#Also thank you! Glad you're enjoying my comic so much!

[pianokantzart]

I am now obsessed with the idea of Mr L, thank you so much for your comic bringing his existence to my attention ❤️ Is there any other media for the character you would recommend? (Art, comics, fics, etc)

@cherryfennec is definitely the first one that comes to mind. Their art is S-tier in general, and their Super Paper Mario & Mr. L stuff is no exception.

@jell-o101 also has a couple of comics that focus on Mr. L (Be warned, Jello is renowned for her angst. Guard your heart well, she will do her best to rip it out.)

A user named lethalhedgehogs was the one who first opened my eyes to Mr. L's character possibilities. Unfortunately, they're no longer active :( but if you type "lethalhedgehogs tumblr" into the google image search engine you'll get plenty of links to reblogs of their stuff.

And with that uuuuuuuhhhh I'll hand the baton off to @legobiwan because as far as my dashboard goes, they seem like the most equipped to guide you down the SPM/Mr. L rabbit hole.

[xxplastic-cubexx]

Honestly your tags are so fun to read every time, i'm almost more excited for them than the actual post (but not entirely because your art is SO GOOD!!!! i adore it). If you don't mind me asking, what are you studying?

i am studying psychology because i refuse to see a therapist so ill figure out whats wrong with me myself !!!!!!!

[kyri45]

Not me abusing the asks to both share my love for the bioparents AU AND rant about the panels because none of my friends are in the LMK fandom and I'm suffering here so TAKE MY LOVE AND APPRECIATION ABOUT YOUR ART I guess x)

So first of all

I am a SUCKER for that kind of leaning in frames I'm going to print that and plaster it on my wall THEY ARE EVERYTHING /hj

I almost jumped of my chair when this one popped up YOU FED US GOOD its so worth the angst train incoming. Of course the panels before and after were equally as amazing but if I start going about every single panel we're still here in three days AT THE VERY LEAST LOL

Of course this one made me laugh like please their little faces

Using that to point out how much I love ALLLLLLL the silly faces you put in your comics I'm munching on them every single time they're crushy like chips or something just. Nom nom. Yummy.

Poor Nesha (Nesha? Nezha? Neja? I have no idea on how to write his name I already forgor LMAO) needs to be payed more. He tries to save MK and ends up dealing with two lovesick teenagers demons who have no concept of time/place/occasion apparently. Poor him. He gets a pat on the head for his troubles

And of course just the "NOPE I'M KEEPING HIM" mode and honestly we should have seen it coming- Red son was planning to courtnap him and didn't sleep in the past 5 days so he's not having any bullshit YOU'RE NOT TAKING HIS NOODLE BOY AWAY-

Could bet he spent so long thinking about the cournapping in the 5 past days his brain just cannot process that yeah maybe you need to let him down you're just going to drag him in more troubles- Either that or he's just going full protective mode. Both options are good anyways sooooo :)

We stan a protective boyfriend in this house.

---

And finally I'm SOOOOO hyped about whatever is coming next like I know that technically we're supposed to suffer but please I climbed up the angst train so many times now I'm just enjoying it by that point lol. It'll just make the following fluff even more worth it

Also I cannot wait to see MK's plan about the contract I'm so curious I'm dying I love you boys but I really want the plot to progress you can go back to kissing later lol

Finally, thank you for creating this AU. It's stumbling randomly upon it on my tik tok fyp that dragged me into watching Lego Monkie Kid and really THANK YOU FOR THAT. It's such an amazing show I CANNOT BELIEVE I didn't discovered it sooner so really thank for having created this comic because else I could have missed LMK and that would be just saaaad

Fun fact: since I had never interacted with LMK the first time I read your comic, I for some reason thought Macaque was a female (and I probably would have thought the same of Wukong if he wasn't called... well, Wukong because I randomly stumbled upon the myth's Wikipedia page at some point in my life XD). The shock I felt when I heard Macaque for the first time in the show because his voice was soooooo not what I expected x) I'm still laughing at myself to this day

So yeah, from the bottom of my heart, thank you, and I can't wait to see what you're going to pull next :D Wish you allllll the best <3

(I can totally wait, of course, it's just a figure of speech. Take your time, I could wait forever for the next chapter)

ahaha thank you for such a lovely comment!! Glad the scene gived "MINE" vibes as I was planning ahah.

Youu're welcome! It's an honor to serve this fandom. *bows*

[choccy-milky]

HELLO CUTEST ARTSYLE EVER,

idk if you've alrdy done this but have u ever drawn them as GENDER SWAP?? like IKNOW CLICHE BUT LIKE ION KNO, like them interacting as girl and GUY AHAHHAH ok yeah ALSO EXTRA QUESTION HOW DO I READ UR ARTWORK STUFF!!

I HAVENT!!! LETS FIX THAT

just dont ask me why its randomly modern AU and dont ask me why sebs genderbent modern AU concept changed from jock to punk/eddie munson ripoff LMAO (also in regards to the second part of your ask, if by 'read my artwork' you mean all my comics and stuff, all my art can be found in my tag choccyart! but if you're wondering if i have an actual comic, no, all that art is just scenes from my fanfic!🙇‍♀️)

BAHAHA ANON I LOVED YOUR TORMENTOUS JOURNEY THROUGH MY FIC LOL idk if you ended up reading on ff.net or just skimmed through the smut on ao3/wattpad, but either way IM GLAD YOU LIKED IT SO MUCH!!!! I WISH YOU COMMENTED SO I COULD HAVE PROPERLY REPLIED!! but i feel you on finishing a longfic you were enjoying and then just IMMEDIATELY re-reading it bc u feel empty inside LMFAOO i always do that....😭 but srsly thank you for reading and giving it a chance despite the smut!!! and im honoured youd even put it in your top 3?? BAHHH TYSMMM!!🫶🫶💖💖

HAHA IM GLAD YOU LIKED IT, TY!!💖💖 unfortunately i dont have any HL fic recs since i still havent read any gahh😭 but im publishing this ask on the off chance someone who has read HL fics with a similar vibe to mine might see this and recommend something in the replies?? BAHHA. BUT GOOD LUCK ANON I HOPE U FIND/FOUND SOMETHING 🙏🙏

@allurearia LMAOOO i love this bc lowkey same BAHHAA growing up id always use anime/fictional characters i loved as inspo, and now im doing the same with clora😭 like the other night i was eating a bag of chips for dinner (like the degenerate that i am,) and just thought to myself "...clora wouldnt do this..." yet i still did it anyway😔but its the thought that counts!!😇👌

@amethystandemma AWW im happy to hear it and that i could give u that push🥹🥹glad to have u here in the fandom, and thank YOU!!!💖💖

[thankskenpenders]

IDW's Knuckles 30th Anniversary special

I'm still working on finishing Shadow Generations and writing up a big thing about it (yes, yes, it's taken me a month to finish a four hour game, I know), but in the meantime we've got another new Classic era comic out from IDW! Let's talk about that.

The last Classic era release we got was the Fang miniseries earlier this year, which I mostly enjoyed but also found a bit underwhelming. It felt like we were getting diminishing returns with the Classic comics. Ian seemed to be struggling to make the Classic era feel fresh within Sega's current restrictions for that branch of the brand, a branch that by its very nature discourages experimentation and new ideas in a way that the ever-evolving Modern era doesn't. He was mostly just playing the hits, sticking the currently permitted Classic era characters next to each other in straightforward one-off adventures and letting the art team do their thing. We were getting the Ian who was happy to simply be able to take these toys out of the toy box. Again, these comics have been fine, and the art's always a treat, but the novelty of simply seeing a comic with the old character designs was wearing off for me when the stories didn't have as much meat as Ian's (or Evan's) excellent Modern era work.

And then along comes this Knuckles 30th Anniversary special, which is by far my favorite Classic Sonic comic Ian's written for IDW.

...I can't really talk about why it's so good without getting into spoilers, though. The short version is that it's a really nice little story about Knuckles and another character from the games, who's used as a great foil for him... except the solicit didn't even say which character it is, so I'm hesitant to say here. But if you're a fan of Knuckles, you should definitely just go read this. It's great. This one's mandatory reading to me.

And with that out of the way, let's dig deeper and get into the spoilers.

The spoiler zone

After an opening that very blatantly homages Tyson Hesse's old Knuckles comic (yes, the very same one that helped inspire the name of this blog), Knuckles realizes that Angel Island has drifted near the Northstar Islands from Sonic Superstars, and decides that the Master Emerald must be giving him a mission to train the archipelago's own resident guardian.

Yes, this isn't just a Knuckles comic. It's a Knuckles and Trip comic!

I was really delighted by this. I like Trip a lot, and it's nice to get this chance to expand upon her as a character. I think this is her first speaking role, even? I'm glad to see her stick around, and I'm glad to see her appear in the comics so soon, especially since we're still waiting for the mainline comics to incorporate Sage. She's still clumsy and fairly timid, like in the game, but without the looming thread of Eggman she gets to let loose a little. She's very exuberant and expressive and playful, especially thanks to Aaron Hammerstrom's fantastic art throughout the issue (complemented with inks by Rik Mack and colors by Valentina Pinto). It makes sense why she gets along so well with Amy. I hope we get to see those two interact more in the future!

Anyway, so Knuckles shows up on the Northstar Islands after contemplating his lot in life, and realizes that he and Trip have a lot in common. She's not as strong or confident as him, but they're both the last of their kind, these lone guardians of these ancient magical gemstones. He's showing up under the pretense of training her, but you can tell it's nice for him to have a kindred spirit, someone who might be able to really get him.

And then Trip's like... wait, you think I'm the last of my kind?

Yes, the Northstar Islands have actually been inhabited by a whole civilization of sungazers like Trip the whole time! We just didn't see them in the game because, y'know. Eggman was attacking. So Trip told everyone to find shelter and hide from the Badniks. (This actually makes a lot of sense, since you pass by this very village in Speed Jungle Zone. Somebody's gotta maintain those straw roofs and light those torches, and I can't imagine Trip managing all that upkeep herself.)

This also includes a grandfather for Trip, who's been training her as the archipelago's new guardian. Naturally, this has led to some speculation from fans about the old "mandates." In the wake of the Penders lawsuits and Archie's reboot, Sega declared that the comics could no longer create comic-original relatives for the game characters. Has that changed now?

Well, I'm hesitant to read too much into this. For one, as Ian has tried to drill into peoples' heads for years now, the so-called "mandates" aren't a set of concrete commandments from Sega, they just have some general guidelines for the brand, some of which have more wiggle room than others and some of which have changed over time. There's also the simple fact that Sega is working way more closely with the team at IDW, and that people like Ian and Evan are literally on the official Sonic lore team now. Ian can presumably work with the lore team and Sega to figure out Trip's family, and then go and work what they've decided on into a comic, so it's entirely possible Trip's grandpa isn't considered a comic-original character so much as he's a character conceptualized at Sega who just happens to have appeared in an IDW comic before anything else. The lines are a lot blurrier now with all this cross-pollination, compared to the Archie days when it was a separate creative team and a separate canon.

But, again, I don't want to speculate too heavily about what goes on behind the scenes. Regardless, Ian was able to use this comic to expand upon the world of the games and the characters that inhabit it, and I love it for that. It's the first of these Classic comics that feels like truly mandatory reading for the way it builds upon the games. These days we so rarely get to see communities like this in the Sonic world with their own cultures. It's not like we know anything about "hedgehog culture" or whatever. So this is a nice change of pace. The Northstar Islands feel totally different now that I know they've actually been inhabited the whole time, and knowing that Trip is part of an active community with their own history and customs puts a whole new spin on her as a character.

It also makes her a great foil for Knuckles here. He showed up on the island thinking he'd have a lot to teach Trip as someone who's got more life experience as a lone guardian, only to realize his assumptions about her life were completely wrong. Trip brags to her grandpa that Knuckles is gonna train her, but he quickly realizes he doesn't have much to teach her. She may be kind of cowardly, but she knows her way around the island, she can think on her feet, and she can handle herself well enough in a fight, in her own slapstick way.

He doesn't say as much, but you can tell Knuckles is embarrassed about all this. This clumsy kid is showing him up, even though she won't even really listen to his advice! He's also, perhaps, a bit jealous. It's not like he had a grandfather to train him in the ways of being a guardian. (Not in this continuity, anyway.) He doesn't get a whole village of echidnas to teach him about his heritage. He doesn't get fancy ceremonial armor. It's just him, a big green rock, and his two fists. He thought he had this whole guardian thing figured out, and he'd be able to give a kindred spirit like Trip some advice, but it turns out she's lived a whole different life, making him question if he even knows what he's doing. He quickly gets fed up with both Trip and himself, blowing up at her a little.

After reflecting a bit, Knuckles goes back to Trip and comes clean. He doesn't really know how to train her, because no one ever trained him. He figured things out on his own. If he had anyone there to raise him, they've been gone since he was too young to remember. He just knows he has to protect the Master Emerald. That's it. It's a pretty vulnerable moment for Knuckles, one where his dissatisfaction with his life comes to the surface.

Still, Trip sees things differently. He may be used to the fact that he lives on a giant floating island powered by a giant magic emerald, but she thinks that's, like, the coolest thing in the world. HER islands don't fly! And while Knuckles might wish he had someone to train him, Trip thinks that Knuckles becoming such a fearsome fighter all on his own, without even armor to protect him, makes him super awesome and admirable. With both of them feeling better, Trip takes Knuckles to Golden Capital to talk about her heritage as a guardian of the Northstar Islands a bit more, and Knuckles tells her that he thinks she'll be a great guardian before he heads home, once again feeling pretty good about himself.

While this is a pretty straightforward little story about how the grass is always greener on the other side, it's a very effective and sweet one that I enjoyed reading a ton. Aside from the fun of learning more about Trip and the Northstar Islands, it's just a great showcase for Knuckles. (It's definitely a way better showcase for him than his Paramount+ show, as much as I took sick pleasure in that show's baffling creative decisions.) There are also some fun details about his life in here, such as the fact that Sonic, Tails, and Amy have taken camping trips to hang out with him on Angel Island, and the fact that he trained Amy in using her hammer better.

It's just real good, and it feels like the most meaningful addition to The Canon out of any of these Classic era comics Ian's written. We're still gonna be getting more in the future, so hopefully this is a sign that Ian and the lore team have found that happy middle ground where they can keep the Classic comics familiar and nostalgic while also being able to branch out and expand upon things.

Speaking of future comics!

Coming attractions

The end of this issue confirms some things that are in the works for IDW Sonic. For one, we're getting a Chaotix 30th Anniversary special next year. Neat! They also mention some kind of Shadow one-shot dropping following the movie, however fans seem split on whether this is referring to a new story or just the "Best of Shadow" compilation one-shot that's coming out next month. So don't get your hopes up about that in case it's the latter, I guess.

And while we're still waiting for issue #75 of the main series, the IDW team is already thinking all the way ahead to #100, which should drop sometime during the 35th anniversary of the franchise in 2026. Clearly the team's still confident about the longevity of IDW Sonic and excited for the future. And I am, too! Bring on #75!

[yamujiburo]

I AM SO OBSESSED WITH YOUR DELIA OMG. Like okay let me gush for a second, you have galaxy brain reads on every pokemon character, they all follow their character notes closely but with like an extra dose of empathy and insight compared to what's in the show, like, "oh, yeah, that IS how they'd be as a real complex person"--like, I love how your Ash is this great mix of the empathy and hopefulness that are his main traits from the show but *also* feels properly like a 10 year old (in a way that respects the intelligence of 10 year olds!!) instead of having the blanks in his personality kind of filled in by the generic rules laid out by "shonen protagonist"

BUT DELIA OMG SHE'S MY FREAKING FAVORITE. I LOVE THE BIT in the cassidy arc where cassidy's like "I see what you're doing" and Delia's like "Shrug! :)" and omg why is that perfect?? Like...one consistent theme you bring out in Delia is that she's so cozy with, and empathetic towards, her humanity. It shows up in her sexuality and how unafraid of it she is and how much she treats it as normal and not-shameful (which I find so healing), and I think what rings with me in the Cassidy bit is that she feels exactly the same way about her being a little catty towards Cassidy. She embraces her own emotional stake in the whole thing with so much love and so much acceptance that it's an okay thing for her to be. I love her. I love your comics. I hope you do lots more.

oh my gosh thank you for such a thoughtful and kind message 😭

I’m so glad you enjoy how I write these characters! I do my best to stay as true to them as possible but it makes me so happy that you also enjoy when I deviate a little bit.

Delia’s such a lovely character and it’s sad there’s so little about her outside of the novels. I’m glad my take on Delia still feels Delia even though I am filling in blanks haha. She definitely strikes me as the type who is ditzy but wiser than she lets on and knows herself, and her emotions especially, very well. She’s kind, and since she’s young, she’s a little naive but not at all a pushover. Idk she’s so fun to write!!

Thanks for reading my little comics 😭😭😭

[loudclan-clangen]

sort of an out of the blue ask, but I remember when Weed was first introduced, she and Tundrafrost were said to be old friends and they were being pretty touchy and blushy with each other and Chickadeeblur seemed kinda jealous. Did they actually have a thing for each other, or did Chickadee just misinterpret it that way?

…also I can imagine Weed sort of being the wine aunt to Tundra’s kids and that’s cute to me lol

Tundrafrost and Weed did in fact "have a thing" in their much younger years. Tundrafrost and Chickadeeblur didn't grow up in the valley, and throughout their journey to it Tundra had many non-serious flings, of which Weed was one. When Weed was looking for a place to settle down for her old lady years, she reached out to Tundrafrost, whom welcomed her to the clan. Chickadeeblur had no real reason to be jealous, as she has no interest in taking a mate at this age, and the three are very good friends now. You're so right though, they definately do a kid trade where Tundra and Chickadee get to enjoy Cavepaw's baby phase and take him exploring out of camp to get his energy out while Weed settles down to talk Kingfur, Sockeyepelt, and Chumpaw through their standard teenager drama.

*bonk* *bonk* *bonk* *bonk* *bonk* *bonk* *bonk* *bonk* *bonk*

hehe, love it!

I try to keep the names the game gives me if it doesn't contradict with the setting. Things like "Owl", "Weed", "Jagged", or "Fierce" while not being Alaska specific are things or ideas that would be accessible to the cats and therefore I leave those. But names that do contradict or just seem boring to me I do try to change to something similar but more specific. Sand -> Silt, Chicken -> Chickadee, Prarie -> Tundra, Dog -> Dogwood, etc. It's not that any of these couldn't exist in nature in alaska, they just didn't feel like they fit the story at this point. In the first couple of hundred moons I tried to make sure that litters were named thematically based off of the oldest kit's name and their parent's personality, but after time this just became too much work and I think the random names are fun too. That's why the Tundra x Chickadee babies are all types of salmon and the healer kits all have long plant names. Some themes are definately looser than others. I do definately change the sillier names and try to balance out the "weird", for example, the fish babies all have pretty plain suffixes because their prefixes are pretty out-there and nothing else seemed to pair very well with them. "Kingflight" is just a little much, to my ear at least. Also the healer kits will have short suffixes because their prefixes are so long and just from a purely mechanical standpoint I can't fit "Dogwoodcaterpillar" or "Rosehiptadpole" in a comic panel.

Thank you! And go for it! I'd love to see people use my ideas in their own ways! If you want to give a little "insert idea inspired by @loudclan-clangen" I'd appreciate it a ton, (mostly cause I want to go see what you guys are making), but if not that's totally fine. I'm definitely not the first person to do a lineage challenge, but I'm glad that you like my system!

[meanbossart]

Hello! I really love your art!!! Im a big fan of horror and erotica, do you have any toughts to share about being a horror-orinted artist? Im also an artist and contantly want to draw (and share) some darker stuff but am too afraid of internet judgment i guess (a coward lmao). In your journey on the internet, do you were harassed or something because if your subject? Sorry if it is a weird ass ask - im genuinely curious.

Heya, glad you enjoy my stuff!

I've never really experienced any harassment because of my art. I've gotten unkind reactions/opinions about it but one individual expressing their dislike for what you do every once in a while isn't really noteworthy enough. I do, sometimes, get the impression that people online are very reactionary about getting negative feedback of any kind, which makes sense with how over-exposed we are to the worse-case-scenarios of true, nightmarish harassment. But, truth be told, MOST of us will A) never make it "that big" B) While it may be kind of rude, receiving occasional negative attention is just a part of the human experience and it will always be sprinkled into otherwise positive feedback. You just have to be okay with that and take it maturely.

I think one of the main reasons why me and my partner never received severe negative attention for our comics (besides for being mind-numbingly boring as people with our internet presence) is because we are explicitly clear about what they are and what they contain. I have seen a LOT of horror/shock-content artists be... Very euphemistic about their work for whatever reason? Like, trying to sell the themes of their work but somehow failing to explicitly disclose the triggering content within it, or they just leave it at "gore/horror" when a more in-depth description of what the work contains would have been necessary. Sometimes, people seem to do this because they are preemptively scared of the backlash they might receive; but other, much more infuriating times they seem to be tricking people into giving them money before being fully informed.

As an example, here's what the content warning for one of our comics looks like:

Could a "sexual content and assault, death and bigotry" warning have sufficed? Maybe, and at some point I would have argued about the necessity of this level of thoroughness. But nowadays I really think my boyfriend's insistence for detailed TWs are to thank for keeping the people who DON'T want to read about this stuff away, and the people who DO to be able to find it and """enjoy""" it responsibly.

So, be objective about what it is that you're making, not only with others but with yourself. Is there a more complex point that you're trying to convey with your work? Probably. Is being cagey about the work's content and refusing to acknowledge that it may still be triggering, pornographic, repulsive and shocking going to make people see that point more clearly? Absolutely not.

[artsarasp]

hi. i just need you to know you've been driving me insane with sqh content. it lives rent-free in my mind. i spaced out in the middle of what i was doing to think about that qqq/sqh post and then i stared at it for 5 minutes straight. that awkward ineffectually grumpy blushing face. that zoom in on sqh's mouth. that gulp. exquisite. if i stay too long i'll scroll down to the other sqh/everyone content here and then i'll die. i'm deeply inspired and also dying. thank you for your service

AAA! I am glad!! I'll be honest I'm really proud of that comic and i was getting a lil bummed cause it didn't seem many people liked it as much as i did BUT I'M BEING PROVEN WRONG, I GUESS EVERYONE WAS ASLEEP WHEN I POSTED-

I've had so much fun drawing it, glad it's an inspiration for u :>>>

and btw!!! i LOVE your writing!! i really enjoy the lqg/sqh fake dating fic you're writing!! <3 gives me brainrot whenever i see a bit of it ahshs

[akanemnon]

I'm finally putting an ask here, now that it's open.

Anyway, did people often told you that your artstyle was just candy for the eyes? Like, I always use it when I'm blown away by an artstyle, but yours, it's like a visual box of M&M's appeared right before me.

The colors, the facial expressions, the cartoony looks and feeling... I think it's the best comparison I can make. M&M's. And it's a big compliment, I really like it.

Also, Kris being an angry animal with rabies all the time is hilarious. In fact, I would struggle finding a favourite moment because it's just really difficult with everything that is going on.

I love this comic. You're probably among my fav artists, at the moment, I love it, I just reaaaaaaally do!

Ah, yes, people have compared my artstyle to food a couple of times before (or claimed that they wanted to "eat" my art.) Actually hasn't happened in a while. You're the first one to bring it up again.

I'm happy to hear you like the cartoony style a lot. My style wasn't as cartoony before, but I'm glad it evolved in that direction. Even though when drawing other stuff it tends to fall back into my regular style.

This Kris really has become a creature of their own that is almost nothing like the canon version. Which I'm happy about, since it makes it easier to tell that this story is doing it's own thing in some regards. It's gonna make more sense in the end, I promise lol

But yeeeee thank you so much for enjoying the comic!

[maxsimagination]

𝗿𝘂𝗺𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝘁 - 𝗼.𝗯𝗮𝘁𝗹𝗹𝗲

summary: yn is a well known tattoo artist, and mapi happens to be her most frequent customer and avid gossiper.

𖦹 masterlist

"𝗠𝗔𝗣𝗜! 𝗠𝗬 𝗙𝗔𝗩𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗘 living canvas!" i yell out to my favourite customer as she walks into the studio.

"yn! my favourite tattoo artist!" i laugh at her antics. "mapi, i'm you're only tattoo artist. you don't let anyone else near your skin." she poked her tongue out at me and sat in the chair.

"so what are we doing?" mapi pulled her phone out and showed me a sketch that i knew she'd been wanting for a while. while i was getting my products out and cleaning everything, mapi was talking about the latest news with her team, barcelona. "we signed a new player, she's from manchester united."

i knew what mapi was talking about already and i knew the player that had transferred. it was my girlfriend, ona batlle. i was over the moon when she'd told me she was moving clubs to come over to barcelona. owning a tattoo studio doesn't require me to travel a lot so it was mostly long distance, but we made it work.

we face timed and called when we could and texted often. i knew most of her now-teammates through my work, especially mapi. she was my most frequent customer and probably one of my closest friends.

her girlfriend, ingrid, would come along to some of her sessions sometimes and we'd chat while mapi was practically half asleep in the chair. i had also done work with players like alexia putellas, patri guijarro and of course, ona but they didn't know that.

"we played our most recent game with her and she's actually pretty good." mapi was still talking about ona and i sat with a smile while i worked, glad to hear praise for my girlfriend's soccer skills. "i hear she has a girlfriend." that bit caught my attention. "how do you know?" a grin was plastered on my face at her words.

"she has a vibe, a feeling that she's happy with life. i don't know, i just hear things from the girls." it was comical really, how right they were, but i definitely wasn't going to say anything.

we spend about two hours there, me working on mapi's tattoo and mapi talking my ear off about anything and everything. when i'm done, i clean off the excess ink and spread some gel on it before mapi is up and bounding over to the mirror to see her latest artwork.

we finished up and mapi handed me the cash she'd gotten for today. i thanked her and she was on her way. when i closed up for the day i called ona, something we do regularly now that she's in barcelona with me. "hola mi cariño." (hello my darling.)

"hola mi amor. how was training?" (hello my love.)

"bien, (okay) it was just the normal. although the girls kept talking about how they think i have a girlfriend." i laughed at that, it was the same thing mapi had told me about when she was with me. before she went to training.

"they aren't wrong." i laughed. "mapi told me about that today. she said there's rumours your dating someone." we just laugh together at that. it's not like we are trying to hide our relationship from our friends, they just haven't figured it out yet. and when ona was at manchester i would fly over to her, so it wasn't as obvious.

"did you want to go out after? we can go to your favourite cafe?" ona offered.

"por favor, amor. i need to spend time with just you." (please, love.)

we agreed and ona said she'd pick me up from mine in an hour. i lived by myself in an apartment not too far away from the studio. ona tended to hop between living with me and one of her teammates since she's been in barça. i was honestly surprised that none of them have caught on when she wasn't living with them.

as promised, ona picks me up and we drive out to the cafe. it was small and slightly secluded with some tables scattered through the front and down the side.

it was such a pretty place and had the best food i'd ever tasted, i loved it so much. we enjoyed our time together and shared some food before we had to head out. what i didn't expect when we walked out was mapi, waiting, with a semi-tired ingrid in tow.

"i knew it! i knew she was dating someone!" she was almost yelling and had completely shocked both ona and i.

"maria leon! what are you doing?" i used her real name, that got her attention. "lo siento, (sorry) i knew you knew something when i told you during our tattoo session. normally you are all over gossip with the girls, but today you seemed like you already knew about it. it just made me think-" i smiled at how mapi was rambling about how she knew about us. i looked down at ona and she was already grinning at our friend. "-about how happy ona seemed and how you are and-"

"mapi, it's okay. we don't care if people find out about us." mapi stopped talking and looked at us before breaking into a grin. "sorry, thankyou. i think you guys are cute."

we all ended up laughing together, even ingrid who looked like she needed a nap. after we'd caught up mapi and ingrid left to go to their place, while ona went to mine with me. "i guess the rumours were true, onita." i grinned over at her from the passenger seat. she was grinning back at me before responding.

"shut up, amor." (love.) then; "i want you to tattoo me again."

[floridecuts]

Part 1 Part 2 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10

And here's the next part, with 3 more pages! Couldn't wait so I uploaded it a bit earlier! Thank you very much for the nice tag comments again, I'm reading and treasuring all of them!! I'm really glad there's people who enjoy this comic idea! Hope you're gonna stick around some more, because there's still a lot coming!

Sadly, it's not going too well for Yashiki at the moment. Mashita's gotta think of something to help him. I really enjoyed drawing Daimon here, he's one of my favorite mark bearers and we definitely will be seeing him again in this story!

I hope the transition between the 3rd and fourth page wasn't too confusing. Adding a chase scene with The Departed would've taken longer than I would have liked (and also challenging to draw) so I chose the easy way out with that skip. What's supposed to happen there is that Mashita shooting at The Departed scared them off long enough to free Yashiki and make a run. The Departed kept chasing them trough the forest but they managed to keep them at a distance (probably with more shooting from Mashita's site).

Thanks for taking a look! :)

[idolomantises]

yayayay your asks are open!! i wanted to say how much i love sorrel, i'm a guy who likes to dress really feminine and it's kind of rare to see characters like that! so he makes me feel seen, yknow? it's awesome. also MAN dot getting bullied and not realizing it is exactly how i was as a kid. wild to see my experiences reflected in a way i don't usually get to see TWICE in the same comic. i'm sad it's ending, but i'm glad you're doing what you want to, and i'm happy you made it at all! i adore bugs, they really deserve the appreciation :D

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's really interesting seeing which characters people relate to.

[730kc]

Aaa I love your Shinichi so so much because you draw him like the menace he is!!! I am so tired of people thinking Shinichi is super serious because in reality he's just as much trouble as Kaito is, and you really show that with all of your art and comics and I love it 🩵

I'm glad you like him!! ^^ There are so many facets to Shinichi, I think he can be both super serious and a menace, just at different times!

disclaimer: I'm talking about Shinichi, specifically in fanon/kaishin, and not commenting on his canon self.

The way I characterize Shinichi, he's a very thick-faced and oblivious kind of guy-- he's shameless when he has his eyes set on a goal. He's oblivious to how his actions can be perceived by others. He can casually say, "Awesome, thanks, you're amazing, I love you!" to anyone who does him a favor or saves his skin--- or sometimes, he doesn't even say that, and just demands more, haha.

On the other hand, his seriousness is just a product of his singular focused goal.

"We got to get ourselves back on that ship! let's go, let's go!" /quote based on memory.

"I just saved you from death-- okay, okay stop pulling me! u_u;;;;"

I really enjoy this kind of Shinichi mainly because he suits the type of Kaito I prefer. ^^

Kaito who is "whipped" so to speak, but reluctant to let it show. Tsundere and frowning, he's constantly getting jabbed in the heart by Shinichi's oblivious charms and how cool he is. He's silently suffering with his own affections and wondering why he's even come to like this kind of self-centered guy.

Ofc, I also enjoy it when Kaito is theatrical, purposefully annoying, and open with his affections as well! This Kaito exists when they're already dating, and Shinichi is well aware of his own feelings. There's a sliding scale of nuanced behavior that makes their dynamic… well, very dynamic, and leads to so many different interpretations!

There's no right or wrong type of dynamic/characterization in fanon; just different interpretations that suit the fan's individual taste. My Shinichi has influences from m2/go's Shinichi, but I patched Kaito together from other fan-interpretations. What can I say? I like Kaito ~pathetic~

Anyways, I rambled, and I don't even think I'm all that coherent with it. Unfortunately, I don't have art to present because my fingers are too cold to draw. TT;; I'll get a space heater soon...

But anyways I'm very glad you're enjoying the different characterizations I draw!

[heretherebeturtles-comic]

Hi! First off, I just wanted to say that you're incredible for not only answering these asks, but doing it in such detail. I watched the videos you linked in that post late last night, and I feel like an absolute genius and can't wait to get my pencil out today.

I have a small more specific question -- I don't know if I've actually seen you doing it in this comic, but I don't think it's that much of a stretch to assume you have (plus I didn't really look very hard), so I'm asking anyway.

How would you shade/render a blank wall or corner? Is it darker in the middle? Is one wall darker? What if there's lighting right there in the corner?

o7

I'm glad the videos helped out!! I just enjoy talking about comics and art, I thank you all for enabling me haha

For shading a wall or corner it's all in the gradients! How strong the shadows are will depend on what the light source is or where it is in relation to the corner. Here are some references I found for examples.

If you are doing it digitally you can use a gradient tool. It's simple and easy to get those shadows down quickly.

Idk if this was a tutorial? It's also not completely accurate, it was mostly just me going "oh huh... how would I do that?", but I hope this helps!

[assumptionprime]

I adore your take on DS2 and wanted to know what ur thoughts were on Elden Ring and/or DS 3!

(also I have been loving ur comics!!!)

First off: Thank you! Glad you like my comics! <3

I mentioned it briefly in the DS2 post, and it's been said by others, but Dark Souls 3 is about ending Dark Souls. And it does that very well. The "time and space is falling apart and that's why the geography is like that" that people sometimes say about DS2 is literally, textually true in 3. The Dreg Heap is a pile of other, older Dark Souls areas collapsing in on each other. This world has been going on and on, repeating and prolonging the Age of Fire that should have ended long ago, and it's just breaking down. You can't keep the same thing going forever, that's true in the universe of the story, and of a franchise of dark fantasy action RPGs.

It's kind of funny and also impressive that Miyazaki and the team hit that point, saying if they keep doing this it's going to fall apart, on game three of the franchise. There's so many series out there that will pump out game after game of the same stuff, to the point they stop numbering them and give them subtitles to hide the fact that they're on game 23 of this thing, and FromSoft said "three's our limit for this one" and gave us the greatest hits final bow before moving on to new different takes on their subgenre of games.

Enter Elden Ring! The game that got me into FromSoft games. Every time people talked about Dark Souls it was always about how hard they were, and the whole "git gud" mentality, which made them seem like they would 100% be not my kind of thing. But I am an absolute sucker for a fantasy open world, so I dipped my toes into Elden Ring, and really enjoyed it! Being able to just go exploring and do something else whenever I got stuck was a huge plus, as are spirit ash summons. The game is hard, for sure, but there's also a lot of ways to ease that difficulty (not eliminate it, but ease it (also there's no excuse to not have a pause button, that's stupid, don't @ me))

As far as lore and storytelling, Elden Ring has a lot of cool stuff (that's my wife Ranni, my cool witch wife Ranni) but I don't know that I have so definite a "take" on its story. It goes back to the Dark Souls 1 and 3 well of "some important shit happened, go kill this list of bosses about it" but I appreciate that you have a lot more choice in regards to your ending. It's not "link the fire or don't" it's "you're creating a new age, what do you want that age to be like?" with a few compelling choices and some evil bastard ones for fun.

Assorted side thoughts:

FP is better than spell uses. More convenient, more flexible, lets you focus on Mind to allow yourself to cast more spells.

All of my first playthroughs were sword and board, both because of caution going in and because I like the "knight with a sword and shield" aesthetic.

Related to the last point, Guard Counters are a great addition in ER, and the "Sekiro style block" crystal tear for the Physick in the DLC should have been a talisman or something permanent, to just make that a play style people can use.

The Alva Armor rules, 10/10 best fit in Dark Souls

I really like Shadow of the Erdtree, but it is the absolute limit on the current version of Souls-game mechanics. Not everyone is Let Me Solo Her, and between both the extremely punishing difficulty and the becoming more repetitive nature of a lot of the boss design, they need to change up the combat to keep things going. Sekiro seems to be a step in that direction from what I hear?

No boss fight in any video game has ever made me feel as cool as Slave Knight Gael in the DS3 DLC. It just worked for me on pretty much every level. The story, the music, the visuals, the difficulty. I can beat him, and it's hard but not a kind of hard that makes me angry at the game. Dodging in and out of his attacks, getting my own hits in, it felt like a kick ass dance of fantasy combat. It's peak.