Story summary
My comic is a (mostly) gay romance story centered around characters who work at a bookstore cafe and the people they run into. It's called Cup & Quill, after the name of the bookstore. There are a lot of fun lighthearted and romantic moments, but I also make a point of tackling hard subjects and emotionally impactful heavy situations. It follows a few different couples and people who may or may not end up together when all is said and done. Each update is a different piece of each person's or couple's story. I've already got everyone's story arcs planned out and I anticipate it taking me about 2 years of weekly updates to get them all wrapped up. I have specific points I have to hit in each person's story, but there's also a fair amount of improvisation that happens along the way.
Inspiration
A lot of my comic is based off of my own experiences. My first job in high school was at a bookstore cafe (thanks Borders books). A lot of the characters are either based off of people I know (not necessarily people I like) or aspects of my own personality (not necessarily ones I like either) that I've spun off into whole personalities. A lot of times I make up little dialogs between either myself and other people or just fictional characters that live in my head. Eventually I got enough of them out of my head and down to paper to make something out of them.
Favorite parts of making this series
My favorite parts of my comic are the more romantic or funny episodes and panels. They're just a lot of fun to create and give me a warm fuzzy feeling. I also really like doing one off character designs. Most of my characters work retail jobs and I draw all the terrible customers they have to deal with as crazy monster people.
The hard parts of making this comic
A fair number of my episodes deal with serious subjects where the characters are really hurting. These are the harder ones for me to work on. Sometimes this helps me process and express stuff I'm dealing with or have dealt with in the past. A lot of times making those heavier episodes can kind of bum me out and put me in a weird headspace. They're important to character development and driving the story forward as readers get to know characters better, but sometimes I really need a break just to take a walk and clear my head. Sometimes if I'm writing and drawing an episode that like this I just have to take a couple days away from the project to avoid getting too deep into my own bad thoughts.
My favorite characters
My favorite characters from my series are Finn the coyote and Richard the rhino. Finn is really put together from the optimistic, charismatic and confident aspects of my own personality. Sometimes his own brashness and drive to just go for what he wants inadvertently hurts other people. Deep down he's a good guy who just has a tendency to get swept up in whatever he's passionate about. Richard is Mr. Responsible, but he has a punk rock past that hasn't really been gone into yet in the comic. This is coming up soon though. He's the oldest character in my story (32). He's got his own issues with insecurity about how the world sees his sexual identity, but overall he's one of the most well adjusted characters because he's been through a lot and is very empathetic as a result.
Drawing challenges
One thing I wish I had simplified when it comes to character design is Goji's antlers. They're not terrible to draw, but just kind of time consuming compared to the rest of his design. I'm pretty sure they look a little bit different in every panel just because of all the swoopy curved lines in them.
Writing challenges
Lily, my rabbit girl character, has been the one whose design has changed the most. She's also the character that a lot of readers seem to not like. She wasn't ever meant to be a villain, but I think that being the only girl in the cast and having not had as much screen time for people to get to know her has put her in that box for some readers. Most of my characters are complex and imperfect people, especially Lily. My next update shows a bit more of what she's dealing with in order to give readers a better idea of the backstory behind her motivations. I just don't want people to hate her because they see her as a potential foil for one of the possible male/male relationships that may be forming. I've already resolved to make sure she gets her own full storyline. I don't want her to just be a female prop in a male centered romance story.
My process and where I'm going
I make this comic myself every week from start to finish.I do the whole thing on an iPad with Procreate and Affinity Designer. My husband does a bit of proof reading or acts as an extra set of eyes if I think that something looks off with the art from time to time. Other than that its 100% a solo project. Hopefully this is a stepping stone along the way towards being able to realize the dream of being a full time artist. For now though I'm just really enjoying learning how to make art and having the freedom to tell a story and create images I like to go along with it without having to answer to anyone but myself. There's still a lot of chapters left in this story, but my next project will probably be either a spin off for one of the couples or a gay furry visual novel.
Thanks for making a space for this, I didn't realize how much I had to talk about!