Inks progressing on FIENDISH #3 🌬️ #comics #art #fantasy

Every once in a while I have to fight the urge to redraw FIENDISH #1. This is because I've become a much better creator since that book (it was written in 2019... an eon ago). When I began FIENDISH, I felt like I was being pigeonholed into cutesy projects, to the point that it had eroded my style. I figured that the only solution was to just show people I could do a mature story with action. So FIENDISH was borne out of a lot of creative frustration, and an urge to get my style back. But that meant I kind of just dove into it headlong (queue jet pilot reading "So You Want To Be A Pilot" meme.) If I could redo #1, I would condense the action, show more of the theatre troupe, add in a ton more character work, and let the nerdy worldbuilding shine (I was actually afraid of showing too much of the constructed language and magic system because I thought I'd the "throwing readers in too deep". 🤦‍♀️) It's certainly not a bad book; I should have just been more courageous with it, and I know I can do better now. But I won't redraw it, because the next chapters need my time more, and because I think it might be kind of nice to show people the growth. I've read so many manga that make leaps and bounds as they progress. Writing and art are skills that you can get better at- but the only way to get better is to JUST DO IT. It helps to accept that a longform project will grow with you. What I have in mind for the finale of FIENDISH is so nuts that I don't think I'd be able to handle it now, but I trust that the me of 2040 or whatever will nail it. I'll never even get there if I constantly go back and redo work. Sometimes growth is the point. 🙂