Recommended for those of age 18+ Content Warnings include: Animal Injury/Death, Depression, Blood, Gore, Strong Language I intend on not being /too/ heavy, but I also know how I tend to write stories
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(sorry if you've answered something similar before)
with all the positive encouragement you post about it, I'm really considering making a clangen blog. since you have a few, is there anything you recommend before starting? a certain aspect of planning or anything you wished you would've decided on sooner?
Don't apologize, I'm happy to answer! In fact, I'm surprised people are even asking me, I'm just some guy. This is my second comic to even have traction (my first was a Steven Universe one lol)
BUT I shall answer below, and even provide my own personal Clangen Template that I made to track things- for anyone to use!
Firstly: if you want to do it, just do it! You don't have to commit to it forever, or even long, unless you really want to practice your professional ability to push through art slumps/lack of motivation. Especially in the clangen space, it's not taboo to just close/abandon a run you're no longer into.
Now, for more specific answers I guess...
What I recommend:
Keep notes starting from moon 0 if you have any inkling you want to make a blog. This means you may have runs you write several moons of before deciding it's not interesting/connecting/etc that are now useless, but it's better to have those and delete them than to not and have to backtrack ideas.
Pick a main character, or a couple, and stick with them. Trying to focus on all the cats quickly becomes an impossible task, and people won't connect as well as with a rotating cast as they will with a few set characters.
If the main character(s) dies, pick another to take over that role and slowly introduce them into the spotlight well before the other's death. Helps people swap over lol
Actually set up a world for the clan. Where is it set? What's the seasons like? How do they live? How are they different from the other clans, if there are any? It helps you with setting up practices, what characters value, and people like learning about it!
Keep posts focused on the blog. You can post about other things now and then, like life and other projects, but people follow you for a clangen blog in the end and may drift away if you post other things too often. I'd also say avoid venting, personal issues, etc as it can make folks uncomfortable and the blog isn't a diary.
UNDERSTAND YOU MAY GET PUSHBACK/CRITICISM/HATE. This is especially true if you handle sensitive subject matter like abuse, sa, transphobia & gender related issues, etc. If you want to limit this, you will need to turn off anon asks. I also suggest not even replying to them, as attention just brings more messages. It can suck, but blocking and moving on is key <3
What I wish I had done:
Kept the main character design simpler. I love Root, and I can handle drawing her again and again, but if I could have gone back I would have made her design/markings more simple. Find other ways to make cats look different than complex pelts, like weight and fur styles. You'll see me take this into account with later designs.
Cared less about interaction. For a lot of my starting posts, I was watching the number of notes very often and really tied my enjoyment of my comic to that. Truth is, some stuff works and others don't, and now that I am less concerned about that I find it easier to work on it.
Interacted with other blogs more from the start. I didn't realize just how much getting a comment or ask or reblog made me feel seen and happy- and while it's not everything it's nice. So I started doing that for other blogs, and it has led to me making some lovely friends.
Set up a solid genre. I started my blog heavy on horror but did not carry that into later moons because, well, it didn't fit. However that still impacts expectations to new readers- and has left me finding ways to weave it into the story as things go. So if I could have, I would have kept to a genre for the story from the start, but I'm still happy with where I'm at.
AND THAT'S WHAT I HAVE!!! I'm not expert and I have no say on what you want to do, so these are just my personal tips.
Now for the thing some people might be interested in... my personal Clangen Template! Here are previews of it empty and filled!
(Yes those are early notes of Hymnclan)
If you want to use it for yourself, HERE YOU GO! Please please please credit me if you do just by @ ing this account in your pinned or smthn, I worked hard on it! Just go to file -> make a copy.
🎉🎉🎉ARTFIGHT TOMORROW!!!!! 🎉🎉🎉 Are you going to join and if so which team? Are you gonna be taking a hiatus? 👀👀👀👀👀
not this year, at least not right now mate. im so so tired
theres like A Chance ill join later in the month but ive no plans to currently. go forth and attack people in my stead let me live vicariously through yall
wow hiiii:) I love ur art so much, and I have a few questions that I wanna ask u if u have free time,tysm!!!
how do u manage to keep on schedule and post so frequently? I’m always lagging behind schedule, and get VERY panicky about not finishing on time.
I can’t always figure out which type of eyes fit which cats and where to put them I always put them a little higher or lower or bigger and stuff ARGHHH ANNOYING
the absolute last one: where did kinky whiskers family go?
tysm 4 ur time! Wishing u the best of luck in life!!( I know I’m weird and I apologise 4 that😭😭)
ay no stress i am also very very weird o7
my secret is not really having a schedule. like i try to post at least once a week but thats not a hard line im holding to myself. deadlines i dont find terribly helpful cuz i know the guy setting those deadlines (me) and they (me) are full of garbage. i may also have an unfair advantage in terms of Art Speed cuz drawing my friends OCs in situations Very Quickly was how i earned money for lunch at school
anyhow my tips are thus!
- make sure you stretch and take breaks because you might think youre doing great blitzing out a pmv in a day and a half til you wake up the next morning and opps wrist pain now you gotta ground yourself from wrist privileges for a couple days
- think to yourself: "are there things i could maybe simplify?" if the primary issue is "finishing on time" then take stock of the things that are taking the longest. is it backgrounds? is there a way you can simplify or streamline them? is there One Character whose design pisses you off every time you have to draw them (oddscratch) that you could par down without losing what makes them recognizable?
- anything youre doing for your own enjoyment can be changed at any time for any reason. its your fun that youre allowing other people to join in on. dont give people the power to take the joy to create from you
eye placement can kind of depend on what style youre going for, and nothing quite beats staring at a hundred cat pictures for reference but! quick guide i use
i try to keep the center of eyes mostly level with the start of the nose bridge and in profile the "back" of the eye stays level with the start of the ear
behold! a fennelwater sort of
as for like Shape Of Eye, you can consider the overall shape of the character, their personality and/or the intent of the character. for example, fennel is sort of a straight-man type of character and their overall shape is more rectangular, so i went with more angular eyes for them. i do tend to default to big round 0_0 eyes cuz thats just easiest for me to work into various expressions. thats just a thing you gotta play around with til something clicks tho i guess
another option is to not care so much about staying perfectly on model. advice from notorious Off Model Drawer, Gote. like look at this garbage i cant stay on model for even three panels
3. gimme like......... two or three moons, we can all learn at the same time as kinky whiskers herself >wO
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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stop forcing yourself to disengage with what you love because a layer of irony makes it more comfortable. admit you care and let yourself feel good about it
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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What the heck!!!! I didn't know you did like PMV stuff! How did I never know that?
sometimes! im still learning kinda but ive had a passion for animation for like my whole life. weirdly i tend to do it more for other people than myself ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
it is a very weird stress response i have, to blitz out some involved moving pictures thing in a couple days-ish but its better than other things i guess
if i were, say, possibly, stress making a little like pmv thing for shardshade that contains some spoilers is it better for me to hold onto it until the spoilers are no longer spoilers or post once its done or some other option
i got til the end of the month to scratch together 700$ or else im #evicted (i got hired at a weird time at my new job so i only get paid once this month lol)
SO.
im offering commissions like the Skrunkly Little Wiggly Shardshade above! if she Speaks To You maybe take a peaky peek here on my ko-fi
only need a scant 35 peoples to be interested and then i can pour all my Effort back into This Comic and maybe a secret thing ouuuhhhh?????
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
just a note: im not sure if kinky whiskers and shadowdusk's interactions would be accurately called "trauma bonding"?
it's a common mistake to make and increasingly so, but it doesn't mean "people bonding over the same traumas" but moreso the bond between an abuse victim and their abuser: the relationship arising from the trauma the victim faces from the abuser.
id suggest reading up on it- since it is a useful explaination of why abused people find it emotionally difficult to leave their abuser!
(psych nerd)
learning and growing uvu i'll change it asap
i actually fully didnt know that "trauma bonding" was like An Actual Psych Term if that makes sense, thought it was a psudo term that the kids these days use. every days a school day lol
also thank you and everyone else whos said kind things about this moon's whole... everything. i was honestly expecting more of a negative or uncomfortable reaction to it so it warms my bones to see most folks being chill about it. nature is healing <3
