My webcomic is featured on The Duck Webcomics!

THE DUCK WEBCOMICS ADDED SUMMER TO WINTER ON ITS FEATURED LIST. You can check it out on: https://theduckwebcomics.com/Summer_To_Winter 

Rom-coms Can Help!

Readers find "Summer to Winter" funny, and that's as it should be. I hoped readers would get my humor. I was always a sitcom/Britcom/stand-up comic fan growing up. 80s/90s US rom-coms felt insulting. It wasn't until I began K-Dramas that I found the romance comedy brand I was looking for! 

New Ko-fi Update!

You can read the complete [6 pages] black-and-white October episode on my Ko-fi @ Summer to Winter Ko-fi as a supporter until it's available in full color on Tumblr, ComicFury, and GlobalComix! 

What to expect in my webcomic

I think it's a given that if you've been reading my blog, I have very strong opinions.

I also like being as informed about a variety of topics. 

I don't shy away from being uncomfortable when learning about new things.

I also try not to lay the emotional burden of information on friends and loved ones by trying to teach myself or passively learn from others who have already uploaded blogs, videos, and/or any kind of research.

So... SUMMER TO WINTER is a fluffy Slice of Life/Romance Comedy/School Life webcomic. But it will deal with topics such as racism, colorism, sexism, misogyny, health care, mental health, the state of public and private education in the US, as well as a host of other topics and social/societal issues.

Sexual acts and intimacies will be discussed between partners, spouses, and lovers in healthy ways. I will try to encourage and promote healthy romance (this does not mean CLEAN ROMANCE. There are other writers for that) and downplay and even discourage toxic relationship views.

My characters communicate. They talk a lot. I do, too, and what didn't help was I was a substitute teacher, a speaker at various functions such as Career Days, New Student Orientations, and workshops, as well as I was a former college lab tutor. But as an Introvert, those moments were also hell, no matter how small or large the crowd was.

I was raised by a school teacher and well-read and well-informed parents. Politics will be mentioned. Religion and Faith beliefs, too. My cast of characters are inclusive and varied, so cultural ideas will be mixed in as well as gender diversity. People exist and so they will they exist in my webcomic.

Childbirth, adoption, and fertility will be mentioned. As a chronic health sufferer, chronic conditions, autoimmune disorders, allergies, and disability will be in my story. 

Even though the story is romantic, even though it is comedy, I want to include these because my characters deserve joy and love and affection in whatever form those come in.

Just as I do. And you, dear readers. Even you.

 

Let's Hope for Better And More In 2024

Sorry I have been MIA... A lot going on but I still want to keep this blog going.

First, still dealing with house issues: insects, cracks, and my mother had to terminate at least two contracts, one dealing with clearing out the vents. 

Had to give up my web host as their costs became even more expensive. 

Next, still trying to working from home as my health has gotten even more unpredictable. 

Because of my 2022 medical emergency, I had to put off things to set up for my freelancing. 

That meant putting off watching virtual and online classes to teach myself new art software and illustrator applications - I couldn't sit up for long periods and I stopped sleeping in my bedroom.

After all this, I needed to change my health insurance.

I also couldn't set up a new website. Plus, I was still debating which hosting companies to use.

I also ended up getting stiffed by a webhost company that did not even have the common decency to have their call times and days on their website, the host never even answered my question about logging in.

I went off on them in an email and they had the nerve to send me the WHOIS registry rules (which I already know as my previous website was 15 years online!) and nothing else! 

I will be dissing them online. 

Now here are some good news: SUMMER TO WINTER the webcomic is now official on my old Tumblr account! I created a secondary blog to host the webcomic. Soon, when I have my website, I might migrate it.

Summer to Winter is also on ComicFury, a longstanding webcomic hosting cooperative I learned about on YouTube

It is also on GlobalComix, a comic platform that showcases independent comics, small publisher, large publisher, and self-published comics! They also have a YouTube channel and offer workshops as well as podcasts and articles about their company and the comic industry. 

So, my webcomic is in good hands!

I will be uploading an episode per month. Sorry, this is my speed for now. Who knows how much faster or slower I will be in the future?

Summer to Winter already has five episodes up and an upcoming special for the March month!

See you in the next post, Dear Readers!

My Webcomic Title Cards and Front Covers

Since it's September, and there's a lot of social media choices I've been making to get the webcomic ready for its debut on its own page, I wanted to mention a few things.

My Ko-fi has updates.

My DeviantArt is finally being updated! Go check it out!

And I have a Tumblr blog *specifically* for the webcomic while still maintaining the Instagram page as its unpolished version and companion to the DeviantArt account.

I'm also working on a variety of 12 art pieces now designated to become title cards and front covers for the webcomic.

Check out below some of what I've done so far...

*Progressions on IG later*

Here is what I am calling the 'blue and green' front cover.

I start with cutting out the original title and pasting it into its own file so I can create a speech bubble in its place. 

I decided to remove my signature as it will be hard for folks to read. More on that in another post!

 I copy/paste back the title in this heart-shaped speech bubble from Yanina. I'm changing Dunlop's stance to look a little more upset.

Here's what I had so far. I also found the exact color to full in the title bubble's tail. I still have the signature I'll completely remove. Since Yanina is 'speaking' the title, I'll have Dunlop 'speak' my name.

Here is the near-finished cover! I hope you like it as much as I do. I outlined both speech bubbles. Completely bulked up Dunlop. Overlaid his and Yanina's school uniforms with some green. I touched up Yanina's hair and fixed her stocking legs. Here, she's 17 (& about to graduate from HS) and grew some after being skinny all her life. 

Hope you enjoyed this progression post! Take care, dear readers!

How To Hate A Story You Haven't Read *I'm being sarcastic* Rant

Was in a discussion on Insta about being Asexual and when I mentioned I have a comic with one of a number of ace characters, and the ace-demi protagonist runs into one of her HS teachers, whom she had a crush on. Now, as an adult, she falls for him again, and this time, he falls for her. 

After my summary got likes, another Instagrammer expressed interest in reading my posted webcomic drafts. Then, another person popped up expressing they disliked my premise and said I read too many Wattpad stories. 

Rather than argue with them that if they disliked my synopsis, they don't have to read my story (and, of all places, we were ALL responding to a video of somebody showing their English teacher whom they considered attractive), I simply BLOCKED the random.

And on an aside note, even though I'm not from the generation that got into Wattpad (my thing was LiveJournal), how is reading fanfiction a *bad* thing? Especially as I'm a furry writer and artist, didn't my genre thrive from fanfiction? Did not most genre fictions began as fanfiction, borrowing and adapting before growing into their own?

Expanded IG post about current draft board - Plus, news from the Twitterverse!

[News from my Twitter account]

I've noticed in my push to add Alternative Text or Alt-Text to my webcomic wip, a small number of my readers have expressed that the platform causes them anxiety and stresses them out. So, since I have plans to submit the webcomic series to other platforms and possible publication, I never closed my Tumblr account. Learned that Tumblr allows one to create numerous/multiple secondary blogs, so I created one for "Summer to Winter". When I begin posting will I drop the link. Also, most folks don't need a Tumblr blog in order to access its content.

[Originally posted on my Insta]

I've been feeling run-down the day after I run errands. I don't know if it stems from my chronic health conditions, but, all I know is, once I run errands on one day, I'm wiped out the next day. Also, we've been dealing with problems in the house, so my draft board has looked like this since last week. As soon as the skin flares calm down, I should be able to get back to work. 

P.S. NO COMMISSIONS. #ChronicHealth #ChronicPain #SkinAllergies #Drafting #Drawing #Cartooning #Comics

Expanded tweet about maximizing work output

I had a severe writing block a few nights ago and just outlined the chapter... Tried several different playlists: K-pop, Urbano Latino, Reggaeton, and Michael Jackson... What finally helped: Anita Baker's 'Just Because'. What helped more: stumbling on an Anita Baker playlist! 

The more I make sketch studies for a difficult chapter, the quicker I get panels completed. I have more to rough draft for this chapt that involves two flashbacks that will converge since the two main characters became a couple. 

I've had to come up with ways to bang out work quicker since getting severely sick last November. 

Reminder I added alt text to my Jan 2020 comic post on Insta!

My January 2020 comic scene now has #AltText. Descriptive text will be incoming for this post!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B6zot7TAkgL/?igshid=NjcyZGVjMzk=

[Main link]

http://www.instagram.com/handdrawnbycarmenjr

P.S. I also have other comic post with alt and descriptive texts. Simply check out the captions underneath and if it says 'Alt text', then that means screen readers or other accessible software can read it! I'm working to make sure all comic posts and illustrations on Insta are accessible!

Quick Note

Ever since my phone did this major system update, even the text-capture on the camera has bumped up. This will make creating alt text smoother for the Summer to Winter comic on my Insta. 

My title cards can be refreshed!

Belatedly realized my title cards can be given new life tweaking them on my display tablet. Can make endless variations.

I'm Stretching My Graphic Skills

I worked on my first flashback in the Summer and Winter graphic novel. I've done flashbacks before in my prose stories but not yet in a comic. I hope it goes over well. You can view the 7-page scene(so far) on my IG at HanddrawnbyCarmenjr on IG 

"Testing, Testing! 1, 2, 3!" by Carmen K. Welsh Jr(2021).

'Testing, Testing! 1, 2, 3!' from "Summer to Winter" graphic novel

The Comic Story I'm Working On

The more I explain about the work-in-progress comic I'm currently drafting, the more I have to keep explaining to justify a premise that, in this case, needs no justifying.

In a nutshell, SUMMER TO WINTER is about a high schooler who falls in love with her teacher. Eight years later, the two reunite and begin a relationship. Sounds simple? Pure and wholesome? Well, not to some who I told the synopsis to. Without even waiting for an explanation, folks assumed the worst. They assumed a toxic relationship. Something wholly inappropriate had the high schooler and her teacher started that kind of relationship. But they didn't and I wouldn't write that.

I'm not judging other writers for writing about that. Writers we can write whatever (as long as it doesn't hurt or harm innocent people). There's all sorts of ethical and moral issues with writing certain topics. That's not what I'm getting into with this post. What I AM SAYING is most of my story ideas stem from conversations I've had or eavesdropped on, rumors I've overheard, folklore, family history, and the tales read and/or spoken to me or that I've read over time. 

When I was in high school, I heard a rumor about a student and a teacher(rumors are great fodder for storytelling. I'd rather turn a rumor into a story idea rather than repeat it) and it went something like this: 

A teen girl likes her teacher and goes after him. He rejects her, citing that it's inappropriate. Student tells him she's set to graduate and that she'll come back for him. 

The 'story' is when she DID graduate, she went back to see him and they ended up together. In another version, they got married. 

Now, did this really happen? A lot of folks have asked me. I don't know. I don't know if this was a true story or made up. So is the nature of rumors. 

Depending on circumstances or situation, you may not get the real life drama behind the story, but the 'What If?' is compelling enough to want to write about it! 

So this is what I did. I didn't want an imbalance. I didn't want an illegal relationship. I knew about peers who were minors and abused by adults. I didn't want to normalize such in any story I write.

I am a romantic. I love romance. I love romantic movies and shows, comics and graphic novels, I love romance novels. I'm a sentimental person, probably to the point of being schmaltzy. I don't deny it. I like when couples wear the same clothes. I like when a couple cosplays together. I even think it was cute reading about such a couple that the guy crossplays his characters so he can wear the same clothing as his girlfriend. Don't judge me. Don't judge him. 

I've even been reading more representative romances, the kind I've always gravitated towards when younger: interracial, intercultural, interfaith, and inter-ethnic. 

I also have been reading a lot of webcomics and e-manga that shows LGBTQIA+ romances. The more representative of real life, the better!

So, getting back to my story, SUMMER TO WINTER, I wanted to expand on that rumor I heard from my high school days. I wanted to see behind the scenes. And I wanted it to be a sweet love story with a lot of steam to get the pulse racing. And I love comedies, and life can be hilarious, so that's in there too. 

The draft pages I've been posting to my writing group and to my Instagram - I also post the SFW (Safe For Work) pages on Facebook - Hey, my bosses, coworkers, family and family friends are still on there! I don't feel comfortable posting there! - but the rest is received by my Twitter chat group and my Insta followers, and the feedback is intense and mostly positive. 

Pretty much in a nutshell, I continue to write the stories I wanted to see on TV, in the theatre, and in books. And I've been getting those stories, but now I'm getting even more that I didn't know I wanted, and that's perfect for me as a storyteller... 

Stay inside as much as possible, be safe and take care, Dear Readers!