Thank you so much for taking the time to read it and share your thoughts! I really appreciate it, and I'm glad you enjoyed it enough to subscribe :]
I just finishing reading your short stories! Keep in mind I'm not a romance fan, so I'm outside of your target audience and have a different perspective from people who primarily read this genre and look for these kinds of stories. I hope my impressions of the art, story, and characters are helpful anyways.
Waiting Under The Stars:
I think this one was cute, simple, sweet, straightforward and short. It had a good flow and style that made for easy reading. My favorite aspect of it was the artstyle. It's very polished, pleasing to look at, and suits the romantic, dreamy, nostalgic, and bittersweet tones of the story- as well as the overarching theme of growing up and apart from an old love and moving on, finding a future with someone else- which is one I also enjoy. With the premise, genre, and artstyle in mind, I could imagine this short becoming fairly successful.
My one criticism would be a lack of strong characterization. This does serve a purpose in that it allows readers to insert themselves into the shoes of the main character, relate to her, and feel like they're living the story. I also understand that it's difficult to establish a character in such a brief time (it is a short comic after all), but what makes any romance interesting is its leads. After completing the comic, I'd still have a hard time describing the personalities of Adrian or Nessa.
Adrian was friendly as a kid, then got colder and more distant as he grew up. Nessa liked Adrian, but moved on when she found out he was with someone else. Otherwise, I don't know much. I wondered as the reader: What about Adrian as a person made him so special to Nessa? He was nice to her once as a kid, but what else makes him someone I as the reader should be excited about? Is there a reason Adrian grew cold and distant?
To make their relationship more engaging, I'd establish their connection more to make the loss of that connection more impactful to the reader. Ideas: Maybe Adrian understood Nessa when no one else did. Maybe Nessa went through a difficult hardship, and Adrian was the only one who supported her while everyone else abandoned her. Nessa did the same for him, and stuck by his side when he felt alone. But Adrian changed as he got older and their goals and values no longer aligned, so they went separate ways and ended up finding love elsewhere.
Overall, despite not being a romance fan, I found it enjoyable and well-made.
That Beautiful Melody:
My first thought was, "dang that's a nice artstyle!" Cherry blossoms are a great way to win me over hahaha. Love love love the colors, the textured rainbow trees, and the main character's design is great. c:
After reading: My impression of this was very similar to that of Waiting Under The Stars, except I think the artstyle is especially nice in this one. The paneling, speech, transitions, and floral details are all very pleasing to the eye and made me want to continue reading.
Overall, I enjoyed the characters and plot of the second short story more too. The characterization is a little stronger and the dialogue's a bit better. I think you have a real skill for telling stories in this format. My one criticism would be the same for the first short: more focus on characterization to establish the compatibility of the main leads. Prove to the reader that these two characters should be together and have something special, so that we'll care whether they do or not.
Thanks again for your review and for sharing your stories! I enjoyed reading them