#just for funsies. stupid really self indulgent funsies I haven't been able to stop thinking abt for a long while now

[imwritesometimes]

good news, nobody! I said fuck it and started working on the stupid, really self indulgent fic I've been thinking abt and I don't hate the 650+ words I achingly extracted from my brain tonight ....

[nasikepal]

Nachi's Log on Making Webcomics, part 1

People say "Write your stories! Draw your dream comic! Just start your own project!" But we all know shit is fucking hard to do.

As someone whose job deals a lot with managing projects daily, I find their train of thoughts extremely interesting. That is, the hows, the whys of people arriving to certain decision and stuff--on whether to start a project, or to continue doing a project in certain shape, or at one point finally stop pursuing it.

Based on that, I decided to record my own 'train of thought' on making my own passion project, a webcomic, in a somewhat readable format for myself in the future. She'll most likely wonder why the hell the 2021 me took this particular direction of writings.

But, if you, dear reader, think this record is interesting, by all means read this too! A quick disclaimer, though:

This is not intended to be a how-to.

This also does not talk about commercial projects.

The summary of this log, would be...

To my future self reading this log: at this point of time, I finally, finally been able to start the webcomic I have wanted to write since years ago thanks to these deceptively dumb things...

I stopped trying to write shit I don't enjoy learning more of

I found this previously-hidden, surprisingly huge urge to bully my own OCs

I learned some shortcuts that don't make my exert too much effort, so i dont feel like crap if my drawing turned crap [On a separate post, TBA]

Oh yeah, also to my future self? This is gonna be a long read.

As a context, a few days ago I finally uploaded the first page of my comic, a comedy story about a girl thrown headfirst to people with their Indonesian folklore-inspired superpowers--aptly named What The Folk. I took inspiration from traditional folklores like Timun Mas, a girl that killed a man-eating giant by throwing some stuff. I like these kind of things.

This story did not start this way six years ago though. It certainly was Not titled WTF when I was like "oh shit... what if.. girls... but folklore powers" for the first time.

It started with totally self indulgent me drawing the Timun Mas as a cute girl with a fucking gun, eight years ago. For reasons.

Oh, if you haven't noticed, the aesthetic was also very .. Indonesian, by the costumes of the characters. A plural, now, because I wanted to adapt what's basically Timun Mas folklore to action-packed comic.

Extremely cool in premise. Anyway, for some reason, 2016-me onwards decided, nah, I'm not writing a cool battle-inspired folklore story. I'm gonna write a gag comic in modern Indonesian setting, and while they fight shit with cool-looking folklore inspired powers, the focus is more on the stupid shit they did to fight enemies.

Stop stop stop right there. Wait, what? It goes from serious battle story to a gag action? What fuels this sudden tonal and aesthetic shift?!

Here's a further detail on my decision.

1. I stopped trying to write shit I don't enjoy learning more of

Okay. Battle stories usually feature badass fights, of course it's the part of the story!! You know, like shonen manga.

It took me like four years of trying and failing to draw what i have on my mind, to acknowledge that, crap, I don't actually enjoy making stories about people punching the lights out of others. I don't actually enjoy learning how to make my fights cooler than ever. I don't feel happy when I have to choreograph fights. I like Jojo's Bizarre Adventure not for the lightning barrage of punches, for goodness sake, but the sheer ridiculous-genius of the asspulls on the fight!

With some reflections, maybe the thing that made me really hard to acknowledge this was the attachment to the idea. Because I was "the first person who thought of this idea, so only I can draw it". While there's nothing wrong with attachments, it is a problem if I myself don't even like writing this idea I'm attached with.

So, what do I like, then?

Parodies. Comedies. I find immense joy if I can find the perfect punchline from what is considered 'Canon'. (Also I won't let anyone say comedies are inferior than battle stories. Those two require different skillsets.)

Campus environment. College was one of the most interesting years of my life to date, and I want to share the little tidbits like me eating campus' street food. Really mundane, but it's where my heart is.

Part time job shenaningans. My days as non-permanent worker is just too eventful not to adapt to my OCs.

When I decided to scrap absolutely Everything beside the folklore powers and the basic trait of said characters, then start adding ultra self indulgent things, writing becomes so. Much. Easier.

When I go with this strategic decision, I was plagued with doubts, though:

Others might be using this idea then! Not you! And so what? There are no two same thoughts in this world. If one coffee shop AU with one pairing can evolve to various takes on this idea from multiple authors, why not this particular idea, too? No one can write what you can write. Nachi, you need to take pride of your own flow of thoughts and strengths.

Won't they look cooler with traditional Indonesian inspired aesthetic instead of modern place? It might look cool on concept, but you don't like drawing it. Also, it will look insincere. Drop it.

What about the scrapped ideas? Fuck sunk costs. I compiled them on a separate masterpost I can look back if I'm stuck in the future. But that's for the future, I'm not dealing with that now. Bye, bitches. You made me stuck in a limbo.

This decision to start anew goes hand-in-hand with the 2nd point, the newfound desire to.....

2. I found this previously-hidden, surprisingly huge urge to bully my own OCs

Because I was too focused on getting the events and battle panels right while felt agonized, I didn't even care that much about the characters!!! And when I go to the much enjoyable road of comedy, this requires me to actually think about the characters. My OCs.

They are a delightful mess. I love them. I want to put them to frankly frustrating or confusing situations for the funsies.

I start thinking more of their dynamics. Wrote their background and stuff. Wrote their favourite genre to sing karaoke of, I swear it's fucking fun. Why wasn't I doing this sooner? Oh yeah, the attachment to initial ideas. I swear....

This newfound direction and motivation of my webcomic is further moderated by a very, very determining factor. The technical stuff involved in drawing the stories. The making of actual comic, beyond the storyboard.

As I will talk a lot LOT more, I decided to continue this particular topic on a separate post.

Ending Ment for Part 1

Looking back, I felt happy I finally are able to overcome the stupid roadblock. It can come sooner, yeah, but I don't really regret how it come after years of agony. Funnily.