aflairoffate - Tumblr blog

[aflairoffate]

The sexual tension in these panels alone is single-handedly why I draw this comic.

[Image description: two panels that show just the upper half of the face of two men in a stare off, one elegantly made up and beautiful while the other is clearly fucking over his bullshit.]

[aflairoffate]

I'm just gonna say it, but if you're looking for a story that delves into the struggle of waking up one day to learn that everything you thought was normal was actually part of a massive disinfo campaign organized specifically to make you complicit in the marginalization of other people and the ultimate destruction of everything good about humanity and the earth in favor of making a handful of people richer, and the process of grieving, coming to terms with that truth, and finding community in resistance, that is *literally* the foundation of my webcomic.

Like I am always seeing people saying they wish there was a story like this, and I am literally making it. It updates on Mondays. Thanks.

[aflairoffate]

[aflairoffate]

trust between two people who could easily kill one another (especially when it would be the more sensible option in the scenario) drives me insane. you could kill me. you SHOULD kill me. but you won’t. and i won’t. and i’m going to go a step further and trust you to hold my life in your hands. as i hold yours. wild sick twisted etc

[aflairoffate]

NEW EPISODE!!!

A Flair of Fate episode 7 is now up on the website and will release on WebToons at 7pm PT and, of course, you can catch up on all previous episodes at any time!

Trying to find a screenshot for this one that contained no spoilers was difficult but I think I pulled it off? Check out this space purchased by Gizney, the corporate overlords of entertainment in the United States of Amezzon. It's very normal to have corporate propaganda everywhere. This is a very normal, utopian society ^.^

[aflairoffate]

It's Webcomic Day and everyone on Bluesky is sharing their comics process, so I thought I'd share mine here too, especially because I can get more into detail here!

Whenever I'm writing a long-form comic, I always start with a script, usually using a TV script as my default because it's easier for me to check my pacing when I'm looking at the story through a "TV seasons, episodes, etc" format than a webcomic format (because webcomics are so variable!) So I spent about 3.5 years just scripting the entirety of a Flair of Fate as TV episodes before then converting those TV episodes into comic scripts so I could break down the story.

My next step is a rough sketch and the lettering laid out using rough bubbles and blocks. I need the lettering in early so I can make sure the story is all still visible with the words in place and make sure the panels aren't too crowded.

Step 3 is a clean sketch, but that clean sketch usually ends up merging into my line art, so I didn't have a layer for that available haha. Then I go over that clean sketch, thicken the lines to amplify the line weight in inks, and add color.

A Flair of Fate makes for an especially complex process because for every scene, I pick a new color palette based on what's happening with the POV character.

Like the story actually starts in full color here, but then after Javi (the MC)'s dad dies, the color gets bleached out.

And the color only starts to return when he meets his idol and embarks on his grand adventure to becoming a superhero.

So all that's to say that the color stage is actually a really complex part of the process because I'm always weighing what changes in Javi's life might bring more color into his world, and depending on what characters are present, and stuff like that, it might change entirely because he's no longer the POV. And then, of course, once I set a certain mood color, I have to adjust all the other colors accordingly to keep things accurate. It's a lot, but also very fun!

So yeah, that's my process! Consider checking out the comic if you found any of this interesting haha. It's up for free on Webtoons and the official comic website.

[aflairoffate]

"i would die for you" this, "i'd walk through fire for you that"

what about "i'd live for you" romances? what about "i never thought i'd be worth the work it would take to piece myself together"?

what about "i don't believe i'm worth it, but for you i'll try"

[aflairoffate]

Just out of curiosity, why did you decide to write A Flair of Fate as a comic, rather than prose?

Hi!

So this is actually a really complicated answer, but I'm gonna try to break it down into the key points.

A Flair of Fate is largely in conversation with shounen anime, so I wanted it to be in a medium that would allow it to embody the tropes it deploys, but also where it could be in open conversation with similar stories.

Prose is a really limited medium in a couple of different ways. It's hard to have really large casts in prose novels because it's hard for people to remember all of the characters when all you have is a name to remember them by, and bc prose typically follows a limited number of POVs, you can only keep up with so many characters in their own time, plus you're limited to only seeing that which your POV characters see/know. In a Flair of Fate, this would be a major issue because Javi is a REALLY unreliable narrator. [Mild spoilers to follow], BUT a recurring theme in this comic is normalizing things that are NOT normal. One example is here in the prologue:

This is just an establishing shot of Javi's best friend's house, but there are all these security cameras everywhere. They live in a dystopian police state, where there's hyper-vigilance, but that's normal to them, so if we were navigating all of this through Javi's head, it would be a lot harder to drop these details that he genuinely doesn't notice. Visually, I can establish these subtle cues throughout as the story builds, which is really important because this story has A LOT to explore that Javi is oblivious to at the beginning LOL.

3. The story is long form, kind of like old TV used to be, in that it's one long story that can be divided into arcs or seasons, but the big villain is consistent until we finally confront them at the end. In prose novels, each book is supposed to be able to stand [mostly] on it's own, with a full plot arc per installment, and that would absolutely not work for this story!

4. The fluidity of an illustrated medium detaches readers from a tendency to take things too seriously or too literally. It adds a sort of inherent humor that allows stories like, say, Avatar the Last Airbender, which deals with war and genocide, to still be incredibly light-hearted and funny most of the time. This was super pivotal for this story too because it does have some really dark moments and some very heavy plotlines. It's a dystopian, anticapitalist story at it's core, BUT most of it is a sort of slap-stick humor/friendship/romance story about all the shenanigans that go down in this superhero sports league, so being able to manipulate the tone of a scene through the artwork makes a HUGE difference!

Ex:

5. And the last big reason is because I have ADHD and reading prose sometimes can feel kind of insurmountable, but the bite-size, visual heavy chunks of webcomic format gives my brain the happy hum feeling, so when I decided that I wanted to tell as story that would embody everything *I* the fanboi would want in a story, I realized it only made sense to let it be a webcomic!

Anyway, thanks for asking! Sorry this was the longest response ever LOL

[aflairoffate]

Villain things I want to see more of

Actually funny. Not making jokes at other people's expense, not the butt of the joke, just villains that have absurd senses of humour and top-notch intentional comedic timing,

CHARISMA!!! Please, can we have more charming villains, villains that can sway a crowd, villains that get away with things because their too polite, too well-spoken, too funny to possibly to evil.

Respected. Villains whose villainous deeds have led them to success and made them widely respected members of society. To be clear, this isn't respected person who is secretly evil. No. I mean, the bad things they've done are the reason they're respected.

Let them win. Let them win because their plan succeeded. Not because the protagonists fucked up, not by pure luck. Let them earn their victories.

Supporters! Lots of them. The more powerful your villain is, the more supporters they are going to need. If the evil king is unpopular with everyone he's not going to stay king for long. He needs allies, lots of them, especially if he's a tyrant.

Knows how to play the game. Manipulative villains who say whatever they have to to get their way, chose their allies and enemies carefully, bribe and blackmail, play the victim, the hero, or even the innocent when it suits them. Make it hard for your protagonists to convince anyone they are a villain at all.

Cold Steel. Give me villains that don't get angry easy, that laugh things off, that kill because it's efficient and for no other reason.

Clever and creative. Strategists who always have a trick up their sleeve and problem solvers with personal flare.

Show other characters reacting with fear. Nothing rams home how terrifying a villain is quite like watching other powerful characters fall to their knees--fast--when they walk in the room.

Irredeemable despite their tragic backstories. For the love of god people, tragic backstories do not justify a villain's actions. You can have empathy for what they've endured while still expecting them to take responsibility for what they've become.

Unconventionally attractive. Take this however you want. I, for one, would like to see more tortured bad boys who aren't white and shredded. But also, villains whose attractiveness lies in how they talk, their body language and facial expressions, and their outfits. Why do y'all think smirking is such a popular word??

Love. Let them love their spouses, their children, their friends. Not in an abusive way either. Let them have healthy relationships with their still living wives, daughters, sons, comrades in arms etc.

Kind. Give me villains who tip well, who put their own garbage away even though the servants could do it, who remember their henchmen's names, who are good with kids, who donate to charity and not just for the tax incentives

[aflairoffate]

The most important lesson I learned while writing a super gay superhero comic is that "heroes" and "herpes" are only one letter apart, and those letters are right next to each other on the keyboard.

[aflairoffate]

TOP TIER CONTENT

[aflairoffate]

I got into comics specifically because prose fiction doesn't allow me to draw random funko pops of my OCs and stick them in other OC's bedrooms

[aflairoffate]

In my superhero webcomic, I have a character who controls a dead dimension that absorbs everything around it, including gravity, and I have since learned that underwater/swimming poses are the literal perfect reference for action shots!

I am once again startled that this project is actually working out...

[aflairoffate]

Welcome to A Flair of Fate, a webcomic by Emery Lee.

If you like stories that

Star queer characters but aren't about "the struggle"

Combine action, comedy, romance, and fantasy elements

Feature large casts of chaotic, interesting, and morally variable characters

Embody progressive themes without the long lectures

Utilize (and sometimes subvert) fun tropes like enemies to lovers, found family, second chance romance, the chosen one, and more

Then you are in the right place! This blog will be a fun collection of chapter updates, bonus content, musings, behind the scenes, and more. In the meantime, the story updates every Monday (excluding holidays), so go ahead and take a look!

Read on Webtoons

Read on the Website

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