Some more old drawings and development (Patreon)
Content
Don't laugh. These high school drawings are cringy af. So cringy I scrapped the story and rebuilt it from scratch but used the same characters and kept the general idea (troubled rich boys and troubled poor girl because cliche).
Nol used to be named Kazuki because I wanted another name that started with a "K" to match Kousuke. Kazuki was a popular and generic name in anime LMAO
Also I was super weeby back then and Kousuke would be referred to as Kousuke-sensei, senpai, sama by Shin-Ae and all the other characters or aniki by Nol.
The guy in the glasses is what used to be Soushi and Dieter combined. His name is Seiji and he is a cousin LOL.
Nol and Kousuke LOL
UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH NO COMMENT
Also a few things I want to clear up:
I'm seeing people online saying that my story/ending hasn't changed from the "old version." While I did say this on my Curious Cat before I took it down, this isn't entirely true.
There are three versions of ILY:
1) High School Version
Here is Kousuke and an unnamed character. They were all in a plain because I didn't want to draw backgrounds and grass was easy LOL
2) Discover Version
2016 Prologue Scenes
You can see Sang-Chul's initial design here but I have since then changed it to suit his personality more.
3) Featured Version (current)
2017 Prologue Scenes
Some Explanations:
"High School" Version
The high school version of ILY and the current ILY are not the same. High School ILY was written by a bored teenager with raging hormones that knew nothing about how people worked/how relationships worked. My knowledge was limited to what I've read on all kinds of Shoujo manga back in the 2000s (good and terrible).
There were no motivations, and I got characters together simply because I just wanted to. There was no logical reason for anyone to be together. To this day, even I couldn't think of a good reason why I put two characters together back then. Hell, even the characters didn't have any reason. My personal reason went along the lines of "I like these two together because I like this type of guy and think it's cute and hot" without thinking about whether two people were actually good for each other. My focus was just for characters to get it on LMFAO Nothing else. No important messages.
And truthfully reading back, I cringe at how much I used to gush over relationship dynamics that are terrible LOL But I was a 15 year old. I didn't know any better XD
While it is definitely getting better, that's one of the problems we have in media/entertainment even to this day. Things that are toxic, unhealthy/creepy are sometimes glorified and portrayed as cute or romantic and it sets as a terrible precedent for relationships (platonic AND romantic) especially towards the younger audience (myself included when I was in high school lol)
Now on to the "Discover" Version.
This version of ILY started after my final semester as a high school senior and had quit drawing. I wasn't drawing seriously anymore but I did care deeply about the characters so I kept on writing. Except this time, I began putting more thought into it and developing everyone and everything more realistically for that particular character's personality (which has also been fleshed out). This is the version of the comic that I have been working on for several years. I'm not saying I'm an expert now but I do have a much better understanding after studying and experiencing work/realtionships and dating/life in general over the years so the focus of the story is now more on the characters dealing with their issues and trying to overcome them, and less about people getting together.
I applied what I learned and have observed from my own and others' experience into the development of the story and the characters. Some things were difficult to write as it's not something I would agree with/share the same opinion with some characters, but hey, we don't agree with all the decisions people in our lives make right? So I kept on writing throughout and well after my college years until I came to a satisfying ending.
Then I was bored one summer, scrolling through facebook and came across an ad for Siren's Lament. I read it and it made me want to get back into drawing again and I was always interested in storytelling. I found out about Webtoon Discover (formerly known as Challenge League and currently known as CANVAS), a part of Webtoons where anyone can upload their own comics. I thought I'd give it a shot because what better way to practice drawing and storytelling than to create a comic lol. I chose ILY to practice with because I thought it would be the easiest.
FEATURED VERSION!
This is not very different from the Discover version. Only difference is that the art is better and side characters' stories/arcs are more fleshed out.
TLDR:
1) High School ILY was more for self-gratification and self-insertion. I was a lonely horny 15 year old.
2) Discover version - I know better so I rewrote the High School version while I was in college.
3) Featured version - Same as discover version except better art and arcs for side characters LOL
So when I say things haven't changed from the old version, I'm referring to the DISCOVER Version since not many people knows the high school version exists and it should stay that way LOL
That thing was an abomination ; v ;
Sorry for the long post lol You guys don't need to read this. Just thought I should share.
July and August prints have been shipped! US patrons expect them by Friday, International Patrons, hopefully next week or the week after!
Quimchee out!