nuclear waste aerobics
If you have a question, check out FAQ tag first
comic
portfolio maarialaurinen.com
twitter @maariamph
e-mail maaria.laurinen@gmail.com
tags
#FAQ #phantomland #original works #fanart
Where did you learn to draw and set up comics like you do? Did you take a class or something?
How to comics:
- read good comics
- figure out why they’re good
- draw comics
- (when in doubt read a Scott McCloud book)
I actually went to a school (Orivesi college of arts) for a year to study comics, but at that point I already knew the essentials and it was pretty much an excuse to spend a gap year drawing stuff. Honestly anyone can draw comics, you don’t need a certificate to do it. How to draw a comic that’s readable though, that’s where you’ll make tons of mistakes and need to listen to criticism
maariamph , i enjoy reading really truly shitty comics. does it help to figure out why they’re shit and then dont do that thing?
Yes that… that works too. It can help a lot. But you want your own comic to be better than “not shit”! Remember to read excellent comics as well to keep your standards high
Where did you learn to draw and set up comics like you do? Did you take a class or something?
How to comics:
- read good comics
- figure out why they’re good
- draw comics
- (when in doubt read a Scott McCloud book)
I actually went to a school (Orivesi college of arts) for a year to study comics, but at that point I already knew the essentials and it was pretty much an excuse to spend a gap year drawing stuff. Honestly anyone can draw comics, you don’t need a license to do it. How to draw a comic that’s readable though, that’s where you’ll make tons of mistakes and need to listen to criticism
On one hand I know it’s a bad idea to have Opinions™ on tumblr because no matter what you say, or how eloquently and reasonably you express it, you always get a pissbaby or two missing the point and having a raging shitfit over it because they get off on feeling morally superior to internet strangers. It can be funny to a point but there’s also the risk it’ll escalate and gather thousands of notes and get very tiring to deal with
On the other hand I’m like fuck it! Free speech!! This is my blog, I should be allowed to post whatever I feel like posting. If I shut up, that means the harassers win. It’s just not my style to present as the sort of passive non-entity who gives up their voice to have that perfectly “clean” and sterile image online. I’d rather be openly flawed than pretend to be perfect.
Just my two cents I guess
Hilarious how a while ago I made a post criticizing the abundance of junk food in a kids’ cartoon and I still get the occasional message harassing me for being fatphobic or a fat-shamer. Yeeeeah aren’t you just throwing random -isms and -phobias at me to try to win an argument? What happened to that “healthy at every size” rhetoric people go on about, aren’t you hurting your own cause by implying that promoting healthy diets is inherently hateful towards fat people? I mean what?
Where on earth do you get the idea that I hate fat people to begin with. Have you seen the stuff I draw? Hell I used to date a fat guy and I never gave him shit for it. It’s a non-issue. But teaching young kids to prefer junk food over everything else is definitely an issue
But hey don’t mind me, I’m just your regular snooty European pointing out which part of USA seems messed up from my snooty European perspective, why would you need to listen to that when you already live in the best country in the world!
Don’t send me more messages about this, I’ll ignore every single one
I wanna introduce a female mafia boss at some point in the comic…. not sure when but I’m gonna try hard to find a good place for her
how do you do the layout process in your comics? thank you for the AMA.
Hey no problem! Here’s thumbnails for these two pages. It’s a Photoshop file with a chapter’s worth of blank spreads that I fill in as I go. Drawings are on a separate layer so I can easily move things around with the lasso tool, or add more panels in between, or scrap them, or change their size or whatever
I’ve made this as convenient as possible for myself because thumbnailing is a pain in the ass, sometimes I spend hours wrestling layouts into shape only to get a page or two completed. And I’m not super fond of this example spread either, I’m like 70% satisfied with it haha. But it’s ok, I’ll just try to make the next ones better. That’s comics for ya
animatronicmaid said: arent crushes typically romantic?? asexuals arent aromantics but hell yeah to asexual ammy
I’m not gonna speculate the technicalities of gem sexuality but my point is Amy seems to be exclusively into friendships and if it ever gets confirmed in canon I’ll be happy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I like how Amethyst has the asexual color palette (white-grey-black-purple) AND she doesn’t seem to have a crush on anyone. I like to think it’s not a coincidence
Amy has a special place in my heart… I was messing around trying to design an outfit for later use but I like how these doodles turned out
Hey Maaria! I have two questions cuz I'm a curious gal. Firstly, how long do you want phantomland to be in chapters? Secondly, which of your oc's do you relate to the most? Thanks for making such a great comic!
Thanks for your message! This is in the FAQ but yeah, I have material for a very long story although I’m prepared to cut off some of it if necessary. I want to draw at least 10 chapters
Second question is interesting! Many of my characters have flaws or problems I can relate to, it just feels intuitive to write them like that and I think it’s pretty common too. I don’t think any of them is particularly more “me” than others though. Chie is an insecure wuss, Jon is a jaded introvert and Elias is a stuck-up pedant, these three are pretty clear-cut at least
Amber… has flaws too, she’s cheeky and irresponsible but I don’t see myself in her at all. I’m just familiar with her “type” haha, she’s kinda a mix of several people I’ve known in the past
Hi, I really love Phantomland, I think it's great and I just wanted to ask you something: How old are the characters? Just curiosity n.n Really enjoy the comic 😄
Hey, thanks for reading!
I haven’t given them exact ages because Cypress folks don’t have birth records so it’s a mystery anyway. Chie and friends are definitely adults though so if you’re into shipping or whatever… that’s no problem……….
Oh no! Does that means Jon is sensitive to dog whistle?! (by the way, nice latests OC anatomy drawings of Jon. He's pretty fit for someone drinking all the time! I wouldn't mind if he has a bit of belly fat though. <3)
I think most people figured this out - yeah, he can hear ultrasound, but there’s more to it than that they’re playing Abba in high frequency
Pretty fit for someone who smokes! Nothing about his body makes sense really hahaha. It‘ll be acknowledged in canon though