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Kamikaze
Dec '15

Hey @nickysoh! Welcome to Tapastic!! :3

I'm C, and I'm 1/3rd of the team that creates a comic called Kamikaze1.

kamikaze banner.jpg1280x460 117 KB

We host our own website2 too, as well as mirroring here on Tapastic. It's a scifi, cyberpunk series with a lot of action and plenty of heart. Our lead character Markesha sprung from my husbands head way back in college. He's always had amazing women around him from his powerful mom, super smart sister, and firecracker of a grandmother, not to mention a whole slew of aunts who kick ass and take names on a regular basis.

While we were in college the world seemed to be really messed up. The simple act of going to college, having a job, supporting yourself and any loved ones you might have...man, it just felt like you had to be a superhero just to get through the day. Our story started out as our lead being a girl from a low income family that took on a scholarship in order to pay for school. The original idea was that the scholarship she landed only worked if she became the worlds first superhero WHILE attending classes passing tests etc.

Over a few years we just tossed the idea back and forth between car rides. It wasn't anything serious until the story started morphing on it's own. We kept trying to shove it in this comedy direction and it kept falling apart. Once we started playing with the idea of Kamikaze being more of a serious thing, then suddenly it just started falling into place.

We love having Markesha as our lead, and better yet, so many others love her too. It's a pretty normal thing for people to stop dead in their tracks when they see our sign. On multiple occassions we've have women come up to us, nearly crying and say, "Oh my god, she looks like me." And that's when I turn into a blubbering ball of tears. >.>;;

Ultimately I think the reason we kept Markesha as she is, is because Kamikaze wouldn't be what it is without her. However, we do a little tongue-in-cheek bit at the beginning of the story with the idea of what would happen should our story ever get sidelined into the 'typical' action hero lead. It...doesn't end well. wink

getsuart
Dec '15

Hello Nickysoh and welcome to tapastic! hope you will enjoy the trip smile I'm going to check out your story right now!

As for the question, Echo2 got a female protagonist. I don't have a "preference" for a man or a woman as a MC, it just happens to be a woman because... why not? Plus for medieval fantasy, a young person is almsot always a boy. I wanted to use a girl for once. A girl that will not have all the relationship drama I can see everywhere.
Well, she can love, but it won't be the first purpose. Not all the guys she meets are here to be her maybe-future boyfriend.

And I wanted "strong" female character. Because it lacks of strong characters that aren't Korra.

MichelleAntisocial
Dec '15

Hey, I really like what I've read of your comic thus far!

Stray Cats2 has a female protagonist (as well as a male one), which makes sense for me because I'm a woman... PLUS a lot of the story deals with the main character not being taken seriously (as a threat) because she is female, so yeah, it's sort of essential to the way the story is going to play out.

kazukitakamura126
Dec '15

The premise of your comic sounds interesting and something readers of all ages would be interested in. As a male it doesn't really matter what gender the protagonist is as long as they are interesting and grow as a person throughout their story.

My main comic series which is an action based has a male protagonist but, my drama comic has a female protagonist. The comic is called In The Midst1. There are a few reasons why I made her a girl. First, this comic seems like a Josei (comic for older female readers) especially with its very dark tone.I have been itching to write the protagonist's character type (Dandere) for quite a while.Other then those two reasons I can't really comic up with another reason why the protagonist is a female.

scythe
Dec '15

I chose a protagonist with the lady parts cause I love drawing long hair and even longer legs.

Just kidding, it was for the shoes.

Thesleepypencil
Dec '15

My comic Lalita at the end of the universe 2 consists of Lalita as the main character. Along side a large cast of other female characters.

All my comics have female protagonists. I think it's because i want to make characters that i wished i had growing up.

Mharz
Dec '15

I have three main casts for The Angel with Black Wings: 2 females and 1 boy. The story is told through the boy's perspective but the lead character is of course the titular character.

As for the reason why well, (1) I love drawing pretty females (even though I'm a girl). (2) I love creating strong female characters. Plus it feels weird to have a guy Angel as the lead character and put him through any emotional struggles I could think of.

nickysoh
Dec '15

Well first off, thanks for all the participation! Just got back home from a cancelled flight and so many things to do. Took some time to read through everyone's post and took a look at all your webcomics.

@justifiableconcepts Hi! Wonderful first reply! I just subscribed to your webcomic. I really dig the unique art style you have. Can't put my finger on it. It has a rough sketchy outline yet very cell-shaded at the same time with the tones. The art is very catchy, I'm interested to see if you're drawing and male character or even adults and how you treat them in this style. You mention the idea of "soft" side in a female and toughness in them. I completely AGREE with you! That was something I wanted to explore too in my comic.

@keii4ii Hey Keii4ii! We meet again. Yeah I actually created a Tapastic webcomic here but somehow the link was messed up the first time. Now its working already! What other forums are you in? I feel that Tapastic and CF are the more active forums. Don't you think?

@demthorshie hi! I just went over to look at your webcomic on Tapastic. I thought it was going to be a silent comic! lolx. Yeah I definitely understand what you mean. Now that I'm writing a female protagonist webcomic, its not exactly easy and during scripting, I have to keep pondering what I would do if I'm a female in her situation with her character and also, as a teen. But its fun, love the challenge.

@toadsteroven Well I've never read a Aspie perspective comic before. Seems like you're the best subject matter and I believe you will have your own audience and fanbase pretty soon!

@Aetherwing Wow I like the art. The mood in the pages are great too. Great coloring. 4 chapters since September? Very consistent webcomic you have there and the male characters are charming too. Went to your webcomic site and saw that you update twice a week. Wow, wish I can do that haha. That's my eventual goal in end Feb. Great stuff.

@AnnaLandin Wow look at your art. The people in Tapastic are really good lolx. Also another twice weekly update webcomic. I must step up my game. I visited both Wishlight and Grassblade. I must say out of the two I'm very hooked on to Wishlight. The pacing, mood and story is just mesmerizing. Withiin the ifrst 10 pages I'm already hook and very interested to find out what happen. The expressions are priceless in the panels. I can't imagine what it feels like to have 2.2k of subscribers in your main series. Wow!

@starfestival I must say you caught me off guard with your webcomic. especially a music player panel followed by a naked man. hehhehhe

@lizm Your webcomic is so cute!

I agree too. I think it doesn't matter (most of the time) what the protagonist gender is though it does affect a story depending on what the creator wants to portray. Mine happened to be the case and I specifically needed a female lead.

@kurapikasuki

So you write stories that are group focused? Like the avengers or sailor moon with multiple protagonist? Really keen to see your webcomic on Tapastic.

@aronthemason Hmmm interesting webcomic you have there. Not the kind of genre that I read frequently, especially with the NSFW content and violence genre. The dialog seems very fluid and your characters are very well drawn I would say. I would say all 4 of your female characters are very character driven.

nickysoh
Dec '15

@Damatris Hey, nice to see you here! Didn't know you had a one shot.

Well you don't necessary need to add female characters to balance a story I feel. If the story needs it, it will unfold itself and you'll naturally write the character into it that's what I think. Hahha but that's just me.

@mg78 Well there are comics that I've read that has female driven characters yet weren't human. Vattu by the riceboy creator has a female protagonist. The story is really good, no human characters though. You can check it out!

@BraveHeartTatsumaki Woahh that eye popping out in your first episode! Out of the characters you have, I really like LALA. hahaha So the main female protagonist will go down a heroes path?

@SketchbookKid

Yeah don't worry I get it. Everyone has a different preference. For me, a character that feels real is important. Regardless the gender.

@Zannen00

Yeah it helps to have references if you don't have enough experience. Great that you have friends to talk to and seek advice.

@efdvorsky Glad you like RockMaryRock! Wow the amount of eyes you have to draw each page! It is great that your characters work out as it is. Mine was designed because I had a specific message that I needed to tell in the story though so I had to change the script when I was writing it.

@SethJH The Evil Alien story sounds interesting. I'm always amaze by creators who can juggle two projects at any one time.

@shazzbaa Just subscribed. I love great art and stories with a heroes path. Gonna take my time and slowly read this.

Well I personally try to make a conscious effort to see if there is space for certain type of characters in my own comic. I think it helps make the world, more real. It also depends if you want to tackle on certain topics like racism which will be something I do want to write so there will indeed be different races for my webcomic.

nickysoh
Dec '15

@williamjbowles Well if you want to know the reason how I got inspired to write this story, you could go to my webcomic site and read it up at the "about page". I wish it was me that spoke you, hahaha unfortunately I'm not the one.

Hahahah I use to have that thought when I was younger but it doesn't bother me anymore. If the story is imbalance in gender cast but it tells the message then it works. For example, Y The last Man. The main character is the last man on Earth. How else would you want to make it gender balance? lolx

@Kamikaze Hi! When I saw "team" I wanted to ask for your artist but you guys all worked together. HHEHEHheheh Just subscribed to your comic. Its impressive that you guys are still together after college. Will also take my time to read your webcomic.

@getsuart Echo looks fun! Why didn't you color your comic? Just out of curiosity because the Christmas special looks amazing.

@juniorguilherme340 is there a specific reason why most of your characters are female?

@MichelleAntisocial Thanks! Glad you like it. Too bad my updates are once per week.

Well RockMaryRock has some of that. Anything that creates tension for characters are good. That's where the story comes from.

@kazukitakamura126 Yeah totally agree with you. As long as the character grows in the story it doesn't matter the gender unless the gender affects the arc of the story or has an impact that would change the world. I think for In The Midst you clearly have a direction for it , which is why you made the protagonist a female.

@scythe HAAHahhaha I had a good laugh. I was like "Did this person just type that?!!?!!". Wish you had done me a favor of pasting the link to your webcomic. Just subscribed!!!

@Thesleepypencil

I feel you!!! I guess that's why we make comics; to tell the stories we wanted to see that never got made.

@avimHarZ I really like the CHristmas special! Why are you not coloring your comic too? It looks really good in color and you clearly have the skills to do it!

Damatris
Dec '15
1
nickysoh

I agree! Adding female characters doesn't automatically make a better story and sometimes it's not necessary. But it still grates me easily (not always and I do love multiple stories with this kind of balance) if there's 5 men in a main party and 1 woman.

But the thing is, male character is often the "default" people go to as it's what is best presented in media. Which is why I think it's good to think critically about the gender too instead of just "letting the story unfold". Sometimes it results in the realization that the initial idea was the best one indeed. But as a creators we do have the full control of the story and characters even if it can feel like they write themselves, so I think it's good to ask "why not" instead of "why should I".

Oh, and by balanced I do not mean completely 50/50 cast but something that's like 60/40 or close to it (both ways). Unless there's an actual reason for the lack of other genders. Like setting the story in a school only for boys/girls. : P

Hahha, yeah, I have couple one shots (only one on the webs so far tho) as well as a journal comic I update when the fancy strikes. x)

Aetherwing
Dec '15

@nickysoh Thank you very much for the kind words and I'm glad you like what I have so far! And yeah updating 2x a week is a bear. I had to take a break from it for a little while in order to get a good buffer going. I'm also really impatient and just want to get out as much as I can haha!

justifiableconcepts
Dec '15
nickysoh

@nickysoh Thank You for the kind words. Just saw the subscription too, I really do appreciate it! As for the male characters and adults, all I will say is...keep an eye out, haha. [You may or may not even see in the comic Aliens...elfs/other mythical creatures...unicorns --okay maybe not the unicorn but I just had to build the intrigue.]

demthorshie
Dec '15
nickysoh

Hahaha thanks for the compliment on Cosmos Song! It was going to be a silent comic at first but then I felt that some scenes could only be conveyed with dialogue! So I guess you can say it's a dialogue-light comic at the end of the day.

There are definitely challenges to writing comics that contain a protagonist of your opposite gender! I definitely felt like I needed to think harder when writing dialogue for my male protagonist, I went through those moments where I was thinking "would a guy really say that?" or "is this something guys do?" xD

mariusthered
Dec '15
nickysoh

Thanks I am just working on the published pages to try and tone it down just a notch so it's more except-able so I hope more people will come a read it and sub. One thing I will guarantee is nobody writes like I do, I have never liked to go with the flow.

BraveHeartTatsumaki
Dec '15
nickysoh

Thank you for your opinion of my comic, and yes, she'll go to the "hero path" but it will take pretty long before that, trainning and learning smiley

blastryoku
Dec '15

My comic Curse Lineage3 has a female protagonist because i like to draw girls.
Really, there's no profound or deep reason for that, the story would have worked out fine either way if she was a boy or a girl.

nickysoh
Dec '15

@justifiableconcepts Aliens and elfs??? Finish that comic!

@demthorshie Don't worry I ask the same exact question a lot. I keep trying to remember what it must have felt like when I was a kid while writing my comic.

@elixiadragmire Never too late I guess. That banner is gorgeous. Your webcomic really has a children book kind of feel to it. Especially like how you treat your panel borders. SUbscribed!

@blastryoku Already 9 chapters? Wow that's a lot of content. You can technically already publish a book.