Click on the cover and start swiping to read!
I’m very happy with how this turned out, overall. I’ve learned more about how to use layering, which smoothed out production. I was excited to play around with color on the cover, since last time I tried doing people in color, I couldn’t locate quality skin colors in the vast available palettes. I thought about doing the whole thing in color, but it would have bled through all the pages in print. I still did this pencils before digital, and my stylus broke while I was drawing the word balloons for the last page. As soon as I can replace that, I want to play around more with my program, because I think I feel confident enough to try some fully digital art. I also changed up the workflow a bit, specifically changing how I measured out and planned figures, and it worked really well. It’s much looser overall in a lot of areas of production, without losing quality or consistency, which frees me up a lot from analog. I did this in the style I did the character designs in, and in doing so, I’ve determined that I’m playing against my type. I want to do more cartoony, expressive stuff in the future. I always want to do something more “polished” or “respectable,” but my style’s better for cartoons, and they always feel so satisfying in a way a realistic style never is. Oh, and I liked trying the mixed detail level thing, though I don’t think the two styles mesh as well as I initially thought. I’d want to do better with it, at least. Also, I’ve long had trouble with drawing and designing masc characters, so having a guy like Kyousuke that I genuinely think is hot is really a win for me.
This story is one that I’ve had rattling around for a while, and I’ve finally made something out of it. I just wanted a simple, fun romcom thing, and I hit all the notes I wanted with this. I’m really happy with how it came out as a comic. I don’t remember exactly where the idea came from, definitely it had to do with liking the silly, petty stakes of competitions over nothing. I think back to the short story Top or Bottom by Nagashiro Rouge, from the collection Eve and Eve, one of my favorite short yuri stories. It may also have connected to thoughts about how bi characters automatically make love triangles more interesting. But yeah, I have yet another fun, queer romance on the boards, and I think I nailed it. I did feel limited a bit, trying not to use curse words to fit the PG-13 vibe so it could be for a wider audience. I like cursing, especially femme cursing.
Life in the Gutters 