What's been up + the making of #69 ヘ(´－｀;)ヘ (Patreon)

Heya! I hope everyone is staying healthy and sane wherever you are.
I dono about you but I super envious of my dogs cos they can't read the news and they have no clue what's going on in the world!
I'm a sucker for dystopian fiction, but man... real life dystopia is not cool!!

I've been working on the next chapter since I posted the last one, but this coronamania devoured my brain power like a zombie. That's why I won't have any chapter to post until next month. My brain battery is very low right now. I'm sure plenty of you can relate...

Anyway, this post is a big block of texts about what goes on behind the making of #69. Spoiler if you have not read #69 posted here three weeks ago.

I laid out all the major plot before I even drew the first panel in 2017. I thought making comic was easy peasy. I did not anticipate how long it takes to draw this comic. Oh well, lesson learned... but since I started it, I gotta finish it, and everything should make sense from beginning to the end.

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North moved from earth to Cora's planet when he was four (#48), and he's been living inside the human compound since then (from age 4-16) (#22). The first encounter North had with the Carjou was witnessing one of Cora's guard murdering his own dad in front of him (#48). So all that lead to him becoming hellion hunter from the age 20-24 (#20).

Every encounter he has with the Carjou has always been hostile. His job is to capture them and of course none of them complied. Both sides hate each other, so the hunter always get into a physical altercation with the hellions. North never had a single peaceful encounter with the hellions until he stopped fighting with Cora (#46) and all the hot scenes can begin. JK, getting sidetracked here... 

These background stories were posted ages ago. Most chapters posted in 2017-2018 needs massive editing in the wordy dialogs. I've been wanting to submit the book format to Amazon Comixology since early 2018, but I just haven't got the time to edit the early chapters. I don't think my horrible grammar will pass the pro submission process...

Since the whole world went to shit, finishing the raw unpolished version takes priority over polishing old chapters, just in case I got a visit from Rona

(that's a bit morbid....)

So #69 is the first time he spent time with Cora and her folks under a chill, non-hostile setting. They're not fighting him, and he sees that they're just a bunch of nice folks hanging out and having dinner.

The girl who talks to Cora offer an outsider's view of what seems to be going on between them. At my S.O.'s work, there were this dude & this chick who tried to keep their relationship private. My S.O. pointed out to me “See those two... they're boning lol...”
The dude kept saying it's nothing serious, but a few years later she moved in. Sometimes outsider can see legit chemistry between two people that aren't always obvious to the people involved.

On their character's profile, North's favorite food is just red meat. A typical meat-eater fits his character.  Cora's favorite food is inspired by a traditional Korean dish called gejang. It's fresh raw crab fermented in soy sauce and chilli pepper.

Cora is an alien, so I try to think of something very unusual that taste good, and that dish came to mind. My friend Silverfly introduced me to this dish years ago, before I started this comic. Raw crab is pretty goopy and sticky, similar to the texture of raw oyster. So yah... it's kinda like eating spicy booger, but I swear it's pretty good! lol... Especially when eaten with fluffy steam rice and soy sauce.

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This is the first chapter where around 40% of the artwork was successfully delegated to my assistant. I'm grateful for my assistant Lester, who did majority of the lighting.

I did 100% of the artwork from chapter 1-20. After chapter 21, the flat color (about 10% of the artwork) was done by assistant. I hired Lester in mid 2018 to replace my previous flatter who had to leave for family reason. He mentioned he's interested to move up to be a colorist, but at the time I didn't think he could do it.

I tried hiring another assistant around that time, but that didn't work out. So I've been doing 90% of the grunt work from #21 to #68, until Lester successfully  learned my workflow last month.  I appreciate he always tries hard to improve and learn new skills.

I made detailed step by step tutorial and told him what color to use in each panel. I only need him to hit 80% of the quality I want, so I can polish it at the end. I did tell him please don't die and don't get coronavirus...I'm gonna curl up in the corner and cry like a big baby if I have to find a new assistant all over again (I left that last part out)

I'm in the middle of delegating more work out on the next chapter and beyond. The goal is to let me focus on things that can't be outsourced like writing, layout, drawing, research and making random smut for the adults here on patreon.

If you've read this far, I thank you.

I truly appreciate your patience and your continuous support. All your contributions allow me to keep making comic, and I put it all toward finishing this simple story about this hot dude who meets this hot alien chick with magical pheromones.

If you also feel drained mentally, I hope you are finding some kind of coping mechanism until this stupid plague is over. Some ppl turn to snacks, booze or weed to maintain sanity. Whatever floats your mental boat. I mostly try to maintain eat healthy (not always), exercise, keep in touch with loved ones,  avoid too much news, and read some porn.

Stay healthy, stay sane and stay safe. This too shall pass.

- Mo