Back in 2015, when I was in high school and working on Beanstalked, I first drew Jack and Nana together on May 10th. However, it wasn't QUITE the beginning of their romance yet - it was still very much platonic in intention because I hadn't even decided on WHO I wanted Jack to end up with exactly.

When I first came up with Beanstalked and was writing and designing characters, there actually wasn't even a Little Red Riding Hood yet. Obviously, one was planned to exist in story since you can't really have a giant fairy tale mashup without one but I was struggling HARD with coming up with a design that actually stood out from all the other Reds in every other fairy tale adaptation and retelling.

This means Nana didn't even exist in the old and outdated Beanstalked chapters I made prior to 2015 which... means Jack didn't have a love interest even while I was actively updating the comic. And I REALLY wanted to give him one. He just had the vibe of a protagonist who needed SOMEONE romantically. It's hard to put into words other than comparing it to when you find a broken piece of something, only to realize it's half of another thing and you need to find that thing to make the broken pieces whole.

ANYWAYS - I tried plenty of match ups for Jack. I tried Goldilocks, I tried the Swan Princess, I tried a male Little Red Riding Hood with heavy yandere vibes (listen I was desperate for a unique character design for Little Red), HELL I EVEN TRIED PINOKUNI!

Nobody stuck. The chemistry was either lackluster, bland as hell, or too awkward to work out. And during that time, I had made my third and final attempt at a Little Red Riding Hood design. This design winded up becoming the Nana we know today.

Around the time I had ironed out her initial design (before I made her a Lupine), I drew this little picture of her and Jack dancing.

It was meant to be a cute little moment of their friendship since at this time, I was still trying to figure out who to pair Jack with. Nana WAS initially written to have a small one-sided crush on Jack because I always found that kind of dynamic cute, but I didn't intend to go much further than that...

...farm boy had other intentions though because I kept finding myself drawing cute little moments between them together.

Sidenote: It's incredibly funny to read old me's posts about these two before I fully fell down the Red Beans rabbit hole. (also Nana's name used to be Najla so just a heads up). I really was doing my best to avoid becoming the shipping trash I am today just because I was too embarrassed back then about drawing romance art. I was so damn determined to draw cool and awesome story stuff and character designs. OH how things have changed...

ANYWAYS BACK TO THE STORY - I fully believe this was Jack choosing his own love interest instead of waiting on me to give him one. I NEVER FELT MYSELF DRAWING CUTE MOMENTS BETWEEN HIM AND THE OTHER CHARACTERS I TRIED TO PUT HIM WITH BEFORE but when Nana came along, I just COULDN'T STOP DRAWING THEM TOGETHER!

AND I HAVEN'T STOPPED.

I HAVEN'T STOPPED FOR 11 YEARS!!!

*Ahem* SO Eventually settled on giving them a ship name, Inukag style, by calling them Jajla...eventually I just decided that nicknames for ships were cuter and picked Red Beans for them instead since I wanted to make a reference to their fairy tales: Little Red Riding Hood and Jack and the Beanstalk. It's incredibly funny that this moment led to my long running tradition of naming my OC ships after foods because I wasn't even thinking of food initially. It was just a massive coincidence that worked in my favor since I realized red beans were a thing.

I continued to draw them together, redesigned them together, and eventually rebooted the entire comic so them being together became more of a crucial plot point and not just a side piece to the meal. Nana even went from being a minor side character to part of the main team and a major player in the story itself...which is crazy now to look back on because it is so hard to imagine the Fabled Five NOT including Nana. (though it wasn't really called the Fabled Five back then)

Jack and Nana have remained an important part of my art journey since the day I drew them dancing together. They're the sole reason I got better at my art and are the biggest reasons I didn't abandon Beanstalked years ago and continue to work on it even today.

These two have also been wonderous help for me mentally and emotionally and have brought me many years of comfort just by them being together.