#moon tales webcomic

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MOON TALES - Design notebook #4

[ Version française cliquez ici ]

The Moon Tales* design notebooks invite you to discover a making-off of this project. They will present you its history, its development, as well as our desires, choices and questions. They also reveal a little more about this new universe, through its characters, places, etc.

* If you don't know Moon Tales, more info at this link.

You will find at the end of this English version of the notebook a list (and links) of all the notebooks already written. You will also be able to read the reasons for the existence of these notebooks.

Since always, men stimulate their imagination to tell stories. They imagine how the world is supposed to work, create fictitious friends and enemies, impart wisdom and morality, and simply pass the time. The most beautiful legends have crossed the centuries and have been taken up by many civilizations. We even find their archetypes, their struggles in the current media.

The story of Moon Tales borrows from a whole collective imagination, from a part of these legends and archetypes. From these, we will humbly attempt to build our own world, a new narrative that will hopefully be worthwhile. This new notebook is an opportunity for Pierre to tell you more about the subject !

A NEW GOLDEN AGE OF STORYTELLING

In my opinion, ours is a wonderful time for the imagination. Fantasy and its variations have become mainstream. You can't take the subway without running into people reading A song of ice and fire, Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children or even Harry Potter. The shelves of bookstores, both real and virtual, are full of references and authors and I feel like everyone - even me - has tried writing a fantasy novel in their spare time.

And what about tv shows ? Game of Thrones has been an incredible success (which I think is deserved), and has paved the way for all adaptations and original creations. Streaming video platforms compete to adapt the most famous novels, often with many freedoms.

Not all - book, games, shows… - series work, however. I have many discussions with my friends, also avid readers, about the merits and pitfalls of this or that author. We often come back to the same point. What makes a good novel, a good episode, a good video game. For me, it revolves around one question : what makes a good story ?

RECIPE FOR A SUCCESSFUL STORY

It seems to me that a captivating narrative lies in its actors. They are heroes to whom we get attached. We must feel empathy for them, identify with them, suffer or rejoice with them. They must be human, resonate with us. I am talking about hero(in)es here, but this rule can also apply to their enemies. A good villain is best when his or her motives are understandable and he or she is ambiguous - although we all have certain enemies we love to adore because they are so deliciously malevolent.

In Moon Tales, Akhiles is an example of a character that grew in size as we conceptualized the story. When Boris introduced me to his first ideas - a geeky, fashion-addicted man - I wondered what I was going to do with him. Now it's hard to imagine what the story of Moon Tales would be like without him.

Once the protagonists are defined, a general plot is needed – I put this criterion second because good characters can, in my opinion, create and maintain their own story, in relation to intimate objectives linked to their aspirations, their relationships... I'm talking about a main plot as opposed to the character-specific drama mentioned, because it will guide the narrative - without it the story is just a soap opera.

Finally, you need a setting.

The ideal case is when the author can afford to add a moral to his story, which makes it an educational lesson. G.K Chesterton said : « Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed. » There is no need to say anything else, no one ever said anything better than this quote.

I've used this approach many times in various pieces of writing – I'm not saying it's the best, just that it's my vision.

For Moon Tales I had to throw everything away. Because of (or thanks to...) Boris.

FREEDOM WITHIN CONSTRAINT

I already had ideas, and I have a rather free approach to creation where I throw out, ask myself what the characters would do and then let the world expand around them, adding other protagonists, to serve the needs of my plot. So happy was I.

Boris had a vision.

He wanted some characters. They were already well detailed, with appearances, behaviors, staging already prepared (sometimes storyboarded).

He had very precise ideas of the scenes he wanted to draw, the number of hero(in)es he had to create (to make his character design...). Worse for me, he wanted to make a precise map of the city in which their adventures would mainly take place, so that his settings would be coherent.

IDEAS THAT INTERWINE

[Boris] I'm hacking this notebook for the time of an insert to underline a little more the advantages of working together that Pierre evokes - certainly by making me look like the one who imposes a lot of things, but in reality, it's a little more nuanced and shared than that ^^

Whether it is for the creation and development of the characters, the world or even the story, everything is discussed. When one of us comes up with an idea, it will usually be accepted, but it will also be an opportunity to give new ideas to the other, to build on or refine the idea in question. Or to extrapolate new things and thus enrich the whole. Sometimes the ideas clash and a choice has to be made, or the two ideas have to be modified slightly to merge them. It is even possible that an inconsistency or an error is used to our advantage ! The stories, characters and world are not yet all developed in detail, which allows us real freedom and flexibility to regularly add new elements and discuss their interest.

For example, regarding Tamara, the first ideas about her past date from long before the writing of her introduction episode*. In the latter, Pierre raised new questions about this past and provided new details. So we discussed it to make it coherent and develop it a little more.

Another example where the creation of a visual can also serve the development of the world and the story** : Pierre introduces a line of kings, I make a visual of them by drawing a bit special crown, which then triggers the writing of new articles about it, enriching the world and its magic. Discussion after discussion, these new elements are linked to other details of the world developed long before, which leads to new visual ideas... Etc., etc.

In the end, all these developments "by bouncing off" are certainly part of the most exciting aspects of such a collaboration !

* : yes, each character will have an introduction episode, it's even the first seven chapters of Moon Tales !

** : a drawing can carry as much creativity and information as a text, and is therefore not a simple visual support for the latter. This is particularly true in creative fields that require the development of an imaginary world (role-playing games, for example), in which visual artists could be just as much a source of "creative material" (background, lore, fluff..., for those who know these words) and be qualified as authors in the same way as the people who write the texts... as long as the visual and written design are done in parallel and not one before the other.

I suddenly found myself creating a plot that had to go through specific steps, with situations that I honestly never would have thought of (I discovered things...). I admit that I was scared. Once I got over my stress, I started to work and I discovered a real freedom in these constraints. The latter forced me to structure my narrative, to pace it. These unexpected situations took me in directions I wouldn't have gone and made the story much fresher to me.

Some examples among others :

- Boris had the idea of a weekly publication, scheduled all over the year. This meant giving a rhythm to the text, but also thinking of Christmas or summer episodes... And so at Christmas time in our country, it had to snow in the webcomic. Same for the summer, we needed a sunny place, a beach...

- A cartoonist is a lazy person***, especially when he has to draw large amounts of panels. So I had to discipline myself and limit the number of characters per scene, avoid chaining new places or creating too complicated settings. Of course sometimes I couldn't resist it. But Boris went along for the ride and I hope you'll see in our opening vignettes that it was worth it.

- The publication format and its periodicity directly influence the style of the webcomic. The episodes must be short, some are only small interludes, others are a little longer, generally follow each other but are still thought to be a minimum of stand-alone. If it gave us ideas that might not have been attempted otherwise, it had a direct effect on my writing.

*** Note from Boris : please send your letters of protest and insults directly to Mr. Coppet, on his facebook page or any other address you may find. I will not relay (unless the message is on the comments pages of this notebook, see links below). Anyway, I've already taken care of breaking his kneecaps. Because as long as the arms and hands are working, the Moon Tales show can go on and that's the most important thing, isn't it ?

BUT WHAT IS MOON TALES REALLY ABOUT ?

Moon Tales is an encounter between two people from two different worlds. She is a girl from our Earth, he comes from a magical city on the other side of the mirror. But it's not that simple. She's probably wackier than he is. And they are accompanied by equally important individuals : a flamboyant hidalgo, an adventuress who hardly hides her weaknesses, a witch who wants to be a fairy, a sad oracle and a funny player. This constellation of personalities will illuminate a city of wonders plunged into darkness both literally and figuratively.

But before the beginning of our story, 37 years ago to be exact, you should know that a great war took place which strongly changed the life of its inhabitants. Once ruled by a hereditary dynasty of kings, the city in which these tragic events ended passed into the hands of an emergency revolutionary government, the time for Duana - the goddess of the night, equated with the moon and destiny - to appoint a new leader. The Sinister - the administration - thus took the reins of the city, pretending to be the executors of the Dexter, the council of the great families, of which the ancient kings were the leaders.

Today, the city bends under the yoke of the Sinister, but remains a magical place, with an enchanting, gothic and halloweenian atmosphere.

These axis will thus impregnate our story and the global atmosphere of our world, by mixing with several narrative genres. Small overview :

Halloween and Gothic : The world of Moon Tales is, among other things, a mixture of The Nightmare before Christmas and Tim Burton's Batman. One lives there in the shade of old manors and vertiginous skyscrapers. The urban wildlife probably has more owls and bats than rats and pumpkins are probably the national vegetable. If there are no scarecrows in the streets, it is likely that they are a people like any other with their own festival once a year. Since the fall of the monarchy, the great city has been plunged into an endless night that facilitates the apparitions of ghosts, witches and other nocturnal peoples.

Faerie : Moon Tales is not a horrific universe... most of the time ! The peoples of the night live in more or less good harmony under the yoke of the Sinister. Very few horrific crimes here. Haunting, cursing and enchanting are honorable professions. As for the fairies and the forces of light, they are all equally present as our heroes prove.

Urban fantasy : the introduction of our adventure is a classic urban fantasy - the discovery of Wonderland. It is with Follet, human of the Faded world, that we discover this other modern world full of magic as well as its shining city. The latter, a character in its own right, is a typical contemporary urban metropolis, even if often much more extravagant than those on our Earth, with its mysterious nooks and crannies and its sometimes strange inhabitants.

Soap : from the beginning we wanted a story centered on our characters, their relationships, their evolution, their friendships and their loves. I call it dramaturgy. Boris, who has little culture but loves cleanliness, talks about Soap. Bof.

Pulp adventure : friends of nature and cows, Moon Tales will not be limited to a darkened city. Beyond this, we give ourselves the opportunity to explore adventurous lands scattered with ruins, to make our characters discover the secrets or wonders of these places.

In the end, Moon Tales is an opportunity to mix comics, role-playing games and influences that we like in our witch's cauldron, to stir it all up well and, we hope, to please ourselves - and you.

But in the end, will our webcomic offer a good story ? It's hard for me to say. I am generally a good audience – I only ask a movie or a book to entertain me and I have so many guilty pleasures in terms of a simple or even failed plot that I love it all the same... Only our readers will be able to decide if they like our characters and their stories. We have already planned several years of adventures for them.

A DIFFERENCE IN MEDIUM

You don't write for a game the same way you write for a novel or a comic book. It sounds obvious when you say it like that, but I foolishly thought at first that narrating would be easier than proposing a storyline. Fatal error.

In role-playing game, you must first define a setting, a world, a situation and a motivation. From there, we think about the solutions that the players will think of, knowing that in the end they will do what we didn't plan. The rule is always, in my opinion, to propose things and not to close the doors.

In a novel, you have to think about continuity. A character comes with motivations, reasons and a personality. Not all choices are logical, and sometimes the logical choices for a protagonist are not those of the author. You have to put yourself in someone else's shoes. At the same time, the author must remember that the character does not know what he knows, they must find reasons to make them go from one scene to another, provide them with the keys that will allow them to solve the plot. In a sequential medium like Moon Tales, this means planning well in advance what to introduce. The universe, on the other hand, may be more fluid, less framed and less detailed, as it must serve the narrative (with one caveat, the Boris clause, see above).

These are therefore two fundamentally opposed approaches. The Yin and Yang of the written creation in a certain way :)

PIERRE’S MOOD NOTE

Today, as I write these lines in March 2022, the sirocco lifts the sand of the Sahara and brings it to us several hundred kilometers away. The sky has a strange color, yellow-orange. Sand is falling on our roofs. It is soothing.

In Ukraine, rainfall is deadly. No peace for men, women and children.

Moon Tales is about two overlapping realities, but there is no need to use magic for that. The real world reminds us of this every day.

Moon Tales' design notebooks exist first of all to keep track of the development of the project. They are written as much for us as for those who may be interested - now or in the future - in the underside of its development. Putting all these steps in writing gives us food for thought about our practices and our choices, so that we can draw out possible avenues for improvement. Finally, these notebooks make it possible to bring the project to life, before its "real" existence, and to show that it is moving forward.

NOTEBOOKS INDEX : #1 : Origins #2 : Characters (1) #3 : Drawing #4 : Story #5 : The City (2024)

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French version below

MOON TALES - Carnet de conception #4

Les carnets de conception de Moon Tales* vous proposent de découvrir un making-off de ce projet. Ils vous en présenteront l’histoire, son développement, ainsi que nos envies, nos choix et interrogations. Ils dévoilent également un peu plus ce nouvel univers, à travers ses personnages, ses lieux, etc.

* Si vous ne connaissez pas Moon Tales, plus d’infos à ce lien.

Vous trouverez plus loin, à la fin de la page, une liste (et les liens) de tous les carnets déjà écrits. Vous pourrez aussi y lire les raisons d’exister de ces carnets.

Depuis toujours, les hommes titillent leur imaginaire pour se raconter des histoires. Ils imaginent un fonctionnement à l’univers, se créent des amis et des ennemis fictifs, transmettent une sagesse, une moralité, et simplement passent le temps. Les plus belles légendes ont traversé les siècles et ont été reprises par de nombreuses civilisations. On retrouve même leurs archétypes, leurs déchirements dans les médias actuels.

L’histoire de Moon Tales emprunte à tout un imaginaire collectif, à une part de ces légendes et de ces archétypes. À partir de celles-ci, nous tenterons humblement de construire notre univers, un nouveau récit qui, espérons-le, sera digne d’intérêt. Ce nouveau carnet est ainsi l’occasion pour Pierre de vous en dire plus sur le sujet !

UN NOUVEL ÂGE D'OR DE LA NARRATION

Nous vivons une époque merveilleuse pour l’imaginaire selon moi. La Fantasy et ses déclinaisons sont devenues mainstream. On ne peut plus prendre le métro sans croiser des personnes en train de lire un tome du Trône de Fer, les Enfants Particuliers de Miss Peregrine ou même encore Harry Potter. Les rayons des librairies, réelles comme virtuelles, regorgent de références et d’auteurs et j’ai l’impression que tout le monde – même moi – s’est essayé à écrire un roman de Fantasy à ses heures perdues.

Et que dire des séries ? Game of Thrones a fait un succès incroyable (que je trouve mérité) et a ouvert la porte à toutes les adaptations et aux créations originelles. Les plates-formes de streaming vidéo rivalisent pour adapter les romans les plus connus avec souvent beaucoup de libertés.

Toutes les séries ne fonctionnent pas cependant. J’ai de nombreuses discussions avec mes amis, eux aussi grands lecteurs, sur les mérites et les écueils de tel ou tel auteur. Et on en revient souvent au même point. Qu’est ce qui fait un bon roman, un bon épisode, un bon jeu vidéo. Pour moi, cela tourne autour du même point : qu’est ce qui fait une bonne histoire ?

RECETTE POUR UNE HISTOIRE RÉUSSIE

Il me semble qu’un récit captivant tient dans ses acteurs. Ce sont des héros auxquels on s’attache. On doit ressentir de l’empathie pour eux, se retrouver en eux, souffrir ou se réjouir avec eux. Ils doivent être humains, résonner en nous. Je parle ici des héro(ine)s, mais cette règle peut également s’appliquer à leurs ennemis. Un bon méchant est d’autant meilleur que ses motivations sont compréhensibles et qu’il est ambigu – bien qu’on ait tous certains ennemis qu’on adore adorer tant ils sont délicieusement malveillants.

Akiles est un exemple de personnage qui a pris de la dimension alors que nous conceptualisions l’histoire. Lorsque Boris m’a présenté ses premières idées - un homme geek et accro à la mode - ,je me suis demandé ce que j’allais en faire. Désormais, il est difficile d’imaginer ce que serait l’histoire de Moon Tales sans lui.

Une fois les protagonistes définis, il faut une intrigue générale – je mets ce critère en second car de bons personnages peuvent, selon moi, faire naitre et entretenir leur propre histoire, en rapport avec des objectifs intimes liés à leurs aspirations, leurs relations... Je parle ici d’une intrigue principale par opposition au drama propre aux personnages évoqué, car elle va canaliser la narration – sans elle l’histoire n’est plus qu’un simple soap opera.

Enfin il faut un décor.

Le nec plus ultra est le cas où l’auteur peut se permettre de rajouter à son histoire une moralité, qui fait d’elle une leçon éducative. G.K Chesterton disait : « Les contes de fées n’enseignent pas aux enfants que les dragons existent. Les enfants le savent déjà. Ils leurs enseignent que les dragons peuvent être vaincus. » (« Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed. »). Il n’y a pas à dire, c’est la classe.

J’ai utilisé cette approche plusieurs fois dans divers travaux d’écriture – je ne dis pas qu’elle est la meilleure mais simplement que c’est ma vision.

Pour Moon Tales j’ai dû tout jeter en l’air. À cause de (ou grâce à…) Boris.

LA LIBERTÉ DANS LA CONTRAINTE

J’avais déjà des idées, et j’ai une approche de la création assez libre où je lance des pistes, me demande ce que feraient les personnages puis laisse le monde pousser autour, d’autres protagonistes se rajouter, pour servir aux besoins de mon intrigue. Bienheureux que j’étais.

Boris avait une vision.

Il voulait des personnages. Ils étaient déjà bien détaillés, avec des apparences, des comportements, des mises en scène déjà préparées (voire storyboardées).

Il avait des idées très précises de scènes qu’il voulait dessiner, du nombre de héro(ine)s qu’il devait créer (pour faire son character design…). Pire pour moi, il voulait faire une carte précise de la cité dans laquelle se déroulerait principalement leurs aventures, afin que ses décors soient cohérents.

DES IDÉES QUI S'ENTREMÊLENT

[Boris] Je pirate ce carnet le temps d’un encart pour souligner un peu plus les avantages du travail commun qu’évoque Pierre - certes en me faisant passer pour celui qui impose beaucoup de choses, mais en réalité, c’est un peu plus nuancé et partagé que ça ^^

Que ce soit pour la création et le développement des personnages, ceux du monde ou même de l’histoire, tout se discute. Quand l’un de nous vient avec une idée, celle-ci sera généralement acceptée mais elle sera aussi l’occasion de donner de nouvelles idées à l’autre, de rebondir dessus afin de développer ou d’affiner l’idée en question. Ou d’extrapoler de nouvelles choses et ainsi d’enrichir l’ensemble. Parfois, les idées se confrontent et il faut faire un choix, ou bien modifier légèrement les deux idées pour les fusionner. Il est même possible qu’une incohérence ou une erreur soit utilisée à notre avantage ! Les histoires, les personnages et le monde ne sont pas encore tous développés en détails, ce qui nous permet une vraie liberté et une grande souplesse pour intégrer régulièrement de nouveaux éléments et débattre de leur intérêt.

Par exemple, concernant Tamara, les premières idées à propos de son passé datent de bien avant l’écriture de son épisode de présentation*. Dans ce dernier, Pierre a soulevé de nouvelles interrogations quant à ce passé et a apporté de nouveaux détails. On en a donc discuté pour rendre le tout cohérent et le développer encore un peu plus.

Autre exemple où la création d’un visuel peut aussi servir au développement du monde et de l’histoire** : Pierre introduit une lignée de rois, j’en réalise un visuel en leur dessinant une couronne un peu spéciale, ce qui déclenche ensuite l'écriture de nouveaux articles à ce sujet, enrichissant ainsi le monde et sa magie. Discussions après discussions, on relie ces nouveaux aspects à d’autres détails du monde développés bien avant, ce qui entraîne de nouvelles idées visuelles… Etc., etc.

Au final, tous ces développements “par rebonds” font certainement partie des aspects les plus passionnant d’une telle collaboration !

* : oui chaque personnage aura un épisode de présentation, il s'agit même des sept premiers chapitres de Moon Tales !

** : un dessin peut porter tout autant de créativité et d’informations qu’un texte, et n’est donc pas qu’un simple support formel à ce dernier. C’est particulièrement vrai dans les domaines créatifs qui nécessitent de développer un monde imaginaire (le jeu de rôle par exemple), dans lesquels les illustrateurs pourraient tout autant être source de “matériel créatif” (de background, de lore, de fluff..., pour ceux qui connaissent ces mots) et être qualifiés d’auteurs au même titre que les personnes qui en écrivent les textes... pour peu que la création visuelle et écrite se fasse en parallèle et non l’une avant l’autre.

Je me retrouvais soudain à créer une intrigue qui devait passer par des étapes précises, avec des situations auxquelles honnêtement je n’aurai jamais pensé (j’ai découvert des choses…). J’avoue que j’ai eu peur. Mon coup de stress passé, je me suis mis au travail et j’ai découvert une vraie liberté dans ces contraintes. Ces dernières m’ont obligé à structurer ma narration, à la rythmer. Ces situations inattendues m’ont emmené vers des directions où je ne serais pas allé et rendent le récit bien plus frais à mes yeux.

Quelques exemples parmi d’autres :

- Boris avait l’idée d’une diffusion hebdomadaire, planifiée dans le temps. Cela signifiait rythmer le texte, mais également penser à des épisodes de noël, estivaux… Et donc qu’au moment de noël chez nous, il fallait qu’il neige dans la bd. Pareil pour l’été, il nous fallait un lieu ensoleillé, une plage…

- Un dessinateur c’est feignant***, surtout quand il doit dessiner des cases en grandes quantités. Donc j’ai dû me discipliner et limiter le nombre de personnages par scènes, éviter d’enchainer les nouveaux lieux ou de créer des décors trop compliqués. Bien sûr parfois je n’ai pas su m’en empêcher. Mais Boris a joué le jeu et j’espère que vous verrez dans nos vignettes de début que ça en valait la peine.

- Le format de publication et sa périodicité influent directement sur le style de la bande dessinée. Les épisodes doivent être courts, certains sont seulement des petits interludes, d’autres sont un peu plus longs, se suivent généralement mais sont tout de même pensés pour être un minimum autonomes. Si cela nous a donné des idées qui n’auraient peut-être pas été tentées autrement, il y a eu un effet direct sur ma façon d’écrire.

*** Note de Boris : merci d'envoyer vos lettres de protestations et d'insultes directement à monsieur Coppet, sur sa page facebook ou toute autre adresse que vous trouveriez. Je ne ferai pas le relais (sauf si le mot a lieu sur les pages de commentaires de ce carnet, cf. lien plus bas). De toute façon je me suis déjà chargé de lui casser les rotules. Car tant que les bras et les mains fonctionnent, l’histoire de Moon Tales peut continuer et c’est bien là l’essentiel, n’est-ce pas ?

MAIS EN FAIT MOON TALES ÇA PARLE DE QUOI ?

Moon Tales est une rencontre, entre deux individus de deux mondes différents. Elle est la fille de notre Terre, il vient d’une cité magique de l’autre côté du miroir. Mais ça n’est pas si simple. Elle est sans doute plus farfelue que lui. Et ils sont accompagnés d’individus tout aussi importants : un hidalgo flamboyant, une aventurière qui cache difficilement ses faiblesses, une sorcière qui se veut fée, une oracle triste et un drôle de joueur. Cette constellation de personnalités va illuminer une ville de merveilles plongée dans l’ obscurité au sens propre autant que figuré.

Mais avant le début de notre histoire, 37 ans auparavant pour être exact, sachez qu’une grande guerre eut lieu qui changea fortement la vie de ses habitants. Autrefois gouvernée par une dynastie héréditaire de rois, la cité dans laquelle ces tragiques événements prirent fin passa en effet aux mains d’un gouvernement révolutionnaire d’urgence, le temps pour Duana – la déesse de la nuit, assimilée à la lune et au destin – de désigner un nouveau chef. La Senestre – l’administration – prit ainsi les rênes de la ville, en se faisant passer pour les exécutants de la Dextre, le conseil des grandes familles, dont les anciens rois étaient les dirigeants.

Aujourd’hui, la cité plie sous le joug de la Senestre, mais reste un lieu magique, à l’atmosphère enchanteresse, gothique et halloweenienne.

Ces grands axes vont ainsi imprégner notre récit et l’ambiance globale de notre univers, en se mélangeant à plusieurs genres narratifs. Petit panorama :

Halloween et le gothique : le monde de Moon Tales est, entres autres, un mélange de l’Etrange Noël de Monsieur Jack mais aussi du Batman de Tim Burton. On y vit à l’ombre de manoirs anciens et de gratte ciels vertigineux. La faune urbaine comporte sans doute plus de hiboux et de chauves-souris que de rats et les citrouilles sont probablement le légume national. S’il n’y a pas d’épouvantails dans les rues, il est vraisemblable que ce soit un peuple comme les autres avec leur propre festival une fois par an. Depuis la chute de la monarchie, la grande cité est plongée dans une nuit sans fin qui facilite les apparitions de fantômes, de sorcières et des autres peuples nocturnes.

Féerie : Moon Tales n’est pas un univers horrifique… la plupart du temps ! Les peuples de la nuit vivent en plus ou moins bonne entente sous le joug de la Senestre. Très peu de crimes horribles ici. La hantise, le maléfice et l’enchantement sont des professions honorables. Quant aux fées et aux forces de la lumière, elles sont toutes aussi présentes comme le prouvent nos héros.

Urban fantasy : l'introduction de notre aventure est un classique de l’urban fantasy – la découverte du pays des merveilles. C’est au travers de Follet, humaine du Monde éteint, que nous découvrons cet autre monde moderne plein de magie ainsi que son étincelante cité. Cette dernière, un personnage à part entière, est une métropole urbaine contemporaine typique, même si souvent bien plus extravagante que celles de notre Terre, avec ses recoins mystérieux et ses habitants parfois étranges.

Soap : dès le début nous avons voulu une histoire centrée sur nos personnages, leurs relations, leur évolution, leurs amitiés et leurs amours. J’appelle ça de la dramaturgie. Boris, qui a peu de culture mais qui aime la propreté parle de Soap. Bof.

Aventure pulp : ami(e)s de la nature et des vaches, Moon Tales ne se limitera pas à une ville enténébrée. Au-delà de celle-ci, nous nous donnons la possibilité d’explorer des terres d'aventures parsemées de ruines, de faire découvrir à nos personnages les secrets ou merveilles de ces lieux.

Au final, Moon Tales, c’est l’occasion de mélanger bande dessinée, jeu de rôle et des influences qui nous plaisent dans notre chaudron de sorcière, de bien touiller tout cela et, nous espérons, de nous – et de vous – faire plaisir.

Mais en fin de compte, notre webcomic proposera-t-il une bonne histoire ? Difficile pour moi de le dire. Je suis en général plutôt bon public – je ne demande à un film ou à un livre qu’à me distraire et j’ai tellement de plaisirs coupables en terme d’intrigue simple voire ratée que j’adore tout de même… Nos lecteurs seuls seront à même de décider s’ils aiment nos personnages et leurs histoires. Nous leur avons déjà prévu plusieurs années d’aventures.

UNE DIFFÉRENCE DE MEDIUM

On n’écrit pas pour du jeu comme on écrit pour un roman ou une bande-dessinée. Ça a l’air évident dit comme ça, mais j’ai bêtement cru au début que narrer serait plus facile que de proposer une trame. Fatale erreur.

En jeu de rôle, on doit d’abord définir un cadre, un univers, une situation et une motivation. De là, on réfléchit aux solutions auxquelles vont penser les joueurs tout en sachant qu’en fin de compte ils feront ce que l’on n’avait pas prévu. La règle est toujours, selon moi, de proposer des choses et de ne pas fermer les portes.

Dans un roman, il faut penser à la continuité. Un personnage vient avec des motivations, des raisons et une personnalité. Tous les choix ne sont pas logiques et, parfois, les choix logiques pour un protagoniste ne sont pas ceux de l’auteur. Il faut se mettre dans la peau d‘un autre. En même temps, l’auteur doit se souvenir que son personnage ne sait pas ce qu’il sait lui, il doit trouver des raisons de le faire aller d’une scène à l’autre, lui fournir les clés qui lui permettront de résoudre l’intrigue. Dans un support séquencé comme Moon Tales, cela signifie de prévoir bien à l’avance ce qu’il faudra introduire. L’univers, par contre, peut-être plus fluide, moins cadré et moins détaillé, car il doit servir l’intrigue (avec un bémol, la clause Boris, cf. supra).

Ce sont donc deux approches fondamentalement opposées. Le Yin et le Yang de la création écrite d’une certaine façon :)

LE BILLET D'HUMEUR DE PIERRE

Aujourd’hui, alors que j’écris ces lignes en mars 2022, le sirocco soulève le sable du Sahara et le porte jusqu’à nous à plusieurs centaines de kilomètres. Le ciel a une couleur étrange, jaune-orangée. Il tombe du sable sur nos toits. C’est apaisant.

En Ukraine, les précipitations sont meurtrières. Pas de paix pour les hommes, les femmes et les enfants.

Moon Tales parle de deux réalités qui se chevauchent mais il n’est pas nécessaire de faire appel à la magie pour cela. Le monde réel nous le rappelle chaque jour.

Les carnets de conception de Moon Tales existent d’abord afin de garder une trace de l'élaboration du projet. Ils sont écrits autant pour nous que pour les personnes susceptibles d'être intéressées - dès à présent ou dans le futur - par les dessous de son développement. Poser par écrit toutes ces étapes nous donne matière à réfléchir sur nos pratiques ainsi que nos choix, pour en tirer éventuellement des pistes d’amélioration. Enfin, ces carnets permettent de faire vivre le projet, avant sa “vraie” existence, et de montrer qu’il avance.

INDEX DES CARNETS : #1 : Origines #2 : Personnages (1) #3 : Dessin #4 : Histoire #5 : La Cité (2024)

[ Note : vous pouvez commenter ce billet sur mon Facebook, Twitter ou Instagram ]

#2022 #moon tales #moon tales notebooks #moon tales webcomic #moon tales characters #tamara #malys #akiles #akhiles #moon tales world #projects #moon tales rpg #ttrpg #webcomic #storytelling #story writing

[captainmera]

HELLU, I'M MERA! (◍•ᴗ•◍)ﾉ♡

Artist | They/Them | 31 years old | Sweden 🇸🇪 | Taurus

my passions are storytelling, art, history, and mythology!

Once every blue moon, I get hyperfixated on a fandom and spam fanart, then I return to my cave.

I'm cringe but free. I'm here to have fun, be creative and create things that will encourage me to improve my crafts as an artist and author.

Feel free to send me asks! I switch anon on and off. I also accept art prompts and asks of the current fandom I'm in and my webcomic!

PS. Minors, please beware, my page is 16+ at least.

☆SOCIAL MEDIA: Twitter | Instagram | Bluesky | Inkblot | Youtube | Twitch

☆SUPPORT ME HERE: Ko-fi | inprnt

☆MY WEBCOMIC: In Blood we Rise  HIVEWORKS | Tumblr | Webtoons | Comicfury

---------------------(۶•̀ᴗ•́)۶ ❤ 

[Some cool comic promos]

MY OWL HOUSE FANFICS: [THE GOLDEN BROTHER] & [THE TALES OF CALEB WITTEBANE]

MY WEBCOMIC: www.INBLOODWERISE.com

TAGS BENEATH THE CUT FOR NAVIGATION

PS. Try writing tags with capitals in the first letter too like "Toh" instead of "toh" and you might get more results, especially with names! Or remove/add a "the" before a group like "the hexsquad" instead of just "hexsquad".

MERA ¤ Liveblogging | Captain's log | Mera days | ask Mera | art reply

IBWR ¤ ibwr - in blood we rise ¤ ibwr ask | ibwr lore | peculiars ¤ Oliver | Theodore | the fates | Sebastian | Sally | William | Jessica | Jenny | Logan ¤ bloodwitch | the ashdowns | Ashdown siblings | the dusts |

FANDOMS

PERCY JACKSON ¤ PJO - percy jackson | hoo / HoO - heroes of Olympus ¤ Jason | Nico | Annabeth | Percy | Piper | Leo | Hazel | Frank | Magnus

THE OWL HOUSE ¤ the owl house | TOH | toh ask ¤ Luz | Amity | Gus | Willow | Hunter | Belos/Philip | Caleb | Evelyn | Camila | Darius | Eda | Lilith | Steve ¤ the hexsquad | the emerald trio | the emerald duo | lumity | huntlow | witteclaw / cavelyn | the wittebros | the folklore trio | galactic frontier duo | eclipse duo ¤ TGB - the golden brother | tgb ask | tgb comic | TTOCW - the tales of caleb wittebane | ttocw comic | ttocw ask ¤ TTOCW FIC: [LINK] | TGB FIC [LINK]

TANGLED ¤ tts / Tts - tangled the series ¤ Rapunzel | Eugene | Varian | Casandra | Lance

THE RISE OF TMNT ¤ rottmnt - rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles ¤ Leo | Mike | Raph | Donnie | April

#pinned #liveblogging #mera #lgbtq+ artist #webcomic #in blood we rise #artist #sweden #swedish #swedish artist #comic #comics #hiveworks #webtoons #fanart #fanart artist

[charmwitch]

Hello!!

WHAT IS SOLSTORIA?

If you're here thanks for taking a look!! I make a webcomic called Solstoria, it's about a pair of siblings that get thrown into the politics of the natural, magical world they live in and how people are affected by their environment!!

Lawrence, the eldest sibling, becomes possessed by the prince of crows after he attempts to feast on a soul that VERY much belongs to his sister. But he thwarts that, because he loves his sister. He's also a city-going kid who feels stressed out about societal pressures and wishes to make the world better for his family!!

Also he's kind of a bird most of the time!

Samantha, the said sister and actual main character of the story, decides to become a knight so she can be strong enough and figure out how to save her brother! She's also gifted with the ability to break through magical illusions and eventually encounters (what she considers) princesses and witches (actual ones) on her journey to grow up and, well, bring her brother home.

Along the way they meet a lot of different people! From a flower knight hellbent on saving her kingdom from a proposed Fairy Tale Prophecy to a sacred moon tribe navigating a new society in order to receive life-saving care. There's a lot of little stories here and there!!

I recently started updating again after being burnt out for a long time, so unfortunately the art style is in a constant state of change, but that's how I like it!!

Thank you for reading!!!

#solstoria #webcomics #hello please read my webcomic

[anonoob]

LOOKING FOR CONTENT TO WATCH?

here are some underrated (in my opinion) media's I recommend!

Lackadaisy (Animated PILOT - Webcomic.) Lackadaisy has its own Animated PILOT on YouTube, and a Webcomic you can find on the official lackadaisy website! The series is about a webcomic set in Prohibition-era St. Louis, Missouri. It chronicles the events of a cast of anthropomorphic cats as they struggle to keep the titular speakeasy afloat.

Murder Drones (Animated series) Murder Drones has recently gained popularity, but is still a small project. You find it on youtube. On a post-apocalyptic exoplanet, worker drones struggle to survive by hiding from rogue robots called Murder Drones

Epithet Erased (Animated series - book) you can find the first 7 episode Animated on YouTube! Season 2, however, Is a book. based on the tabletop roleplay series Anime Campaign! With unique powers called epithets, and characters attempting to steal an amulet rumored to have the ability to take a person's epithet.

Lego Monkie Kid (Cartoon) The tale begins when an ordinary boy, Monkie Kid, finds Monkey King's legendary staff, and he becomes the chosen one. You can watch on PRIME VIDEO!

Recreyo (YouTube channel!) Oddly enough, I'm recommending a YouTube channel.. a Comedy podcast with a group of friends with trust issues are thrown into different chaotic scenarios where they have to survive by learning to trust each other.. or not.

I'm running out of ideas or media's so.. uh yeah guys you should watch those silly fnaf rps like Oddities or The Famous Films!!! There's more, but I don't know them all lol

Also the sun and moon show is pretty cool yeah

EDIT ; The amazing digital circus is a new media too! Though, the fandom has grown largely. It's a animated pilot on YouTube, under the GlitchProductions channel. (creators of murder drones)

EDIT ; Spooky Month! Halloween is one of everyone's favorites, and so is October! I'm sure you've all heard of this show, made by Sr. pelo. Every year, near Halloween, a new episode for this series released! Last year, it grew huge in popularity.

There obviously tons of smaller projects out there, and I totally recommend them! Make sure to support small creators!

#fnaf #five nights at freddy's #lackadaisy #lackadaisywebcomic #murder drones #glitch productions #recreyo #epithet erased #lego monkie kid #small content creator

[magicalgirlagency]

Hello! Do you know any comprehensive list of magical girl webcomics? Or alternatively some that you recommend?

I'm gonna go for the ones that have caught my eye, visually and/or otherwise (in a randomized order). Hope you don't have anything to do, you'll be staying here for a while.

And I might even update it if I see something new!

Cloudy Wondrous, by Kaninchenbau;

Glitter & Guilt, by RockyBloo;

Star Warrior Cosmos Leo, by Sailorpossum;

Magical Warrior Diamond Heart, by Pyon;

Kid Chrysalis: Butterfly Warrior, by Gabriel Joy Reid;

Supersonic Girl, by Sandra Diaz (okay, this one's more superhero-y, but it follows some MG tropes, and therefore still counts!);

Stardust Slammers, by Brian Wolf;

Angel Blue, by LaurenceL;

DolceCubed, by Sunsetfork;

Pretty Heart Bouquet, by E. Hetrick Jackson;

Mistral, by Amy;

The Tale of Crystal Teresa, by RainicornDraws;

God Has Spite, by Isaac;

In Your Dreams, by Kakathain;

Miracle Sakura, by Aurora Dordain;

Heartful Masquerade, by HANNAHP0CALYPSE;

Magical Package - Lilaca, by Tsunyandere;

O Grimório Perdido, by Guibley;

Starhop, by Cuttles;

Defend!!, by Peachieevee;

Business Magical, by Pizza Paper (this one here's a novel rather than a comic, but it can be found within Tapas, so it goes here too!);

Pepper Pixie, by Soffy;

The Amazing Mirna, by TinyBabyGhost;

Sweet Little Resistance, by Peachchild;

The Good, The Bad, & The Magical Girl, by Failmonger;

Star Savior Bunny, by Kendell and Kay;

Starry Eyed, by Mahoupeach;

Eternal Guardian Kanae, by Edea;

Crossed Stars, by Nyxalwitch;

Pretty Witch!, by Max i mystic;

Foul Maiden Inez-chan!, by alchykiller;

Seasons of Avallen, by Gem.i.ni;

Celestial Princess, by Saint Bree;

Magical Girl Academe, by War Bunny;

Pokey! The Unicorn Magical Girl, by CherryRoseum;

A Magical Girl's Guide to Adulting, by Patrick McCabe;

SuperChic: Rosemary!, by CaptainHAHA;

Honey and the Moon, by Meadow;

Brownie & Barebones, by BubbiBrownie;

Lupe Mágica, by RoninYorch;

Magical Girl Grim Reaper, by Kimo_Neko;

Manual Prático da Garota Mágica, by HeitorPC;

Wimp Witch, by C. Cameron (it's even an indie animated series on YouTube and Newgrounds!);

Retired Magical Girls Support Group, by Hairballdraws;

CMYQ~n: Magical Girl Project, by Marikyuun;

High Spirits Neoma, by Oroor0;

Ghostly Tales, by Hey Izzy;

My Boyfriend is a Magical Girl?!, by IMTHEJOHKE;

Lola Magica: My Grandma is a Magical Girl, by SUPRPRETTYGENIUSMIKI;

Modern Magical Girl, by Replaythepun;

Saffron Wave, by Kellerybird;

Magical Girls in College, by Jay-Taku;

Archmage Ascending, by Magicmooshka;

A Magical Girl's Day Off, by Grant Newbold;

How I Loathe Being a Magical Girl, by Nomnomnami (unfortunately, with the end of Smackjeeves, this one has become most likely a Lost Media);

My Life as a Magical Girl, by Vickycreator1;

Magical Girl Institute, by Portia Hightower;

Magical Boy Troubles, by Red_Mend;

MAGICAL GIRLfriend, by Thisisshaetae;

Anomique: Magical Girls Must Die, by Crayaks;

Dame Daffodil, by Sakura-rose12;

Maho Shonen, by Yana & Nat;

Hover Girls, by Geneva Bowers;

Princess Love❤Pon!, by Shauna J. Grant;

Star Rangers: Magical Space Cadet Squad, by Kagura-kun;

Strawberry Seafoam and Vampire Magicka, by Bryan Golden;

SpectraSpell, by Lisa Harald;

Magical Boy Basil, by Fireside Stories;

Kakkikomi Magical Girls, by HachiwareHouse;

Magical Girl Initiative, by Ika;

Eldritch Magical Girls, by Marighoul;

Magical Mom, by Prinnstar;

Magical Boy, by The Kao;

Magikats!, by Eilie Astara;

Magical Printing: Magenta Ink, by Chicinlicin;

Agents of the Realm, by Mildred Louis;

Shattered Starlight, by Nicole Shartrand;

Mahou Josei Chimaka, by KAIJU;

Brujaha, by Acersecomic;

Mahou Shounen FIGHT!, by Scuttlebutt Ink;

Magical Girl Problems? Magical Girl Solutions!, by Veronica Agarwal.

And this is all I have so far. I wish I could tag the bloggers/creators (those who can be found here on this social, anyway), but I believe that I've exceeded the post's limit to do such a thing, lol. Plus, some of them might be even discontinued.

[tourneys-by-me]

So I know I've promised this for a little while but here are all the funny/joke submissions that were sent

Electric eels - Electromancy - Real life - "They are fish that can shock their prey! Isn't that cool? They're not actually eels though."

Electric Eel - Electromancy - the water (real life) - I just think they're neat ☺️

Electric Eel - Electromancy (lightning, electricity) - The Ocean, Real Life - Because they are weird little guys.

Pitch Black - Umbramancy - Rise of the Guardians (2012) - Name and also B-list Tumblr sexyman.

Pikachu (Ash's) - Electromancy - Pokemon (Anime) - "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" "Pi… Ka… CHUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!" "It looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" ding

The Sand Guardian, Guardian of the Sand - Geomancy - Vine - Poseidon quivers before him!

Sand Guardian - Geomancy (earth) - Vine - Poseidon quivers before him!

Alinua - Phytomancy - Aurora (webcomic) - Don't tell Red

Naruto Uzumaki - Aeromancy - Naruto (I'm sorry)

Roy - Electromancy - IT Crowd - He asks if you've tried turning it off then on again. Friends with the elders of the internet

Crazy Dave - Phytomancy - Plants Vs Zombies - engineered the stratagem of protecting one's home from zombies with a cavalcade of verdant defenders

Simisear - Pyromancy (fire) - Pokemon - It was once the least populat out of all pokemon.

Jack Frost - Cryomancy (ice) - Megami Tensei - hee ho

Toothless - Electromancy (lightning, electricity) - How to train your dragon - THE UNHOLY OFFSPRING IF LIGHTING AND DEATH ITSELF

Because I refuse to let Vriska in here

Shallan Davar - Luxomancy (light, holy) - Stormlight Archives - She storm on the light till they archive

The Sun - Luxomancy (light, holy) - Real Life - Makes me feel normal, but too much i start to revert and go mad again,, a very hard line to cross

ENERGIZER LED Flashlight Vision PRO, Ultra Bright 1000+ Lumens, IPX4 Water Resistant, Aircraft-Grade Aluminum LED Light, Rugged Metal Flash Light for Outdoors, Emergency Power Outage, Black - Luxomancy (light, holy) - Real life - It do make light though

Moon funny haha hehe hoo hoo zap zap zippity bzztk bzztk

The Carpeted Man - Electromancy (lightning, electricity) - The Tick (TV Show) - He's the fucking carpeted man, he needs a win

I was her when we played dolls

Literal life aspiration is to be the sun

He shouldn't actually [Mod note: regarding if this character should be submitted]

Almost beat Jesus's fursona

Saul Goodman - Electromancy (lightning, electricity) - Breaking Bad / Better Call Saul - The really didn't focus enough on his ability to shoot lightning bolts from his fingertips. I find it weird that it was never really brought up again in the series so having him in the tourney would help rectify that. [Mod note: for those who hasn't seen either show, this never happened]

Emperor Palpatine - Electromancy (lightning, electricity) - Star Wars - "Dude electrocuted Luke to the point of bringing Vader back to light. Also Vader later died from burnt electronic in his suit. And he yeeted Mace out of the Windu."

Dom Toretto - Geomancy (earth) - Fast & Furious - The thing about street fights… the street always wins.

Literally a lightbulb robot

Trogdor the Burninator - Pyromancy (fire) - Homestar Runner - "Known for burninating

The countryside

The peasants

All the peoples

Their thatch-roof cottages"

Herbie - Geomancy (earth) - Heretical Edge - Herbie is a pet rock who proved instrumental in defeating two incredibly powerful necromancers. One of them was the greek god Hades, the other was an evil bastard who had enslaved his entire home planet to use as a functionally limitless supply of resources. While Herbie did not defeat them solo, he was key to defeating them both

Gregor Mendel - Phytomancy (plants, vegetation) - Da history books BAYYYBBEEEEEEEEEEEE - This funky monk basically founded the science of genetics via experimenting on pea plants. Thats prebby cool

Big Bad Wolf - Aeromancy (wind) - Fairy tales and stuff - He can blow really hard, none of the other people here could do that probably, I mean can you do that? I thought not

Swan spin swan spin swan spin swan spin swan spin swan soin swan spin swan spin swan spin swan spin swap spin

Nikola Tesla - Electromancy (lightning, electricity) - real life - literally just look at this picture https://images.app.goo.gl/i7ySo6ZuGxyBDrmq7

Flamethrower Kid - Pyromancy (fire) - That vine where the kid shoots a can of WD40 as a flamethrower - His chaos is just what a fire user needs to exemplify

Spencer Shane - Pyromancy (fire) - iCarly - His stuff just spontaneously combust. We don't know if it's him or if a particularly shitty wizard is following him at all times, stuff just goes on fire. Pretty sure happened to some water once

Guy Montag - Pyromancy (fire) - Fahrenheit 451 (the Ray Bradbury novel you know the one) - "i just think it'll be funny if the fireman that burns books and then stops burning books won this thing. he isn't inherently magical per se but he does work with fire and sets stuff (like his own house) on fire so in my heart he counts. also he's on the run from the law because he killed a man and owns books. in conclusion i want ray bradbury to roll in his grave" [Mod Note: fun fact! I've never actually read Fahrenheit 451, I guess the schools I've been to thought it wasn't important]

electric fans - Aeromancy (wind) - real life - well they propel air at your face because they're fans. and also they helped me in the heatwaves so they deserve it <3

Marie Skłodowska-Curie - Luxomancy (light, holy) - the past - ☢️☢️☢️☢️☢️☢️☢️☢️☢️☢️☢️☢️☢️ [Mod Note: thank you for including her real name :)]

archerfish (Toxitidae) - Aquamancy (water) - real life - they spit water from their mouths

Chris Redfield - Geomancy (earth) - Resident Evil - HAVE YOU SEEN WHAT HE DID TO THAT BOULDER

Slide - Electromancy (lightning, electricity) - Playgrounds - I've been shocked by these bastards so many times in my childhood ):

Weathering - Geomancy (earth) - Real Life - "- can force the deterioration of rocks, soil, and minerals through prolonged exposure;

canonically responsible for a lot of really cool natural structures (as well as some admittedly not so cool ones but hey we can't all be successes 100% of the time ok)

haters say it's ruining their fave landmarks but it's just doing what it was made to do :(((

very iconic very slay vote weathering geomancy bracket 2k23 <333"

Oppenheimer - Ferromancy (metals) - Irl - He wield da bomba

Walt Disney - Cryomancy (ice) - Real life - Cryogenically frozen 💪💪

The Mud Wizard - Geomancy (earth) - Real Life - I think the Mud Wizard's performance here speaks for itself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9l3bLAx4Ng

Dolphins - Aeromancy (wind) - Real life. - Okay, please hear me out on this one. While listing dolphins under Aeromancy may seem bizarre, they do have a real ability to form and manipulate bubble rings that they may use for play, social activities, and even to assist in hunting. This ability comes from the shape and material of the Melon(the forehead part). I believe that this ability(which you can research yourself) qualifies them for this tournament.

The One True Candle - Luxomancy (light, holy) - Saturday Night Live (The Christmas Candle) - Candles make light. This candle is also the most powerful Christmas savior so you can’t get more holy than that

Your mom - Electromancy (lightning, electricity) - My bedroom - Sparks flew between us last night ;) [Mod Note: she needed that]

Your dad - Geomancy (earth) - My bedroom - Idk if you felt it but we made the earth move last night ;) [Mod Note: he didn't need that]

Me - Pyromancy (fire) - Real life - I must be a firebender because I’m hot af

The LGBTQ+ Community - Luxomancy (light, holy) - The closet - What is light? Stuff that can be perceived by the human eye. What else is perceived by the human eye (AND caused by light)? The rainbow. Wake up America

ITS ME BOY IM THE PS5 - Luxomancy (light, holy) - TikTok - He appears totally normal at first, but through manipulation of lights he makes himself look unhinged and goblin-like. We all love him for this.

The Lorax - Phytomancy (plants, vegetation) - The Lorax - He speaks for the trees.

The John Boulderfan92 (as I assume that they sent all of these characters) saga:

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson - Geomancy (earth) - Real Life - You can’t knock the rock

Boulder - Geomancy (earth) - Rock of Ages franchise - They're literally a sentient boulder Boulder - Geomancy (earth) - The 1998 Thomas the Tank Engine episode "Rusty and the Boulder" - They're literally a sentient boulder

Rockbomb - Geomancy (earth) - Dragon Quest franchise - They're literally a sentient boulder (that also explode)

Brolder - Geomancy (earth) - Super Mario 3D World - They're a sentient boulder (with arms)

The Bowler - Geomancy (earth) - Dungeons & Dragons: 2nd Edition - Literally a sentient boulder mimicking creature

Boulder - Geomancy (earth) - Raiders of the Lost Ark - This boulder is not sentient but is pretty iconic and would be a shame if I didn't mention it

Rocky Roll - Geomancy (earth) - Skylanders - He's on a boulder, does that count?

Boulder - Geomancy (earth) - UDgame - This boulder is sentient, YIPEE!!!

The Boulder - Geomancy (earth) - Avatar: The Last Airbender - "The Boulder feels conflicted about fighting a young blind girl." "Sounds to me like you're scared, Boulder." "The Boulder's over his conflicted feelings, and now he's ready to bury you in a rock-a-lanche."

Also for those who are wondering, I'm not allowing real life/vine/tiktok submissions. Why? because I feel like they would have an unfair advantage due to people more likely to vote for the "funny ha ha" joke submissions. Also I wanted this tournament to just be about fictional characters.

#misc #submissions #I might've missed some but I don't feel like looking thru again #why? #cause I hungy and I'm going out to eat

[the-gateway-to-madness]

Pitch Black Headcanons/Analysis/Ramble/Nonsense?

Never ask someone who made a Pitch Black kid rotg oc for their Pitch headcanons.

(Jkjk party time)

This one's gonna be less of a list like the Jack posts and more of a ramble so let's gO

Alright, so first of all, there's two different origins for Pitch- one in book canon and one established for the movie canon in Johanne Matte's (one of the movie artists) unofficial comics. The book one is the one most people use, where Pitch was once a man named Kozmotis Pitchiner and was possessed by fearlings or shadows or the like.

Very neat, but I actually am much more intrigued by the characterization found in Matte's comics. These indicate that Pitch is a somewhat cryptid or eldritch sort of monster, pure primal fear, and existed before humanity; it also establishes that Pitch and some other primal, pre-humanity spirits became fascinated by and drawn to humans' imaginations.

If you want to create or justify a Pitch kid oc, both this backstory and this weakness for storytellers could do it without trying to weave in book canon to make Pitch a character that would have children. Just say he met a particularly enchanting storyteller, and bam, you have a basis for your Pitch kid oc. That's what I did. (You're welcome- lol jk)

Now, you could argue this is semi-canon, or canon-adjacent, and not a headcanon of mine. HOWEVER, this and one other comic Matte did (wherein Jack meets an ancient, wild spirit called Old Hills) DO lead to a headcanon of mine, which is this:

There are two types of spirit. The first kind are deeply tied into the essence of the wild and the world, like fear, forces of nature, and death. Pitch is a Primal spirit. The second kind are Chosen spirits, given power by the Man in the Moon, who coexist with humanity and represent their legends, their stories that make them so unique and powerful, and the ways that humans perceive the world and natural phenomena. Mythological figures that explain weather, or folk tales like the Guardians, are Chosen spirits.

Oh hey look I do actually have a list for y'all-

If a spirit and a human have children, those children are mortal until they earn their own powers.

Primal spirits and half-Primals have scent glands for marking their territory all over their bodies. I.e., Pitch is actually a cat.

Pitch's teeth grow back in rows, like a shark's. The back rows are very small.

Pitch likes to enjoy a cup of warm apple cider and a good book now and then. During spooky season, especially, he gets to relax a bit because humans are doing a chunk of his work for him.

Pitch likes mystery novels.

Pitch's greatest worry, if not fear, is people who become so numb that they no longer have any solid, deep fears themselves.

Pitch finds human psychology genuinely fascinating.

Pitch is a good artist.

Pitch is a dog person.

Pitch really likes seafood.

Citing my sources here:

#rise of the guardians #jack frost #rotg jack frost #rotg #rotg pitch black

[inks-books]

Writeblr Reintroduction Under New Name

FORMERLY PGA-BOOKS I'M NOW INKS-BOOKS for publishing reasons.

Call me Ink(s)! Or I. N. Knight as my published name will be once I get there.

Note: I follow from xxinksxx.

I’m using this to find more writeblrs as well as promote my work written so far The Tales of Dai-Nē, Curiosity Killed the Elf, Love Triangle Gone Wrong, and more! 

First off I’m looking for: 

-Writeblrs who do fantasy, romance, and mystery but anything with supernatural elements is my jam.

-I’m also a sucker for witty characters and great dialogue!

-I would like to see more disabled characters, POC characters, and just generally fun characters to read about because that’s what I like to write about. 

Some Things You’ll See Here:

-Tag games (comment on this if you would like to be tagged in tag games!)

-Positive writing memes

-Writing ramblings

-Posting of snippets

-Boosts from other writeblrs

My works:

Curiosity Killed the Elf: Available for order here https://a.co/d/2n8QzP9 on Amazon.

(Working Title) The Blue Eyed Thief: When her friend Melody is stolen right before her eyes by men in masks, Nindé tries to go after them to stop them but fails. Nindé then goes to her family for help, but her father and brother turn against her, thinking she's lying and leading them into a trap by the government to harness dragon shifter's energy. Setting out on her own to survive and find Melody again, Nindé goes on a journey where she meets several people that change the course of her fate. Will she ever find Melody again? Or will her family get to her first? In this action thriller, Nindé finds hope, loss, and love in the journey of a lifetime to get her friend back. With no leads and nowhere to go, can she find where she belongs or will she die trying?

The Tale of Dai-Ne: The adventures of 4 teens who are swept into a world of magic and chaos and must prevent the veil between the magic and non-magic world from collapsing, all the while surviving their training to become the most powerful magic users in the two worlds. Can they unlock the secrets of the past before the forgotten race of Fae tear down the veil and take everyone out with them?

Love Triangle Gone Wrong: Ethan is a werecat in a small southern town full of paranormal beings that hide from the rest of the world. Lucien was cursed to be a wolf when the moon present and is only free on nights when there is a no moon showing. The two of them imprint on a newcomer in town named Hope. The kicker? Hope is married with a kid on the way and the boys catch feelings for the wrong person. Follow Ethan, Lucien, Hope, and their friends as this love triangle unfolds in all the wrong (right?) directions and they try to keep Hope from finding out the dark truth about their small town world.

Bonus Story:

Pinjas of the Corn (working title): A webcomic where pig ninjas and cat samurai work against each other to find the missing pieces of an ancient armor that can command the dead armies that were buried with the old emperor. The ninjas must find it before it falls into the wrong hands and the cat samurai try to take over the world. But is everything quite as it seems or is there someone working against them that they trust very dearly?

Conclusion:

Thanks for reading this far! Please tell me what you think, a little about yourself if you’re a new follower, and boosts are appreciated.

#inks rambles #inks writes #original writing #original stories #original books #writing #writeblr #writeblr intro #writing community #writerscommunity #writers on tumblr #writer #creative writing

[mysterycharacterbracket]

Tier 2 Recap

256. 254. Andrew Ryan from Buoshck

255. 216. Nyssa õf Traken from Doctor who

254. 228. Asha from Iji

253. 22. Whisper Schnee from Boldores and Boomsticks

252. 253. Chuuya Nakahara from Bungou stray dogs

251. 18. Mapleshade from warrior cats

250. 190. Andrew Eldritch from real life

249. 120. sans undertale from undertale

248. 219. T-Rex from Jurassic Park

247. 141. Karkat Vantas from Homestuck

246. 53. Rasputin IV from X-Men

245. 20. Hunter | The Golden Guard from The Owl House

244. 7. Kim Dokja from Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint

243. 50. Death from Darksiders

242. 266. Dave Miller from Dsaf

241. 174. Dr. Miranda Jones from Star Trek: The Original Series

240. 274. donquixote doflamingo from one piece

239. 92. Hyakunosuke Ogata from Golden Kamuy

238. 11. Kha'Nel from Dragens Øye

237. 139. George Costanza from Seinfeld

236. 121. Rampage from Beast Wars

235. 62. ε (epsilon) from Mathematics, real life (kinda? Not sure maths qualifies as real life) ) (common phrase: Let ε>0 be any real number)

234. 134. BoJack Horseman from BoJack Horseman

233. 291. Juleka Couffaine from Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir

232. 129. Flavio Rezza (MC Flava) from real life

231. 215. Goodtimewithscar or Scar for short (the minecraft youtuber)

230. 186. Percy Weasley from Harry Potter

229. 170. claude frollo from the hunchback of notre dame (specifically the stage musical)

228. 217. Grian from Life Series (3rd/Last/Double/Limited Life)

227. 168. the submitter from real life

226. 269. Mizi from Alien Stage

225. 96. Robin Stuart from Arc of Infinity (Doctor Who)

224. 172. Tessa Minsky from Imogen, Obviously

223. 267. Ea-nasir (real life copper merchant - 1750 BCE)

222. 37. Kokichi Ouma from Danganronpa V3

221. 147. Rose Lavillant from Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir

220. 135. Fiver from Watership down

219. 251. Keith Kogane from Voltron

218. 63. Cricket from Wings of Fire

217. 146. Adric of Alzarius from Doctor Who

216. 177. Mort from the Madagascar Movies/All Hail King Julian

215. 59. Edward Elric from Fullmetal metal alchemist

214. 290. Jimmy Solidarity from The Empires smp

213. 259. rayla from the dragon prince

212. 205. Starfy from The Legendary Starfy

211. 232. Taako from The Adventure Zone

210. 188. Hatsune Miku from Vocaloid

209/208. 182. Matt Murdock from Daredevil (Netflix)

209/208. 107. Ted Kord from DC comics

207. 86. Juleka Couffaine from Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir

206. 27. Sailor Saturn from Sailor Moon

205. 197. Marc Anciel from Miraculous Ladybug

204. 159. Yona from Yona of the Dawn

203. 220. David Chiem from Danganronpa: Despair Time

202. 125. Tynan from Aurora Webcomic

201. 169. Kid Blink from Newsies

200. 128. π (pi) from Mathematics (as in half a circle of radius 1)

199. 275. Zee from Total Drama 2023

198. 278. Flynn Moore from Echo (the furry vn)

197. 270. Caim Tivh from Mørkalven

196. 195. Grendel, The Grimm General from Boldores and Boomsticks

195. 280. Hermie the Unworthy from Dungeons and Daddies

194. 181. Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way from My Immortal

193. 247. Monkey D Luffy from One Piece

#mystery character bracket #character review

[agalanthe]

Moon Tales - Welcome to the Temple of Gears...

Excerpt from chapter 5 of the webcomic (in progress) introducing Tamara. [Note that this story continues beyond the end of what you see here and even begins a little earlier.]

A very different atmosphere from the previous page shown last year ( "You don’t want to mess with a witch ! (Or is she a faery ?!)"), which illustrates this time the "pulp adventure" aspects of Moon Tales.

*** [french/français]

Moon Tales - Bienvenue dans le Temple des engrenages... Extrait du chapitre 5 du webcomic (en cours de conception) vous présentant le personnage de Tamara. [Notez que cette histoire continue bien après la fin de ce que vous voyez ici et qu'elle commence même un peu avant.] Une ambiance très différente de la précédente planche montrée l'année dernière ( "Vous ne voulez pas vous frotter à une sorcière ! (Ou bien est-ce plutôt une fée ?!)"), qui illustre cette fois-ci les aspects "aventure pulp" de Moon Tales.

#moon tales #moon tales webcomic #moon tales characters #tamara #2023 #projects #templeofgears #adventure #adventuress #trapdoor #ancient ruins #pulp adventure #old ruins #mysterious places #trap #ancient temple

[boatmediatourney]

🛸Spaceship Media Lineup🛸

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968 movie)

3Below: Tales of Arcadia (2018-2019 tv show)

Alien (1979 movie)

Apollo 13 (1995 movie)

Arrival (2016 movie)

Aurora (2016 book)

Babylon 5 (1993-1998 tv show)

Battlestar Galactica (2003 tv show)

Chorus (2021 video game)

Cowboy Bebop (1998 tv show)

Culture series (1987-2012 book series)

Dark Matter (2015-2017 tv show)

Dead Space (2008 video game)

Doctor Who (1963-present tv show)

Event Horizon (1997 movie)

Farscape (1999-2003 tv show)

Fire Fire (2014 song)

Firefly (2002 tv show)

Galaxy Quest (1999 movie)

Guardians Of the Galaxy (2014, 2017, 2023 movies)

Honorverse (2004-2015 book series)

Imperial Radch series (2013-2015 book series)

In Space with Markiplier (2022 movie)

Interstellar (2014 movie)

Lifted (2007 short film)

Little Einsteins (2005-2009 tv show)

Lost in Space (2018-2021 tv show)

Mass Effect (2007, 2010, 2012 video games)

Nope (2022 movie)

On A Sunbeam (2018 book/webcomic)

Orphans of the Sky (1963 book)

Red Dwarf (1988-present tv show)

Rocket Ship Galileo (1947 book)

Seveneves (2015 book)

Spaceballs (1987 movie)

Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (2012-13 tv show)

Space Invaders (1978 video game)

Space Oddity (1969 song)

Star Blazers/Space Battleship Yamato (1974 tv show)

Starman Jones (1953 book)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999 tv show)

Star Trek: Generations (1994 movie)

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987 tv show)

Star Trek (1966-1969 tv show)

Star Trek (Alternate Original Series) (2009, 2013, 2016 movies)

Star Trek Voyager (1995 tv show)

Star Wars (new trilogy) (2015-2019 movies)

Star Wars Original Trilogy (1977-1983 movies)

Star Wars Prequels (1999-2005 movies)

Star Wars Rebels (2014 tv show)

Star Wars: The Mandalorian (2019-present tv show)

Sunshine (2007 movie)

The Expanse (2015-2022 tv show)

The First Men in the Moon (1901 book)

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (2014 book)

The Lunar Chronicles (2013, 2014, 2015 books)

The Martian (2011 book, 2015 movie)

The Mechanisms (2011-2020 band)

The Warrior's Apprentice (1986 book)

Treasure Planet (2002 movie)

Valerian (2017 movie)

Voltron Legendary Defender (2016 tv show)

Wolf 359 (2014-2017 podcast/audio drama)

🛸 (emoji)

#spacemt info #once again this is not seed order this is in relative alphabetical order #and again feel free to correct me if i've gotten any dates or titles incorrect!! #long post

[ottokallenhonkai3rd]

⚜ ℳ𝒾𝒽ℴ𝓎ℴ 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓃ℊℯ𝒹 𝓉𝒽ℯ ℊ𝒶𝓂ℯ ⚜

Do you remember my “OttoKallen was planned from the beginning”? This is no longer up to date. ~*~ I, the lucky person, have finally found the Chinese Honkai Impact site with the corresponding manga. And I noticed a lot of things. "Escape from Nagazora", "Sakuras Membrance" (known as St. Freya High) and "Crimson Sakura" (known as Dark Sakura Tales) are uploadet 2016-10-26. As well "Azure Waters". Apart from "Crimson Sakura", in which Kallen never showed romantic feelings for Sakura and was also intended for Honkai Gakuen Ex, all the comics were obviously Yuri. For "Divine Key" released 2018-11-17, "The Graditude Arc" released 2017-06-03 and Elan Palatinus (also known as purple Iris) released 2018-02-10 only the excerpts from Dark Sakura Tales were used, but never any from "St. Freya High". In Azure Waters there were excerpts from the author that proved that Kallen and Otto were engaged, but Kallen fell in love with Sakura. However, when the webcomic 2021-04-26 was uploaded translated to the international site, these excerpts were missing. In St. Freya High, "Moon Shadow" uploaded 2016-09-30 and "the great Graditute Arc" Otto comes across as an unempathetic psychopath. Only with Elan Palatinus uploaded 2018-03-10, Secound Erruption uploaded 2019-09-14 and "London Holiday" uploaded 2020-01-04 is Otto portrayed much more sympathetically and humanely, even if he retains his evil characteristics. While Kiana's feelings for Mei are strongly expressed in Escape to Nagazora and St. Freya High, she denies them in "EA Inversion", uploaded 2017-03-23, 27 days later than The Graditude Arc. Especially since I heard that Dark Sakura Tales is a reference to EA Inversion. The Chinese Elan Palatinus description says something like this: In 1470 AD, Tianming, seeking to expand its power, launched a massive eastern expedition. Despite her doubts about the purpose of this war, Kallen Kaslana, Destiny's most powerful Valkyrie, obeyed the Organization's orders. But on the battlefield her conviction was questioned... However, the English description says: In the year of our Lord 1470, Schicksal rallied the Princes of Europe and unleashed a Crusade to conquer the Far East, only to be defeated by an inmortal warrier. Kallen Kaslana, a powerful Valkyrie warrier, must make a choice between love and her oath.

It must have been in 2020 when webcomics were removed. This affected not only the webcomics with Yuri content, but also other webcomics. There are only three chapters left of "St. Freya High", the webcomic that was the only one to show Kallen's feelings for Sakura. However, the chapters with the romance between Kallen and Sakura have disappeared. Now you can blame this on Chinese censorship. But how likely is that? SakuKallen was a couple in HI2, the chapter with the kiss between Bronya and Seeele is still there. Why should China say this to these two of all people? - No. We do not want.

I've already dedicated an entire post to the differences that St. Freya High has from other webcomics and game content. Strangely enough, it's the webcomics that came out later that have a hard time with the content. The three largest are: In SFH, the people protect Kallen when she is about to be executed. In Elan Palatinus and in the video clips it doesn't. Probably because Kallen lost in the war and people hated Schicksal. In SFH, Kallen explicitly says that she no longer sees any meaning in life and Sakura's hair appears in the background. In the game, Kallen doesn't want to die, but prefers death rather than becoming a pawn of Schicksal. In SFH, Otto doesn't care about people and boasts about his plan to release the Honkai beasts. In the game he followed his sister's plan and he saw no other way out to save Kallen. In this case it is probably less about Chinese censorship and more about the fact that these chapters no longer correspond to what is happening in the game. I believe that Otto was intended to be a pure villain who was extremely obsessed with Kallen. His character was supposed to just suck so that Sakura would get a positive boost as Kallen's partner. But Mihoyo decided to give him more depth as a character. In this case the couple may also have changed. It's strange that the pictures that prove Otto's one-sided love never appeared on the international website. It's strange that everything that hinted at Kallen's love for Sakura has disappeared. Apart from any side events that are not part of the story. It's strange that they put the aspect of love on the international Elan Palatinus description. It's strange that in the game Kallen said to Otto "Maybe in another world..." when they were talking about getting married together. It's strange that Kallen is married to Otto in a timeline in GGZ. Not to mention, that in "Secound Key", uploadet 2020-06-20, they are a couple in Su´s memorial bubble Universe. ~*~ SakuKallen may have been a planned ship, but you can see the change that Mihoyo has made. The manga become significantly more de-Yuri-fied over time, but gain more depth. Just like Otto's character. That's why I can well imagine that Kallen (also) has feelings for Otto. No. I'm pretty sure that's the case now.

#honkai impact #honkaimpact3rd #kallen kaslana #ottokallen #otto apocalypse #gun girls z #houkai gakuen

[aetherixart]

Hi there!

I'm Aetherix (can call me Aeth or Aether, whatever works ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

I'm a former comp-sci major turned digital artist, and I'm working on a webcomic called Wake of Tartarus! If you like fantasy, hot elves, time travel, and bits of Greek mythology, then my comic might be your cup of tea! While it's primarily fantasy, it's also got action, romance, and drama too. ♥ I'm currently rebooting it and redrawing all of the panels as well as reworking the plot, but it'll be relaunching on December 15th! I also draw fanart once in a blue moon :') (Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger/Cross, DOTA: Dragon's Blood, Tales of, Darksiders, and many more!)

#introductory post #webtoon #webcomic #wake of tartarus #webcomics #webtoons #intro #webtoon canvas #oc #original character

[zahri-melitor]

Recent DC Reads:

Under the Moon: A Catwoman Tale

This is another book from the DC Ink teen graphic novels line and it’s a bit of a headscratcher for me. I don’t mind that the line leans heavily into reinterpretations of a general three sentence outline of a character’s past (there’s been some great work done here, and Oracle Code is probably the top of the list for ‘wide reinterpretation update that works’), but on some occasions when you know a lot about a character it can be to your detriment, just in terms of characterisation.

Art and design wise, this felt particularly like a webcomic in collected form, more than a graphic novel in and of itself. It was very episodic and chunked in a way that my brain could separate it into each webcomic post, complete with titles for each post. Also in terms of its episodic nature was that the plot tended to wander: the writing would pick up a storyline and get distracted by the new shiny, forgetting the previous plot thread. However, I did enjoy that the story ended on an open question over whether Rosie had made the right decision or not for herself.

It hit enough of the basic beats of a young Selina Kyle to be recognisable as Selina, but it was definitely one of the more divergent stories in this line in that the elements really didn’t line up with any of the origin stories I’m familiar with for her. I also found the inclusion of Bruce rather gratuitous and unnecessary.

I think the point where it had difficulty the most is that a lot of the beats of a good Catwoman tale (the love of cats, the fitting in to high society to act as a thief, the heists, the flirting, the athleticism) were all present but fragmented. They were largely dealt with separately and didn’t really pull together into a coherent whole. Which, this Selina is 14! She’s not fully competent yet. That’s fine. But it was a bit too early edition without acknowledging that in future all these elements will combine together into one seamless act.

I generally like the DC Ink line, they’re nicely accessible introductions to characters, particularly leaning into what is mythologically true about the character’s archetype more than any sort of canon-faithfulness. But this one just didn’t quite pull itself together in a satisfying way for me.

The Sandman Universe #1 and Books of Magic #1-6 (2019) I picked this up entirely on the promise of Bilquis Evely art, so I got…half an issue of that? It was beautiful, in any case.

Every time I try to read one of the continuing Books of Magic series, rather than the original mini, I’m reminded that a lot of what I love most about the mini is its contained, complete nature. It’s very much a story with the attitude that underlies the creation of the Vertigo line, but it’s also a really good realistic-edged sampler of the various corners of Magical and Dark DC. You can pick it up and get a taste for a lot of different characters/magical realms in DC and it works as a sort of directory to go find new things to try.

While the continuing stories focusing on Tim Hunter? They’re okay. They’re not Giovanni Zatara holding an eviscerated rabbit, or soaring Charles Vess art of magical realms.

Those complaints aside, this was well set up for a new run. I didn’t need to be fully across all the events of previous runs; it would be a slog to come into this if you were completely unfamiliar with the basics of the Endless, Dream’s realm, and who Tim Hunter is, but it was entirely accessible for someone who has only read the original Books of Magic and enough of Sandman to know what it looks like (though there are definite spoilers for both the end of Sandman and events during previous Books of Magic runs).

I’m not going to continue this, but I do have to say one of the reasons I regularly dip into the extended Sandman Universe is that it gets some of the best DC artists in the business at decorative and creative art assigned to it. At this point I go here for artists like Charles Vess, J.H. Williams III and Bilquis Evely being allowed to go rogue and as hard as they want with their art, and being supported in that.

#z canon read throughs

[exnihilo-etc]

im packing to move soon and i thought as long as im packing i could show off my bookshelf, one row at a time, starting with the bottom: graphic novels, comics, and puzzle books

most of ex nihilo i still have in its original physical form. im not too sentimental for it, but it is hard to throw it away. if theres literally anything ive drawn that you want, just lmk and ill ship it to you 👀

my old notebook

i fucking LOVE this graphic novel. i found it at a thrift shop, signed by the author, which probably means whoever this belonged to was a kickstarter backer for the project. it tells the story of a young artist and his wife being revisited by an old friend just released from prison. a story about drug use, lost friendships, and how your own memory can lie to you, and by extension, lie to your loved ones. maybe the very last line of the novel inspired the name of my comic?

seconds is an amazing graphic novel by bryan lee o'malley, who might be better known for creating scott pilgrim. this is a contemporary fairy tale of the disastrous consequences you might face if you could literally undo anything that might happen to you during the day, and how katie, a restaurant manager learns to abuse that power to send her own world crashing down around her. find it, i know its for free online somewhere but if you buy it thats even better!!

moon moth started as a short story by jack vance (who in his own right created rules for an internal magic system within his stories now called "vancian magic") about a sci fi murder mystery on a utopian planet called Sirene, a planet so accustomed to luxury that crafting and artistic expression are the sole pastime. everyone always wears a mask on sirene, and the social order is complex to learn and navigate...all communication is done through musical accompaniment as well. how will ambassador edward thissel know who is friend or foe??

i havent read 'everything is teeth' yet

a graphic novelisation of one episode of angel where a tv station is sucking souls out of kids and angel becomes a felt puppet

a great graphic novel going over the history of anti scientific conspiracies, like why ppl think the moon landing was fake, homeopathy, the quack history of chiropractics, anti vax, global warming denial, evolution misunderstandings, and fracking

what the hell?

a collection of wondermark, which i would classify as having the old found artstyle of married to the sea, plus the zany writing of oglaf. its a webcomic, look fer it!

part graphic, part novel. the fog mound explores a world of talking animals where humanity's existence is rumored as a legend. but thelonious chipmunk has proof: an old postcard with a human city on it. when thelonious accidentally gets lost and finds himself in the very city on his postcard, he has to wonder...where did the humans go? are there any left?

i met jeremy at an expo a few years ago and regularly visit him every year now whenever hes at a showcase or expo. putting watercolor illustrations to music, writing little creepy poems, fan art of all kinds of franchises, i just really vibe with his artwork.

like isnt she just gorgeous???

issues 3-6 of kingdom of loathing bc ill always be such a die hard fan of the loathing games, especially the stick figure mmo that started it all

[maiji]

[images: photos of the genjimonogatari art/card deck showcasing 1) the cover of the mint tin container; 2) the mint tin open with back of card lying on the lid and Flower of Purple card on the top of the pile; 3) rows of the cards laid out neatly; 4) the cards with Moon Above the Gate card on top; 5) a hand holding the cards from the side to show their edges and the trim of the art]

It’s here!! Yaaaay!!

Years of reading, rereading, drawing and obsessing later, I'm super excited to be able to say that the genjimonogatari card deck is a reality!

It's a portable mini-art deck featuring all 55 illustrations I created in the Genjimonogatari series from 2018 to 2022 in ink and watercolour and comes in a cute little mint tin. You can enjoy it as a straightforward visual art deck, or use it as a tool to help deepen your understanding of the many fascinating themes and relationships in the Tale of Genji - and as a playable deck for fun minigames!

If you check out the product page, there's a companion PDF booklet - for free, you don't need to buy the physical deck to be able to download and read it!

It includes:

A high-level introduction to the Tale of Genji and why it's so amazing

Ideas and examples for using the deck as a tool and to create/play an assortment of simple Tale of Genji-themed games

An overview of all 55 cards by illustration accompanied by my amateur attempt at compressing the richness of every single character down to one very short paragraph each to help you get to know them

A big thank you to @ancient-trees (who creates a wonderful fantasy adventure webcomic called Tamuran) for helping me to review the booklet. (Any mistakes are my own. If you find any horrible glaring typos/issues in the booklet, let me know and I will do my best to update/correct where possible. I have spent way too long flipping back and forth on footnotes and commentary and references... so grateful for Royall Tyler's detailed footnotes and appendices!)

#the tale of genji #tale of genji #genji monogatari #genjimonogatari series #art deck #card deck #art by maiji/mary huang #japanese literature