MaysArtCorner

Also, here’s the final panel without the lines and text boxes through it. Just in case you, like me, want to stare at it for a while.

Thank you for commenting on Skizz’s silly graphic tee! It’s one of my favorite design choices that I’ve ever made for him. It’s a fun nod to his Minecraft skin, like you said, while still feeling like something he’d wear IRL!

Okay no but the podcast logo being a part of the title was literally the thing that made me choose the name Symbiosis in the first place. I was trying to think of synonyms to “harmony”, hit “symbiosis”, realized that word has an i and s at the end, and went RIGHT OKAY WE’RE DOING THAT NOW

I had so much fun with the composition of this comic, as you can tell. Drawing the panels off-kilter and things bursting out of the panels for emphasis was an absolute delight X-D

The “Disagreement Red” being the same color as Skizz’s tie was a last-minute decision, suggested to me by one of my best friends, Redboots, on one of the art livestreams I did while working on this piece. I waffled between several colors—especially orange—before Redboots suggested the red, just to keep the color scheme simple and keep the visual momentum going. At first I wasn’t happy with the red being associated with Skizz—why would I want the color of the disagreement to be a part of his color scheme, as if he’s part of the drama somehow??—but I love your interpretation of it! It’s his red because it’s in his wheelhouse. It’s not foreign to him. It’s not his happy Communication Blue, but he does understand it, and that’s his superpower. Freaking love that interpretation, I wish I’d thought of it, LOL

And the Disagreement Red popping up again as Impulse’s injuries was once again incidental, but looking back I once again love your interpretation of it and I wish it was intentional 😂 Not only does the grey mean Negativity, but the red means Disagreement, and Skizz is capable of taking control of Disagreement while Impulse is wounded by it.

Those shoes, man. I hate drawing shoes, they’re the bane of my existence, but I knew that with how much emphasis was going to be on them in this comic I’d have to make them look cool LOL

SKIZZ’S PYRAMID MENTIONED!!!!!!! Also you’ll notice that the sun behind the mountain is Impulse’s yellow! It’s the thing he’s trying to reach; but even if you can climb the mountain, you can’t bring down the sun. Similarly, Harmony (by Impulse’s definition, making everyone happy) is a noble but ultimately unattainable goal.

I didn’t think of the Demise connection, but I love that X-D Grey in this comic symbolizes Negativity, so the more Impulse engages with Negativity—fighting with it, being wounded by it, and even using his inner Negativity against Negativity in the form of the grey shield—the more it drains the color out of him. He himself is becoming Negative. He’s becoming the thing he wanted to destroy.

Also freaking love your interpretation of the panel with the Strings. The main things that were intentional here were how many Strings Impulse has compared to how few Strings Skizz has; it illustrates what Skizz says later about his “list” being small. Impulse cares about everyone’s opinion, and it holds him captive. Skizz only cares about a few.

But with that being said, one of those opinions Skizz cares about is Impulse’s!! And Impulse cares deeply about Skizz too! So yes, they are connected. Their relationship being illustrated as the junction between Impulse’s Yellow String of Harmony and Skizz’s Blue String of Communication is one of my favorite pieces of symbolism in this comic. Their friendship is the result of combining both of their strengths. It shows that true, healthy relationships are reciprocal; they require effort from both sides to succeed.

I absolutely hadn’t intended for Impulse’s Strings to be holding him up, while Skizz holds his up—again, the reason I did that was more to balance the composition of the panel than for symbolic purposes—but oh my gosh now that you mention it I love that. Impulse’s emotional stability rides on the opinions of others. He uses them to “lift” his spirits. Yet they also hold him from above and control his actions like puppet strings. Meanwhile Skizz has very few strings, and he holds them, not the other way around; illustrating that he has control of his relationships, rather than them controlling him.

Skizz’s tattoo has indeed been changed, but sadly, it is not anything nearly as meaningful as “power”. Look closely. And maybe think about some shenanigans with Tango from early Hermitcraft 10…. ;-)

100%, Skizz reaching out to Impulse with his blue String glowing in the middle of the panel is meant to convey him using his power of Communication to talk to Impulse and lift him up out of his slump. In a way, this panel illustrates exactly what’s happening in this comic as a whole: Skizz talking Impulse through and out of his Negativity.

And the final panel. Oh my gosh. This is the one that made me want to do this comic in the first place. As soon as I had the picture in my mind of Impulse severing some of his Strings, and them laying arrayed around his feet, symbolizing his freedom from the suffocating opinions of others—all the while being in the arms of someone who truly knows, understands, and loves him—I knew I had to do this comic. It means so much to me as a fellow recovering people-pleaser. As you can see, Impulse has not severed all of his Strings. Neither has Skizz. Both of them still have outside connections, relationships that they care about, direct lines to their hearts. The moral is not to cut everyone out of your life and care about no one’s opinion; the moral is to be careful and judicious who you let in, to choose your inner circle of people carefully. And among all the other loves and connections that Imp and Skizz have, they also chose—and continue to choose—each other.