Romance Needs Changing, Love Isn't All Roses, & Affection Is Just As Important

[NOTE: Comments I was about to post on IG & decided these words better served on this blog] 

[DISCLAIMER: Some of the original texts has been changed in order for the post to make sense. Have also added more] 

As a consumer of Romance media - whether by books, through TV, via films, etc., I'm trying to change some of these more harmful tropes in my own stories: in my Rom-com/Slice-of-life webcomic WIP, the relationships are healthy and the comedy comes from situations the couples end up in. You know, Sitcom's Original Definition and Full Name: Situational Comedy. 

I do have a few 'enemies/bullies-to-lovers', but I do not show the relationship while one side is a bully/abuser. By the time I'm highlighting the relationship, both characters have changed or are willing to change for the better. 

Also, I realized I'm not a fan of 'Love Triangles'. I never understood this kind of "comedic dilemma". I hated love triangles in media growing up because someone HAVE TO MAKE A CHOICE AGAINST THEIR HEART. I now have OCs who are polyamory, so no more 'picking' sides! You can have more than 'one love of one's life'! 

I have 'Second-chance Love' too, with mostly older couples as well as a few of my younger pairs.

 

Last but not least, a few of my  Ace (Asexual) sex-indifferent/sex-repulsed OCs who end up with their 'found family' of friends and they are living happily ever after, because Romance isn't for anyone, Love can be for everyone, but Affection/Attachment is still very much valid in this world and I want to reflect those aspects of life as well.

My "Summer to Winter" Pride Month 2022

"Septimus pan rollerskating" 

"Campbell and Artem"

"Imogen and Leyon"

"Imeda and February"

"Yanina and Tyler"

  

                

 

 

 

 

If you want to see these pieces in progression, their final copy, and more    info on each of these characters, head over to my Instagram page. The link is on the right-hand of this blog!

Campbell and Artem will be a couple and so will February and Imeda! I have plans for Tyler, Leyon, Imogen, and Septimus for they will end up with.

 Nothing burns me more than a media shows so many clues that a pair will become a couple and that story doesn't follow through. Since SUMMER TO WINTER is a romance comedy, my couples will be HEAs(Happily Ever Afters) or HFNs(Happy For Nows).

Happy Pride Month 2022!

This is the first Pride Month I'm celebrating by posting characters from my SUMMER TO WINTER cast who are part of the LGBTQIAP2S community.

So many attacks against Transgender folks, so many anti-trans bills, and other hate bills against thr LGBTQ community in recent years. 

To give some happiness and joy in these moments, and for my own mental health, I decided to use Pride Month as the impetus to work on more of my comic's cast and in color since the comic may be in black and white.

As promised, while these illustrations are being posted on my Twitter and Instagram, all Pride artwork will be made available on this blog! 

Since officially beginning the comic back in 2018, some of these characters have either popped up, been mentioned, or have been scripted in my comic journals for further/future side stories.

All these characters ARE canonical to the story and most will become involved in their own love stories. SUMMER TO WINTER is a romantic comedy after all! 

Another "Linkage" illustration

Linkage has been a nebulous original character. They started out as a cisgender boy, and when I revived the character a few years back, I thought they were a trans teen. Imagine my surprise and delight when I decided to make Linkage nonbinary and suddenly, the character became this cheeky little [insert your expletive of choice here] and so much more interesting a personality than my first draft ideas.

Linkage is descended from South Asian
peoples of Old Earth, specifically from several Indonesian ethnic groups. I wanted to showcase Linkage finding out their old earth roots with some headdresses and emblems from different Indonesian cultural groups in yellows, oranges, and reds while showcasing their hacking profession via digital text and Linkage's virtual headphones(they can activate these psychically) are in blues.

My mom told me how she appreciates the fabrics on my characters and that they look like the fabric they're emulating(she sews and makes clothing). 

All I can think about was that time in high school art class when one of the fashion design folks left her seat from the front to walk around and view other classmate's work and she became angered by how dare I, the 'cartoon/comic artist', draw such an incredible dress on one of my characters(who was an anthro cat, no less!). 

The character's accessories and outfits should also reflect their cultural background and sense of modernity in the far future, yet not look bland as scifi clothing tends to. I mean, clothing in fantasy often looks interesting and culturally significant, so why can't science fiction clothes too?

I also love SF book covers which tend to highlight other aspects of the character's life or several characters' lives in the story. 

Here, Linkage has a pet from another world they once visited. I deliberately create my aliens, but sometimes, an alien, or its species, turns up on the fly. When that happens, lI'll use that first sketch as a template to further expand. 

So I will be expanding on this cockatrice-type creature later on!

Hope you liked this post about me explaining my process! You can see the entire slide show from start to finish on my Insta @ Handdrawnbycarmenjr

Until next time, Dear Readers!

Got Back Into BL(Boy's Love)

I'm really glad I'm getting more into the Boy's Love(BL) genre now. Because years ago, there was a lot of problematic elements in it being worked through and even the genre's fans pointed them out. Probably being a newbie to this medium, I may have taken those problematic elements for granted and unfortunately, may even have adopted them into my own works. 

MY LOVE MIX-UP!(2021) [1 season/10 eps] based on the manga series by the same name "Kieta Hatsukoi" by Wataru Hinekure Watch the series on Viki now! Or on YouTube!

MY BEAUTIFUL MAN(2021) [6 eps] adapted from the novel "He, Who Is Beautiful" by Nagira Yuu Watch the series on Viki! Or on YouTube!