Little Flames: chapter 1 FULL package

First of all, I want to thank you all for your support! I've said it before, and it remains true that you make this possible! Without you I'd not be able to create comics like this! I am very grateful for being given such a chance to do this right now. Thank you all!

In this post I bring you the comic with bonus materials, please check the attachments for the archive in which you'll find the comic, sketches, outtakes, the script and two timelapse files where you get to see me at x60 speed not knowing what the hell I'm doing :D

Now I shall ramble, cuz boy this was an experience-

This chapter pushed me hard! Even though I am pretty happy that it only took me two months to finish, I struggled with many things. When you try something new it makes it clear what kind of skills you lack to do it, and I was smashed with that in my face for the most of the process :D It was difficult, and I'm glad I went through all that because now I already have a rough idea how to improve going forward. Specifically I am not the biggest fan of not knowing how to draw shade and textures with lines, I've discovered that the only thing I actually know how to do is messy criss-cross shading. To get over that I am getting me a book on pencil drawing and I hope to learn these things.

This was the first time I actually made a proper script! I usually only have a rough outline of events I want to do, but this time I put myself on a limit of 16 pages, so it had to be written properly. I was writing it as I was making the sketches, I found it's a lot easier to write the scene right before sketching it for if you want to change something it's faster to do so in text. I realised I can't just write the whole chapter and then sketch it because I always have a visual first, for any idea. When I write something down my brain relaxes and forgets about it, and that means I would look at the text like I've never seen it before and would do a functional but generic solution for the scene. I wanted to avoid that, I wanted my scenes to look good. Of course, my skill here is still limited, I've yet to learn cinematography more to pull off more impressive shots and scenes, but for now I am pretty happy with how I solved most of the problems. I feel like I still don't know how to work with big scales for establishing shots, I like to be too close to everything and man that's also something to overcome. I'm in for a massive landscape practice with this one.

Writing this felt a little different too. I've learned to pick up more moments when I could do "show don't tell", you'll see in the script there's a outtake for Shadow and Rouge scene in the bar. Originally, when Rouge asks Shadow about how many pages he wrote, he just tells her. But then I though "but what if he didn't have to say it", so I had him have a face that's of an absolutely destroyed look instead. Technically both versions deliver the same message, but working on it I've realised I don't just want it to be functional, I want it to be interesting. And I want to do it as much as I can. In writing, I am really not a fan of expository dialogue and descriptions. I like to be shown personalities instead. A perfect example of what I mean is the Netflix's Avatar: the Last Air Bender remake and the og animated show. Early on in the remake Aang basically looks in the camera with a face that wants to sleep and says "I don't want to be avatar, I don't want this responsibility. I am just a kid and I want to play and goof around with my friends". In comparisson, the original series instead actually shows him goof around and be a silly kid who's afraid of the responsibility. When he's found by Katara and Sokka, the first thing he says is "will you go penguin sliding with me?" and later he is shown to be a silly kid, who wins fights like he's playing around. Then later down the season we see Aang's backstory that explains what happened to him the first place. Same information delivered, and it's faster to just tell, but I stand by the fact that showing will always be more effective and impressive. Of course there are things that you have to exposit, but I believe that if you can avoid explanations - you should. Most of things can be shown without words. It takes confidence to do so and I hope to grow in that direction as I work on this comic going forward.

I am planning to start work on the next chapter in a month. I'll need to work on commissions rn, and grab a little vacation. But in the second half of September I'll start the work on chapter 2! I want to tell this story to the end and I am excited to see your reaction to it :3

Thank you again! I hope you enjoyed the comic and this insight on the process of making it! These comics make me learn new things and I enjoy sharing what I've learned with you!