by sketching the whole thing out. This is usually done to figure out how I'm pacing the scene as a whole, though admittedly it is wildly hit or miss whether I actually have my dialogue planned at this stage. I admittedly tend not to keep these particular sketches, but I was able to dig up one as an example of how sketchy the sketch is!

Even if I don't know what the characters are going to say, I do always try to plan panels with space for dialogue, since it's no secret I write a LOT ahahahaha. If I still don't know what the characters are going to say by the time I finish my inks (which I usually do right on top of my sketch layer as a one-and-done, unless a pose REALLY needs some reworking lol), I sometimes turn to my Google Doc of notes and script things out there; otherwise, I just figure it out based on my end goal for the chapter and how the overall vibes of the character posing turned out 😂

I'll usually add the dialogue in before I figure out background effects, since I often cut corners and skip doing any real details in spaces that get covered by the word balloons anyway (I'll also use them to cover up bits of art that I don't like but don't feel are worth fixing lololol). I have a handful of go-to brushes and texture effects I use throughout the comic as a whole for consistency, and then I keep layering them until I like the final result!

From there it's rinse and repeat inking/dialogue/background for each set of two panels until I finish the episode, since my files are designed to include two panels per final image! I don't know if this is in any way helpful as a tutorial, but I do think it's a fair example of my advice that you should find a method that works best for you ahaha—in my case, my order of operations is very much based on the order of things I like to do the most to the least, set up in a way where by the time I do the thing I like the least (backgrounds ahahaha), the next immediate thing in my queue is to do the thing I like the most (inking) for the next set of panels! If I did all the inks for the entire chapter instead of a couple of panels at a time, then actually finishing of the chapter would be SUCH a slog because then I'd have to figure out the dialogue (which takes me the longest) AND do the background details all in one go too, and the toddler part of my brain just wouldn't wanna 😂😂😂

[overlymetaromantic]

just incase my email doesn't go through

Hi! I'm jamie and I really like doing voice acting and I love you series! And I decided to make my own youtube channel to post the voice acting, hoping you would notice! I put your credits in my videos all the time! The link to my channel is https://youtube.com/@jamielynissmokinghot?si=9CbdPc_YrnxymitE! Thank you so much for reading this, I am a big fan :D

Hello!! Thanks so much for making these, it's so fun to hear my silly little comic voice acted out loud! :D If anyone else who follows me here might also think that would be fun to watch, feel free to check out the videos here!!!

[overlymetaromantic]

this website’s easy watch. *dangles a bunch of greek gods like keys*

[overlymetaromantic]

Im back with more michi fanart :3

One day he'll love me, trust 🙏

HAHAHAHA putting him in a cat maid outfit is probably not going to win any points with him but I 10/10 approve lmaoooo 😂😂😂

[overlymetaromantic]

Just one chance please just one chance michi please please please just one chance please-

Michi!!!!!! (I'm so sorry I can't promise he would ever give you that one chance but I am very happy to see art of him ahahahaha 😂)

[overlymetaromantic]

How do u manage ur time

Making comics on the top of work and daily life

(⁠ㆁ⁠ω⁠ㆁ⁠)?

LOL my 100% honest answer is that I have a MASSIVE buffer 😂 I didn't even start posting my comic until I had about 15 episodes in the bag ahahahaha—so in truth, what everyone reads is something I drew/wrote months ago lolol :') I deliberately designed MBNSSB to be as simple to draw for me as possible so that I can maintain/increase that buffer week-to-week as a default, so whenever I have times I can't draw, I can rest easy knowing that I still have many weeks worth of episodes already queued to post 😂😂

[overlymetaromantic]

Hello!!! I really like ur comic and art style(⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠) I want to make comics like u but I don't know where to start༎ຶ⁠‿⁠༎ຶ any tips/advice

Aww, thank you so much, I'm so glad you've been enjoying my silly little comic! 💕

It's deeply cliche advice, but in all honesty, the best way I've found to make a comic is just to start it!! I do think that comes with a couple of caveats though lol 😂 First, if your goal is to start a comic you plan to finish, I highly recommend starting out with something short! Whether it's a unique short story, mini fan-like comics based on your OCs (or just a media property you like), or a smaller adaptation of a bigger story you want to tell, creating something that has a limit to how long it will be both gives you a chance to learn how you want to make comics and increases your chance that you'll end up with a completed work under your belt. So much of creating comics is learned by doing, and there's arguably no wrong way to make them—the best thing you can do for yourself is to understand what parts you enjoy, what parts you DON'T enjoy, and adapting your process to best suit both those points so that you're able to enjoy the whole thing.

Second, bouncing off of that last point, try to craft a story that you're comfortable giving roughly 75% effort to. Comics take a lot of work!!! So being able to call something "done" even if it isn't necessarily 110% perfect is invaluable both to getting things done and in protecting your literal health lest you risk overworking yourself :') orz Still, even with that being said, strive to make something you love!! Lean into the things that bring you joy, learn how you can best go about creating those things to maintain that joy, and continue for as long as it's fun and satisfying for you first and foremost 💕

Otherwise, if you're specifically looking for storytelling tips for getting started, I personally recommend figuring out what part of storytelling you enjoy the most and going from there. If you like making characters, throw some OCs in a mental room and imagine what kinds of interactions they might have! If you like worldbuilding, craft the basis of your story's world and then consider what elements of its premise would make the most interesting starting point for a story! I usually like to start with pitching a premise to myself (what if a BL but from an outsider's perspective) and then using that as my guiding template to draft the rest of the story out. Like with everything, especially if you're just starting out, it's honestly 100% okay to be as self-indulgent as you want, because being self-indulgent is going to be a huge motivation in and of itself to keep you going 💕😂 So, have fun!! And good luck with whatever you do make!!

[overlymetaromantic]

do you have any headcanons or fun facts abt michi? I fear he has infected by brain 😞

Ahahaha well I like to think Michi is a martial artist! In my head, he was put in classes when he was younger in a vague effort to give him an outlet and learn to channel his aggression, which—didn't really work lmao, but he's now hands down the most skilled fighter in the gang 😂 Honestly, in another universe, he could have ended up being the angry mom-teacher figure to a gaggle of kids trying to learn judo, but instead he got recruited by Ryuu into the world of wannabe biker gangs and ended up channeling all of that angry mom friend energy onto Maki instead ahahahahaha 😂😂

[overlymetaromantic]

I made you fanart again 😼‼️ (The old one was in like October lmao 💀)

Still love the comic, have a happy new year 🫶‼️

A cute Maki!!! (also LOL @ the "Finally?!" 😂😂😂 They finally did it!!!!)

[overlymetaromantic]

Can u draw the girls meeting the gang ?and here's my art

"Furiously cooking allergy food" is an amazing description 10/10 LOL 😂😂

I'm unfortunately not usually able to fulfill doodle requests outside of the times I open them up 🥲 But I can share some fun facts about the girls and the gang! In particular, in my head, they parallel each other in a way in terms of each characters' role in their respective groups :3 So if Karin and Maki are both the functional leaders of their friend groups, Arisa parallels with Daiki (the heart-on-their-sleeve one); Kyoko parallels with Michi (the one who cares WAY more than they want to let on); Hankao parallels with Itsuki (the intentionally funny one); and Jun parallels with Goto (the comparatively stable and normal one)! It's not one-to-one and you can mix and match a lot for more fun dynamics outside of those parallels, but it is something I have fun mentally playing with ahahahaha 😂

[overlymetaromantic]

I really love your comic!!! 😝😝

Anyways, here's some fanart of Maki 🌚

I'll draw Kai sooner or later 🙃. Super excited for Season 2!!

#webcomic #mbnssb

Ooooh Maki fanart!!!! This is some genuinely lovely coloring, thank you so much!!!

[overlymetaromantic]

Found the doodles!!!! :D

MBNSSB doodles! @overlymetaromantic

[overlymetaromantic]

hi! im not quite sure my question will make sense, but how do you determine which scene to draw in correlation with the dialogue? For example, if there are multiple text bubbles on a page with only one accompanied drawing which dialogue to do choose to represent the characters saying?

I hope that makes sense, I am currently working on my own comic which is pretty dialogue heavy and noticed your comic flows very smoothly with the dialogue! Just looking for some advice^^

Oooh that's a fun question!! I can definitely try to give some advice—I can fully admit I'm by no means a professional and make a lot of my own mistakes, but I'm happy to hear that my dialogue usually flows well, especially considering how wordy I can get!! 😂

I have to admit, a lot of my choices in scenes relies heavily on instinct, but my primary goal with everything is to be as economical as possible. There are SEVERAL instances where I could have drawn more panels per dialogue, but since my personal priority is keeping my panel counts under control, I end up with more dialogue per panel instead. Based on that, I tend to look for compositions or expressions that can match with multiple lines of dialogue; so for instance, if there's a conversation in which a character's emotional state remains steady throughout, I don't need as many panels to show their face, since there's no new information to be gained.

It might be helpful to remember that people are specifically reading your drawings in a comic! It's therefore similar advice to writing in that sense—if something is redundant or unnecessary in that it doesn't add anything to the text, cut it. Otherwise, it tends to be a matter of answering the question of what's most important for the reader to see. Does the character's expression matter, or does just the dialogue convey enough? Who is the most important character or detail in this scene? Can the reader tell who's speaking without a new panel to show the speaker? What needs to be conveyed so that the reader isn't confused? Or the flip side—what can be cut without disrupting the reader's comprehension of the scene?

Aside from that, my biggest piece of advice is page flow! I can freely admit I cram a LOT per page for MBNSSB, and I know it doesn't always flow as well as I hoped it would, but I promise page flow is always at the forefront of my mind 😂 The idea is to lay out your art/dialogue in a way that naturally draws the reader's eye in the direction you want them to read the page—in Western comics, that's usually left to right, in manga it's right to left, and in Webtoons it's top to bottom, etc. I usually rely on the height of the speech bubbles and the direction of the tails to help guide the flow of the page, but there's a lot of fiddling that can be done with this. Here are a couple of different comic pages I've drawn and my intended reading flow of them, if the visual examples helps at all!

In each instance, the goal is the use both the art and the speech bubbles to guide how the reader is looking at the page—a speech bubble leads to the art, which leads to the next speech bubble, which moves back to the art, etc. There are a lot more theories that have to do with composition that I am NOT qualified to lecture about lol, but for me it's a similar instinct to deciding what needs to be drawn in the first place. Every panel is doing double duty in that sense: first, it's answering the questions of who/what/where/why/how, aka information the reader needs to know for the story; and second, it's pointing them in the direction of where to read next through visual cues, like a character looking in that direction, a speech bubble placed so that you look at it right after the art, the flow of the lines in your art that curve your eye towards the next panel, etc.

I hope that rambling made sense and at least answered part of your question! And sorry if I misunderstood anything you were asking for—I can admit I get very excited about these kind of technical details and am definitely prone to spiraling off into them as seen here lolol 😂

[overlymetaromantic]

⚠️DUNGEON MESHI MANGA SPOILERS

The demon

Song: LUNCH by Billie Eilish

[overlymetaromantic]

Could we get the pfp for mbnssb in square format?

Sure thing!

[overlymetaromantic]

You know, I realized that I can also link to the Discord a very kind person set up after I replied to this message here in addition to just linking in my comic like two weeks ago WHOOPS

Anyway, there's a fan Discord for MBNSSB! I won't personally be present on it because as mentioned it's not a platform personally for me, but if you'd like to join, please feel free to give it a look! :D

Have you ever thought about making a discord?

Honestly Discord lowkey overwhelms me, so I've never actually figured out how it works beyond the two times I tried joining a server and then IMMEDIATELY bounced back out ahahahaha 😂 So I probably wouldn't set one up myself, but I'm happy to give permission if someone ever wanted to make their own Discord for MBNSSB!

[overlymetaromantic]

THE POSE HA I would say that is very much doing them justice, yes lololol 😂😂😂

for @overlymetaromantic ... I hope you like it, I dunno if you know about Twisted Wonderland, but I wanted two of my favorite brainrots in one drawing.

I was bored and I decided to draw Maki and Kaito in Twisted Wonderland outfits (if they were sorted into a dorm). They've been my favorite mlm gay Webtoon couple for a while. Hopefully I did them justice.