pluralthey

[pluralthey]

do you relate to any of your characters? which one(s) do you relate the most to?

It really depends on how you would define "relating" to someone. Do I feel seen, some kind of connection with the character? No, not nowadays. Do I understand where they're coming from? Sure. I try to avoid writing characters I don't understand at all, even if I consider them ideologically repulsive. Perhaps it's only because I predominantly feel fulfilled by my own self-recognition aside from a pervasive sense of not being understood, not feeling connection. It isn't a rare emotion, but clearly multiple people feeling Lonely in proximity to each other, all talking about it, doesn't take away the loneliness. It's kind of why we're dealing with it at a societal level, even though plenty of us are also saying that it's a thing. I don't relate to other people who feel the same emotions, even if I can acknowledge that we share circumstances. We are the same in the sense of the objects surrounding us, but not in the phenomenological sense as subjects to our experiences; similar objectively, but not subjectively. If real people cannot easily elicit a sense of relating, fictional characters surely aren't any more capable. Art is parasocial, a one-way mirror -- I can see the characters, but they can't see me; I can make someone feel understood through the art, but they still can't make me feel understood.

But in terms of understanding where they're coming from... maybe Drake. Xyr slow-moving, resigned disposition is one I can understand. Life wears on you and disappoints you; uniquely, Drake still cares deeply about the world, but simply doesn't have the energy to actualize that. The thematic core of the story with xem is feeling a "true self" pulling xem inward, away from reality, away from other people. No one can see that "true self" -- they're stuck interacting with, from Drake's perspective, a mediating puppet xe's forced to use. There is no way to abandon that physically impossible authentic self in order to make the connection with others, either. That's something that I relate to, which is why I made the character, but there are many elements I don't relate to. Jessie feels misunderstood as well... but she has a critical difference from Drake: she has no romantic partner. Her loneliness is broader than an inner neglect; it encompasses everyone around her as a bystander at best and a perpetrator at worst. There are literally 0 people in her life to represent "the rest of the world" as anything other than an amorphous entity motivated to harm her as something exterior to itself. She has a contempt for others and a habit to assume malice in others' actions, both self-sabotaging, that I can understand. Drake distinctly lacks those qualities. I don't have the energy, or the entitlement, or the unified personality, or the motivation to feel it so deeply, so consistently, and act on any of it, though. In truth, the emotions tend to evaporate as soon as I'm actually talking to another human being (whether you want to call that dissociation or not). She is emotionally immature, and self-absorbed -- literally justified by the story, informed she is the main character and everything was invented just for her. I don't personally relate to these qualities.

Outis has themes related to never being seen behind the art, but they are also emotionally immature, in my opinion, and too invested in other people's approval of them for me to truly relate to the voluntary alienation they feel. They're hidden behind their art because the art allows them to craft a more desirable persona for this approval, not because they literally have no other way to be seen. They also have an ignorance of the dissociation in their own mind, and in their relation through their art instead of through genuine interaction, that I really cannot relate to.

Basically, every character I make is tempered with idiosyncrasies to make them less relatable to myself. These three characters, who seem to have the same issues that I'd find relatable, don't really elicit a sort of catharsis or empathy from me. I hope that makes sense.

[pluralthey]

New Jessie ref. I can't believe she's already almost 2 years old...

[pluralthey]

where can we read the bonus comics for drop out at?

[pluralthey]

on a scale from 1 to 10 how much do you enjoy seeing/receiving art of specifically sugar lola and kim. mainly sugar. not entirely sure how connected you are to certain eras/interpretations of older characters so i dont want to be like. weird. but i have an ungodly amount of sugar art from highschool (with some lolas and kims sprinkled in).. a few of which part of me wants to share (shes. Totally not a character thats stuck with me and recirculates in my brain consistently(Lying.))

idk which account would be best to ask this on but i went w this one bc i was already looking at a post here lol

my feelings are neither strong enough nor cohesive enough to assign a number value to them. i don't consider being shown art of characters from older stories aggravating like being asked questions about them or looking at old art. for the latter it's like, you're asking my last 2 brain cells to continue juggling the same thing for 10 years, can i rest, can i focus on something else--

probably better to send it to @gynandromorph but i doubt anyone following cares if you send it to this blog either. people still like sugar and lola more than any other characters i have for the most part.

[pluralthey]

are we allowed to kin your ocs?

sure, just don't kin my alters or their sonas and don't be weird about the race stuff, like i'm not huge on white fans kinning Black characters and so on. i do not consider either tasteful/respectful. otherwise i don't care.

[pluralthey]

do any of your ocs from fresh meat or drop out have ref sheets?

[pluralthey]

idletry has over 100 pages sketched now, so i wanted to post a little morsel of each scene :) i don't work as fast as i used to, but i'm glad to feel like i've made a significant amount of pages so far.

[pluralthey]

oh where is dawn from? and they’re both nonbinary right? could you share any info about dawn/devon’s relationship as well as keshet/outis’s, like how they got together, what they like about each other or what their dynamic is like, it’s so nice seeing how you portray different couples

minor other qs - what are your patreon tier benefits, i couldn’t really find them on the page itself

dawn is from the uk iirc and both dawn and devon are non-binary yes. i don't think i've fleshed them out enough to have a backstory for how they got together since they are side characters and it's kinda just a waste of time to develop supporting cast... i think that dawn likes devon's protectiveness, the way they seem to really pay attention to people and think about what they hear and observe and commit it to memory, and their strong moral drive that makes them reliable and predictable, but also easy to tease. if dawn is too fatigued to do something (which is frequent) devon is the kind of partner who is going to take care of it without needing to beg for the help. i think devon appreciates that dawn doesn't find them imposing or intimidating but also isn't trying to compete with them in some battle for dominance. dawn has a dry sense of humor that is easier to relax around than someone who is constantly trying to be a clown and avoid taking things seriously. they are generally easygoing but not impressionable and this works well for devon who is fairly bossy, because there is less headbutting without being a doormat. the biological compatibility between them is also a huge plus for both because they both want children who are genetically theirs. in particular i think they both value the others' qualities as potential parents as much as partners and how they'd compensate for their own weaknesses when rearing children. outis and keshet getting together i remember because i used to do character development streams.

tl;dr: outis in art school -> adderall addiction -> soliciting other college students for adderall -> meets keshet (also in college) -> keshet is attracted to outis's aura of confidence -> outis tells keshet that her girlfriend is trash (her girlfriend is trash) -> keshet breaks up with her girlfriend and feels more attached to outis for pointing it out -> outis has a heart attack and drops out -> they keep in touch and eventually start dating. they're both jewish, they're able to pass as straight, it would just work out for everybody if they gave it a shot so they did.

and i've drawn a comic about what they like in each other as well

now if i have to look at any more of my art from 2017 i'll have to kill myself unfortunately

[pluralthey]

just wanted to say that i absolutely love the way Dupe's eyes are drawn, it adds so much

every day of my life i simply try to emulate what rover dangerfield had and fail

[pluralthey]

In drop-out did u ever think about how Lola would respond to Sugar asking why Lola likes her/how sharp she is? I was always curious on how she would answer that question

i'm pretty sure this scene comes directly off the heels of the scene where sugar talks about liking knives? so you are supposed to draw a parallel between the two. because they're cool? because it's fun to hold something seen as dangerous? because it's still thrilling to touch the blunt side of the blade even though you know it won't cut you? maybe even because it feels exciting to access something that feels forbidden? i don't think lola has a neatly packaged answer for her preferences, so the story offers a response in the form of theme

[pluralthey]

thank you for the reply! :D also curious, will you ever be making a long form comic about outis and keshet? their dynamic is my fav out of your ocs (hard pick cus all the dynamics are really fascinating). they also seem pretty different as people so i’d love to see more about how they get along as a couple.

I think about them sometimes and I think if there hadn't been a vote for what comic I should draw next I probably would have written the story with them instead of Felix. I don't know how I'll feel about them by the time Idletry is done, since even now Outis's immaturity really shines through to me way more than when I first wrote them. Will I want to write about another immature 30-year-old who takes themself way too seriously? Idk

[pluralthey]

also was rereading the side comics.. how do devon and dawn know lola/each other?

Both of them collaborate and interact with the local unhoused population a lot so that's how they met Lola. Don't remember how the two of them met each other or if I ever came up with a scenario. I can imagine them either connecting through a similar scenario bc they both have similar needs for healthcare access or as some kind of LDR, since Dawn is not an American, and would probably not have known Devon through childhood or school or whatever.

[pluralthey]

does sugar have many other friends besides lola and frankie? also, not sure if you’ve answered this before but what happens to both sugar and lola after the events of drop out, do they stay together? have they ever faced any issues in their relationship before/after the events of drop out and approx how long have they been together for before sugar asks lola to go with her?

no. not even internet friends

they get married eventually

everyone faces issues in their relationship so i guess probably but nothing that significant after drop-out, which they kind of pretend didn't happen post-canyon until the side comic "do you still think about it". lola is averse to conflict and tries to be open-minded and easygoing and sugar is averse to conflict specifically with lola, so she quickly backs down in anything even remotely resembling a disagreement between them. i don't think sugar even feels resentment about it because any time she submits it's like hitting the release valve on some steam under serious pressure in the guilt engine she runs on. it just works out well for them.

it's been almost 10 years so i don't remember. i want to say 9 months-ish based on the fact that they had had sex by that point and sugar is not really the kind of person who just rips her clothes off as soon as she brings a girl home, and the fact that lola was sleeping over at sugar's place frequently, but she wasn't "living there" yet. like it wasn't abnormal for lola to just not come over without explanation, but she probably would have stayed there pretty consistently once she felt comfortable because shelter > no shelter. they clearly had an attachment to each other by drop-out. but we also know that they knew each other in the winter, and drop-out doesn't take place until midway through the next year in the summer, so that would be at least 6 months, and they'd been seeing each other prior to the winter side comics, but not for long enough for sugar to have mentioned it to her therapist before. i know factually the first time that they interacted with each other was when it was cold outside. lola did not have a phone when they first met iirc so i can imagine a month or two where they would go a couple of weeks in between coming in contact, then a period of more regular "dating" kind of contact, and then obviously 6 months out to drop-out. maybe 7 months for the actual period where they were together? literally trying to perform an autopsy on the story here--

[pluralthey]

hi again actually sorry i'm stupid and this didn't really explain anything about my own art style but i remembered that in 2019 i did streams about art style specifically and like... how it's constructed.

constructing a character's design in different styles (also you can see her final design here, which hadn't been made yet, which makes 4 different "art styles" the character is designed in):

the basic components of art and how they play a role in art style (and images to show a better idea of what that post is about because the thumbnail isn't doing any me any favors):

my coloring choices boil down to this a lot (these are values based on luminance, the values are always perceived as the same regardless of ability to see color):

and then there are 2 character design tutorials and a "drawing dynamically" tutorial showing how i generally go about drawing action in the #tutorial tag as well. i think the only thing people would want to know about how i draw that i haven't written anything on is the pushed expressions... i would probably go over the bits of facial info that go into expressions to construct a mood and then just point out how it's at play in some of the stuff i've drawn.

all of this is old but still applicable in principle. idletry has a bit of a different style (a lot different if you're counting coloring style) from my previous comics -- in that the designs are flatter and don't necessarily make sense as 3d objects. i think i was drifting towards that anyway, since it was always the underlying desire to reduce to exaggerated shapes was there, but i stopped finding it enjoyable to "figure out" how to make things work realistically at the expense of style exploration. i think legend vs jessie are a good way to summarily observe the difference in approach there. while her parts are constructed to look like Zachary Braun's art style, she is also adjusted to make sense as a hypothetical 3d object. "that's"make things simple shapes" is basically like every cartoonist ever's advice unfortunately, so it isn't very unique.

what steps do you go through to draw in your current style? do you have any pointers about it? its absolutely one of my favorites

i'm not sure if i think of my process in steps. in my head, i'm just straightforwardly drawing the shapes the characters are made of at angles that look right and building on that... luckily, i stream when i draw every day, so i have a ton of videos of myself drawing. example:

i haven't bothered to upload a lot of the modern streams to youtube because my video editor can't handle editing 4-8 hour files even if i'm speeding them up and technically making them shorter because of the way video editors interact with files, and the freeware i use isn't able to make proxy files. the act of downloading and editing and combing through all the footage is a ton of time and memory space and it's just not what people are usually looking for from me, so it's not where i wanna put my time.

but that's neither here nor there. what i mean to say is these vods are really long. so you don't want to rawdog those. but you can just download a video speed controller extension to your browser and it's extremely easy to cruise through the backlog of vods at ~15x speed.

i've gone ahead and highlighted some of the recent videos to separate the chaff from the wheat. i tend to take long breaks to eat or walk my dog so there are big periods of Nothing Happening. i'll try to skim some more and do the same. unfortunately, i don't have any good videos of me coloring, since twitch deletes vods after like a month, and i've just been focusing on sketching.

but yeah, in general, it really depends on how good i'm feeling on a given day -- sometimes i will sketch multiple times for just one panel and sometimes i won't sketch at all. i use paint tool sai 2 and a pixel brush usually 2 pixels wide with no pen pressure. for comics, i have 1 layer for the panel borders, 1 layer for the sketch, 1 layer for the lines, 1 layer for the colors, 1 layer for the text, and 1 layer speech bubbles. sometimes there are special effects that overlap borders and need their own special layers. when i start sketching a new panel, i will usually put it on its own new layer, and sometimes for multiple characters i will put them on another new layer at a different opacity. this is mostly to move them around without constant cleanup. once i've gotten a sketch pretty finished, i merge all of the layers into the sketch layer. the line layer is usually just the sketch layer cleaned up and paint bucket tooled black. but basically, the vast majority of my time working on art is spent trying to fix small things like tangents, fitting speech bubbles into panels, thinking about how to lay out a page, checking continuity interaction with other pages, that kind of stuff. the complex technical parts of the process are to save time on those in ways i can without compromising quality. the other portion of working on the art is like "step 1: draw head circle (or jessie head diamond). step 2: draw the rest of the owl." i don't know if this was helpful at all y_y if you want more pointers i might be able to offer clarity on more specific questions!

[pluralthey]

what steps do you go through to draw in your current style? do you have any pointers about it? its absolutely one of my favorites

i'm not sure if i think of my process in steps. in my head, i'm just straightforwardly drawing the shapes the characters are made of at angles that look right and building on that... luckily, i stream when i draw every day, so i have a ton of videos of myself drawing. example:

i haven't bothered to upload a lot of the modern streams to youtube because my video editor can't handle editing 4-8 hour files even if i'm speeding them up and technically making them shorter because of the way video editors interact with files, and the freeware i use isn't able to make proxy files. the act of downloading and editing and combing through all the footage is a ton of time and memory space and it's just not what people are usually looking for from me, so it's not where i wanna put my time.

but that's neither here nor there. what i mean to say is these vods are really long. so you don't want to rawdog those. but you can just download a video speed controller extension to your browser and it's extremely easy to cruise through the backlog of vods at ~15x speed.

i've gone ahead and highlighted some of the recent videos to separate the chaff from the wheat. i tend to take long breaks to eat or walk my dog so there are big periods of Nothing Happening. i'll try to skim some more and do the same. unfortunately, i don't have any good videos of me coloring, since twitch deletes vods after like a month, and i've just been focusing on sketching.

but yeah, in general, it really depends on how good i'm feeling on a given day -- sometimes i will sketch multiple times for just one panel and sometimes i won't sketch at all. i use paint tool sai 2 and a pixel brush usually 2 pixels wide with no pen pressure. for comics, i have 1 layer for the panel borders, 1 layer for the sketch, 1 layer for the lines, 1 layer for the colors, 1 layer for the text, and 1 layer speech bubbles. sometimes there are special effects that overlap borders and need their own special layers. when i start sketching a new panel, i will usually put it on its own new layer, and sometimes for multiple characters i will put them on another new layer at a different opacity. this is mostly to move them around without constant cleanup. once i've gotten a sketch pretty finished, i merge all of the layers into the sketch layer. the line layer is usually just the sketch layer cleaned up and paint bucket tooled black. but basically, the vast majority of my time working on art is spent trying to fix small things like tangents, fitting speech bubbles into panels, thinking about how to lay out a page, checking continuity interaction with other pages, that kind of stuff. the complex technical parts of the process are to save time on those in ways i can without compromising quality. the other portion of working on the art is like "step 1: draw head circle (or jessie head diamond). step 2: draw the rest of the owl." i don't know if this was helpful at all y_y if you want more pointers i might be able to offer clarity on more specific questions!

[pluralthey]

a drop out question: sugar never met and of lola's friends before drop out. does she ever meet them? i just re-read drop out and all these years later it still hits me <3

almost certainly at least briefly. she becomes even more socially withdrawn after drop-out and i can't imagine her having like an entire meal or an extended chat with any of them. she carries around guilt and shame about the events of drop-out and feels like everyone can pull that knowledge right out of her head. like she thinks infants can tell she's evil just by looking at her. i think sugar is familiar enough with lola's friends to identify them by name/face/voice, but that's about it. even abetting the anxiety of interacting with people just brings up a wall of depression and undesire for social exchanges.

[pluralthey]

Ive been going through something difficult, but jessie gaylord has been my happy thought all the way through, so I wanted to say thank you. Youre doing an amazing job.

i'm glad... idletry was not written to benefit the reader or make them feel better like my other stories. still, as a comedy, it's the only one that's really consistently brightened my day, and i wrote it to functionally react to, cope with the fact that bad things happen. i think about that a lot. hoping things ease up for you soon.