❄ Tapastic Winter Fest 2015 - Day 25❄ [FINALE]

[ratique]

Thanks, Cyndi!

First of all I have to get the obligatory speech: It was so much fun to work on this project with everyone and the outcome of each individual comic is great. I am so proud of all of us!

Devil's Acres is a comic that is not well known for having a vibrant color palette and silly characters. Instead it is quite a dark story where horrible things happen to all those who get involved in it. Luckily for all the cameos, they seem to be pretty safe in the Winter Market!

I took the chance to do something different with my characters. Grave and Pill were able to simply enjoy themselves and not think about the horrors that lie behind and before them for a little while - well, almost. Their expressions are quite exaggerated, which happened in the sketch phase. While I usually replace my silly sketch faces with serious looking characters, I decided to stick with them this time. That makes this little comic something very special, since I am not sure we will get to see Grave like this ever again.

Thanks to everyone who has been following this project from the beginning! Look forward to what is up ahead - the present still has a long way to travel!

Ratique

[PotooGryphon]

Tapastic Winter Fest 2015 Dec 14 :: Echo by @getsuart

Today's episode is on Getsu's series Echo. The main character of this series, a mute girl named Echo, who is just trying to find some good winter bargains when she finds a dirty beat up present in her shopping bag, ruining all her shopping finds. Oh no! How will Echo deliver the gift to the Tapastic Mascot?... How will she tell Hrodland and Osmund about her mission?! O.O

Echo is a Fantasy Adventure story about a young mute woman searching for her father and learning to control an inner magical power. A deep rich story aside, one of my favorite qualities of Echo are the fun character interactions between Echo (who is a mute) and the super grumpy Hrodland. Check out the series from start to finish and enjoy the adventure.

@getsuart If you'd like to share any fun behind the scenes stories about the making of your episode or tell us more about your comic series, please do share!

[getsuart]

Thank you for the reminder eveeryday and the nice words, Cyndi <3

It was both a really exciting and exhausting collab... But for a super awesome result!! It's wonderful to read one episode/day from different authors, I totally love it. Plus there were good organizers who did amazing sheets and reminder
I'm really happy to have participated to it! We did an amazing job!

As for a little story... I am surprised about Fomori-chan being in a lot of background it is really fun. XD
Nah for real story, it was hard to find a costume for Hrodland. He hates winter as much as he hates Osmund. He doesn't have a lot of warm clothes but I wanted a stripped scarf, for some reasons. The story was supposed to be a little bit longer in my head, but I prefer this version overall. Also, couldn't resist to make some people holding some pain au chocolat and croissants on the first panel, because la baguette, la France reasons.
The little Lucien at the end was a last minute add, because I'm sure Lucien would go completelly crazy if he sees Sally "disappearing" pretty fast. XD

Otherwise, by the time of release, my character went to a market alley in the main story, so it was almost the same mood! (except the market alley is set in late spring... :p)

Thank you to every readers who follow this big event, I hope this episode is also pleasing you! Still 10 days to go, ten days of full adventure and smashing package, I'm sure

[PotooGryphon]

Tapastic Winter Fest 2015 Dec 15 :: The Lonely Moon by @lira

Today's episode is on Lira's series The Lonely Moon. Continuing the adventure of this beat up gift, it's now up to Sally to try delivering it. However, with only a limited amount of people that can see her, Sally will have to put Violet and Maddi up to the task of finding the one the gift is destine for. Can they do it?

The Lonely Moon is a sweet and beautiful comic series about childhood friendship set on a futuristic planet. Definitely a great all ages fantasy series worth reading from start to finish and falling in love with.

@lira If you'd like to share any fun behind the scenes stories about the making of your episode or tell us more about your comic series, please do share!

[shazzbaa]

oh my goodness, I laughed out loud at ".....maybe." xD

[PotooGryphon]

Tapastic Winter Fest 2015 Dec 16 :: Oops Comic Adventure by @CyndiFoster

Soooo, today's episode is on our series, Oops Comic Adventure. No big deal :internal scream!:

It's the mute leading the blind today! (best tag line ever thank you @AnnaLandin )
As both Oops and Plague make new friends and decide what to do with this mystery gift. How will a mute boy and a giant talking rat deliver a gift? Wow, weirdest question ever, but check out today's episode to see how.

Oops Comic Adventure is an All Ages Fantasy comic series that is highly influenced by our favorite comic creators, like Jeff Smith and Bill Waterson. It's a mute boy searching for his family and where he belongs while also making new friends along the way and learning the meaning of friendship. Thanks for checking it out and following the Christmas collab so far <3

@CyndiFoster If you'd like to share.... lol I'll totally share some behind the scenes fun stuff and sketches later today

[elixiadragmire]

@CyndiFoster If you'd like to share.... lol I'll totally share some behind the scenes fun stuff and sketches later today

.... thats so meta O.O

[lira]

I explained a couple of random details about my episode to Cyndi today and she told me to share them here with you all .

Why does Maddi mistake Plague for a puppy? It's not that Maddi's THAT silly, it just happens that she has never seen dogs or rats. All mammals are very rare on their universe. Violet has seen dogs once or twice (that's why she's so excited to hear Maddi found one), but she's still unsure if Plague is a certain kind of dog she doesn't know about.

And Violet identifying Plague as a person? That's because in her planet humans are not the only kind of people, and she was taught that any inteligent creature is probably a person (specially if they are capable of using language!). So now she thinks Plague is an alien . They never got he's a giant talking rat.

[carloswebcomic]

But... BUT IT'S NEARLY SUMMER!!

And here I am ready to start my summer related pages.....

[noxfox]

Oooh, awesome details! OuO I'm always so happy to know more about this universe!
It's funny how much yours and mine can have in common yet they're very different!

[PotooGryphon]

@carloswebcomic - lol you're surrounded by winter holiday hoopla XD

@lira - I love this extra info, like I already mentioned too. And I have to share my crazy universe theory response too XD
"Plague might still be an alien, if each comic series are set in their own literal universes. Then that would make the festival a sort of intergalactic hub world. OAO This collab gets deeper and deeper." Anything is possible haha

---

Alrighty! Extra behinds the scenes info on my episode.

Well... it all started back in August when I started thinking to myself, "Hey, last year's collab was super fun. Wonder if everyone would like to give it another go for this year?" and then I thought, "Hey, what if we go even bigger this year?" So with those two burning questions in mind, I rushed to ask the original collab members, "Hey guys, do you guys want to do something crazy this year? Cuz, I have an insane idea that perhaps we can all collaborate on."

And much to my surprise, everyone said yes... THEN everyone agreed to my original crazy idea (Ah!). Thankfully some modifications were made to it and the concept evolved and grew. lol

Here's an original blue print of the first idea (oh dear, here we go):
Step 1: Artists sketch and plan together what's going to happen in the 4-5 panels

The red and black stick figure represent comic characters from one series visiting the yellow stick figure's home comic realm. So technically... This was my first draft to my Oops episode LOL Oops and Plague falling from a strange portal into another comic series to deliver a present to the main character from that realm, so they have in turn travel and deliver to the next series.

And then it grew and evolved even more with each collab member adding an idea to the project. It got to the point where I had to make another diagram... which I can't show currently because spoilers ;>.>; [Redacted content]

So skipping ahead, I have the Oops episode all planned out, but I'm terrible at drawing backgrounds. OnO OH NO! I rushed to Jeramy (the BG expert in Oops and my husband <3) and begged him to handle it lol He saved my bum pulling through and creating the BGs for this 3 page episode. Even going so far as to surprise be one day with color flats done for each page.

These color blobs make it easier for me to select the different elements in the scene and color it in. So this was an amazingly sweet surprise to come home to after a day at work

And my last behind the scenes info is.... Originally I didn't plan on making so many cameos. It was a last minute decision I made after following everyone else's collab comic as they posted and seeing people REALLY getting into it... I went back into my pages and add cameos from the creators following the episodes (and a few from my favorite series). There are so many great comics and people on Tapastic that it couldn't all fit into one episode. (but I tried with 38 comic series making an appearance)

A few cameos in my episode that you might not know about:
Dragon Tutor
Tales from the Well
Beefpaper
Tethered
Black Bull of Norway
Speck
Peace and the Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Guinea Pig from Fany's series
RuneWriters
To Be A Comic
English Project Shorts
Hacheeachkee
Burning Bright
And MORE!

Thank you everyone for following this crazy collab so far! There's still a lot more to come, including an epic conclusion and a chance to win a sweet prize for finding hidden Tapastic Mascots. Thank you for showing each of our series a lot of love. And Happy Holiday! <3

[lira]

So skipping ahead, I have the Oops episode all planned out, but I'm terrible at drawing backgrounds. OnO OH NO! I rushed to Jeramy (the BG expert in Oops and my husband <3) and begged him to handle it lol He saved my bum pulling through and creating the BGs for this 3 page episode.

I also asked for help with the backgrounds! Which is one of the reasons they were not ready on time. My sister made a very basic layout on Blender for me, so I could tweak the perspective of the booths more easily. But the size was wrong and it took her a while to fix them (I can't use Blender or SketchUp even if my life was on the line).

This is one of her models:

Oooh, awesome details! OuO I'm always so happy to know more about this universe!It's funny how much yours and mine can have in common yet they're very different!

Maybe the world were Singmire Haze takes place is one of the tiny planets on the Lonely Moon's Empire xD. That would be SO cool, I could have one of my Travellers (Sally's people) visit someday.

But... BUT IT'S NEARLY SUMMER!!

It's also Summer here xD. But I'm used to it, most of my readers are from the northern hemisphere and I always end up drawing wintery stuff while I'm suffering because of the heat.

[getsuart]

3D is a great helper, I used it too, saved a lot of time! XD

Oooh Cyndi, the WIP from its very beginning... Memories of choosing the right idea.. * _ *

[PotooGryphon]

Oooh Cyndi, the WIP from its very beginning... Memories of choosing the right idea.. * _ *

Right!!! lol It's really kind of amazing looking back and seeing how it evolved and grew.

[PotooGryphon]

Tapastic Winter Fest 2015 Dec 17 :: Postcards in Braille by @kurisquare

Day 17! Only 8 more days till Christmas. OAO!

Today's episode is on Kuri's series Postcards in Braille. Sigma now has the mysterious gift after having a cute one-sided conversation, about the meaning of Christmas, with Oops. What will Rho, Xi, and Sigma do with this strange present, that has somehow remained unopened so far? Will Rho be the one to open it?! Find out by clicking the link.

Postcards in Braille is a fun slice of life/comedy series following the blind Sigma, his crazy best friend Rho, Sig's adorable girlfriend Xi, and her BF Omicron. Wacky antics and funny situations abound, it's hard not to love this cute series filled with heart. Check it out from start to finish and subscribe if you haven't done so already.

@kurisquare If you'd like to share any fun behind the scenes stories about the making of your episode or tell us more about your comic series, please do share!

[noxfox]

@CyndiFoster SO MANY MEMORIES! It was so much discussion to figure out what we wanted for this collab and there were so many ideas... I really think we all improved the idea in a real great way!

Maybe the world were Singmire Haze takes place is one of the tiny planets on the Lonely Moon's Empire xD. That would be SO cool, I could have one of my Travellers (Sally's people) visit someday.

Oyesss! It would be actually super amazing and could make for some great extra spin-off episode 8D

[DoodleDamage]

Ohhh man I just read all of them so far and each one was just so gosh darn precious!! Everyone has done a good job and I can't wait to read the next ones QwQ This is such a fun little adventure, waa I wish I could participate _(」∠ ､ﾝ､)-- But I wish the next artists all the best ;w;!!! They're gonna be just as awesome!!

[PotooGryphon]

waa I wish I could participate _(」∠ ､ﾝ､)--

haha We've been hearing that a lot. And since it's an open hub world it only makes sense that all of Tapastic would be there ^u^

Join in on the Tapastic Winter Fest!

[DoodleDamage]

Oooo this makes me so happy QoQ!!!!!

[kurisquare]

Hey! I'm so excited to finally see my episode up! the month sure goes by fast x'D

So what can I tell you guys? I've been REALLY HYPED about this project since we started working on it in August, but it sure was a lot of work...back then I was like "I have about 4 months to make a 4-page comic, what could possibly go wrong" but then I was running in circles to get it colored in time...but hey! I succeeded! A gold star for me!

A fun thing about this episode is that I got to work with a different lighting style than what I usually do, as I was trying to give the atmosphere of a night festival. I think it worked pretty well! coordinating with the people before and after me was also a lot of fun, especially since I got to be between two comics with kids who don't speak... (it wasn't done on purpose!!)

This has been a success so far and I'm really happy for it, but there was A TON of work and organization behind all this!! (props to Cyndi and Nox who dealt with organizing, you guys are WONDERFUL) I'm glad you have enjoyed our Winter Festival adventure so far! <3