#Ideally I'd love to make a webcomic

[silverystormwing]

lineup of some characters! of course the version I have saved to my computer doesn't have their names smh, got to do this myself do I. If you've got any questions about these guys, feel free to ask! :>

(long post due to img IDs, I like to write whoops)

note: these are rough concepts, details such as scars/outfits/tattoos are probably going to change. (and have changed in newer images)

this went up early on my Patreon / ko-fi! it's $1/mo for sneak peaks & WIPs & such :>

From left to right;

'Myrto' (xe/xer) 5'3 | villain, very done

Cat (he/they), 5'4 | general job, perpetually tired

Cemil (she/her) 5'4 | actress, over-the-top

Tanya (they/them) 5'5 | hero, somewhat dramatic

Rene (he/him) 5'6 | paper pusher, very nervous

Hendry (e/em) 6'3 | bodyguard/bouncer, cheerful

Tase (any) 6'10 | henchman, zero braincells

[ID: seven people of varying heights standing on a grey background with a grid overlaid behind them. Behind the figure on the far left, there is a silhouette of a 6ft tall person with the words "6Ft Human" beneath it. Characters are described left to right in increasing height order.

'Myrto' is a 5'3 thin black person wearing white robes that are shaded in pale pastel colors of the rainbow, with a black bodysuit, gloves, and boots underneath with the seams outlined in white. Xe's body is facing front, with xer head looking to the left with a neutral expression on xer face. Xer right hand is raised, white lightning outlined in the same rainbow pastels as xer robes arcing accross xer body to xer lowered right hand. Xer skin has horizontal streaks of pastel rainbow markings, xe's eyes have black sclera and white irises, and xer black hair is in a series of braids worn in a bun.

Cat is a 5'4 person with short brown hair, medium brown skin, green eyes, and looks decidedly unimpressed with everything. He's facing the right in a 3/4 view with his hands in his pockets of a dark blue hoodie, pale periwinkle sweatpants, and black shoes. They have a slightly heavier bodytype, and have a simple black stud in one ear.

Cemil is a 5'4 black plus-sized woman with dark blue eyeshadow, nail polish, and lipstick, and looks fairly amused. She's facing to the left in a 3/4 view, wearing a blue dress with wide sleeves that fades to a darker blue around her ankles. It has white trim, and faint sparkles on the inside of the sleeves, visible where she has her right hand slightly raised, while her left is relaxed at her side. She's wearing gold jewelry consisting of two ear piercings, a nose piercing, two bracelets, and a necklace with a red pendant. Her hair is in braids which are hanging loose around her shoulders.

Tanya is a 5'5 thin, very skeptical looking person with short brown, curly hair, orange-gold eyes, and lighter brown skin. They're wearing a dark green dress with longsleeves and dark teal trim that goes down to their knees, with a lighter green lace pattern bordering a pale green panel down the front of the dress. They have a brown wrap around their waist, dark leggings, and pale tan boots. They're facing front, leaning to the left with their right hand raised while their left rests on their hip. A few dark freckles are visible on their exposed skin, and they have an eyebrow piercing, and a choker with a green stone.

Rene is a 5'6 very nervous looking, scrawny man with dark skin, glasses, and patches of vitiligo around his eyes, temples, chin, hands, and poking up from underneath the collar of his shirt. He has square glasses with the wire of a hearing aid peeking out from under them, and is standing with one hand resting in the crook of his opposite elbow, while his right hand is up, as if waving uncertainly at the camera. He's wearing a dark purple collared shirt with a gold tie underneath a dark grey/black suit vest, black slacks, and dark grey dress shoes. He has brown eyes, short kinky black hair, and is smiling uncertainly.

Hendry is a 6'3 person with pale skin, medium length red hair and a short beard of the same color along eir chin and jawline, brown eyes, and has some black eyeliner. E is wearing a green T-shirt, dark blue pants, grey & teal sneakers, and pink socks. Eir right hand is a prostetic is resting on eir hip, colors matching eir shoes. E has a few scars on eir arms, and where eir prostetic starts, just below the elbow. Em has a half-hearted smile on eir face and is wearing a few silver studs in eir ear.

Tase is a 6'10 large, muscular person with dark skin, long straight brown hair held back in a pony tail, and is grinning to the right of the lineup. Her right hand is up, holding a lit cigarette between his fingers, with their left hand resting on their hip. E has a variety of scars, with a notable one cutting up the right side of xer face, notching xer lip. They are wearing a black dress shirt, with a dark red tie, a tan suit vest & pants, pale blue socks and black shoes. Ae has dark blue eyeshadow, a bar through their ear, and a dark red stud earing. They have gold-yellow eyes.

END ID]

Scar/back tatts ref/versions with only underwear below the cut! Images do have top nudity [variety of genders]

initial scar ref / ect.

[ID: The background is the same as in the first image, and the same seven figures stand, this time only wearing underwear.

Myrto's markings are revealed to run all over xer body, not just xer face. They run from xer back towards xer chest, and extend all over xer limbs. Xe has a few notable scars, including a few accros xer chest. Underneath the markings on xer right forearm and xer left upper arm, xe has some black tattoos in an abstract twisting vine pattern.

Cat only has a few small scars from mundane growing up, with a more noticeable slice on his side.

Cemil doesn't have any notable scars, though she has a tattoo in the shape of a black lineart butterfly on her left ankle.

Tanya's only notable scars are their inverted T top surgery scars.

Rene's vitiligo extends in symmetrical patches over his body, with larger patches around his feet, knees, groin, armpit and elbows, and smaller accents elsewhere. he has black tattoos around the lower part of his upper arm, in an abstract pattern. The edges of tattooed feathered wings in the same color extend from his back along his side.

Hendry has a a few more scars on eir legs, one on eir chest, and has red chest hair.

Tase has extensive scarring, surgery scars on their stomach & chest mixed in with more ragged cuts from fights along zer chest, arms, legs, and a burn scar on eir leg. Xe also has a few gunshot scars on xer arms & legs. She has chest hair, and body hair on her arms & legs. They have the tattoo of a small snake around their neck. (author's note: this was removed in other design versions.)

END ID]

Back views for the spoiled ones ones I I had notes for their backs I wanted to hammer out.

[ID: This time, only Myrto, Rene, and Tase are depicted. Each character has two views, one facing front as in the above image, and one facing away from the camera to show their back. The background has changed to a darker grey, no grid, and only two lines - one by the character's feet as the 'ground', and one at a height marked 6'.

Myrto's back view shows the white lines connecting along xer spine, back of xer legs, and forearms. Xe has a few slashing scars along xer back, and one along xer right leg.

Rene has two feathered wings tattoed along his spine, the upper pair accross his shoulders and upper back, the lower pair along his lower back with the flared primaries extending onto his front. Patches of vitiligo extend onto his back & legs. He is not depicted wearing a hearing aid in the back view image. (author's note: this is artist error, my bad)

Tase's back also has extensive scarring. Most notable are three large claw marks cutting through their tattoo, extending from his left shoulder down towards her right hip. The scar is black, of a snake with it's head resting on the back of xer neck, the body in a ribbon-shaped curve along their back, with the tail curled over her tailbone. A few of the scars on his front are mirrored on neir back, either by coincidence or as if they got impaled by something in the past. END ID]

[mmitwcomic]

Update: what happens between chapters 1 & 2?

We reached the end of chapter 1! Yay!! This is another major milestone for me as a webcomic maker, and it feels incredible to be able to say that I've put out this much of a story so far! (as a little fun fact: my first draft of chapter 1 was set to be 90 pages long...I think it's safe to say I've learned a lot about comic panel layouts and better storytelling since then~)

Now that we're here, I'm planning to take a longer break between this chapter and the next, for many reasons! In addition to needing more time to properly finalize and start working on pages for the next chapter, I'll be very busy this summer with other things! If you follow me on my main Cohost page or keep up with my Ko-fi, you'll probably have heard that I'll be participating in dealer's den at a couple conventions! Exciting stuff!

On top of that, I'm experimenting with a new method of taking commissions that may help give me more time to work on the comic. If all goes well, you might start seeing more pages per week in the future! This story has somewhere in the ballpark of 15 or 16 chapters planned, so ideally I'd love to start publishing more at a time so this doesn't take forever!

I've also had more than a few folks suggest opening a Patreon in order to fund the comic, and thus make it sustainable for me to work on it more, and I'm considering it! There's a few logistics that'd need to be worked out, but if it works out then that may also be an option for supporting my work in the near future! (If that's something you're interested in and you have ideas for it, leave a comment so I can gauge interest!)

Chapter 2 will make its appearance sometime in August or September! Stay tuned, things are only gonna get weirder from here~

[jammyness]

What will a Solarpunk education system look like? Part of my solarpunk.lol research

I loved this question because it allowed me to touch on a lot of different ideas... but I'm just an engineer who likes to daydream about systems, I'd love to hear what educators think an 'ideal' education system should include.

Every year my Patrons get to ask me questions and I make comics about the answers. In 2022 I invited questions about my take on a Solarpunk Future. This year they get to ask questions to the characters from the solarpunk webcomic I'm writing... 👀

[aswegoalong72]

July 2024 Writing Update

Hello again! It’s been a few months since I’ve done one of these, and I apologize for that! Between art, life, and illness, I haven’t had as much time as I had hoped for writing.

I'm going to be very busy these next few weeks still, especially when I get a chance to get a new art pen, but I'm hoping to still make some steady progress when I can from time to time!

My last update was on March 6th, 2024, back when I would do weekly updates. Instead of doing that and adding unnecessary pressure unto myself, I'll just be doing monthly updates!

Before I formally begin the update, I would like to share a bit of news in regards to the project; I'm re-writing almost the entirety of Piercing The Veil!

Back when I had a bit of downtime to read what I had over in April, I found I had way too much exposition, not enough dialog, or character development. PTV is the first book I ever wrote, and a lot of the early chapters are definitely showing their lack of experience and age. I started PTV in like... 2021, I think. A lot has changed, and I want to fix it up to better represent all that has since then!

I think, or at least hope, that this will be the final re-write before I get the time to actually finish it. There's still yet a lot to add even once this rewrite is done, as this is going to definitely be considered a saga or epic. In my outline, I have roughly 101 more chapters I plan on adding before I can consider PTV "done". Even then, once I do finish it, I'm going to let it simmer while I work on the first four opening novels.

It's going to be a very, very long process before any of these books come out, or are even considered done. I'm hoping that once I get my art pen back, finish my art backlog, and finish reading my friend's webcomic outline, I can devote myself full time into writing. Until then, thank you for sticking along and keeping me company on this journey!

Without further ado, here's my progress since March!

Dawn - 12% complete (9,323 words) -146 words since March, rewrite for "Alkan's Will" underway Yuniv & Semat - ~1% complete (0 words) Planning stage, waiting on Dawn to be finished Deep Freeze - ~1% complete (0 words) Planning stage, waiting on prior books to be finished To Touch Tenav - ~1% complete (83 words) No change, partial intro only, planning stage Piercing The Veil - ~22% complete (120,531 words)/(8,610 rewrite) +8 words since March, rewrite well underway Head Above Water - ~2% complete (483 words) No change, partial intro only, planning stage Book 7* - ~1% complete (0 words) Planning stage, waiting for prior books to be finished Universal Ideal - ~1% complete (0 words) Planning stage, waiting for prior books to be finished

That's about where things stand. I expect to maybe get back into the art scene by late this month, finishing my backlog by late September if I push it enough, with writing resuming by early or mid October. I will most likely pour all my time into Piercing The Veil, and maybe a little bit of Dawn as well.

Once I get finished with those two, I'll get into the process of getting beta readers, fixing typos & plot holes, finishing an accurate timeline, and getting art for the covers and chapter titles. I'd like to get a decent part of the way into Yuniv & Semat before I publish as well, that way I don't have as much pressure to release things in a "timely" manner as well.

If, and this is a very big if, all things go according to plan, I should be able to publish Dawn by Q2 of 2025. Dawn is a collection of short stories spanning from the prehistory of Lyratet to the stagnation of civilization in what would be the early 1100s in the Gregorian calendar. It's sort of a primer for understanding Lyratet civilization, their early days, and what drives them in their quest for a better society.

Thank you for reading, and for continuing to stick around! Have a lovely day!

-GB

[copperbadge]

Er-idealizing occurs in romance?? I thought relationships involved learning someone’s flaws and either “nbd, not a dealbreaker” or loving them because of their flaws. Everyone had broken bits; isn’t it nice when they dovetail? Have you read the tumblr webcomic “Foxes in Love”? It’s about romance BECAUSE of imperfections.🦊🦊💕

I mean -- and I was not especially clear about this, so that's my bad -- in that initial period of having a crush or those first few dates, most people have a pretty idealized view of their partner. Romance idealizes one's partner long enough to get to the relationship stage; relationships do take a more realistic view, but you've got to get there first, and I was talking more about that aspect, right at the start.

When someone for example reaches out to say they have a crush on me, I'm very aware that they probably would not feel that way if they knew me in brickspace because they're in Romance, not Relationship. It's not to do with whether or not I'm relationship material, it's just that they're crushing on something that isn't real -- or at least isn't whole. But it's difficult to know how to say "I don't know you and you don't really know me, not in a way that would make this feasible" without sounding like a dickhead, and I know rejection is painful and I don't like to inflict that on others, so I don't handle it especially well. It's not terribly common in any case, at least. And while there are exceptions I think I'd probably make, those come with their own complications. I'm not an easy person to be with.

I've seen Foxes In Love cross my dash over the years, but I have to admit I don't find it super relatable. I suspect the problem is that it's talking about relationship stuff but the confines of the webcomic structure means there's not a lot of space to explore, and I'm someone who rolls deep out of habit. There's just not much meaning there for me, I guess. Ironic considering I write romance novels, I grant you.

[webcomic-character-tournament]

Genuine question. Why are comics from online only publishers discouraged? What is the goal behind discouraging paid webcomics?

sorry for taking so long to answer this!

i got really excited about answering this but also am not very good at communicating things clearly, i often get lost in the details in my passion about stuff like this, so i hope this is still interesting to read and intelligible lol!

i dont think there is any one thing that inherently defines what is and isn't a webcomic, it's an amorphous category that i enjoy the ambiguity of. but for me, what first led to my wonder for them as an 11 year old, and what has been a major factor in my passion for them even as an adult, was their low barrier to entry in both making them and accessing them. if you have internet access and time, almost anyone can make a webcomic if they want to! of course, without editors (or often even full story plans) or sensitivity readers or more people on a team to collaborate and contribute to the comic's vision, and the huge effort that it takes to do all the tasks of writing, inks, coloring, lettering, etc. all on ones own often without professional resources to facilitate that, that means that a lot of webcomics are really rough in some way or another. but a lot of people have interesting ideas they want to work with, but don't have the technical skill, desire or ability to market themselves or be beholden to external work deadlines, or connections in some way or another to be able to share those ideas through traditional publishing. regardless of skill or ability, a lot of marginalized people are barred from having their stories accepted by publishers due to bigotry and expectations about what kind of story is profitable.

as a disabled lgbt kid, i definitely read a lot of really bad webcomics i wish i hadn't, but also some of the media i was exposed to that most represented me back then was in the form of webcomics from people a lot like me. and i could read so much of it easily and for free without having to risk much to access it behind my parents' backs!

obviously that isn't the case for every webcomic, but for me and my history with them, them being easily accessible to both publish and read has been really important.

there are absolutely a lot of good points to be made about how publishing free to read webcomics isn't always the most accessible thing for a lot of people, especially for poor and disabled people. making webcomics takes a huge amount of time and effort, and sometimes even if people are passionate about making a comic, they just can't afford to find the time for that around all the other responsibilities of their day to day lives unless it can be a consistent income source. thats why even if paid online comics arent my platonic ideal of webcomics, i absolutely would never exclude them. i want small creators making stories i want to read to get the money they need to survive and keep telling stories without burning out!

it could be argued that online publishers who specifically focus on webcomics don't always present the same barriers to entry as traditional publishers, and many don't restrict the scope of marginalized creators' stories at all or to the same extent as people have struggled in other more mainstream avenues. and from my outside understanding of publishers like hiveworks, i'd absolutely agree with that! i love a lot of hiveworks comics and think its an awesome thing! (of course literally my icon is from a hiveworks comic, tiger tiger!) nonetheless however, part of my goals with this tournament is to highlight lesser known comics, and as publishers like hiveworks help advertise and promote their comics, even if i still want everyone to read all my favorite comics published by them, and certainly there are limits to those advertising resources, they still don't need as much help as other comics without that support. so its not as much 'try not to submit these' and more 'as you submit stuff like this, try to submit stuff with less advertising resources and popularity too!'

going into this tournament i also had a similar sentiment for stuff like webtoons originals. there was an added element to me in how i feel like i know a lot of people nowadays who read webtoons but don't have much awareness of other forms of webcomic, but even if in my love for webcomics i want people to come to appreciate all the breadth of ways they can exist in, thats obviously not something to make a huge priority. it's incredible the amount of forms comics can take (sidenote but reading scott mccloud's "understanding comics" a couple years ago was really formative for me in cementing how much i appreciate that, i'd highly recommend it!!!), and the way infinite scroll comics like webtoon style comics more fully make use of their digital medium, using time scrolling to pace things in place of traditional gutters and panelling, is really really cool. of course they're becoming more popular in a world where more people have smartphones, where webtoon style comics are a lot easier to read than many other forms. i love a lot of webtoons, and id feel regressive to discourage stuff like line webtoon original comics any more than stuff like hiveworks comics, just to go against current trends in what comics people seem to prefer. they have a similar low barrier to entry (through contests) as other online publishers, and it's cool to see creators get the opportunity to get paid for their work and get help from professional editors and stuff

but in the past couple weeks of running this tournament, i ended up reading a lot more about the behind the scenes of what its like to be a line webtoon original creator. line webtoon's expectations for their creators are incredibly unrealistic and exploitative, with grueling deadlines leading to a lot of creators to get repetitive strain injuries, all while working for well below industry standards. obviously a lot of webcomic creators make an inconsistent poverty level income out of it as independent creators, and that shouldn't happen either, but it's absolutely inexcusable for a company to profit off this labor and then manufacture these same conditions. without any organized labor movement surrounding that issue, that of course isn't an argument against reading or promoting these comics on its own, creators are more likely to get more income if their comics get more popular, and despite the promise of popularity by becoming an official comic, they absolutely still aren't all promoted equally. what has made me want to slightly more discourage (but still absolutely not disallow!) stuff like line webtoon official comics has been the combination of that along with learning that much of the editing of webtoons originals carries less of the benefits of having experienced creatives collaborating with creators to elevate their stories to new levels, and very often instead ends up taking the form of 'simplify this plotline and make this character look more attractive and fit this archetype more fully so we can market this better and have readers easily consume each update while they're scrolling their phone without having to think about it too much'. while obviously there are a lot of amazing webtoon official comics in spite of what i've heard anectdotally, hearing that just really went against so much of what i've most valued about my experience with webcomics!

i want creators to be able to tell stories no matter how weird and unmarketable, where they'll never have to worry about pushback for making stories with characters and themes that resonate for them as a member of any oppressed group, and where there's as little pressure as possible pushing them to work harder or faster than they healthily can or want to! so for me, even if i still love a lot of online published comics and want them to be celebrated and want their creators to be able to make a comfortable living out of them, i still just want to highlight stories that had that level of freedom that has created some of my favorite experiences with webcomics just a little bit more.

[strontiumsun]

catcomixzstudios said:

Remind me, did you have specific plans for Project Buddi in terms of medium (like making it a comic, prose, etc)? Or more just something to doodle occasionally? It's a really fun concept and I always love seeing stuff for it!

Thanks, man!

I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with Project bUDDI! In an ideal world, I'd get someone to make this with as a graphic novel (someone good at designing and drawing people!). If I were to make it on my own, I've thought about going the light novel route - so prose with illustrations. But currently, my post-HoT plans are percolating as "writing a YA novel" and "doing a MSPA-styled webcomic on the side." Plans can change in 2 years tho... we'll see XD

[melodraca]

okay well. now that I know you also have an oc named Ash I would love to know more about them (it is indeed a cool af name)

OK so Ash is pretty high up there on my list of ocs that I adore (even if I haven't drawn her nearly as often as I ought to have) I don't want to reveal too many plot details/characterization due to a combination of spoilers and her still being in development, but....

She's from a cosmic horror story I started working on in high school that I'm still hoping to finish at some point! Ideally it'll be a webcomic, but that would also take a while, so who knows lol

Her backstory is vague and mysterious because she doesn't actually remember it. She remembers everything from up to a few years ago, but beyond that, everything starts to get fuzzy

She's a cool bisexual. She's a bad bitch. She comes in a package deal with the lamest guy ever (Jamison) do NOT separate them

No, like seriously. They can only be described as soulmates. They would die for each other. They can't live without each other. They're connected by something cosmic, and supernatural, and personal, and human, and beyond human, etc. They were made for each other. And it's great because Jamison is literally Just Some Guy.

They were also originally and slightly inspired by those two gay guys in the bathroom from Saw (2004), but not anymore though, they actually like each other now

In other words... Ash:

Also this (via catcrumb):

It's not even romantic. It's romantic-coded? I'm not even sure if I'd say queerplatonic. I never really describe whatever the fuck those two have going on in any specific terms in the story. I'm obsessed with m/f duos that are really close but not in a romantic relationship, because just saying "yeah they're in love, they're dating" is boring.

She's also kind of mean to him

She's kind of snarky and sarcastic, a bit of an asshole too. She's impulsive and has that "you only live once" type mentality. She's also charismatic, clever, and good with words

She plays by her own rules. She's rebellious and stubborn, and she HATES authority

Women are allowed to be little a scary. As a treat

Her and Jamison, along with a few other characters, are the only people who can see the [redacted] that are starting to breach into their world. Their task? Tracking down and finding anomalies and aberrations while they try to piece together the bigger picture of the potentially apocalyptic event that is happening in their city

She's pretty chill about it. Her main goal is to try and remember her past, and to make sense of the nightmares and the fuzzy, vague traumatic memories that ceaselessly haunt her

I don't really have any of good art of her, but I do have a few frames from the forbidden (OLD AS HELL) animatic short film she first originated from

(Note that literally nothing from the plot of this short film is still canon to them, which is kind of awesome)

[lowpawly]

AAAJFHDGHJFGH IM SO EXCITED TO SEE A LAPIS CENTRIC COMIC IN THE WORKS!! especially one that explores her character more AND is close to canon?? im literally dying on t he spot wtf i owe you my limbs and soul

How are you planning on posting the comic? Will you be posting a panel every time you finish one, post the story one part at a time (considering theres 4 parts) or wait until youve finished the whole thing before you upload it? whatever it is im hyped as FUCK to see it

Thank you for the support!!! its something I've been really excited about and seeing other people be excited is really encouraging

that's been something I've been stuck on! I really want to avoid the typical webcomic upload schedule of a certain number of pages per week because I've had bad luck with it before and it ended up creating a ton of stress for me and makes the process go waaaay slower. I really want to work on everything as if I'm making one finished peace so that my art style is more consistent and my work flow is more manageable. What I'm thinking about doing is finishing each part and then posting it all together, and then potentially posting chunks of pages on my patreon as I work. I am a bit concerned about overwhelming myself and underestimating how much work I'm gonna have to pour into this, my first part is complete and is around 30k words which is. obviously a lot LOL. and considering I work a full time job on top of everything I can't dedicate as much time to my art as I'd like. in an ideal world I would love to get enough financial support for my art to be able to quit my day job and dedicate all my time to finishing projects like this, but I think that's something far in the future. otherwise I'm gonna be taking things one step at a time and encourage myself to stay motivated :) its a project I really care about and seeing people be excited really helps a lot

[monkeywiki]

i hope this is appropriate to share, but op made a very good post and i'd like to share an old comic i drafted originally in 2009. this post is why my webcomic meant a significant amount to me. it's been on hiatus for years and will probably stay like that for some time.

a lot of the core of this story is specifically what OP is talking about-- the isolating silent turmoil caused entirely by a bully with a very convoluted intent-- and the conflicts of the self that come from having your perception of both yourself and others warped by a malicious and selfish person, having other people-- even those you thought you could trust, turn against you and make you question who you even are.

this is a comic i've always considered people might see as fairly controversial because of the way it's told very raw and explicitly as what it is -- suicidal idealization brought on by traumatic social isolation.

it's played off initially like a cliche bullying trope, in albeit a very misleading cartoonish fantasy sci fi setting, where it's just almost comedic mean spirited slice of life school bullying that OP mentions, but it becomes clear very quickly that there's honestly a disturbing undertone to the antagonist. he haunts her through the near entirety of the story in different symbolic forms, as she has to relearn who she is, the world, and how to navigate loving herself and trusting others again-- specifically after someone she considered her best, and first friend, betrayed her trust for the approval of others.

inevitably, she has to find closure without closure. the ability to move forward knowing and accepting how he harmed her, not forgiving him but seeing herself above what he's done. she will inevitably find closure in being able to truly find happiness -- rendering him powerless in the result.

it takes her navigating a genuine growing spite and lack of empathy towards humanity and people around her for her to eventually learn how to trust again. i really hope i can someday finish this story, as its meant a lot to me over the last decade+, and had an important message i was trying to teach myself for a long time-- moving forward, even bittersweet. i feel i've found my own closure with the story, its rawness, its amateur attempt at writing-- and i'm definitely hoping people some day enjoy the conclusion it reaches.

no piece of teen media has ever accurately depicted the quiet psychological warfare of bullying. bullies on TV are always dumb brutes and not the evil geniuses of emotional manipulation that they are in real life. being given a wedgie and having your lunch money stolen is nothing in comparison to a classmate quietly creating a taboo against speaking to you that they intend to enforce against all the other kids. it’s nothing like continuous cutting comments from people you thought were being nice to you. that way that the work of one kid can make you feel like every person on earth silently hates you and that you are dirty, disgusting, worthless, creepy and useless. that you can have friends but many of them will not speak to you at school for fear of the social consequences on their end. how that damage lasts in any social setting for the rest of your life

[thescrapbookingscientist]

Bimonthly Media Roundup

- King's Maker (Webcomic) - I'll talk more about this next time after I finish it, for now I love the concept and character designs and think there's some good ideas here in both visuals and individual scenes, but overall think the execution is pretty flawed in actually displaying court politics and the effect on the people as a whole given how little we see of anyone not directly involved in the rich boy love drama.

- Wicked (Movie) - I gotta admit, I went in with low expectations but this movie really surprised me, it was genuinely very good. I had some issues of course, I think they stopped songs too often, I was hoping to get more school life scenes between Glinda and Elphie, I thought the Boq plot line was underdeveloped, but those didn't really affect my overall enjoyment with how good everything else was. The pacing was surprisingly good even with the long run time, the costuming and set design was fantastic as was the choreography, the chemistry between Glinda and Elphie was amazing and every actor did a great job in their rolls, both from an acting and vocal sense. The Menezel and Chenoweth cameos were admittedly pretty self indulgent but honestly I enjoyed them, it was neat to hear them sing together. Honestly would pay to see it again, hate to encourage the splitting movies into 2 parts trend but maybe that was the right call here to keep the non musical sections interesting. I will remain skeptical of part 2 given it's the lesser of the two soundtracks but I am still very hyped to see these versions perform 'For Good'. Overall a win for musical theater fans.

- Ennead (Webcomic) - Everyone is allowed to have a piece of media that they like but would never recommend to anyone they know and that's Ennead. I adore the setting and art, I like a lot of the characters and their designs, I do actually like the protagonist and the main romance as problematic they are, and I genuinely think the plot is pretty interesting. But man does it have a lot of content that I would not want to try to justify to my peers like geez. Other than just being kinda egregious I'd also criticize the Eastern beauty standards of making the half cast lighter than they should be and being a bit embarrassingly self indulgent at times, but I will still be eagerly awaiting each chapter.

- The Case Study of Vanitas (Anime) - While this had a rough start it get's more interesting the longer it goes, I like most of the central cast as well as the vampire hunters and their dynamics, Vanitas's backstory gives him very poor babygirl energy, Noe just straight up IS babygirl, and I still quite like the designs and aesthetic of the series overall. I still don't think the narrative progression or sense of humour is great but I'm more positive on it overall than not, we'll see how the rest of the series goes.

- EPIC (Musical) - I've been listening to random tracks from this for awhile now and finally decided to listen to the full set list. It's pretty good, a lot of good vocal talents, the songs are mostly catchy with a few standouts, it's got the usual leitmotifs that we all love, and plot wise it's always got interesting stuff happening courtesy of its Odyssey adaptation. I really don't gel with it's themes or have a strong attachment to most of the case, but I'll reserve judgement until the last saga comes out. For now I'll say that most of the songs by gods or monsters go hard and that Morgan Clae's cover of Get in the Water haunts my soul in the best way.

- Arcane (TV) - Will also wait to give final thoughts on this but man the contrast between Jayce and Ekko's alternate reality trips was so funny every time it cut between them. Like I understand it was emotionally devastating for both of them but Ekko is over here living in ideal future dreamland then it cuts to Jayce eating raw meat while crawling around on a cave floor. Insane choice.

- Dandadan (Anime) - Still fun so far, like that each introduced cast member retains the idiot ball of being stupid and silly and that the aliens got a chance to be sympathetic.

- Dungeon Meshi (Manga) - Farcille placed #2 in the top tumblr ships of 2024! Let's go Lesbians!! They deserve that for real.

- Genshin Impact (Video Game) - Okay so Fontaine has by far been my favorite region plot wise, like wow the story is dynamic and unique and interesting with an actual full interconnected story and likable complex characters who have genuine emotional moments with eachother like wow, who knew Genshin could do it? Landscape wise I haven't explored the majority of the region and still have a bunch of side quests to do, but I do like the whole cast and hope to see them in more events. I've had Navia as one of my favorite units for awhile and now that I've seen her story I can say she's one of my favorites in the game, a really good character to watch and play as I love her. I also just got Neuvillette, so excited to use him.

Listening To: EPIC concept album (All of them), Hard Sell and The Well by The Crane Wives, Re:Your Brains by Jonathan Coulton, Stick Season and Feeling Good by Reinaeiry, Red Wine Supernova and HOT TO GO by Chappell Roan, Wicked Soundtrack, Dream Girl Evil by Florence and the Machine, Ruler of my Heart Sua cover from Alien Stage, Dial Drunk cover by Chloe Breez.

[radellama]

33, 36, 52?

33. something you want to learn

I wanna learn a lot of things, but at the moment specifically I wanna learn a bit more about coding/programming. I have been very slowly trying to teach myself html+css so I can make a neocities page, but I'm umm-ing and aww-ing about whether I take an IT course to learn more.

36. 3 dreams you want to fulfill?

1 - publish an original work. Ideally I'd like a book published that I can put on my bookshelf, but I also wanna finish Abe and Orc and publish it as a webcomic somehow. Still looking into how I wanna go about that, but I'm still working on it while it's in the pre prod stage 😏

2 - have a film I've worked on have a run in cinemas. I'll take successful film festival entry, but how good would it be to have a new Aussie-made indie film hit cinemas across the country? Possibly internationally? Ideally I'd like to be the writer/director (or both!) but if there's something else I'm part of, like being AD or lead editor or whatever, I'll be super chuffed. To be real I'll be super chuffed even if I have a minor role in a major movie but the dream part of it is that I had a major part in shaping it haha

3 - direct a game that sells. I've been having so much fun and learning a lot about indie game dev the past couple of years while working on jams and such, and I've been co writing and art director as the highest roles for them, but I'd love to direct and write my own at some stage and have it be big enough that I can charge a few bucks or possibly put it on steam. Would love to move up a level in the scope of the games I'm part of, and would love to lead one myself

52. something i’m talented at

Breaking down or constructing narrative, which I'm super glad was refined while studying for my bachelor. (Can you tell I wish there were more film theory classes?)

I've always enjoyed doing this sort of thing when reviewing or critiquing things I love and things I don't, cause understanding and articulating WHY I think that is very fun for me. And it helps in the inverse too, when creating a narrative, I love to fill it with details and ideas to bring the world and characters to life - though often this means I'm going way out of scope LMAO. Still working on that aspect. But when creating narratives, I feel like I'm finally at a place where I can create the kind of ones I'll enjoy reading and writing, and can utilise my autistic pattern recognition to my advantage and arrange things in ways that make sense and feel good to me. And if I feel good about it, I can more confidently obscure the crazy amount of details and leave it as a nice breadcrumb trail for readers hehe

Send some questions from here

[fullmetal-the-last-alchemist]

[enter sarah stage left] as prommied, thee emojis!!!!! 😈😈🥰😆i hope you are doing well mein bröth-lovied!!! 🫂💜💜 i have a fun fact for you.. i am on the PRECIPICE of starting the op anime! :3 anticipating it changing me Entire Life ngl!

rambling aside, my questions for you are!!! 🎵🙃🧸🧡🦖🔮🌿

SARAAAHHH!!!!!!! 💖💖💖 my saturday has been GREAT bc i have done nothing but hang around the house all day... truly awesome stuff, i am so relaxed <3 but NOW IM YELLING AND CLIMBING ON THE WALLS BC MY BELOVIED.... IF U START ONEPIECE... U WILL NEVER KNOW PEACE AGAIN AND THAT IS A THREAT I MAKE WITH ALL THE LOVE IN THE WORLD 💥💖💥💖💥💖💥💖💥💖💥

OK OK CENTERING MYSELF. OK. emojis lets GO!!!!!!!

🎵 Last song you listened to? To Someone From A Warm Climate (Uiscefhuarithe) by Hozier!!!! been blasting Unreal Unearth in anticipation of the upcoming concert hehehehe >:3 it's SUCH a gorgeous song AGH.... ngl it lowkey.. reminds me of u... literally only bc u are, in fact,,. Someone From A Warm Climate LOL 😆😆

🙃 What’s a weird fact that you know? u might already know this, but!!! sloths can, in fact, hold their breath for up to 40 minutes 😎

🧸 Favorite place to nap? honestly i nap SO rarely that i don't think i could properly claim any place as my favorite 😅 the only places i've napped have been my bed or my couch? so those i guess LMAO

🧡 A color you can’t stand? AGH... but i love so many colorss.... hmm..... i suppose, i'm not a huge fan of super bright neons? they tend to hurt my eyes... thats all i can think of ngl colors i love u!!!!!!!!!!!!

🦖 Favorite extinct animal? ACK i can't believe i asked u this w/o having a good answer myself!!! hmm.... i'd say, any Super Big Guys that went extinct a while ago, i think it'd be SO COOL to have really giant elephants or megalodons or those big dudes from the ice age movies (Paraceratherium!!!!) still around. AND GIANT BUGS... DUDE... GIANT ISOPODS...... they're so cool and epic AGH

🔮 What’s your dream job? i want to make my own original webcomics!!!!! and write books!!!!! in like, an ideal beautiful world where i don't have debilitating adhd and also burnout doesn't exist 😅🙈🤪

🌿 Describe your favorite outfit. OH GOOD Q... hmm, probably my super-baggy jeans (they have like 6 pockets its GREAT ngl they're basically denim cargo pants) and this lovely golden-yellow sweatshirt i got for xmas, it's merch for the webtoon Muted by Miranda Mundt!!!!! it's super comfy and warm and cute <3 for warmer weather i have a fav pair of denim shorts, and honestly i love wearing a sleeveless shirt and a sports bra, it's so comfy... u will NOT catch me in sleeves unless it's below 45F 😤

[alikestory]

i keep seeing various iterations of that webcomic post going around and i HATE IT it's so depressing ;___;;;

this post got so long and rambly i'm putting it under a cut. talking points include: smackjeeves, my old comic Wander, and various tangents

there were so many good webcomics i read on smackjeeves and deviantart back when i was in high school, they had a whole different energy... like the creators were having fun with it and not worrying about how to Make It. (there wasn't like, an industry around it then so :v )

i wish i could have experienced making a webcomic back then and participating in that scene... but it just makes me sad to think about....

(if i did post anything polished-looking enough to get readers i don't think i would have really enjoyed it... the big story I was drawing then was Wander and if I'd been able to pull off what I was going for it would have been great but that was NOT HAPPENING (I did draw like, three chapters I never posted anywhere and outlined some more and that thing was a MESS u__u) tho I did post a comic to smackjeeves at one point it was really sketchy and I originally drew it for my friends so it was all just inside jokes....... I think a couple people did subscribe to it for some reason??? very nice of them. anyway like. even Blackout City that I started like seeeven?? years later there are lots of things I wish I thought through more or are kinda dumb but I still like reading it =w= )

BUT IF I'D POSTED WANDER ;__; BACK THEN. there would have been SOMEONE who read it and was like "this is awesome" and it wouldn't matter (to them) that it didn't turn out how I wanted......

you know that kind of thing where a creator is embarrassed by their old work because their new stuff has become polished and professional but that silly, crazy stuff they did when they were figuring it out has so much HEART..... it would have been cool to be that for someone.......

ALSO IF I'D DRAWN MORE OF WANDER I COULD READ IT. u__u well it would suck but IF I'D DONE A GOOD JOB. imagine a world. :v it's not something I'm interested in writing now (tangent: I started capitalizing the "I"s and nothing else like I'm typing on a cell phone that's autocorrecting them even though I AM NOT and I don't know why but now I need to keep doing it for Consistency) but I would like to read it if someone else wrote it ; 3;

it was about the people working at this hotel at a crossroads between worlds. for most of the story it was about them dealing with various visitors who would be the main focus of the chapters and then slowly you learn about the main characters. (ideally. I was not then and continue to not be any good at coming up with short stories.) and then at the end there's a serial killer who one of the main characters had a childhood romance with until he killed her sister..... you know, some standard melodrama. :'^)

also it was supposed to be seven volumes long..... because I had no concept of how long that would take...... and because tokyo babylon is seven volumes long AND THE COVERS WERE ALSO GOING TO BE COLOUR-CODED THE SAME WAY, OKAY???? IF THERE'S ONE THING YOU NEED TO KNOW IT'S THAT I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED TOKYO BABYLON AND I ALWAYS WILL. CLAMP NEEDS TO RELEASE AN ART BOOK WITH ALL THE PREMIUM EDITION COVERS BECAUSE I WILL NOT BUY SEVEN VOLUMES OF MANGA I ALREADY OWN BUT I REEEALLY WANT TO. I DON'T HAVE THAT MUCH SPACE ON MY BOOKSHELF. ALSO AN ART BOOK OF ALL THE CLEAR CARD ART BC IT'S REALLY PRETTY.

those are my demands. anyway, what was i talking about?

[lxgentlefolkcomic]

Info and FAQ (Please read before sending asks)

What is this?

This is the League of Extraordinary Gentlefolk, a comic project based on the premise of Alan Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Think The Avengers, but with characters from Victorian lit.

If you’re familiar with the Alan Moore comic, or the 2003 movie, don’t expect this project to look much like either one. I’m keeping the name, the basic premise, and most but not all of the core cast, and going my own way with all the rest.

Where can I start reading?

For the start of episode 1, click here. For non-canonical bonus material, click here.  I’ll be updating this post with more links as the comic proceeds.

Episode 2 starts here.

Who’s working on this thing?

The LXGF team consists of:

Chicken (@mayhemchicken-artblog​): Project leader, artist, blog owner, part-time writer

linguisticparadox (@linguisticparadox​): Writer, blog admin

Dathen ( @dathen​, @datheneth on Twitter, Dathen on AO3): Editor, image description writer

L. Spooner (@fruitviking​, @voiceofspoon on Twitter): Writer

@see-arcane​: Writer

Mr. Pinniped (@mrpinniped​, Mr_Pinniped on AO3): Writer

Rosie C. (@absolutely-and-always13​): Writer

Lemur (@drowninginaseaoflemurs​): Writer

The Collector of the Whimsies (@pop-goes-the-weasel​): Writer

Jesterbells (@jesterbells): Writer

Luna: Editor

Drakontissa (@thegoatsongs​): Writer, image description writer

@cattuladaily​: Writer

@severedfeetpics​: Writer

@kouvei​: Writer

@the-constellation-collective: Image description writer

Hiri (@hirilelfwraith): Image description writer

Jade (@riseofthesea​): Image description writer

Do I need to read all the books and stories this is based on?

We’re aiming to make the comic accessible to people who have never read the original works. Reading the stories will enrich your experience with the comic, but it is by no means necessary.

If you’re interested in reading the original works, @linguisticparadox​ compiled a fantastic Google doc with links to all the texts we’re using as inspiration. (at least, all the ones we can currently share without giving away future spoilers... :3c)

How will you be handling [insert issue/plot point/character portrayal from either LoEG or one of the source texts here]?

Hopefully, in a respectful and nuanced fashion. One of the cornerstones of this project is my desire to present the characters more faithfully to their original book incarnations than LoEG did, while at the same time avoiding uncritically reproducing the prejudices present in those texts. The characters may be from the 19th century, but I am not, and I would like LXGF to be fun fantasy escapism more than a gritty depiction of Victorian attitudes. I don't aim to pretend such issues don't exist, but an in-depth exploration of 19th-century bigotry is beyond the scope of the story I wish to tell.

What are the guidelines for sending in asks?

Be respectful. This is the “goes without saying” rule, but this is Tumblr, so I’ll say it anyway. Trolls, hate, bad-faith questions, and exclusionism will be deleted.

Read the FAQ. If your question is covered in this post, odds are I’m not going to answer it.

Be patient. I’m only one person, and I’m not always going to be able to answer asks in a timely fashion - or at all. This is my first time running a blog that receives this level of interaction, and I’m still figuring a lot of things out as I go.

Are you looking for guest artists/writers?

Not currently. We’ve talked about this possibility for the future, but as of right now we’re not accepting submissions for new writers. I’ve also had a couple people offer to help with inking/backgrounds, and while I appreciate the offer, I would like to clarify that I do not intend to do either. The comic will remain black and white and sketchy indefinitely.

Will the comic ever have its own website?

Someday, I swear. It's on the to-do list. I recognize that a standard Tumblr blog is not the ideal format for a webcomic, and I'd love to have a website with a proper archive and better navigation and all that good stuff, but creating one is a fairly involved undertaking and I have very little coding/web design experience. As such, getting an LXGF website underway will take time.

Will there ever be a print version of LXGF?

Er...probably not, sorry. At least, not anytime soon. The way I draw the comic is not well formatted for print, and I have no idea how one even goes about producing a physical comic book. For now, LXGF will remain online-only.

What characters are part of this?

There are a LOT of characters planned to appear in this thing. I’m working on a separate cast list page, but in the meantime, the core League by the end of Episode 2 will consist of: Mina and Jonathan Harker, Irene Norton (better known as Irene Adler), Dr. John “Jack” Seward, Arthur Holmwood, Quincey Morris, Dr. Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde, Ashley Griffin, and Captain Nemo. Additionally, expect to see a wide variety of supporting cast members in roles both large and small, including more official League members to be added down the road.

Hey wait a minute, [character] is from way earlier in the 19th century than this comic is set, what gives?

For the sake of Making All The Blorbos Interact, some hand-waving has been done with regards to timelines. I've used Dracula as the cornerstone for the time period of the comic, and everything else has been fudged a little to fit. My general approach to the passage of time in LXGF is "don't think about it too hard".

Why is Jonathan Harker here?

I'm going to be real with you. LXGF was founded on the concept of Jonathan Harker being here. The spark that started this fire was "How did Alan Moore pass up the opportunity to put a knife-wielding vampire-slaying possibly-supernatural cryptid solicitor in his Victorian superhero comic?" (Yes, I know most of the "Jonathan Harker is supernatural" stuff came from Dracula Daily. Even without that, though, he was still done dirty by LoEG.)

Bottom line, we're here to have a good time with the characters we love. That's why Sherlock Holmes is here, it's why Basil Hallward is here--it's why everyone is here. And in this house, we love Jonathan Harker.

Where can I learn more?

Join the Discord server! We’re discussing the comic, the works that inspired it, Alan Moore’s uhh...questionable creative choices, and more! There’s some bonus art in there, too.

[focsle]

being a lil salty about the perceived creative value of certain storytelling mediums and I’ll probably delete this later cos it’s a Bad Look and I am incredibly biased in my opinion but…

I really do wish that like…In General people realized HOW much work webcomics are.

I.e. the replies on that ‘feeling of making a long form webcomic’ post I reblogged a couple days ago were filled with people being like ‘you mean writing anything lol not just webcomics’ and it’s like…..yes there is a lot of work that goes into making anything long form and that particular post was absolutely broadly relatable when it comes to so many ways of telling a story because telling stories is hard! But long form webcomics are SO so much work. As someone who’s also written a novel, the novel is easy peasy compared to a webcomic. A picture’s worth a thousand words becomes a meaningless sentiment when you have to draw a thousand pictures. When crossing a room takes a sentence to write but hours to draw. It takes me months of work to narratively get to what I could get in like, 5k of writing.

It’s having to take every skillset one would use in crafting a narrative through any other media (including forms of media that have entire teams of people working on it rather than one person) and putting it together. And when I list these things I’m definitely not saying I am a pro in any of them but they’re still considerations that have to be made. Depending on the style and function of the piece, making comics involves being a writer, an artist, an actor, a director, a camera. One has to draw the same people over and over again consistently, has to think about visual compositions not just for one illustration, but for every single panel, and then how every single panel works to form the composition of every single page, and ideally (though less of a thing with webcomics) how the spread of two pages alongside each other work together compositionally as well. How to make everything visually coherent and readable. One has to learn how to draw so many things from so many angles so many times. How to keep a consistency in how different characters carry themselves, how they move. Costume changes. Set design. All of it. And webcomics are almost always a solo affair. I'd say this has a lot of similarities to animation BUT it's a lot rarer for someone to be doing like...a full length animated film just by themselves. So I still think webcomics are very unique in their demands.

I love writing scripts, and I love love love when the pages are done. It’s such a rewarding way to tell a story. So I’m not complaining exactly but…idk I wish the volume of the work that goes into them was appreciated more as a specific craft that is one of the heavier lifts to make when it comes to telling a story. It’s absolutely not the same as writing a novel. And it has challenges that are very unique to the medium that I don’t think many people fully appreciate or acknowledge.