This icon makes the post scarier.

[soltian]

THIS IS A STORY. Part comic, part fiction, part illustration.
Okay, anyone who takes the time to go through this - REST ASSURED HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU. I'll leave the long rambly boring comments for after the actual images.
Extremely violent with heavy sexual themes, not safe for work.


Note: The text and layout of this project was completed with extremely helpful work and insight from kissenliebe. The entire thing is dedicated to her.






































The original work I've been posting here has been almost exclusively very very dear characters that kissenliebe and I play with together, both hers and mine. This is obviously slightly different; Caile and quite a few other characters I don't pay enough attention yet are part of a fantasy storyline I've been working on since...christ, I don't know, ninth grade? I've taken a few steps in the past towards actually illustrating the story, and this is just another one of those "toe in the water" kind of things. It's a huge media experiment, too, going from text to image to sequential and back again is an idea that really grips and fascinates me, but I need to know if it actually WORKS, which kind people who bother to read can hopefully give me feedback on.
Er, thank you again if you took the time to make it this far. Seriously.

Comments

[nerrin.livejournal.com]

THIS. This is amazing. You draw and write so damn well.

Uhm, as for feedback, this way of presentation is interesting and unique - but sometimes the text (especially if it reaches about three-quarters of the page) is a little overwhelming to read after looking at the panels.

[soltian.livejournal.com]

Thank you so, so much! And it's very good to hear about the text, I'm still struggling with the best way to integrate it smoothly...the pace of reading something visually and reading text is so different, it's difficult for me to figure out what devices to use to make the transition more natural. Thanks again!

[nerrin.livejournal.com]

Try to find openings where you can alternate between the two and make it smooth at the same time, I think? Although it's definitely much harder than it sounds for sure. Maybe include more images and try to balance everything out by alternating between the two mroe frequently, but then again, that's just me. This IS an interesting concept, though, and I'd honestly love to see more. [IS there more, in fact? xD]

[soltian.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I do think that the final version of this project will have more spots, and maybe a bit more sequential art, too, so that the text isn't necessarily less, but the whole thing is a bit longer and is more integrated and less BAM a page of text right after a page of visual.

There's a lot more to this story, conceptually XD I actually had a really long rant typed out about "BLAH BLAH BLAH AND THIS IS THE HISTORY OF WHAT'S GOING ON HERE" but I figured that would be really boring just summarized in my dumb ranting speak. I have a couple of rough draft-ish things from this story up on my website (http://soltian.net/), though, another short subversive "what the hell is wrong with you Caile" comic and a couple of "chapters" from a much older draft of the full story, which is in the process of being revised intensely.

[frozenemerald.livejournal.com]

The story was really interesting. The cross over between text and sequential is interesting, but I agree with nerrin that the text tends to get a bit blocky and drawn out. I really love the bursts of color when you come to a big picture. It made me want to read further to see what else you illustrated. Very, very nice, anyway.

[soltian.livejournal.com]

Thank you so very much! Echoing thoughts on the text awkwardness is really helpful, as soon as I recover from having completed this I'll definitely be doing a lot of editions and revisions :) Thank you again, though, I'm so glad you enjoyed it so far!!

[foxysquid.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed this. I really like the combination of text and sequential art--it's something I find very interesting. I guess it's a difficult balance to strike, though. If the text chunks are too long (as others mentioned), it begins to seem a bit unwieldy, and switching back and forth between the two can be distracting. I liked how you did it, though. I didn't think it was poorly integrated. One suggestion I have is maybe to have at least one drawing on every text-filled page, even if it's just a small illustration. And I very much like your illustrations, by the way!

I recently read an online comic in which hovering the cursor above each panel produced a little text box, within which the part of the story relating to that panel appeared. It's different than this, of course, but I thought it was a neat way to have both a comic and a story at the same time, without the text being a visual distraction. I just thought I'd mention it, since it was related.

[soltian.livejournal.com]

Thank you so very much for your feedback! I think your suggestion about spot illustrations is really really useful, I think that as much as I enjoy the "blocks" of text, personally, I need to break them up more on the page so that they're not distractions. I just need to remind myself I'm not sacrificing writing and story for that, just making it more cohesive :)
The text box thing sounds really interesting! I've been inspired by a lot of different methods of storytelling, comics mainly. Even though I'd like to do comics, for this particular story I felt like some of it was better told in words, some of it better told in images, so I experimented.
Anyway, thanks again, it really means a lot to me!

[foxysquid.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! I'm glad I could be of some help. I'm definitely interested in learning more about Caile and his people.

Oh, and I'll link you to that comic, in case you're interested in seeing it: here (http://invisiblecities.comicgenesis.com/story.html). I thought it was an fun use of the webcomics format.

[soltian.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for the link! I'll be sure to check it out :)
Unfortunately the process of illustrating this story is second to doing professional work and getting a job, but it's definitely been forefront in my mind for a long time - I'll find a way to get it done!

[rizumcbutt.livejournal.com]

OKAY YEAH. WOW. THAT IS SERIOUSLY AWESOME. I think the layout actually works better in a journal like this than it does with the individual files, or as pages in a book -- there's something about scrolling down and not knowing where the divides between text and image are going to be that makes it transition more smoothly. SO OBVIOUSLY YOU HAVE TO PUT THIS ON A SCROLL IF YOU EVER PRINT IT.

Man. Maaaaan. That was intense. Like, I think you really really have the blend between mediums down.



And I totally read this in a classroom.

[soltian.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU A MILLION TIMES. Oh god reading this at school that's so beautiful Liz I knew I could count on you. I actually already printed it as a book, and got used to that, so that's probably why the LJ format looks weird to me. MAYBE A SCROLL WOULD BE INTERESTING?? It would make that two page spread illustration really awkward, though.
I'm totally and completely psyched that you liked reading it, though. I'm probably going to do a lot of revision to this before I declare it totally complete, but if YOU like it I must be at least on the right track.

[ereku.livejournal.com]

so, like, you have entered a whole new level of awesome in my mind. like, i mean, i've never read anything like this before with all the transitiony stuff... and, to be honest, i never thought i would like anything mixed mediums such as this... but seriously woman.... i bow in worships at your feets. TwT you have all my loves and admirations... especially considering you've been working on your story since 9th grade. i mean, fuck, in 9th grade i was doing Dragon Ball Z fan art and shit like that. you are probably the most creative person i will ever have the privilege to know (albeit over the internet and a couple telephone conversations forever ago).

as for the whole long blocks of text other people mentioned.... i do think it would help the transition if they were shorter, but in a way i enjoy them long like that. you are also a very talented author and i enjoy reading as much as i enjoy ogling pretty art.

seriously. i love you.

[soltian.livejournal.com]

Ghsflnkl thank you Ash you make my heart sing in more ways than you can imagine T__T Oh god, ninth grade me was totally unglamorous, though, I assure you. Working on this story then was something on the lines of "I KEEP DRAWING THIS OC DIGIMON CHARACTER AND IT LIKE..KEEPS GETTING FARTHER AWAY FROM A GOMAMON. I'LL MAKE HIM INTO SOMETHING DIFFERENT." I may have missed out on DBZ but I was ALL about fanart'ing Digimon, Pokemon, Ranma, even shit like Card Captor Sakura and DNAngel at the time.

I think maybe the blocks of text would be less jarring if the actual pages still had some visual help to go with them...that way they wouldn't seem so out of place? XD Yeah, still totally planning to go back to this...even if it continues to frighten people in general.

And thanks again Ash, so much <3

[ereku.livejournal.com]

hmmm. i was never into ranma or dnangel, but i loved pokemon, digimon, and card captor sakura. hhhh.

the thing that popped into my mind when reading the blocks of text was like.... maybe a little box here and there with a face or something. but small boxes, i guess kind of like lj icons, maybe a little smaller? i don't know, you're the one here with the experience. *w*;; <3

[soltian.livejournal.com]

As long as we agree on at least some of that mix we are all good T__T And yeah, that's exactly what I was planning on doing! XD Just some spot illustrations...hopefully I'll get back to rearranging things soon, I can be so fucking lazy with this shit.