#thank you! it's been a long time since i've drawn comics

[professorcalculusstanaccount]

Hey I stumbled across your blog and I just wanted to say your art is so comforting and lovely, you really have a talent for comic design. Also I just realised that reading Tintin at a young age is why my taste in men is Like That(TM) so I'm not sure whether to thank you or curse you.

ikr

[banmitbandit]

Pots 'N' Picks Week 2024: Day 7: Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner/Snacks/Dessert/Family/Goodbye

[Dungeon Meshi spoilers (with a big amount of canon divergence) and a long, long caption beneath the Keep Reading]

November 20th, 1484 Dear Senshi, It's been a little over eighty two years since you've been gone. In that time, Merrywinn, the newborn baby you held in your arms days before you passed, became a great-great-grandmother, and her funeral last week was as rancorous as every other half-foot funeral we attended. Soon, it will be my one thousandth birthday, and I can only hope that, like you and Marcille, that's when this curse will finally be lifted, and I can see you again. If that's true, then that means I'm the beginning of an end. Instead of twenty one years, Laios will only have to wait three until he dies after me, and Falin will only have to wait three after that. In twelve years from now, Izutsumi will pass on too, and the six of us will get to share a meal together once again. I've missed your cooking, sure, but most importantly, I've missed you. Do you remember when we first shared that bottle of wine in my new house in Kahka Brud, over nine hundred years ago, before we had the slightest idea that something was wrong? I told you that I didn't want to make you feel the way I felt when Fayfinn left me. You said you didn't care, that it was worth whatever small amount of time you had me. Obviously, it turned out that fate had different plans for us, that the Winged Lion had cursed Marcille too, that we'd each live as long as she would. It's been hard, but since then, you've been there for me every step of the way. When Fayfinn passed, when my girls passed, when their children passed, and theirs too. You've been there for everything, and I'm thankful for it, from the bottom of my heart. I knew I wouldn't be prepared to lose you, and I wasn't. But no matter how much I hurt, Izutsumi was worse, even if she'd never admit it, and I had to be strong for her, too. She's strong and independent, just like she's always been, since the day we met her, but you were the closest thing to a father she ever had. She loved you, Senshi. She said so herself at your funeral. I just hope she doesn't miss me enough to cry at mine. I don't care what dwarves or tallmen or elves think, you and I both know funerals are supposed to be celebrations. Fun is in the name, isn't it? I haven't been okay in a long time, but these days, I feel somewhat peaceful. I have lived my life to the fullest, like any good half-foot should. My birthday gets nearer and nearer with each passing day. Tomorrow, Lochlee, Merrywinn's great-grandson, is helping me collect my things so that I can return to Merini for Laios and Falin's birthday in a few days, and I plan to stay there at the castle until my time is up. I've packed the cheesecake recipe you perfected, and I'm going to sneak it to the cooks whilst Laios isn't looking. I'm sure he'll end up eating yours and Marcille's portions too, but I know you won't mind. After that, it's Marcille's birthday. Then Izutsumi's. Then mine. I'm looking forward to it; like funerals, birthdays are for celebrating. Even elves know that. I can't wait to see you again, Senshi. Yours, -Chilchuck Tims

An AU I proposed back in the Chilshi Nation server a while ago seemed to be a good way to break my heart when rounding off Chilshi week. A lot of people bring up the tragedy of Chilchuck and Senshi's lifespans being so different, and it makes me wonder what it would be like if Marcille's misguided wish had long term consequences.

This wasn't intended to be seven pages long with the lyrics to A Thousand Years by Christina Perri shoved in, but that's what it ended up being. The song seemed a little too perfect not to include.

All of my Chilshi posts were drawn up on the day, and I used them mostly as an excuse to experiment, whether it be posing, body types, shading, comic layouts... My later entries got to be a little more ambitious with what I wanted to do with them, so they're maybe not as polished as I would like them to be, but I hope you can enjoy them anyways.

Whilst I'm here, I'd like to extend a special thankyou to @dumblilracoon for dealing with my awful brainstorming and struggling all week. Couldn't have done this without you. And of course, the Chilshi Nation discord server for being so lovely! :)

If you reblogged or liked or commented on even one of my Chilshi week posts, thankyou so much! Chilshi week has been a blast and working on it and seeing all the lovely art and writing that's come up from it has been a treat.

Happy Chilshi Week, everybody!

[sen-ya]

Life After Info Post

[Click here to access the Life After Digital Comic Book]

Summary: Two years ago, a viral outbreak rose the dead. Considering how his life had gone up to this point, surgeon Trafalgar Law figured this might as well happen too. When a supply run into the nearby city gets intercepted by a seemingly reckless and impulsive former patient, the dependable routine Law had settled into in this new life shatters. He finds himself exposed — his body out in the infected landscape, his conscious clawing to define what he believes is right, his heart begrudgingly deciding to find a new home on his sleeve. Maybe there’s more than a virus roaming the new world that can bring a dead man back to life.

Content Warnings: Canon typical violence, zombies/body horror (but lbr I am not good at making scary things look scary)

Relationships: Luffy x Law

Update Schedule: New page every Monday/Wednesday/Friday

Page Count: [37 posted | 55 drawn]

Latest Update: [7/21/24] WOWEE did I get myself carried away this morning. I just spent 5 hours organizing my comics and creating the digital comic book pages. I could have spent that time drawing or idk not doing what I do for my job, but I cannot be stopped. Anyway I blocked out 30 pages of this comic last week and they include the most intense action sequence I've ever done in my gotdang life. Wish me luck because I am nervous about tying down all my drawings lmao.

OLD UPDATES:

[6/29/24] HULLO! I'm doing so bad at keeping my masterposts updated lately I am sorry. All pages of life after are tagged life after if you're ever looking between masterpost updates! Also exciting update, I finally have figured out all the different plot points i'm gonna be hitting (yay!). I got hung up on something for awhile that made me not wanna work on this project, but I'm back at it. I think we'll end up with 6-7 parts! I have probably another 80-100 pages to draw lol. Also i got the app Magic Poser and it's AWESOME and I immediately used it to block out sets cuz MAN I hate backgrounds.

[6/10/24] HELLO. I'm sorry I've been shit at updating my masterposts lately. It's easiest to do from my computer, which I rarely use, and life has been happening. I also can't believe I bungled the queue and posted pg19 before pg18 i am very sorry 🤦 Eventually I'll have to turn this into an airtable base I'm sure, but until that day comes where I have like 100 pages of this comic we're stickin to the regular post lmao

[5/26/23] I got real caught up in doing summer of lawlu comics this week and this is the first week since the first week of April I haven't drawn new Life After pages and it feels weird 🙊

[5/19/24] More Luffy backstory comin' this week! :^)

[5/12/24] Updating now so get myself on schedule to update on Sundays like I had been with my other comic master post!

[5/8/24] Thank you to everyone who's liked/reblogged/comment on the first few pages!! It means the world to me that anyone's reading my silly little comics.

[4/28/24] HULLO. It’s happeninnng. I’ve spent the last few weeks working on this comic, and I gotta make this post so I can start queuing pages & link this in them! This is the most like….legit? Comic endeavor I’ve undertaken perhaps….ever. I’m very nervous about committing to how long it will need to be lol. This story is dear to my heart — zombie content is kind of my very favorite. I’ve always found it to be a great backdrop for exploring themes like grief, coping with change, community, and learning to live again. It’ll be a long haul but I hope you’ll ride it out with me!! Tomorrow I’ll be posting the first two pages. After that a page will post every Monday/Wednesday/Friday. As of this post I’ve completed over 20 pages so that I have a good lead on what’s posting and continuing to write, so I’m hopeful that’s a cadence I’ll be able to maintain. I’ll update this post weekly to include the most recent pages the way I do with my main comics master post. All pages will be tagged 'Life After' and I'll tag any pages with zombies in them with 'zombie' for blacklisting etc.

[nekropsii]

Hello, pardon and I don’t want to be a bother but I would like to ask for your take on something. And if you’re not down to answer this question, that’s completely fine, you seem to make large opinion posts on a noteworthy basis so I understand if you don’t have the energy or motivation to give an opinion right now.

But I wanted to ask for your take on the ethics of enjoying Homestuck in the modern day. Many people such as myself and seemingly you as well enjoy Homestuck but are painfully aware of all the gross stuff in it. And as I see the comic pop up in more and more dni lists, with people claiming that enjoyers of Homestuck are supporting these things inherently, no matter the fact that most of us stand against Hussie and attempt to reclaim Homestuck as something to express joy and our identities in, it makes me wonder more and more the ethics of enjoying Homestuck. Since you seem to have thoughts on the matter, I was wondering if you’d like to share your take.

I once again want to stress though, absolutely no pressure to answer. I am not entitled to your time or hearing your opinion. You don’t know me, I don’t know you. I was just asking in case you wanted to speak about it.

Hi, Anon! This is a very interesting question, and you were right to assume I have thoughts on it. They might not be as long and complicated as some of my other essays, but they still exist, and I would quite like to share them. Thank you for the opportunity.

My opinion on The Ethics of Enjoying Homestuck is that I believe it's perfectly fine to do so. I also think it's perfectly fine to dislike, or hate, or not want to associate with it or any fans of it. This is a personal boundary set by and for the individual, and it's not my business to question, nor my place to cross it. However, I don't really agree with the way some people go about communicating or enforcing this boundary. I've seen some people put Homestuck and Harry Potter on the same level before. I've seen some say that enjoyment of either piece of fiction is, at least in part, comparable. I heavily disagree with this- and the fact that this is a point that comes up shows to me that there's quite a few people who don't actually fully understand why so many people are saying to stop supporting Harry Potter.

The conflation of the two things reads to me as if some believe that Harry Potter has been "cancelled for having a problematic creator"- and that's not wholly true. Yes, J.K. Rowling is, by definition, problematic, and she is the creator of the Harry Potter franchise, but people have drawn such a hard line against supporting the series not just because J.K. Rowling is Transphobic, but because she has honest to god legislative power. She is, as it stands, currently the backbone of the TERF movement, and is spending a lot of time and money to ensure that Transphobes dominate the government. Monetary support of Harry Potter pools into her funds, which adds to her ability to further Trans Genocide. Communal/Fandom support of Harry Potter increases her visibility as a public figure, which adds to her ability to further Trans Genocide. J.K. Rowling has made very clear statements saying that she takes any support of the Harry Potter franchise- any at all, including Queer/LGBT+ Friendly fan content- as support of her beliefs. Support of Harry Potter is a method of legitimizing and validating Transphobia, and is being used as a way to further Trans Genocide.

If J.K. Rowling was just an average Transphobe, the outcry would not be nearly as severe, and the line wouldn't be nearly as clear cut. It would just be disappointing, bring to mind the phrase "same shit as always", and many would make the personal choice to distance themselves from it. But that's not the reality we live in. We live in the reality where J.K. Rowling has sway on the government, and is getting real people hurt and killed.

Andrew Hussie, creator of Homestuck, however, is just some random asshole with no political power outside of his own vote. Yes, Homestuck is filled with plenty of unsavory elements- random out-of-place interjections of Hussie's own past bigotry included- but at the end of the day, Homestuck has no influence over government action. Hussie has no tangible political influence, and does not want to have tangible political influence. We don't even have evidence that Hussie still holds the same beliefs as he did during and prior to the creation of Homestuck. This is just some random indie comic, made by some random guy in 2009. J.K. Rowling is dangerously close to billionaire status, and using that power for evil.

It's fine to like something that's not very morally clean- or something made by a not very morally clean artist, during a not very morally clean point in time in a not very morally clean place in this world. It's okay. The fixation some have on this is OCD-inducing. The best that can be asked is that one recognizes the bigotry, and doesn't perpetuate them. That's all. You can read, watch, play, and enjoy just about anything, as long as you don't make the more unsavory elements out to be a good thing. Don't start acting like Racism is awesome, or Antisemitism is cool, or Transphobia is based, et cetera, and you'll be totally fine.

The ability to find value in something impure or unsavory is a valuable one. Some may not want to associate with that, or find the particular flaw in the work in question to be too uncomfortable to stomach, and that's fine, too. Not everyone can just sit through Era-Appropriate Casual Homophobia or Racism and come out feeling fine enough to keep going. I'd argue- hope, even- that most feel at least a bit bothered by such things. It's all about personal tolerance levels. No one's committing a moral crime by either enjoying it or not wanting to even look at it.

[polarolds]

hiii i js wanna know if you have any ellabs fic recommendations?

hi anon! hoo boy i definitely have a few! here are some favourites that come to mind:

Unbroken by thedreadslayer

nobody is surprised, yall know i'm a slut for this fic as i've drawn fanart for it multiple times (and still have doodles and full ass comic pages that i haven't shared to tumblr).

This is THE ellabs fic in my mind. The character moments, the dialogue, the settings, the atmosphere... the slowburn is SO well-written. it is basically tlou 3 for me because reading it really captures the feeling of playing the actual games 😭😭 still ongoing but so many chapters to enjoy. There are SO many great key moments (don't want to spoil, but i'm looking at you chapters 10, 17, 21 and 26), but even the small, quiet interactions stand out to me. have admittedly re-read it more than once,,, maybe more than twice,,,

two hands digging in each other's wounds by michirukaioh

i believe this was the first ellabs fic i've read!! and it is a classic. Love this one for the progression of the ellabs relationship, but also for dear sweet lev and his interactions with ellie. Love the big reveals towards the end of the story with a new character that is introduced - keeping it vague because of spoilers. And the beach scene near the end is chef's kiss iykyk.

i've admittedly not been keeping up well with the sequel because i've been super busy and wanted to marathon the whole thing at some point, but would recommend checking it out too! both parts are complete :)

The Way Sorrow Tastes by painted__black

really interesting premise where abby and lev show up in Jackson at the start of the story and we see how all the survivors of tlou2 deal with the fallout. the continuation of the use of abby's dreams as a manifestation of her trauma/guilt was also interesting to me. starts pretty dark and gets even darker as we move further in the story, but still very good all the same. sadly idk if the story will be continued :( one can hope

oh, and I drew something for this one too! hehe

tail lights by junewax

another goodie and i loved how Cat (a character only mentioned in tlou2) comes into play in this story. i really like the feel and atmosphere of this story idk how else to describe it - it just captures a certain vibe that i really dug yknow? completed fic.

Both Sides Now by Fuckingvideogames

AU where ellie leaves Jackson after finding out the truth about the FireFlies from Joel and stumbles into Seattle. i LOVE this concept so much and this was such an interesting read. we get some nice early ellabs moments, and also get to see ellie interact with the Salt Lake Crew. sadly another fic which i don't think will be finished, but very much still worth checking out!!

and since this post is getting kind of long, here are links to some other fics i really enjoyed!

iron to the core by houndstoothed

bone chill by houndstoothed

Afterlife by maharetr

Assumptions by inspoburst

hope you find something you like fellow ellabs-enjoying anon! :'D and thanks for the ask <3

[ducktoonsfanart]

Thanks for following me - Jubilee 5th Anniversary on Tumblr - Donald Duck and his friends and family - Quack Pack, Darkwing Duck, Ze Carioca Comics and The Legend of The Three Caballeros - Quack Pack AU and Duckverse - My Version

Since I haven't drawn anything for almost a month, after a long time I'm back again, but I have to say again that I won't be able to draw so much for the next month due to my obligations. So nothing from requests and Art Trade until I have more free time. Sorry.

But I certainly made a special drawing to thank you for everything you have done for me in this Duck community of ours, that is, the community of fans of Donald Duck, comics, cartoons and video games. And not only on Tumblr, but also on Deviantart, Instagram, Discord, Telegram, Twitter (X) and other networks. And so I have already passed the 5th year and everything has changed since then. Unfortunately, I had a lot of difficulties and I drew very badly at the time, but over time I met many friends who changed my life quite a few times. Now it's time to say thank you, if nothing else than my drawings that I love to draw since I've been on this social network. Yes, this art sideblog was opened three years ago, but it is a continuation of my main blog and you can see it here: https://ducklooney.tumblr.com/

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to do drawings especially for my friends, as well as for the birthday jubilees of Fethry Duck and Jose Carioca who celebrated their birthdays on August 2 and August 24, respectively, because for my own reasons I didn't have time to do it, which doesn't mean I won't in the future. Certainly if nothing else, I drew my favorite characters from the Duckverse (Donald Duck universe) combining Duck comics, Duck Avenger, Darkwing Duck, Ducktales, Quack Pack, Three Caballeros and Ze Carioca comics, in my own way in my own style. Yes, I drew them wearing modern clothes and outfits as I would imagine in my Quack Pack version, that is, in the Quack Pack AU. And since, as usual, not all the characters that I intended to leave have remained, I will leave them for a special drawing that will follow this one.

Certainly, there are Donald Duck, Jose Ze Carioca, Panchito Pistoles, Daisy Duck, Rosinha Maria Vaz, Drake Mallard, Morgana Macawber, Uno Ducklair (One), Fethry Duck, Gladstone Gander, Gus Goose, Della Duck, Queen Reginella, Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck, April, May and June Duck, Gosalyn Mallard, Phooey Duck, Zico and Zeca Carioca, Dugan Duck, Shamrock Gander, Bolivar the Dog (Donald's pet dog) and Dinkie or Trixie the Cat (Daisy's pet cat) and they are all together together. The children are teenagers, except for Shamrock and Dugan who are pre-teens and the rest are adults. Mostly the kids are holding a banner that says thank you to all of you who follow me and like to look at my drawings and like and reblog. For those who cannot see, it is written like this: "Thanks for following you 1000 followers for following my main blog and thanks for following you 100 followers on my art blog as well as thanks for watching 300 followers on Deviantart and 200 followers on Instagram!"

Yes, I also have an Instagram blog which you can view here: https://www.instagram.com/duckhistoria/

And Deviantart here: https://www.deviantart.com/ducklooneyhistoria

Discord: DuckLooneyHistoria

Telegram: https://t.me/ducktoonshistoria7

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/DuckHistoria/

VK: https://vk.com/id835221803

I definitely thank everyone for this and without your support I wouldn't be doing this, although I do it as a hobby anyway since I really like drawing my favorite characters. I'll just say that I made a mistake with the markers and mislabeled Gosalyn's hand holding Dewey's baseball shirt, my mistake and if anyone asks who is between Louie and Dewey, it's Reginella from Topolino comics (Italian comics) queen of a planet that goes different from Earth and Donald accidentally met her at the bottom of the sea and ended up in her world and fell in love with her. However Scrooge doesn't want to finance his travels so he is forced to break up with her which saddened me so I drew Reginella in front of Donald and Donald is holding her and don't worry Daisy isn't mad at him, given the past. I hope to draw her and other Duck characters in the future. I hope you like this drawing and my thank you note.

Once again happy belated birthdays to Fethry Duck and Jose Carioca as well as a happy start to The Three Caballeros Month and thank you all for giving me new hope. And happy 90th birthday to Donald Duck! And don't worry, I won't disappoint you in the future. I hope you like these characters and you like this drawing and feel free to like and reblog this, but please don't copy my ideas and my versions of these characters without mentioning me and without my permission. Thank you!

If you like something I've drawn so far and your favorite impressions feel free to comment and reblog with your comments and impressions. Yes, I take harsher criticism, just without insults. All in all thank you for following me and keep following me!

[genericpuff]

1. Have you read Circe by Madeline Miller + Song of Achilles ~ if you have what are your thoughts

2. In the original what was your favorite male character drawn out (mine was Hermes only bc I found him hot😓)

3. How long do you think it’ll take you to ‘finish’ your story, like do you have a set date: 2026,2027, even 2030🙈🙈

4. What’s your backstory on tattooing and art, was this your initial plan

5. Fave girl character, (mine is Minthe only bc she reminds me of my younger self since I seemed to only choose realtionships where I get here)

thank youuu

ahaha so many questions! I'll answer them as concisely as I can :>

1.) Song of Achilles is on my shelf, I've been meaning to read it all but I haven't been able to make time for it, I might try and do so before the new year! I've definitely heard great things :>

2.) Hephaestus! He gives me such older brother vibes, he just seems like a really chill and snuggly guy LOL Only complaint about his character design is the fact that he's constantly using running blades (sure they look cool but they're not practical for casual wear, you're supposed to use them for, y'know... running lmao) but that's really it, I think his arc with Aphrodite in S3 was poorly written tbh especially with how rushed it was, but overall not the worst treatment out of the cast.

3.) Definitely don't want it to take until 2030 LMAO It's gonna depend on a few variables, including update schedule (I'd really like to get back to posting once a week again like I used to but I don't think it's gonna be possible for a little while u.u""") and how long the final scripts come out to be. Ideally though I'd like it to be wrapped up within another year or two. This definitely isn't one of those "work on it indefinitely" type projects, I have an end goal in mind and I don't want it to take over half a decade like my last comic project did LOL

4.) Never expected to wind up making Rekindled or in tattooing. I'm kind of a "fall into it" type person, I do what feels right in the moment even if it's not what I initially planned for (within reason, of course! I've learned to sit on new ideas and plans for a bit before pursuing them to ensure I'm actually into them before diving in lol it helps me avoid the impulsive ADHD-fueled decisions 😆). I sort of had a plan for myself back in primary and high school - I wanted to become a video game concept artist, but over time as I got into making comics and after I graduated college, it just never really happened. It's never too late, of course, but right now I'm having a lot of fun tattooing and making comics in my free time ! I think I'd still be making comics even if I ended up in game dev, it satisfies my storytelling side haha

5.) If you mean specifically LO, yeah, Minthe here too. Which is wild because I remember when I was still a huge fan of the comic and was on the "fuck Minthe!" train. Now that I've explored the comic with a more critical eye, I sympathize with her way more and I really hope she had gotten a more satisfying conclusion. Still, she got away from Hades and Persephone's nonsense so that's better than nothing LMAO but I definitely want to explore her side more in Rekindled as the story unfolds, I have some fun plans for her <3

[digimitsu-art]

your digimon art is really beautiful! I wanted to ask- are you a long time digimon fan or is it something you’ve only gotten into recently? Do you care for any of the media (like games or shows) or do you like purely the monster and character designs? Do you have any favourite digimon(s)? Sorry for the barrage of questions, I hope you have a good week!

OOO no need to apologise! I actually love being asked these kinda questions! Honestly thank you for asking <3

I've been a fan of Digimon since I was a kid in the 90's! I grew up watching the first 3 seasons (and had a major crush on Ken and Stingmon back then lmao oh god). Sadly kinda fell out of the show when Season 4 aired because I was confused at the lack of Digimon partners haha but I revisited it when I was an adult some years back and I adore it.

I think at this point in time I've watched all the Digimon shows except for the Appmon one but I hopefully will get the chance to sit down and watch it. There are also some Digimon movies I've yet to watch too but hope to get to them. I also remember owning some of the comic books way back too.

I also played the Digimon games a ton growing up! Played a lot of Digimon World 1 and 2, a bit of 3 and 4. Rumble Arena 1 and 2 was super fun too. And the Digital Card Battle. I still revisit them from time to time.

I desperately wish I can collect Digimon figures and cards but space and money is an issue wahh 😔

Also I know it's not asked, but I do wanna mention: When it comes to fanart, I've also drawn a bunch of Digimon fanart since I was young, but there was a period of my life I stopped posting fanart online for years because I was really affected by art theft. It’s only recently that I’ve started to put myself back out there again, though the worry is still there. But I don’t want to hide forever, either. 🙏

And I have a lot of faves but my top fave is Beelzemon! Some other notable ones I really like: Madleomon, Lucemon FM, Lordknightmon, GulusGammamon, Metalseadramon... and tbh I could go on and on haha. 💕

Now have a pic of my BWG being my tablet pen holder lol

[momopatchi]

Hey! I love your work & I would like to know if you could share a bit about your career & give any advice you may have.

Recently I got into my dream art school, which is thousands of miles away from me, I'm experimenting with having multiple online income streams to help me pay for everything. I'm interested in seeing how this may look for different people in hopes of gaining some new perspectives & ideas.

So, do you make most of your income from social media? If so, what does that look like for you? And how do you balance school, work, and a social life?

Excuse me if those are intrusive questions, I completely understand not wanting to share that kind of information. But either way, thank you, I truly love your art so much! Have a good day!!!

Thank you for asking! I was on a similar track a few years ago when I enrolled. My personal relationship between monetization and art is strenuous at best and I usually relegate it to a passive form of income. all the art I have sold have been physical goods , which were only reformatted to be prints. and weren't really drawn with the intention for being sold. I've never opened a comms sheet but do concessional ko-fi's , kind of low commitment/intensity things. so passively selling prints.stickers etc through 3rd party is most of my income ,since being a full-time animation student hasn't allowed for a lot of part time work. I also occassionally stream and post sketchbooks,comics and zine's on itch.io , which have been the most fulfilling to me. There is no mandatory paywall or anything and everything I share is donation based... That's the super tricky part about the work life balance for me. School mandates a lot of personal sacrifice, your going to be making a lot things , not necessarily on your own terms. So separating the monetization from the art making process itself has been the most sustainable thing for me in terms of burnout / time management . lool that was kinda long winded and little all over the place. But i am someone that prioritizes creative agency, but please do what ever works for you and allows you to live comfortably! :) ganbatte <3

[ribbonstrawberrysurprise]

Possible Mia Ikumi Doujin Penname

First off, thanks to @berrychanx who found the initial doujin listing and @kuro93 who I know also looked into this and bought some of her works! Second off, warning for some suggestive doujin covers and other art, although there's nothing truly explicit.

First things first, I want to say that I sat on this information for a little bit considering if it was appropriate to speculate since Ikumi never chose to make this connection publicly. Ultimately I've decided to go through with it since imo the artstyle is instantly recognizable, so it'd come out eventually. I also found some still-up online accounts associated with this penname, and I know that's a thing the fandom has wanted to see for a long time. I'd ask that you please be respectful with this info and keep in mind it is NOT confirmed and that Mia Ikumi has passed away.

I'd also like to make clear that I'm totally uninterested in trying to figure out her birth name or track down any other personal info on her life that she didn't choose to share in doujin, her website, manga notes, interviews, etc. That feels very out of line. Finding other pennames can help us fans catalogue more of her work, but finding her real identity does nothing but violate her privacy.

So that's kind of where I'm at right now. If you feel differently about whether it's right to speculate on Ikumi's doujin works, or if you don't want to see anything even a little suggestive, please turn back now.

We know for sure that Mia Ikumi was a penname, since that was confirmed in ads for Re-Turn when she changed one of the characters.

征海美亜 ＊征海未亜よりペンネーム変更されました Ikumi Mia *Ikumi Mia yori penneemu henkou saremashita Mia Ikumi (征海美亜) *[Her] penname was changed/altered/revised from Mia Ikumi (征海未亜)

Prior to her return to Nakayoshi with some TMM anniversary art and then the 2020 Re-Turn short, the last work she published under that name was Koi Cupid, way back in 2005-08.

There's always been speculation as to whether she continued drawing manga under a different penname, but there was never any official word from her once her website went down, since she was not active under that name under any social media or on Pixiv. We also had no idea how her art might have evolved in the years since her last official release, so there was no guarantee we'd recognize any work of hers if we saw it. The first anyone saw of her art post-website was back in 2015 when she drew some art of Ichigo and then Ichigo, Mint, and Lettuce for the 60th anniversary of Nakayoshi.

https://hikayagami.tumblr.com/post/132481043559/more-nakayoshi-60th-anniversary-mew-mew-art-from https://hikayagami.tumblr.com/post/118704238761/ichigo-momomiya-in-her-cafe-mew-mew-uniform-drawn https://hikayagami.tumblr.com/post/130755109662/new-picture-of-ichigo-minto-retasu-drawn-by

As you can see, this art featured a pretty different art style than she'd had 2 decades back.

(Sidenote: it seems she also did some art for the 55th anniversary, back in 2010, but this is much closer to the dates when she was working under the Mia Ikumi name and has roughly the same art style as OG TMM: https://hikayagami.tumblr.com/post/151430694480/doodles-of-ichigo-and-berry-drawn-by-mia-ikumi )

Obviously, starting in 2019, she then went on to release the two-shot manga TMM 2020 Re-Turn, some miscellaneous promo art (Blu-ray bonus comic, Alice in Wonderland merch, Smewthie fanart, etc.), and finally new covers and bonus comics for most of the rereleased manga volumes before her passing. Between the works she published in the 90s-early 2000s and all of this new art, we have a pretty good sample size of her artstyle over time. So it was only a matter of time before someone stumbled on something familiar looking…

Berrychanx found a listing (https://jp.mercari.com/item/m11046282201 ) for an Idolmaster doujin called Room Fight! created as a collab between 2 doujin circles/artists: Nameless Color (ねーむれすからー) and Komomo+ (こももぷらす), published by Poco Poco in 2014. The seller specifically noted that the style looks very similar to Mia Ikumi's, and it's very hard to argue! The hands especially look the way that Ikumi has always drawn them, and the eyes, facial expressions, and hair shading is pretty much one to one for Re-Turn.

Nameless Color has some other works, but they aren't in this same artstyle at all. Therefore, the one whose style matches Mia Ikumi's is Komomo+.

https://doujinrepublic.com/product/tag_page.html?tags=85361&ref=product_page&type=rel_tag_circle

As far as I can tell, the doujin circle is named Poco Poco, and the artist's penname is Komomo Kozakura (小桜小桃) or later Komomo (小桃) or Komomo+ (written as こももぷらす). There's a lot of variation in which spelling is used across doujin sites, and sometimes Komomo is listed as the circle name rather than Poco Poco, but I'm unsure as to whether this is a change in how presumed-Ikumi branded herself or just a lack of organization in the websites. Also, the Room Fight! doujin is categorized under komomo+ (https://www.suruga-ya.jp/product/detail/ZHORE153927) and under Komomo Kozakura (https://ecs.toranoana.jp/tora/ec/item/040030276511/ ), so I’m sure they’re the same person and not just 2 people in the same circle.

Here are the titles I could find under all of these names across various websites in approximate publishing order:

https://www.suruga-ya.jp/search?category=&search_word=&ck=true&inStock=On&person_id=1051050 https://www.suruga-ya.jp/search?category=&search_word=&ck=true&inStock=On&person_id=2874482 https://www.suruga-ya.jp/search?category=&search_word=&person_id=2864627 https://ecs.toranoana.jp/tora/ec/cot/circle/LUPA2D6P8476d16Qd687/all/

The main fandoms are Idolmaster, Kantai Collection, and Strike Witches. It's immediately obvious how much they look like Ikumi's style, from small details like the faces to larger things like how she tends to pose characters on her covers. They range from 2008-2016, and you can see that earlier works look a little more like her TMM-era art while later stuff is way more Re-Turn.

So is that all the new info? Do we need to track down and buy these doujin to get any more new info on Mia Ikumi? Well, that’s definitely a thing you can do! But there’s one other avenue.

You see, the title page of Girls Fight! does lead to a now defunct webpage: pocopoco.sblo.jp

https://web.archive.org/web/20081201000000*/pocopoco.sblo.jp

The Wayback Machine has 5 captures for this website: 12/31/08, 2/25/11, 6/3/13, 4/25/16, and 3/14/23. The latest one just shows the same error page not found message as if you try and go to the site now, but the others all have blog entries ranging from 2008 to the end of 2015 (i.e., starting RIGHT after the end of Koi Cupid/Mia Ikumi's professionally published/official manga career).

https://web.archive.org/web/20090103031628/http://pocopoco.sblo.jp/article/20797588.html https://web.archive.org/web/20160425011557/http://pocopoco.sblo.jp/article/170290508.html

Mostly these posts are either drawings or advertisements for a new book she's selling at a con or online by mail order, so there’s a whole bunch of new art. (Warning: there's nothing outright nsfw, but some of these images are probably the most suggestive ones I link in this post, moreso than even most of the doujin covers. Use your own judgment!) The rest of the posts are personal diary entries.

(Sidenote: I am NOT going to translate this whole blog because there’s a whole bunch of text! I looked through the available pages, and the auto-translated version is fine for getting a basic understanding. If you have questions about a specific post, feel free to ask, though! Right off the bat, the text on the big image at the top of the earlier captures, the one with the green-haired catgirl in a red outfit, is just a paraphrasing of the post where she explains her categories/tags to help you navigate the site https://web.archive.org/web/20090103030651/http://pocopoco.sblo.jp/article/21376253.html )

This website, crucially, also links to Komomo's pixiv account (Username: 小桃/Komomo), which is still up!

https://www.pixiv.net/users/3966440

(I was logged in when I accessed the page, so it's possible you may need an account to view it. Please do keep in mind this is not an account publicly associated with Ikumi/TMM and that the owner is likely deceased. We don't need to leave random comments and messages.)

The oldest picture is from 2012, when she created it (she posts about this), and the most recent picture is from 2018, so you can really see the artstyle shift here as well. There is no reference to TMM or Mia Ikumi anywhere.

The blog also links to her NicoNico page (Username: 小桃/Komomo), where she posted a few Vocaloid covers from 5/16/10 to 6/4/11.

https://www.nicovideo.jp/user/16890918/

She talks about uploading these covers on her blog under her utattemita/”I tried singing” tag: https://web.archive.org/web/20160425011607/http://pocopoco.sblo.jp/category/907578-1.html

So, the art definitely matches with what we know of Mia Ikumi’s art, both from published works and stuff posted online to her official website, ikumimia.chu.jp (Hika posted some of the website art here and here if you aren’t familiar)

(As a tangent, that website seems to have been created at or before 5/7/07 and gone offline sometime between 7/1/10 and 7/27/11, so there was definitely a period where she was working under both identities at once…)

But is there any other info linking Komomo and Mia Ikumi?

The site doesn't give much personal detail about Komomo irl, but it does say she was born in spring, and Mia Ikumi's birthday was March 27th.

プロフィール 名前小桜小桃です。 一言:春生まれです。 Profile My name is Komomo Kozakura. In a word, I was born in spring.

There's also a diary entry about her getting a Scottish fold kitten for her mom in 2008 after the family cat passed away 2 years back. We know from the bonus comics in the TMM manga that Mia Ikumi had a Scottish fold.

スコティッシュフォールドという種類のキャリコなお嬢さん。 A calico lady called a Scottish fold.

https://web.archive.org/web/20081231223544/http://pocopoco.sblo.jp/category/627816-1.html

Komomo also says she’s interested in gothic lolita clothing and that she dresses up at events. We know Mia Ikumi also dressed up for events, since that’s in her bio, and she drew her outfits in manga bonus page.

＊ゴスロリの部屋＊ 小桜小桃の趣味のページです。主に持っている服やアイテム、欲しいモノの紹介、ゴスロリに関する事とかも書いていこうと思います。 *Gothic Lolita Room* A page about Komomo Kozakura’s hobby. Mainly I’ll write about clothing items I own, stuff I want, and things related to gothic lolita fashion.

https://web.archive.org/web/20160425154652/http://pocopoco.sblo.jp/category/627812-1.html

今回のコミケはカゼのため、コスとかせずに防寒重視でいったのですが Because I had a cold at this Comiket, I went without any kind of costume to focus on keeping warm

https://web.archive.org/web/20160425154658/http://pocopoco.sblo.jp/category/627816-1.html

Between the art, the timeline of when things were posed vs Ikumi's public career, and the small bits of overlapping info on the artists' lives, I'm very confident that Mia Ikumi and Komomo Kozakura are two pennames for the same artist.

As for why, we can only speculate. I will say it's pretty common for artists to use a different penname for doujin work vs professional work, although some keep it more secret than others. It's especially common if the doujin work is more risque than the professional, which is the case here. I'll also say that almost all of Ikumi's post-TMM works were fairly short. Only One Wish may have been imagined as a one-volume anthology from the start, but it seems like TMM a La Mode and Repure may have been canceled early based on rushed endings with a lack of follow-up on plot points. Comi Digi +, the magazine in which Koi Cupid was published, got discontinued in 2008, presumably ending that series early as well. Ikumi also seems pretty annoyed with her editor in the a La Mode bonus comics, so possibly she was frustrated with baggage of the Mia Ikumi identity and wanted a fresh start.

Possibly she stopped putting out work around 2018 or possibly she started working under another penname. Maybe that was when Nakayoshi got in contact with her to begin planning for ReTurn, Ole/Au Lait, New, the TMM Blu-ray, the manga re-release, etc.

In conclusion, it seems like there are many more works by the artist known as Mia Ikumi than we'd thought previously, plus slightly more of a web presence, although this seems to have ended years before the TMM 20th anniversary renaissance. It's possible there are more accounts under the Komomo/小桃 name or under another penname that might be found in the future.

[velnna]

i’ve discovered your art and comics over last last few months and have been devouring as much as i can. obsessed over your style and the stories you create. stray souls is brilliant and ticks all of my boxes.

how does your planning process for making these stories go? is there a planning process or are you just winging it?

the absolute dreaded question, and i apologise: what inspires you?

Thank you wo much! And sorry for taking so long to respond, it's been a while since I last scrolled to the bottom of the inbox orz

My process is a mix of winging it VS planning. Because I do work in bursts of inspiration and creativity, and because I'm a lot more character-focused instead of plot-focused, a lot of the time I create the stories by thinking about independent scenes and character bits and then gluing them together in the world.

For a project like Stray Souls (my first big one), I had a rough skeleton of a plot, some characters and a world I added to over the years, so some bits were very well thought out and others weren't thought out at all lol. Because it's been written, drawn, redrawn and never fully completed (and posted on webtoon on a weekly basis), it's A Mess. I should definitely have planned it better and not allowed rogue subplots and arcs roam free the way they did because it became way too complex and convoluted 😔

For a project like The Under Garden, I'm trying to use the lessons I've learned with Stray Souls and cut down on as many unnecessary characters/side plots/worldbuilding bits as possible. Also working with a cowriter which helps a ton not letting my chaotic ideas roam free haha

As for actual steps of the process, I tend to have a rough outline of at least the next 10 ish chapters/episodes (1-3 sentences each) then just wing thumbnailing and dialogue as I go 🫡

As for inspirations, if you look at my q&a tag there's a post with some artists and comics that inspired me/pushed me to create my own comics n stuff, but I'm usually so drenched in these stories that anything around me is a source of inspiration in some way

[fr3sh-tragedies]

hey! hope you’re doing well🫶🏻

i was wondering if you can write more fics with Rose Winters x fem reader, because i really liked the most recent fic with her. 💕

thank you! have a good day! 🩷

Admission

[Shadows of Rose] Rosemary Winters x Female Reader

Summary: Rose has grown to like you, though she keeps her feelings hidden, convinced that you wouldn't feel the same way. Her worries are relieved when you sit her down for a talk.

Word Count: 3.17k Content Warnings: Fear of rejection Category: Soft Angst + Heavy Fluff || One-shot

[A/N]: Sorry for taking so long to post again. I've been trying to figure stuff out with my meds, and it's been messy. Thank you so much for requesting, hun! I hope you like what I managed to come up with!

[A/N] #2: Sorry if the formatting for the images and GIF above are weird. I kept trying to edit it properly on my phone and my laptop, but it kept changing every time I saved the post.

Enjoy!

Blended between the gentle rustle of leaves and the soulful songs of birds chirping high above, hearty barks of laughter sprung to life. Trailing forward on the graveled path encircling the small scenic park, you and Rose snickered with each shared inside joke passed alongside light, playful pushes, uncaring of the eyes trained on you in curiosity and slight annoyance.

As she spoke about another joyous memory of hers, you couldn’t help but take notice of the features adorning the heavenly smile painted across Rose’s lips. Although her eyes only periodically met yours as she recalled and retold the story in her mind, the way they crinkled from the amusement – also evident in her tone – was prominent. Similarly, upon chuckling in response to a particularly comical moment, the bridge of her nose scrunched up, and you watched as her hands flew down to rest on her gut to prevent herself from doubling over as another wave of laughter erupted from her throat.

God, she was beautiful.

You’d known that since the moment you met her years ago during one of her outdoor training exercises. To this day you were unsure as to why she was suddenly allowed to train away from the BSAA grounds, though you would forever be grateful to the soldiers stationed there who let her be free for a day and enjoy the park between training sessions.

You remembered watching her in pure awe then, just as you continued to do now. Everything about her amazed you.

On that particular day when you had first met, it was inspiring to witness how effortlessly she seemed to move during practice, and even more breathtaking to see how intrigued she was by the nature that surrounded her when she was allowed a break. The way her cheesy grin grew as she watched two birds dancing up in the branches, how the brightness of her blue eyes filled with curiosity when they finally landed on you, how she eagerly bounced your way with her arm outstretched – each little characteristic she presented to you swept you off your feet.

“Hi, I’m Rose,” she chirped once you managed to snap out of your awestruck trance and take her hand into your own. When you timidly offered up your name, she nodded and repeated it. “Pretty name,” she noted out loud to herself. She hadn’t seemed to notice the way your body tensed, nor the way your face grew warm and red at her words. Instead, she asked what you were doing there, and more importantly why you’d been watching her.

A moment passed where you came forward with no explanation, desperately trying to find a good enough excuse that wouldn’t make you come across as odd to this new, bubbly girl. Finally, you forced yourself to admit that you thought what she had been doing looked cool. “Oh, really?” She asked, her brows raised. “Why don’t you join me then? It’ll be fun!”

At first you tried to deny her suggestion. All it took to win you over, however, was a small, drawn-out “please,” paired with the pleading eyes you would later learn to be her favorite way to convince you to do what she wanted. Ultimately, you agreed, and she led you to the small, secluded section of the park she had been using to train all day. Just as she had begun to explain one of the easier maneuvers, excited to have someone to finally talk to, a gruff, towering man approached, halting her small lesson with a question of his own.

“Who is this, Rose?”

She turned to him, all of a sudden trembling and waving her hands about as she did her best to defend herself to this strange man. “She’s just a friend,” was how she started, and his head cocked itself to the side, eyes trained heavily on you with some kind of emotion you couldn’t pinpoint. “I figured we could do a few of the training moves together for fun.” The man sighed, shoulders drooping with fatigue and rough hand raising to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Rose, we’ve been over this.”

“I know, but I just thought it wouldn’t hurt to ease up this once. Chris, I’ve been working so hard, just like you want me to, but I really want to take a break every once in a while. Why can’t I just relax for one day? Isn’t that why you brought me out here this time?”

You remembered standing there, hands practically tied together in an attempt to ease the harsh trembling they carried. The soft breeze that day only forced you to take notice of the frigid beads of sweat forming on the back of your neck, which you not-so-subtly swiped at as you listened to them speak. The nerves throughout your body spiked when the man, whose name you barely managed to pick up on as Chris, glared over at you once more.

Wordlessly, his gaze flickered between you and Rose. You could feel yourself melting beneath his crushing eyes, your own focus landing on the soft tufts of vibrantly green grass beneath your shoes.

“Just this once,” he said at length, prompting you to snap your head up to face him again. You weren’t sure who he was, but you could tell how important his word was to Rose, who had once again grown giddy at his permission. “Thank you, Chris,” she cheered as she tugged him sideways into a small hug.

She pulled you to a nearby spot and continued explaining the specific move she had tried to talk about earlier. Chris kept a watchful eye on the two of you, though you could tell it was more on you than her. After some time, you didn’t even notice him anymore, too engulfed in the game you and Rose had made up and started playing. By the time soft blues and purples began to paint the sky, you saw how he seemed to be more at ease around you, even offering you a kind smile before you parted ways with your new friend.

Now, as you trotted through the park with that same friend, it was all too easy to listen to her poke fun at a few failed training experiments she had with Chris over the years. Even with her teasing words, it was clear how much the man meant to her. “He’s like a second father to me,” she told you once.

As she finished her thought and turned to you, you blinked, unsure of whether or not she had asked you something. You had been too focused on how the palette of the setting sun casted itself beautifully over the blonde locks tucked underneath her cap and her pale skin, the hues alone making her look ethereal. You fidgeted with your phone in your pocket for a moment, wanting to capture her in that moment.

“Is there something on my face?” She questioned suddenly, subconsciously wiping her mouth as your silence briefly continued. “Oh, no,” you replied after finally coming back to your senses. “Sorry, I just kind of zoned out for a minute.” She hummed and nodded, a small smile toying effortlessly at the corners of her lips.

For a split second, you found yourself gawking at her again. Before she could catch you a second time, however, you coerced yourself to instead listen to the crunching of the gravel beneath your feet as they carried you forward, your eyes dropping to watch them do so. The cool wind that grazed over your skin was welcome in comparison to the burning sensation building up in your face, and you were unable to bite back a small huff of relief when it cooled and dried the droplets of sweat forming on your brow. Curiously, Rose glanced your way at the sound, though she looked ahead again when you said nothing more.

“So,” she started after walking a few more paces, “any ideas on what you want to do after high school? I mean, I know you told me about the college you want to go to and what you want to major in, but any plans for anything else?”

“Anything else?” You echoed. “What do you mean?”

Just as yours had done only a moment prior, Rose’s face seemed to burn scarlet red, though she quickly averted her eyes and turned her head to hide it. Forming a fist and bringing it up to cover her mouth, she cleared her throat and nodded. “Yeah, like…” She shrugged, though it seemed more like she was trying to get something off her shoulders than being casual about it. “I don’t know. Maybe start dating someone, or… do something else?” She scoffed. “I don’t know.” It hurt your heart to see her seem so anxious about something, but her tone and timidness brought a sense of endearment as well.

“Oh,” you blurted, mirroring her actions and turning away to hide the betrayal of your reddening features. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make it awkward,” she murmured with a defeated sigh.

You desperately wanted to tell her she didn’t make anything awkward, wanted her to know there was nothing to feel guilty about, but it would be a blatant lie to say things weren’t uncomfortable. Instead, all you could offer up was a whispered “it’s okay.”

As the world around you quietened and settled to make way for the rising moon, your mind raced and scrambled for something more to say. “Well,” you squeaked out eventually. “I don’t know about dating anyone, but it would be nice to find a steady job so college doesn’t completely kick my ass.” A quiet chuckle slipped from her lips, though she seemed disappointed in your answer, her eyebrows creasing as though she had been expecting something else. Hoping for something else.

“Yeah,” was her only reply.

When your eyes finally wandered over to look at her, she seemed further away, her eyes slightly dull and that smile gone from her face entirely. Upon noticing this shift in her demeanor, you found yourself determined to cheer her up, eyes flickering around the area almost frantically for an escape from this tense atmosphere you had unintentionally built.

A few paces ahead was a bench, clear of other people and free from any potential prying eyes. As you crossed through the grass, Rose watched you with a hint of confusion, quickly trailing behind and ultimately joining you on the bench. Before any other thoughts could form, one thought in particular made itself known to you, one that had you crumbling slightly from fear.

It seemed the short-lived discussion of dating seemed to be the cause of her deflated charisma. Maybe bringing it up again in a different light would spark that gleam in her eyes again.

While your hands fiddled restlessly with the hem of your shirt, Rose looked around silently at the empty park, the tree behind the bench nearly drowning the both of you in total darkness as the sun continued to fall beneath the horizon. It took some time before she noticed your shuffling, though her face was quick to contort with concern when she did. “You alright?”

“Yeah, I just,” a quick clearing of your throat was made as an attempt to conceal the way your voice shook and cracked. “Can I be honest with you about something?” She nodded. “Of course.” “It has to do with what we were talking about earlier. About dating someone?” At your words, she seemed to perk up, a strange concoction of emotions flooding behind her gaze.

Even with the darkening shadows dimming any clarity given by her features, she made it evident that she had taken a sudden interest in what you had to say. She was eager.

You heard the rustling of her sleeves as her arms lurched forward toward you, only to falter and return to her sides, and could still make out the silhouette and the curve of her face when she winced at her own actions. You paid no mind to it, knowing that what you were wanting to say would probably bring you more grief than what she felt.

“I do actually like someone,” you mumbled, shying away from her gaze when it returned to you. “But will you promise me you won’t freak out if I tell you who it is?”

As if the incident from before had been replayed, she physically deflated at your words all over again.

“Uh,” she whispered, looking down unsurely.

“Yeah, sure. I promise.”

Her tone made you hesitate for a moment. If she was this upset just by you mentioning you had feelings for someone, how would she react to you admitting who it was? Before you could lose the nerve, you forced yourself to speak. “Well, she’s special to me. Ever since I met her, she’s done nothing but make me happy, and I feel like I can actually be myself around her. I feel… safe and secure with her, and I’ve honestly been picturing myself with her in the future.”

Each passing word seemed to crush Rose more and more, though you continued with this seemingly brutal torture anyway.

“She’s beautiful, and funny, and smart, and strong, and talented, and I didn’t realize how important she is to me until recently. I want to tell her how I feel and see if she feels the same, but I need you to be honest with me. Do you think she’d feel the same way?”

Bitterly, she shrugged and shifted her hands to toy with her fingers. “Depends,” she responded bluntly. “Who is it?”

“It’s you, Rose.”

For an agonizingly silent moment, all she could do was stare down at her hands, and you wondered to yourself if she had even heard you at all. Just as you parted your lips to repeat yourself, her head lifted and turned to you. The pale lighting from the slowly rising moon caressed her face, allowing you to see the starstruck expression that riddled her features. Shakily, she lifted her finger to point at herself. “Me?” She asked in disbelief, a scarlet red hue dusting across her cheeks.

When you nodded, it only took half a second before that gleaming smile you adored more than life itself broke out across her lips. “Oh,” she blurted, shrinking into herself a bit while her chipped nails tapped at the backs of her knuckles, her grin never fleeing.

Her eyes, although you couldn’t see them clearly in the little light provided, flickered down for a moment in thought before returning to your own gaze. “You’ve been picturing a future together with me?” You hummed and nodded, soft prickles bubbling up on the back of your neck as your mind tried to convince you of every possible way she could reject you then. The thumping of your heart skipped with fear when she laughed, and your head dipped down to hide your face.

“I never thought you’d actually feel the same way,” she confessed, hands writhing against one another. The moment the words left her lips, you found yourself glancing back up at her, eyes wide and mouth agape in shock. “You like me too?” Another soft chuckle. “Yeah, of course I do. I honestly thought I was horrible at hiding it, but apparently not.”

The corners of her lips perked up into a sly smirk. “Or maybe you’re just a little too dense for it.” Playfully, you smacked the side of her arm, which prompted another joyful laugh that you could never get enough of. Slowly, her hand slid over to cover yours and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “But in all seriousness, I really do like you. I’ve been wanting to tell you that for a while now, but I couldn’t bring myself to. I really didn’t think you would feel the same way.”

Tilting your head to the side, you gave a look of confusion. “What? Why wouldn’t I like you? You’re only, like, the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

She tucked her hair back out of her face before offering a small shrug as a response. Your question seemed to bring her a feeling of discomfort, and although you weren’t sure why, you were quick to try and think of a way to cheer her up again. Before you were able to speak, however, she answered you properly.

“Well, I mean… to be fair, I haven’t always exactly been liked. Before I met you, I had never actually fallen in love with anyone. Mainly because I’ve never been close to anyone before, but also because you’re the only person I actually feel safe with. I feel like I can be myself around you – like I finally mean something. You make me feel like I’m normal in all the best ways. Chris is nice, but he and the others have only raised me to be a bioweapon for them, and they don’t hide the fact that that’s how they see me. You, though… You make me feel human. You make me feel like I’m a real person who has her own purpose – her own life and future.

“And if I’m being honest? As corny as this is going to sound, I don’t want to live in any future for myself if you’re not in it. I was worried that if I confessed how I felt to you, you’d think I was weird or gross and wouldn’t want to be around me anymore. That’s why I kept trying to hide how I feel. I didn’t want to lose you.”

Each passing word only caused your smile to grow. As she spoke, you flipped your hand around in hers, allowing you to finally lace your fingers with hers. When she fell silent again, you gave her hand a small squeeze, similar to how she had done to you shortly before. “Well, now you don’t have to worry about it anymore. You know I feel the same, and you know I want to have a future with you.”

Slowly, she rose to her feet, then turned and helped you stand to look her in the eye. Even with the blackening shadows, you could still see the smitten gleam in her eyes, paired with the seemingly permanent smile on her lips. “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” she whispered.

“So what does that make us?” You stepped forward, arms flying out to encircle her and pull her flush against your body, prompting a small yelp to sound from her. As quickly as you had reached for her, she all but melted into your touch and held you just as tightly in return. “Well, I’d like to be your girlfriend,” you replied. “But only if you feel the same.”

Her shoulders shook slightly against you as she laughed, her fingernails digging in lightly to your shirt as she nodded. “Of course I feel the same, you dork. I’d love nothing more than to be able to call you mine.”

[thescribblings]

Long post ahead! I type a lot .^.

Here's a lil something I've spent some time on! I'm definitely nearing my goal of being able to draw comics! .^.

However, keep in mind that I'm very much an amateur artist, so there will be imperfections😅.

Here, I've drawn a lot of new (and scary) poses, expressions, perspectives, and clothes! I never draw clothes! I've also never even tried to draw them in the same clothes from different perspectives like this before. I also mainly draw without references

And i know i know, it's always better with references but i always just get distracted while looking for a good reference and most of the time i give up before i even find one and just draw it without anyways, lol

Rant over now! Promise

Here's a page I've been working on non-stop for literal days. It was a lot of fun! And it helped me try out a new art style :]

Individual pictures and context under the cut! i will be referring to future leo as nardo or leonardo, and present leo as, well, leo!

Here we have the doodle that started it all! I did use a cat as a reference, and i personally found that hilarious

Anyways, leonardo is being held like the cat that he is. Meanwhile, leo is held next to him vibing, not a thought behind those eyes

✨️co-existing✨️(with iced coffee)

They decided to have a day of leo to leo Bonding and got iced coffee for the occasion, probably spending some time clothes shopping and going equally crazy over a random article of clothing with a unicorn on it

This one has a bit more story behind it, they went on a day outing with the fam, nardo had grabbed a map of the city and they decided to stray from the group to explore, and they quickly got lost.

Leonardo helped leo get on his shoulders to see if there were any familiar landmarks around, and while leo enjoyed being roughly 12 feet tall, nardo texted the others asking where they were and looked around the area.

(Shirts lovingly made by mikey)

Entirely lost, leonardo decided to ask a pair of yokai ladies for directions. They turned out to be extremely helpful, one of them pointing out where on the map they were and where the landmark raph had sent them is.

Meanwhile, some backstory here: ever since leonardo had stopped staying in the lair 24/7 and actually started coming with when the others went out, leo had become an expert at keeping flirtatious yokai of all shapes sizes and genders away from his eldest brother

Leo noticed one of the yokai women was trying to make a move on him and stepped between her and nardo, making for a hilarious scene when he told her to stay away from his clearly adult brother

Leonardo is entirely oblivious as to the amount of yokai that find him attractive, which is exactly how leo wants it to be, for some reason

It's even funnier with the fact that leonardo is, in fact, very gay.

They thanked the yokai (leo doing that gesture where you point at your eyes then at the person as an unspoken "i got my eyes on you" behind nardo's back) then stepped away from the crowd and planned when and where everyone would meet up (they quickly decided on a food spot that accommodated everyones needs, and they had often gone there for lunch or early dinner in the past)

While they waited, the two decided to browse some stores, window shop etc.

Leonardo bought himself a backpack and proceeded to purchase knickknacks, snacks, and gifts for the fam, including some that he snuck in there for leo without the teen noticing (he was the greatest ninja the world had ever seen, once, after all)

While nardo walked, leo was chatting away happily on his shoulders, the elders tail wagging along as well, especially when leo told a pun or two, once a leo, always a leo. (Leonardo chipped in with some puns as well)

(leonardo personally believes his tail is pretty damn useless since it's so short. He has stated, "The only thing it's good for is waggin' " in the past. However, the rest of the fam think that's a perfectly adequate reason to have a tail)

They spent the entire day out having fun and walked around with just a handfull of breaks, so i think it's safe to say they'd be pretty drained by the time they got home

On another note, nardo being a war veteran and all that, I'm not 100% sure how that works but i like to imagine he'd get rather overwhelmed by all the crowds, different smells and loud noises (in other words overstimulation) so i think he'd be WAY more drained than everyone else by the end of the day (save for maybe mikey, i bet he'd be pretty drained too)

Either way, nardo basically just flopped onto the nearest plush surface and went out like a light while everyone else went to bed like regular people. This is a common occurrence after long, exhausting days

But sometimes...

Sometimes he dents the floor

(Bonus doodles)

I don't even know why this came to be, but it did

Thank you for reading!

Have nice day

[livewireprojects]

Old Sonic sketches that would lead to my Lost Prince AU(Slight spoilers & lots of rambling)

As the title says this was stuff for a past version of my Sonic stuff before I made my Lost Prince AU. I guess you could say I've been working on this stuff for a long time & these are in a sense the stepping stones to my stuff.

The dates for when I scanned stuff is on the pic cause it's interesting to learn how old these are & cause I had to edit stuff due to images being too light when I scanned them(plus everything was saved as a bmp because png files opened photoshop & I didn't know how to fix it as a kid) but if they're not there I'll mention the date if it's mentioned in the DA posts I got these from in my gallery.

I've put a keep reading due to how long this is(as if I haven't left other long posts without it in the past) & also because it's slightly spoilery for my Lost Prince stuff. Things have been edited/redone over time but there's still some stuff that would be a spoiler for later events in my stuff. I also ramble a lot in this & at points mention stuff meant to go in the current version to show similarities or differences between the old & present versions.

Just a heads up my self-insert Sonicsona cause for some reason I'm just there at points. My Sonicsona went threw a few designs changes when I was younger. This was also before I became a guy.

Another warning is that this was back when I didn't like Amy as much so she's not exactly drawn in a good light at points.(In the more current version I've worked on things)

There's also a bizarre thing at the end that also mentions weird crossovers(scrapped ideas that will make sense later) & mentions of violence. I'm sorry I just thought I'd explain some of this weird plot that has been changed over the years. Again a lot of this is no longer in my version of Sonic.

The moment Sonic disappeared after Sonic Underground. I think I was working on a comic for the series(too ambitious & too much to deal with at the time) with this being a prologue page.

For context Knuckles tried to save Sonic from falling off Angel Island while it was raining & Sonic let go because if he knew neither he nor Knuckles would survive falling off the island if this kept going. The dialogue is muted by the rain, I dunno the context behind Sonic being struck by lightning was because I don't have it in my current stuff.

You read this like a manga page.

Images of Sonic while living with his dad after Jules found him when Sonic some how survived the fall from Angel Island.

Jules wasn't originally a mage studying chaos energy just some guy with powers thanks to his studies in chaos energy which he used to heal Sonic. In this he has a locket with him & Sonic in it, I have no idea why there's a doodle of Shadow & Sonic since Sonic won't meet Shadow for 50(in the new one technically 40) years. I think this is a ref to scrapped stuff involving an OC of mine named Kiku that was at one point meant to be Sonic's reincarnation before I scrapped stuff.

A moment of Jules being a parent & cleaning up Sonic I think possibly after finding Sonic.(I'm guessing this since Sonic is catatonic/dissociating due to injuries & amnesia so he wouldn't have tried to run around)

This is based off of a scene from Digimon Tamers I watched as a kid from a scene meant to be a flashback of Jeri being cared for by her dad.

I think this was meant to be comic pages in the style of a photo album. Going off the top pics this is going in a Z or zig zag instead of manga panels like the prologue comic.

lol This was done on triple 12, if only the time was 12:12 then it'd really be multiple 12s.

Left to right

First/top row:

So a difference between then & now is that the past version of Jules when he was unable to care for Sonic anymore left him with Vanilla & her husband(this was before I made Cake) while current Jules left Sonic at a hidden home. I think the idea was that Sonic Underground happened only a couple years back instead of 50-40 years ago. Because Vanilla & her spouse weren't born back then & I dunno where Chuck was Jules ended up keeping Sonic alone for safety instead of getting help when Jules couldn't keep an eye on him.

Anyway these two pics are Jules leaving Sonic with Vanilla & her spouse cause he trusts them to keep him safe. Sonic just sits there on the couch.

Second row:

-I have no idea how this guy died, Cake died helping clean up leftover Robotnik bases but that's an idea from later on. Prototype Cake left behind a wife, a baby daughter & an adopted son that kind of blames himself.

-Sonic starts to express himself more as he starts to accept he's in a better place. Here he is interacting with toddler Cream who has started to walk.

Third Row:

-Sonic either hanging out or going on adventures with Tails & Knuckles

-Amy chasing Sonic

Fourth/Bottom Row:

-Old design of my Sonicsona with an ex friend's OC Tae, they're only an ex-friend because we don't talk anymore. We kinda drifted apart & I mistakenly weirded her out cause I didn't know how to tone things down until later on.(Also kind of weird due to my wild imagination with weird crossovers & shit) I could go into more detail but I'll just leave it there cause this isn't about past relationships.

-My Sonicsona taking a picture after noticing Sonic & Shadow kissing in the background

I put this in with the post I made with all my past Lara stuff(as in "Fuck you Ken, *makes Lara-Su a Knuxouge kid*" shit), once again I don't know why I gave a child version of her teen Lara's outfit.

So at some point Eggman blinds Sonic & Sonic has been trying to get as far away as possible after escaping. I had no idea when I drew this that Angel Island was a thing thanks to most of my understanding of Sonic coming from fandom stuff & especially Sonic X which either doesn't mention Angel Island or I missed the episode/episodes that do mention it. So pretty much Sonic(after getting patched up & his eyes covered) is wandering the forest & manages to find Lara who is playing out there & decided to play guard.

For some reason I remember that Sonic has no idea who Lara is & Knuckles/Rouge never told him not Lara who each other are. I have no idea why that is & that's been fixed in the present version. Anyway Lara thinks he's a stranger that's getting too close to where the Master Emerald is. I don't remember how this goes but things are eventually sorted out & Sonic is introduced to her later on.

This is the image that needed the warning about past thoughts on Amy, I'm pretty sure she gets better eventually but I might be wrong because I only remember some things.

So Sonic doesn't want anyone to know he's blind & is trying to act like everything is fine but at the same time is acting a little distant at points. Amy is pissed he's ignoring her which has led to her raging & causing a scene, this is has led to Shadow taking notice of how odd Sonic has been lately.

While in this version Amy is mad that Sonic is ignoring her & pissed her attempts at a date are repeatedly rejected at this point(so kind of being selfish) in the current version she'd be mad because she's honestly worried. In the current version Amy would be getting mad because she's worried as a friend that someone she's close to is acting strange along with something clearly being wrong.

So Shadow(who for some reason I give a ponytail in this version) is in the background, Sonic is trying to ignore Amy(who is yelling), my old Sonicsona is pissed at Amy, I think I drew Starrk from Bleach cause he was my husbando at the time, Vector is trying to leave, the one with black hair is Tae(a past friend of mine's OC) & I have no idea who is next to her.

For some context at some point after Sonic was blinded he ended up nearly drowning in a river while it's raining at night. Shadow thanks to Amy's outburst & finally noticing something is off has been trying to keep an eye on Sonic which leads to Shadow partly stripping so he can jump into the river to save Sonic.(Dunno why he stripped since it's raining so he's already wet, I guess so it's easier to go after Sonic)

After getting back on "dry" land Sonic just breaks & cries as he clings to Shadow cause he's just had enough. He can't see, things are changing, he's scared & has just had enough of everything going on. Shadow is shocked cause he's never seen Sonic like this.

This scene hits a little worse in the present version as Sonic purposely fell into the river or was about to cause I dunno if he managed to fall in then get saved or if Shadow stopped him. What makes things worse is that Sonic is a parent when this happens & left his kid with Vanilla cause he knew his kid would be safe with her should anything happen to him. Actually I think Vanilla called Shadow to go find Sonic cause she knew something was going to happen.

Sonic's son(I'm pretty sure someone figured it out but for some reason I'm trying to be vague until a certain point in time) doesn't exist in this version but his younger half brother eventually exists in this. Sadly enough Sonic was pregnant with his son's half brother when Shadow saved him in the present version, not only that Shadow is the father. My explanation is Eggman had a weird cloning ray that went wrong so Sonic ended up with a kid twice. This all is meant to happen when he's older.

Final image in this collection of past sketches I found in my DA gallery.

For some slightly unnecessary context my self-insert Sonicsona use to live with a bunch of other Sonic fan characters in what was this odd building on the edge of an abandoned city.(For some reason named the forgotten valley cause the city I guess in a way was valley like) The building was full of mysteries & was semi turned into a place for people to live in as well as a place for travelers to stay at with their own rooms.(And Tails Doll in the very bottom basement locked in a mini freezer)

After rescuing Sonic, Shadow took Sonic to my place(apparently it was closer than going home) to get cleaned up & have somewhere safe to rest for the night. After helping Sonic get dry/warm & everyone was settled down Sonic finally confessed to everything that happened as well as the fact he's blind.

Shadow(who I thought it was funny if his fur/quills fluffed up after getting dry, I know this is a bad time for a joke) agrees to let Sonic stay with him & help the blue hedgehog deal with the situation he was currently in. Thanks to helping Sonic recover from the state he was currently in(depressed, struggling to deal/cope with everything) as well as help Sonic learn to navigate around being unable to see the two became close. The two eventually becoming a couple & got married before eventually having kids.

Things go slightly differently in the present version but a summarized version is similar. Shadow finds Sonic, they talk things out & Shadow helps Sonic(plus his son) out. Shadow & Sonic start a relationship while helping Sonic recover. Eventually they get end up in a relationship with Mephiles & get married.

Yeah surprisingly given stuff I made in the past Mephiles isn't in the picture until my recent stuff. I think this is partly due to my Butterfly Effect AU not being a part of this at the time.(Well Silver still got family but nothing else happened)

Bonus pic

Please be aware you can ignore everything after the 3rd paragraph(mentioning the short version) if you want. While it explains the end of my child self's(I was in middle school & then part way into high school before changes happened)

This is technically related, this is from some scrapped ideas caused by a younger me having amalgamations of crossovers going threw my head. I imagine crossovers all the time still but not an amalgamation like this.

Before I go into rambling the image is an old version of my OC Kiku, his boyfriend & Lavi(from D.Grayman) who is off camera reacting badly to cooking. The person with the chef hat in the corner is I think named Eri, she's an OC from the person that made Tae & this is a joke about her being unable to cook.

The short version of this is that Kiku was meant to be Sonic's reincarnation & his boyfriend was Shadow's reincarnation.

So for context the tiny character in the corner is the old design of my OC Kiku who is a Blindshipping fankid. In this moment he is some how a Diclonius(from Elfen Lied & no he's not a queen nor ones that are caused from infecting others & age quickly he just has the cat horns & the powers), is a backup Arcobaleno(Katekyo Hitman Reborn), an ex-test subject(inspired by the Maximum Ride manga) & for some reason Allen Walker's(D.Grayman) reincarnation which is why an arrow for Lavi is going off camera & why the guy next to Kiku is meant to look like Kanda.(Because he is) I later stopped the D.Grayman stuff but kept how Kiku's boyfriend looked cause I really liked Kanda's design.

In present day Kiku has been split into two people. The Blindshipping OC Kiku & Chrysanthemum(Nicknamed Sammy) whois suppose to be the son of Martin Mystery from the cartoon of the same name. They are technically each other from different dimensions. Sammy still has the ex-test subject thing but all the other stuff was scrapped. Also Kiku's boyfriend still looks a little like Kanda still due to having some relation to Dark Magician who has a similar hair when Kanda's hair isn't in a ponytail.

Here's them side by side in the most recent drawing of them.

So like I mentioned in the short version(just so I could get to the point for anyone that didn't want to look at the rest of the rambling) past me had Kiku meant to be Sonic's reincarnation.

I'm not proud of this but the idea was that my version of the Sonic series ends with Eggman injuring Sonic & faking Sonic's death at a festival before patching him up & putting him in a suit that controlled Sonic. Shadow would raise their kids alone while fighting against this new "robot" until years later on the same night he lost Sonic(during the same festival) before breaking the suit, learning Sonic was alive this whole time & the two dying in a fire finally together & freed from Eggman.

After that some stuff involving Bleach were they were tested on by the captain of the 12 squad. Sonic goes on to meet a girl in the living world & go on adventures with her. Shadow who doesn't remember anything would sometimes show up to keep an eye on them or help. At some point Sonic would finally get Shadow to remember & Shadow would be horrified of his actions. They both have something on them that keeps them connected to the world so they untie/remove what keeps them tethered after saying goodbye to Sonic's friend.

After this they are reincarnated as children that were kidnapped & tested on. Shadow(Called Yu when not being called an experiment code) had two friends that nickname themselves Feather(cause her hair is feathery & looks like feathers tied up) & Sound.(A joke on the fact he refuses to talk & uses sign language) At some point they meet patient BK201(their code name that the doctors call them, also Darker Than Black ref) who all the staff were nervous about because he's too powerful & was under the control of a fucked up doctor(ironic considering these people) before he was removed.

At some point a lot of experiments escape or are killed trying, BK201 fakes Yu/Shadow's, Feather & Sound's deaths so they can be dumped outside & get to safety while the doctors caught BK201. Feather & Sound disappear, Yu/Shadow is taken in by someone, makes friends & at some point remembers his past.

Something led to Yu meeting Kiku(at the time named Chrysnathemum which ironically is what Kiku translates into) & was a bit distant with them but eventually warmed up to them. Yu liked him but was unable to get over BK201 who he believed died after being caught. At some point he found out Kiku was actually BK201, BK201 was forced to be kept on a tighter leash as they did more tests until being rescued & taken to his parents who helped him recover.(Atem & Yugi) BK201's parents also helped take down the organization that kidnapped him & other kids to be experiments.

Yu warms up even quicker thanks to learning this is his missing friend/childhood crush that saved him. At some point they start dating, work on the fact they remember being Sonic & Shadow while going on more adventures. At some point they meet Feather & Sound(who is talking now that he's in a safer place) who turn out to be Blaze & Silver's reincarnations, the two disappeared because they had apparently come from the future & ended up kidnapped while seeing the past.

At the end after many adventures & stuff Yu & Kiku move to the country side to live a peaceful life. Silver & Blaze live with them when Yu & Kiku eventually make it to the time they're from with Silver turning out to be their son. They're all immortal & can finally live their lives in peace without having to worry about Eggman or anything else they dealt with in this new life.

There was some other stuff like at one point Kku being part werewolf/vampire later changed to part mummy(Atem), at one point being part saiyan & having a cousin that was not only part saiyan but Blackfire's(from Teen Titans) daughter & at one point a Mew(I called her Mew Mint Chocolate Chip) before I scrapped it since I don't watch Tokyo Mew Mew/Mew Mew Power. At one point I also had Atem a revived version of himself but the reincarnation of Tuxedo Mask(Dunno how this works) & Yugi the reincarnation of Usagi from Sailor Moon.

Oh yeah I also for some reason brought in Secret Saturdays by having Manic's boyfriend be Kur who ended up teleporting to Earth & becoming the Kur from the show after something messed him up around the time Shadow & Sonic died. Manic is reincarnated as Kiku's brother which makes sense because Sonic.

There's a lot of crossover shit but I semi forgot about it & I'm only aware there was crossover shit. I've calmed down on some of this & obviously things have changed.

There's no reincarnation stuff with my present Sonic stuff & no crazy crossover stuff. While I often imagine crossover stuff it's calmed down some compared to my past crossover amalgamation ideas.

I'm not going to tell you how Lost Prince AU ends in this but immortality & finally able to be at peace does happen.

Sorry for the bonus wild ride, hope you were able to deal with all of this. Sorry for rambling & the fucked up bonus rambling.

[ezrazone]

Hi, I'm a fan from way back (2014-15 way back) writing to let you know that A Terrified Child... is one of the best pieces of writing I have ever encountered in comics or otherwise. I have noticed a return to your looser drawing styles (that meet the present moment better?), so I was wondering what plans for ATC are. Will part 2 be drawn differently, or will there be a part 2 at all? Wishing you all the best.

this is such a nice message and well-observed!!! i love to hear when people from The Ole Tumblr Days have re-discovered my work :-) this is certainly a moment that has not felt compatible with the drawing style that makes jeremy comic recognizable. i experimented a bit with adapting it differently or collaborating with different friends to try and keep the process flexible, but the project is just not feeling as urgent as it did a year ago. i might return to writing about my childhood in different ways -- and may ultimately decide to pick up jeremy comic again later -- but i am someone with a tendency to bristle against art made out of obligation, esp in this situation where it's my own self-directed project and not a monetary responsibility like a commissioned work. i had initially published part one as a standalone for career and financial reasons, just needing a bit of traction and money to hopefully fund the rest of it. once it was released, though, esp as my health was declining during production and disintegrated almost entirely after release, i realized what a tall order publishing eight parts in that colored pencil style that takes 6-9hrs/drawing would actually look like. that amount of behind-the-scenes labor paired with a waning interest in succession (the comic is not about succession but that is the source from which i became attached to jeremy's face) and changing personal feelings around forgiveness and what "moving on" from the abuse i experienced as a child might be like, the project has had a slowed to (perhaps lol) a long-coming stop. nothing i put down ceases to be a part of me, though, and there's lots about jeremy comic that remains generative. the square format, for instance, and the one-drawing-per-page style is very enjoyable for me to work with. the project also encouraged me to lean into my penchant for portraiture, and the work still expands my field of vision when it comes to comics possibilities in all directions. there are also live performances with music by may klug still scheduled if you happen to be in the twin cities or passing through at the right time! i will post as it nears but we are in talks to bring jeremy comic to weird stuff only this winter. our last show at the southern theater at the end of august was the one of the most enjoyable live shows i've been a part of thus far. i'm looking forward to sharing the existing jeremy comic that way and perhaps in new ways in the future! i'm also just really keen on leaning into doing more multi-media collaborations in that vein generally, since it turns out i really enjoy yapping onstage lol. so tl;dr kinda not really, but also Jeremy Lives Forever. thank you my friend for being a part of the ride

[deoidesign]

Just wanted to say I absolutely adore your comic! It reminds me of all the comics I would read when I was little (except now they're gay), the style and shading is amazing.

What would you say is your favorite part of creating your comic, and do you have any tips?

Thank you I'm so glad to hear that!

I think my favorite part of making comics is the way it sort of feels like a puzzle. It's super mentally difficult but it's extremely rewarding to figure out plots and work out my best execution of it! I also LOVE editing, it's where things get to really pull together.

As for tips, I'm not sure what you mean! so I'll just share a few tips for a few different ideas...

Saving time

to save time I save every head I've ever drawn in a file so I can reuse the head (I redraw the face) which allows me to skip the sketching stage, since I only need to sketch for heads!

I also make my backgrounds a single very large image so I can reuse parts of it throughout the whole scene, recolor it for different times of day, etc, which saves a TON of time for me. Then, I just add in some spot blacks on top to make it feel cohesive with the character art! (this ALSO has saved me a TON when I've been converting my pages from scroll format to page format, as I have a high quality version of the background to use when I need the panels to be wider!)

But the biggest thing that saves me time is my line confidence.

So, next I'll talk about lineart tips!

most important is to draw from your elbow and your shoulder, instead of your wrist and fingers. this will get you cleaner lines, but will also save your body in the long run! The wrist is extremely fragile, so start learning to draw with more of your arm NOW rather than later.

Next is practicing line confidence! this basically is what gets you to draw the right line the first time, saving you a ton of time! These two tips sort of go hand in hand.

writing tips

First and foremost, you should be having fun! and I'm so serious, if you are working on a scene that feels like a drag to you, it will drag to your readers too. Whatever you feel like that scene HAS to be there for can almost definitely be accomplished in a different way!

but, really, I like to try to keep the big picture in mind. What is this scene accomplishing, what needs to happen to force these character changes, what needs to be revealed, what information about the world is canonized, etc, rather than thinking about your story as "events that have happened and will have to happen"

building off of that, my personal rule for establishing information is 3 times: If you've mentioned something three times, you can expect the audience to remember it. If you've mentioned it once or twice, it's really pretty likely they'll have forgotten by the time it's relevant.

This is getting really pretty long, I could get into character design tips, worldbuilding tips, tips for characters emoting, layout tips, marketing tips, business tips... there are SO many skills that go into making a comic, it's extremely hard to offer tips without knowing what you're looking for!