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May 2024

before

Jinwoo:

Interests: likes painting, flowers and "The Princess Bride"

Personality: Sweet and friendly

Complexities: ?

Need: ???

Now

Jinwoo:

Personality: Sweet, but tempestuous, and intolerant. Generally quiet. Impatient and contemplative at the same time.

Interests: Painting, Fairy Tales, All things pretty

Dislikes: Movies, bugs, the color yellow, loud noises, animals in general, waiting, people trying to help him with things

Need: To finally break out of this glass cage he's been living in for the last 32 years.

  • created

    Feb '24
  • last reply

    Oct '24
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I guess when an idea has been floating around in my head since 2006, there has been a lot of changes.

2006 version:

Mr. Blueberry:
Wrapped from head to toe in bandages to cover his odd purple skin. He as a giant asshole. He used to go around torturing people but turned his life around and became a teacher/father.

Ken Kumo:
A troublemaker and social reject. He was bullied a lot in school for having Fire-Magic and was transfer to Frostpeak.

Bertie:
Clone boy who lived with his older sister. His mouth was sewn shut and had to talk to people telepathically. He hated Mr. Blueberry for causing him trauma.

Ace Kumo:
Ken's dad who was missing fro several years. He was apparently running from the feds which ended him up in prison. He was able to reunite with his son. There was one version of him where he was Ken's brother pretending to be his dad.

Zeta:
A uppity pure-blooded Fire-Person. He was asexual and very grumpy and critical of everyone.

Current Version:

Mr. Blueberry:
He's a lot nicer yet is still rough around the edges. I ended up removing the wrapping (something I decided years ago because it was impractical). He's less insecure about his skin condition. He is very bright yet can sometimes comes off a bit low brow. Mr. B is far more queer coded in this version.

Ken Kumo:
Pretty much the same but he has Air-Magic instead of Fire-Magic. But he is very fascinated by fire in a very unhealthy way.

Bertie:
No sister, no mouth stitches, no telepathic powers. He's still a clone. He is emotional blank most of the time. He no longer hates Mr. Blueberry, instead he see him as a father.

Ace Kumo:
He's Ken's uncle. He's very sweet and caring. I am still trying to figure out what I want his backstory to be.

Zeta:
Pretty much the same but maybe not as grumpy. He isn't asexual in this version. I decided to focus more on them being nonbinary. I have yet to state what their sexuality is.

from hating someone to seeing them as a father is definitely a big switch. I'm not sure I have any characters whose ROLES in relation to each other have 180d like that, but it would be harder in a slice of life where their connection to each other makes up huge portions of how and why they interact, especially given the plot of "Hushabye Prince" specifically

Claudita
(Brood Knight) (2004-2007)
- more emotional. Rash in decision making. Complete interventionist. Micro manager.

(MAG ISA ) (2007-2023)
- partially emotional and rash in decision making. And partially stoic.

(AngHell Dela Blackpill)
- calm, stoic, focus on the task at hand. Focused on bigger picture. No longer tries to play waifu therapist.

Well in my newer comic, the main character is definitely going to evolve a lotā€¦ only on page six rn so :sob: canā€™t say much

oh i was saying from your initial story design idea to when you made the story though

The evolution of my MC is pretty much the main plot point of my story, and itā€™s difficult to put it to words here without sounding like Iā€™m blowing my own horn because my MC is me, but Iā€™ll try:

Then: Cautious, introverted, absolutely terrified that anybody might find out my big secret (being gay), and, because of that secret, terribly lonely and depressed.

Now: Out, loud, & proud. I donā€™t wear it on my sleeve but I donā€™t hide it either. Very confident because Iā€™ve decided life is not going to throw me anything that I canā€™t handle (though, at this point in time with both of my parents being gravely ill and actively dying before my eyes this is being severely tested). Feeling secure, and, though I never thought it possible for the first 25 years of my life, feeling loved.

Blowing your own horn is 100% not a problem lol. And i'm glad you feel loved in this stage of your life, it's definitely something hard for many, if not most, people to find. So blow that horn as loud as you like.

My main character went from someone far more mature than she is now, complete with a condition that made her completely emotionless. Now she's only 15 with a condition that's causing her brain to slowly lose higher functionality.

Daisy started out as an absolute Mary Sue without direction, the type of character you could remove from a story and nothing would change. Eventually, she turned into a big sister seeking her long-lost little sister. She's still strong-willed and able-bodied, but she gets overwhelmed easily and is very susceptible to panic attacks - something that's really helped make her an actual character

Maria started out as a rather snarky gal who was overprotective of the main character, but she eventually turned into a more innocent and child-like character who wants nothing more than to create machines to help those in need.

Alexus hasn't actually changed all that much, although tying him to a fictional religion was a big change... personality-wise, he remains almost exactly the same, though <.<

C-3 I won't touch on due to spoilers, but I'll just say that she was even more of a Mary Sue than Daisy was. Making her character work in the story was like a game developer constantly nerfing one really overpowered playable character; the base abilities of the character are just so overpowered that you can never actually make it balanced. I'm pretty happy with how she's handled now, but I do still worry sometimes

I wouldn't say they have changed much, more just have dealt with stuff. My, all 5 books, happens over a summer. So they situations are dealt with as they come up, but their personalities don't really have time to change. I would say the romance between Baul and Gavin is the main change.

I forgot to do one for Daecon:

Before: Rich, arrogant prick who took nothing seriously and had no thoughts of ā€œsettling downā€ or becoming attached. He was a manā€™s man and played the dating game by PokĆ©mon rules: Gotta catch ā€˜em all!

After: Daecon has grown exponentially as a person after discovering exactly what he is. He has become an empath and has accepted his role as the saviour of the Shapeshifter race. He has done so reluctantly though, because he is still convinced that he is unworthy and that he will screw things up. He has also become more intelligent and aware of the world around him as heā€™s unlocked the powers that heā€™s always had but that were dormant until now.

Well shoot, I guess this is happening.
When I first came up with Rip...it was back in 1999 after Sonic Adventure debuted and he was an OC I made as a teenager. His name was Rip Raptor, I don't have any art from '99 but I did draw him in this chart of Rip variants(OG is him). As I've been developing this character since the 90s...he's changed a hell of a lot, this is a tiny sample.

When I was in grade 6, Tarow was an anthropomorphic cat in armor...then when I decided to merge two stories I had into one, she was redesigned as a dragon-person. Actually, all the characters that came from the one story were first cats, then changed overtime into dragons.

It's fascinating how we evolve our characters overtime, yet they all retain something from a previous design.

20 days later

Surprisingly enough Kimberly from "Hushabye Prince" used to be a tomboy. Now she's the girliest girly girl of all time

19 days later
13 days later

Alicia is evolving a bit more throughout the book "Sun with a Paper Crown." She's still and introvert, but she's learning how to interact better with strangers and not let them break her down the way they used to.

On the other hand, Kattar is becoming significantly less pleasant to be around at random times.

25 days later

Alicia is continuing to evolve. at the beginning of the story, she would just quietly tolerate all the things that made her miserable, and never daring to believe Kattar actually loved her. As of Friday, we have her reaching this moment, where she TELLS him (albeit on the verge of tears) that she's the love of his life:

The whole time my eyes track his expression searching for some sign ofā€¦interest?

Of anything.

The look in those windows to his soul is almost vacant. Like his emotions are making a long-distance move, and only a scant few parcels of anything like ā€˜careā€™ remain. The sign on the lawn says ā€˜apathyā€™ and his face is acutely ghost-like acedia - an almost gray shade of indifference.

For some reason, I suddenly want to cry.

Something painfully familiar that I canā€™t- donā€™t want to place churns in my stomach and hangs from my heartstrings like a gallows as he stares at the palm of his hand absentmindedly - I just canā€™t-

ā€œKattar, look at me.ā€

He raises his head but he barely seems to see me at all, slowly smiling a little uncomfortably at 0.5 speed.

ā€œWhat exactly am I looking at?ā€ He laughs a little awkwardly.

ā€œThe love of your life,ā€ I say out loud before the words even register in my brain. The sentence sounds watery, overlaid with tears, as my voice begs, ā€œIs she pretty?ā€

9 days later

With the initial story idea Riley was just Leia's depressed little brother who she was trying to save, as the story developed, the way they defended each other became more mutual as they both want to protect and keep each other safe, but from different things. (namely, he has some issues with one of her crushes.)

this is available for free for everyone to read on my Patreon public posts

For me, I would say the most readily observable change in my main character is her moral standards-and mental stability-start to slip.

She goes from shy, aloof, and unwilling to hurt anyone that isn't trying to hurt her, all the way to willingly dishing out death threats. By the third act of the story, she is so weathered by the things she has seen and what she's already been forced to do that she is willing to disregard lines she never thought herself capable of crossing. Even her very fighting style gradually shifts from cautious and conservative to overtly aggressive.

This reminded me of some out-dated character sheets I filled out at the beginning of making my comic. So I thought I'd redo em and put them here. Out of all the MC's Najm has definitely the most consistent characterisation (which is that they're nice and kinda boring and dissociate sometimes)

i'm putting this in a summary to make it less annoying to scroll through if you don't wanna read it


another notable thing is that they got worse at commnication, more unhealthy and less empathy but more charisma. Which is gonna be important for later.

Alya shows a shift from being cool collected, patient and passionate, to being impulsive, confident, wild and scary. not too big of a shift really.

Qamar has a huge shift in characterisation because I wasn't super clear on what I wanted from Qam in the beginning, so initially I just wanted them to be kinda cold and clinical. And they are! because they have to be for their job. but outside of their job they turned out to be really caring, so given time to get to know their coworkers, they warm up a ton. so i don't really see these characterations as incongruous, they're just context-dependant (like real people).

where Qam took a big W for turning out to be kind and caring, Rahat took and L for being selfish and amoral. The initial idea was for Rahat to be the starry-eyed idealist to contrast the other chacters. and they are, kinda, they have a positive outlook on life and want to live, but they don't care that much about people and they always put their own needs first. They aren't a particularly bad person, they're just a product of their shitty environment.

overall, the general trend of the characters is that they're sadder and don't give a shit about broader social issues like truth and justice, except for Qamar who is now the only person who cares more. which I really like as a development honestly. they're also older and taller. the older thing is because when I started the comic I was 16 so they were a year older than me which seemed ages away at the time. Now I'm 18 and it seems unreasonable to me that 17-year olds can pilot spaceships. I understand that once I reach my thirties anyone below 25 will seem like incompitant fools. but I'm not 30 so whatever.

This actually sounds quite a bit like Mrs. Moon. When I started writing her, she seemed like the sweetest person on planet earth. I'm not disappointed by this evolution, but as it turns out, a lot of factors in her life have led her to only prioritize things and people she finds worth her time. sometimes this does not even include her own family and lover.

12 days later

When I first started designing Essence's mother, Dorine Walker, she wasn't very sympathetic. Now, she's still kind of a bratty middle-aged lady, but I can understand where she's coming from and why she spends so much time miserable and complaining (NOT that it's acceptable.) It would be hard on anyone to deal with a stroke when they're only in their 40s, and she's not coping with it in a very good way. She's also understandably upset about the lack of sympathy most people seem to show her.

10 days later

(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)

This is more of an aesthetic thing than the character's personality developing or changing, but I suppose the evolution of characters' visual designs are still worth noting.

Over time, I developed my FL's visual design more clearly, and was able to both write and draw her with a more concrete idea of what she looked like. To be completely honest, when I started writing the novel I had next to no idea what she looked like, though I knew what the male lead looked like, because the novel is narrated from her POV. Overtime she got more fleshed out, and her hair got curlier, went from black to chocolate brown, and she became...squishier in build lol

The evolution of me trying to draw my female lead from my novel "Damsel in the Red Dress"






The last one is the most attractive incarnation yet imao, as it should be. Alicia has gotten chunkier over time lol. When the novel started, and I initially imagined her, she was quite petite, and I left that canon, but at the point the story is out now, she is very not lol. I just decided to make her weight gain canon, as the way I imagined her changed over time.

26 days later
24 days later

I mean, you can see it here. She was a lot thicker, and her hair cut changed before i decided on her final build hairstyle and texture

18 days later

Mora and Christopher George were both a little flat in their first designs. Their inherent roles were still there, but their hobbies and behavior weren't as strong. As I added nuances, they became fuller. Mora is a mermaid but she loves running, which I think is fun and unusual. She's a very athletic girl but also girly. She likes straightening her hair but hates smells like perfume because of her shark-like sense of smell. All these things help her to feel more dynamic and complex.

One random day Christopher George's uncommon mannerisms self-inserted themselves into my head, and from there the nuances of his identity became clearer to me as well. He has a habit of turning his head in people's directions without looking at them. he'll fleetingly look people in the eye but never maintain eye contact no matter how much he likes or is comfortable around a person and so on. All these things helped him to feel different from the cliche he might be associated with as a well built 6'0 blond haired blue eyed high school boy in a story revolving around teens lol

19 days later
20 days later