Planning for stories and stuff.
Word, dawg.
note: this intro hasn't been thoroughly updated in a couple years
This is a world I made mostly for my own use, but I made it a public world anyways. I'll be posting things about story outlines, my characters, my comics (including fan comics), WIPs, ect... It's pretty much a world where I can store information and/or plan things. xD
Below are short descriptions of my stories to help you know what's going on. xD It also shows which characters are in which story, along with their extended profile if I have one made. Some stories aren't mentioned because I don't work on/think about them often. Therefore, not all of my characters are mentioned.
STORIES
The link leads to the fan comic in my portfolio. If there isn't a link, there isn't a comic yet.
ORIGINAL STORIES
*Rock Band: Something Impossible: The story of a Rock Band and their adventures in music business.
Major Characters: Michka, Zack, Loyal, Dare, Rick
Important/Frequently Mentioned Supporting Characters: Damian, Tim, Dare's Aunt aka Auntie
*Of Fruits and Vegetables: 4-panel comics of the life of a 21-year-old model and his friends/workmates.
Major Characters: Tomato, Stefan, Tomato's Boyfriend aka "TB", Gabe, Janet aka Jo, Kasey, Dean
Important Supporting Characters: Danny, Leah, Mick
*Dreams: The story of a rich and pampered English boy who gets transported to the mysterious town of Dreams, and his adventures there.
Major Characters: Alcott, Luli, Ms. Marigold
Important Supporting Characters: Shinitsu, Annabelle, and others that are to be decided.
**Annabelle's and Ms. Marigold's profiles are in the same post.**
Story Dialogues: 1.1, 1.2, 2.1
*My Dear Princess: The story of an orphan child, a princess, and friends who's home country's peace is threataned by the evil prince of a country that was thought to be nonexistant. (CONFUSING. xD)
Major Characters: Isaac, Charlotte, Rinchu, Segran, Lucia, Nicholay, Faida, Hrafn, Falorin, Gaelnis
Important Supporting Characters: To be decided.
*Foreigner: An alien boy sent to Earth to destroy the human race finds himself in Los Angeles California, befriends a human girl, and gets involved in crazy advetures.
Major Characters: Kor, Gliding Eagle
Important Supporting Characters: Michelle, Dailen
*A Life Like This: A written story in the perspectives of Dare, Tim, and Rick.
Major Characters: Tim, Dare, Rick, Ms. Ackart
Important Supporting Characters: See characters for Rock Band: Something Impossible.
Chapters: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten
*Teach Me Something Good: A story about a friendship between a student and a teacher. Somewhat of a spin-off of Of Fruits and Vegetables.
Major Characters: Noland, Chrystal
Important Supporting Characters: Prudence), Stefan (briefly)
*I Was a Boy, Too: A short 3-part story about Gabe when he was in high school. Optional backstory related to Of Fruits and Vegetables.
Major Characters: Gabe, William
Important Supporting Characters: DJ, Dave
Parts: One
*Nerdy and Jock: So there's this nerd, and this jock, and also they're boyfriends. That's it.
Major Characters: Jack, Ned
Important supporting characters: Matthew Brodney III, Dmitri, Charlotte, Jessica Marron, Lafayette, Brodney's girlfriend who doesn't have a name yet;;;
FAN STORIES
*The Adventures of Marth and Roy: Super Smash Brothers fan comic. Title is pretty self-explanitory.
Major Characters: Marth, Roy, Ike, Pit
I don't have a name for his story, but Jamal is a Kingdom Hearts fan character. I figured I'd mention him because I draw him often enough.
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Also, if you want to find posts that feature a specific character, type in the URL http://theotaku.com/worlds/variousinformation/tags/[character name]. For example, http://theotaku.com/worlds/variousinformation/tags/dare will bring you to posts about Dare. :)
Enjoy Your Stay at Various Planning!
I'm going to actually try and make OFAV look nice from now on!!! 8D;;;; one thing that I thought would be a good idea to make OFAV look nicer is to ink and color it panel by panel. Usually I do the inking of the strip all at once, and then color it all at once... but I think doing one panel at a time will make me focus on the quality more easily. This panel took a good 2 and a half hours to ink and color, though. Weeehhhh. ""orz THAT'S... a pretty long time. But the fact that I usually rush with my comics really shows in the other OFAV strips, though. THE INKING IS JUST... HORRIBLE... And the coloring hasn't been that great. Meh.
BUT CHECKITOUT, GUYS!! I think I finally have a skin tone that works for Kasey!! 8D
I'm also going to start using this harder lead pencil to do pre-sketches for the strips, which'll help me sketch faster and keep the strip cleaner, I think. 8D I actually managed to sketch the next strip pretty quickly today.
/irrelevant information
MAYBE WITH THESE NEW COMIC-ING TECHNIQUES (?), I WILL UPDATE OFAV MORE!! I actually really do want to, though. My goal this summer is to update OFAV like... EVERY WEEK. ;u; It'd be cool to finally see the story (?) rolling! Who knows if that'll actually happen, though;;;
Anyway, good night people! :9
AKIOH DID AN INFLUENCE MAP! So yeah.
Original template here.
And here's my massive footnotes copied from dA:
I'm really bad at pinpointing what my influences are. :M;;; I kind of see things and draw based on what I vaguely remember... but everything kind of blends together at some point. IDK. Here's what I came up with when I tried to determine some of my major influences in my drawings, characters, and comic-ing style.
(This is not in order of influence, this is just how I happened to number them. :V)
1. Hiro Mashima
Even though it's basically impossible to see now, Hiro Mashima was a really big influence on my drawings when I was in elementary school... which is why I made him the biggest one on this map. :V Rave Master was the first manga I ever read! Even though I don't really draw action/adventure comics or characters, I think the sense of humor in Rave Master largely influenced my current sense of humor... yeah. Another person who similarly influenced me was Mia Ikumi, because I was also big on Tokyo Mew Mew at the time. xD But I was always more into Rave Master... the Tokyopop translation was hilarious, because they used all kinds of TOTALLY COOL LINGO.
2. Studio Ghibli
I think most of the Ghibli films I've watched are Hayao Miyazaki films, but idk. This isn't a huge influence, but the character designs in these stories always interest me. I also really like the storytelling style, because the dialogue feels like a live action movie rather than an animated movie. I want to try to have a cinematic feel in some of the comics I draw.
3. Tiger and Bunny
Tiger and Bunny made me value character interaction and development over an overarching storyline. Maybe. It was one of the factors. I also really love the style, which is kind of like an anime-imitation of superhero comics. Getting a balance between cartoon-anime-realism is something I've been trying to do with my drawings. IDK HOW I'M DOING, BUT I GUESS IT'S GOING OKAY!
Also, this anime only added gas to the fire that is my passion for opposing personalities.
And 30 year old men.
WHY IS THAT LAST THING A PASSION OF MINE--
4. Nikki/GoRockets
I'VE NEVER SPOKEN TO THIS PERSON, BUT HER ART IS JUST SO CUTE!! I'm really bad at choosing favorite artists, but she's definitely one of my favorites. I found her through her webcomic, THIS IS NOT FICTION, which is REALLY GOOD. And hilarious. Her art has influenced my attempts at making my characters more expressive. Her whacky sense of humor is also rubbing off on me. :M
5. Disney
I actually don't know how big of an influence Disney has been since I don't religiously watch Disney films like some people... but some people have compared my drawings to Disney, so I thought I'd just include it here. :V Disney's storytelling style isn't something I go for in my comics (not that you'd know, I guess;;;), but I really love the way they do facial expressions. *u*
6. Healer94/Likethebeer/Bo
Back when I first joined theOtaku.com in like 2009, Bo (who used to go by Mell) was one of my friends whose art I thought was SO SUPER KEWL! I remember his early drawings influenced the way I draw noses and mouths. Including him on here, though, is just to say that all the people I interacted with early on when I joined theOtaku have influenced me a lot with what I draw now.
7. Hideyoshico/Hide Yoshiko
S-so, Hideyoshico is a bl author...;;; Fun fact! IT'S REALLY HARD TO FIND BL MANGA WITH DECENT ART... Or at least moderately interesting art, with moderately interesting character designs. But enough about that.
While I don't like all of her titles, Hideyoshico impressed me for breaking away from the average way of writing a manga in general. She tends to be pretty creative with her perspectives, and includes a variety of them in her manga. For instance, in Negative-kun to Positive-kun, she writes most chapters about the main characters from a 3rd person perspective with limited "thought dialogue", but also includes a chapter from a girl's perspective--who is an actual character with a distinct personality and stuff! That takes guts as a bl mangaka, because a percent of the audience doesn't want female characters in bl at all. I always appreciate interesting-and-not-pointlessly-mean girl characters in bl manga.
Anyway, all that stuff was kind of irrelevant... but uh, Hideyoshico's art and manga style has influenced the way I take on the perspective of a comic, and also kind of pushed me toward a more sketchy style rather than super clean cut. Maybe. idk.
8. Gigi D. G.
Gigi D. G. writes and draws Cucumber Quest! Her art is so cute and colorful, and the expressions are great... and her humor is great... Her drawings make me want to draw bright and colorful things with cute expressions. :B UH. YEAH.
/I'm so bad at this meme right now
9. King-Sama
King-Sama has been a friend of mine since I first joined theOtaku and started posting stuff online back in 2009! 8D Ever since then, I've always looked up to their art because the coloring is just really pretty....!! *u* Their coloring has influenced the way I approach coloring my colored pencil drawings.
10. My Sister Bailey
MY BEAUTIFUL SISMANCE, TAKARA/BAILEY!!!! I was going to put this one as my biggest influence, but I thought she might be embarrassed...;;; My sister is the whole reason I started drawing in the first place! I WANTED TO DRAW JUST LIKE HER. The picture I put in the map is one of her older drawings, but I used it because I remember that it was those kinds of drawings that I really wanted to draw. The faces and poses she drew always seemed so out of reach and amazing... ;3; She also used to draw cool clothes on people out of nowhere. When I tried to do the same, the outfits usually turned out hilariously bad... haha. So she made me want to keep trying to draw clothes and things, and has influenced my fashion sense a whole lot. :V
ALSO! You may not know this, Bailey, but you're partially the reason I have so many boy x boy characters now. Because of your Colorblind comic. That's right. You were the one who introduced boys love to me.
HA....
11. Hayakawa Nojiko
A-another bl author ahahaha..... THOUGH ACTUALLY, Hayakawa Nojiko is one of my favorite artists in general. I MEAN, HER COLORED PICTURES ARE JUST SO NICE. Her coloring hasn't really influenced me much (b-because I just don't think I can do it....), but her comic-drawing style is really interesting and makes me want to try to get experimental with paneling. Nojiko is really good at adding a surreal flavor to her comics, and it's just really interesting to me... I also like her use of subtle dialogue, which is something that's rubbing off on me in the way I write dialogue.
12. Asumiko Nakamura
This meme is actually the "all the bl I've read" map. :M;;;
Asumiko Nakamura's dialogue style is really interesting to me! Reading her manga feels like you're watching a movie because of the way the dialouge flows and the camera angles she chooses. The way she does dialogue and cameras is something I try to do with my comics (but not very well aha COMICS ARE HARD.) Her expressions and gestures have also influenced me to try and make my characters gestures more fluid.
She also draws really long necks, so.... there you go. Her art takes some getting used to looking at, but eventually you do.
If you go searching Asumiko Nakamura on google, just know that she sometimes draws some pretty dark and explicit stuff. The comics of hers that I've read are Doukyuusei and Sotsugyousei, which are about pg-13. Some of her oneshots, like I Am A Piano, are really cool too. Sora to Hara has the best dialogue, I think, but it's about a "will they or won't they get together" teacher-student romance so... yeah. Still, it's about pg-13.
UH.
THERE'S THIS MEME, I GUESS... Thanks for reading this massive thing. Idk. I NEVER K.
...Because I'm just so
...This is actually me in King-Sama's sunglasses, but I'm kind of tempted to make this my icon...
OKAY, HAVE A NICE SATURDAY! 8D
I posted these to dA late last night/early this morning, so WHY NOT HERE? 8D;
Also, ignore the fact that it's potentially insulting to try and write a southern American accent...;;;
I drew the one on the top because I wanted to draw Noland with huge, blobby tears. I could explain what's going on here, but I think it'd just sound weird if I typed it out. So no explanation for youuuuu. 8D
Going clockwise from there, I tried to draw Noland at least a little younger. AND FAILED, AS ALWAYS! The picture to the left is there for comparison to his current age (33). I also wanted to try drawing plasic rimmed glasses to see what they'd look like on him. I think they look weird, because I've gotten used to seeing him with wire rimmed glasses. >3>
Below to the right is a character who appears in Noland's childhood. Idk how to draw crimped hair. -u-
And then the last one is just Noland reading, 'cause why not. Usually when I draw people in this pose it goes horribly wrong, but it ended up kind of decent here! :V 'course, I didn't spend a lot of time actually drawing his legs and things, but...
UH, YEAH. THERE'S THAT. I'M GOING TO FINISH READING A BOOK, NOW...
T-THANKS FOR 20,000+ VIEWS IN THIS WORLD...!! ;u; It makes me glad to know someone actually looks at these weird doodles I post. xD;
Uh, as thanks (?), here's some ramblings about Noland's, Stefan's, and Gabe's childhoods.
This is how they all looked when they were around 16. :V I also forgot how to draw teenagers, and they all look so young. ._____. Stefan's hair is supposed to be puffy, but... it just looks like it always does, somehow. "orz And sorry that Gabe's drawing is so sloppy. >3> also yeah Noland's just looks like Noland's head + smaller body aaaaagghghgh
Anyway, here's some notes on their childhood!
Noland
(I wasn't sure for some time if I actually wanted to make this Noland's childhood, but I eventually got used to thinking about it. Kinda nervous about posting this because I don't know anything about the 80's, 90's, and Georgia, but.....)
Noland was born in 1980, somewhere in Georgia. He was even more quiet as a kid than he is now; he never made any close friends, as most of the members in his community were fairly extroverted people that he didn't connect well with. His graduating class was around 100 people.
Noland grew up with a delicate and proper mother, who had Noland when she was 18; and a mostly absent father, who was 22 when Noland was born. His mother was mainly caring and fairly open minded toward Noland, but unusually strict when assuring that Noland would grow up a "good and polite" boy. His dad did not play a large part in his childhood. The memory Noland most closely associates with his dad is stealing his dad's old record player and listening to his dad's records when he was in high school. (And before you think I mean this, I actually mean this. He also had one of these.)
Living in conservative Georgia, Noland was taught to see sex and lust as evil/dirty/bad (unless you're married), and even now feels a sense of guilt when experiencing emotions of that sort. This is somewhat related to his discomfort with being in a relationship with Stefan... but that's more related to his discomfort with being openly bisexual, I guess. (On that note, I guess I'll mention that he has no problems with other people's sexual orientations, and is more or less more comfortable now with his orientation; but he doesn't tell people he's bi unless they ask, and unless he feels that they won't judge him.)
Noland went to college in Pennsylvania (probably some fictional college, idk). In his freshman year, he made an effort to get rid of his southern accent because he felt it somehow made him less smart than the other students. He became more social in his sophomore year onward, and became fairly comfortable with a small group of friends. His best friend in college was Stefan, who he befriended his senior year. After graduating, he continued to live in the area near his college.
Noland's dream as a kid was to be a fiction story author.
He also took up smoking when he was 18.
Stefan
Stefan was also born in 1980, somewhere in Pennsylvania. (Probably around 3 hours from where he would eventually go to college.) While Stefan grew up in a conservative household like Noland, Stefan was expose to more diversity as he lived in a mixed liberal and conservative community. He still largely maintained a conservative and moralistic opinion on many aspects such as romance, drugs, and clothing. He eventually began to pride himself on being uptight and proper compared to many of his rascally teenage peers. (?? rascally teenage.......)
Stefan's had an interest in classy fashion since he was a kid, and often found his "church clothes" more appealing than the casual clothes his dad would buy him. When he was old enough to buy clothes on his own, he started buying ties, different styles of collared shirts, and dress shoes; that said, he mostly wore slim fit jeans in high school. (He started wearing chino pants and slacks in college.) His mom appreciated his nice way of dressing, but his dad thought it was a little odd.
Stefan and his parents are strikingly similar, but he did not get along well with them because he found them overbearing and cold. (Interestingly, he seemed to agree with a lot of the demands they forced onto him.)
Though Stefan was mostly quiet in school (not out of shyness, but out of disinterest with teenage conversation), Stefan was admired by a certain group of his peers. He briefly had a girlfriend in his senior year of high school.
Despite his internal pride, Stefan began learning to act in a way with people that would result in benefit for him. "Strategies" he began to use were flattery, listening more than speaking, using proper language ("yes/no" vs "yeah/nah"), and getting on peoples' good sides. This acted as a seeming sense of modesty, but was really a way for him to get people to look at him in a positive light. (This is basically all "kissing up." Seeing as he essentially becomes a professional kiss-up, it makes sense to meeee......;;;)
Stefan goes to college a few hours away from his home. This is the same college that Noland goes to. In college, Stefan always put himself on a higher moral and intellectual ground than his peer; he was never ashamed or embarrassed for his morality. Though he saw himself as better for being "moral", he did not usually force his morals onto his peers. His openness/pride with his morals and opinions helped prevent his actions from being awkward. He made a fair amount of friends, even when their lifestyles directly contradicted his.
Stefan befriended Noland in his senior year, and saw him as one of his best friends in college. After Noland's fumble with their relationship and their break up, Stefan makes no effort to patch up their friendship. He moves to New York City after college.
Gabe
(I've talked about Gabe at length before because I did that big long meme with him a year or so ago... but here you go, anyway! I'll try to keep this brief.)
Gabe was born in 1982, in some suburban area. Idk where. :M; M-MAYBE SOMEWHERE NOT THE EAST COAST?? Actually, probably still the east coast because he moves to New York City when he's 19. I'm considering either somewhere in Indiana (not east coast), or somewhere around DC (east coast). (??? SO RANDOM.)
Out of Noland, Stefan, and Gabe, Gabe's parents are the most relaxed with him while still being involved. And unlike the other two, Gabe has a sister! So he's always had someone his age to interact with.
Back in high school, Gabe was largely the same as he is now: loud, rambunctious, fun-loving, kind of raunchy, and lazy with work. He talked back to his teachers and superiors a lot because he thought it was entertaining. He had a good relationship with both of his parents, but was a little closer to his mom.
He... basically dressed the same as he does now... except his pants are tighter now. Idk. xD;
His best friend in high school was Will, who parted ways with him at graduation. Gabe never went to college, and spent the year after senior year working in an automotive shop. Using the money he earned from work, he moved to New York and worked as an underwear model for a couple years. There was maybe a year where Stefan and Gabe both lived in New York City at the same time, but the two of them never met.
And... ayep. That's all. Thanks for reading!! 8D
This is so long. Gah. WHO'S EVEN GOING TO READ THIS--
Yooooo, whuzzup. :M Yesterday, I wasted basically the whole day drawing this ~*~Couples Progression Meme~*~ with Stefan and Gabe. I was going to submit this as a fan comic since I spent a weirdly long amount of time drawing this, but I chickened. :V SO HERE IT IS, IN MY WORLD THAT ONLY MY SUBSCRIBERS ORDINARILY LOOK AT...
Note: Gabe says the F word, so uh... just be aware of that. :B SORREH...;;; I-I think this still counts as PG-13 because he only says it twice, and in a non-sexual way. *u*;;;;
ANYWAYS, HERE YOU GO.
UH... SO... YEAH, HOPE YOU FOUND THAT ENTERTAINING. I actually typed panel-by-panel commentary, but it was really long, so I'm not posting it here. -u-b If you are weird and like reading my long ramblings about my OCs, you can find my babbling in this thing's dA footnotes. You most likely will not be enlightened.
Remember the last time I posted a meme with Stefan and Gabe? I think it's safe to say that I've gotten better at drawing profiles, suits, and Gabe's Hair. 8D I also used the best adverbs in 2012. Like "undetailedly." I should bring that one back...
