#askgiu

Ah, yes. The "casual with a teeeeny tiny bit of excitement" smile XD

i love when he has this stupid lil smile, he looks so cute like this

honorable mention

Thank you!!! 🤣

Thank you all darlings! <3 Here's a quick sketch <3

Thank you for all the amazing art, I enjoy them all a lot! <3

Thank you guys, I don't know what to say!

I've done comics for a living for years, so experience is key, but I'll try to elaborate a bit on my process...

After I've decided what story I want to draw (and that's a whole other thing), I sketch down some ideas. As I've shown in a previous ask, I always start my comics with a very rough thumbnail of the whole sequence, to see how the pages interact with each other (I try to avoid repetitons in art and dialogue) and how many they end up being - the less the better. In comics you must be quite efficient with your storytelling, otherwise every comicbook would be huge. It's important to understand what are the key moments, actions and emotions you want to show per page, and how much space to give them. Sometimes it can be done in a few panels, sometimes in many (in actual work, there are also different type of comic languages and grids depending on the publications, but I digress). It's up to what you think is better both aesthetically and narratively.

Then I place the thumbnail in a grid in Clip Studio and I already put the lettering, to see how much space the balloons take. It's important that both them and the art are legible and clear (or as clear as possible, in my messy case XD)

Then there's the fun time (for me): the messy pencils! I draw everything, but without bothering to be clean and perfect. This is the phase where the actual bgs and characters are drawn. I cure the perspective and decide the final poses (being careful with their anatomy) and expressions. Sometimes I already think about the shadows, to catch the mood I want. I also keep many references under my nose, they're very important.

The last stage is the clean up, where I refine the rough edges and clean everything (especially for work comics, not so much for the fan ones XP). I also put the shadows (if needed) and check for mistakes and oversights.

(You'll see the clean up of the example page when the new comic is actually done XP hopefully soon!)

Aaand that's it! Thank you for the ask <3

(bonus question, as an artist very familiar with depicting expressions, may I ask your take on the expression Alastor has when Vox is about to kill everyone and says "As long as I wipe that smile off Alastor's face IDC what happens" ? It's such a complex expression to parse and your input would be interesting!)

Thank you a ton! ^^

I am so glad to be able to cheer up people with my silly comics (especially in these shitty times -_-), it's what gets me motivated!

Regarding your question on Alastor's expression here:

(mygodthisscenejesuschrist)

I read it as defiant, with maybe a touch of sadness (especially if you read the monocle's light as a symbolic teardrop). He would never give Vox the satisfaction of seeing his smile falter, especially in this contest. It's a last Fuck You. The fact that Vox answers immediately after with practically the same smile (with a real teardrop, goddammit) it's a confirmation. It's is his Fuck You Too.

They are so in love

Are you planning on drawing anything new? Season 3 feels so far away it's actually painful. 😭

I've been thinking about a theory: what if Vox accidentally redeems himself? Maybe by protecting Alastor from someone who wants to get ahead by using him, kind of reflecting Vincent's past where he used other people to climb the ladder. I think that would be a really interesting parallel!

Hello to you! Thank you so much for the kind words! <3 <3

I feel like you about season 3, why do you think I started making comics about HH XD So many tasty theories and possibilities, it's a bit maddening! Yours is quite interesting ^^

And, oh... something's coming all right >:)

On a bit more serious note: you are free to ask me about my fanarts, I'm flattered by the interest, but please note that I have my real job and real life to follow. I'll post when I can, and only as long as I have fun. I have many comics in mind (and the preview above is NOT one of these XD) - hopefully I'll make them all, but they will take time. I was thinking to make a Patreon to allow who cares to check their progress, but I don't know if anybody would actually be interested XP

Why, thank you a lot! ^^

Regarding making comics, I feel I can give just 2 general tips:

read comics/mangas that you find appealing with intent. what do you like about them? why the page composition grips you? how did the artist give you a certian emotion with what they showed you? what visual choices were made to convey the actions and/or the feelings of the characters? how did the background - or its absence - helped? and so on (read actual comics, not just scrolling webtoons - no shade, they're just not great for composition study)

practice with sketched thumbnails. try to replicate what you learned from your observations with scenes you have in mind, without the pressure of making a finished comic page (or several). all my comics starts with shit like this

nothing fancy, as you can see XD try different solutions, have fun

There are many manuals and courses useful to learn the basics of comic art, but, as usual, the only way to improve in something is doing it and building experience. That said, you don't have to do masterpieces! Have fun first, especially for fanworks! I assure you that every piece of art is important and appreciated, regardless of its level of refinement ^^

Also, I'm so curious about the design choice/comic composition choice for Al's antlers on page 3 panel 7, cos I THINK you've said before you use Al's antlers to express his feelings and this looks so different to any way you've drawn them before

Thank you so much! <3 <3 <3 It's so nice to read such interesting insights on my silly comics <3 <3 <3

Their past relationship really haunts me. Because, based on the little we've seen about it (for now) and on how they relate to each other in the present, it's SO STRANGE. There had to be reasons for Vox to think of them as friends (his huge crush aside), and we see that Alastor did behave differently with him (before the partner proposition). They seemed to have (and arguably they still do) a sort of exclusivity towards each other. But there also had to be un uneasy undercurrent, to me, because they've always been monsters who use and hurt other people, and they knew that. And they what, just decided not to do that to each other (or at least not so much)??? Insane. I have my theory on how they worked, but I really hope we'll have answers in the future XP

Now, to your actual question: I do use Al's antlers to help show his feelings - they become pointier/start growing the angrier he gets, as a sign that he's starting to change into his demon form (as it happens in canon, sometimes). But in this case I'm afraid it's my drawing that's not clear enough: the black tendrils on the window are simply creepy vines, his antlers are not in the picture XP