#AstralSounds comic

[astralsoundscomic]

AstralSounds turns 8 years old today!

To celebrate, I'm running an AMA over on the AstralSounds Discord this Monday (the 8th)

Also, AstralSounds will return from hiatus on the 17th!

[styrofauxm]

Hey! Do you want stories with and/or about aspec characters and people? Well, I have some!

(Fair warning for some minor spoilers when relevant to their identities)

Comics:

Not Even Bones - Urban fantasy story with morally grey characters. Both main characters are aspec, and they end up in a QPR

Hyperfocus - Slice of life, real stories from a aroace trans man, as well as guest writers who talk about their experiences

Muted - Fantasy (some urban fantasy elements) with an aspec mentor character who plays a major role in the story

Always Human - Sci-fi romance with an aspec side character. She isn't a major part of the story, but the episode that focuses on her aspec identity was so well done it made me cry

Seven Days in Silverglen - Urban fantasy romance with an arospec main character

AstralSounds - Sci-fi space opera with an aromantic main character and an asexual main character

Gwenpool - No idea how to link it bc it's just a collection of comics about the character, but superhero story, and that character is explicitly aroace

Books:

Protector of the Small Series - High fantasy series with a (word-of-god well after the fact) aroace main character

Vespertine - High fantasy with an aroace main character

Market of Monsters - The books that the Not Even Bones webcomic is based on

Every Heart a Doorway - Urban fantasy with an asexual main character

Also shameless promotion of a blog I help run, @aspec-friendly-reading, where we are sharing books that have little to know romantic and/or sexual content for aspec people who want to avoid that type of story for any reason!

Television:

The Owl House - Portal fantasy with an aroace side character

Steven Universe - Urban fantasy with an aroace side character

Hazbin Hotel - IDK any idea for the genre, but one of the main characters is canonically asexual and heavily implied to be aromantic

[caughtbubbles]

Hey Leigh! You've been making your webcomic for a long time now! I'm still working on concepts for my own on and off (reworking my theses into the webcomic). Is there anything you like and don't like about making Astral Sounds? I was thinking of getting Clipstudio Paint for it (heard a lot of ppl think it's easier to make it there than on PS) but I heard it was switching over to a subscription based program like PS (I could be wrong though)

Oh boy, it has been a long time since I started AstralSounds. Nearly 7 years! There's a lot to say I like and dislike about it at this point. I really enjoy seeing other creative folks getting excited and inspired by what I've been putting out in the world. I enjoy the sense of accomplishment when I finish a new page, or look back at all the work I've done on the comic overall. I enjoy the process itself, figuring out how to make the next scene work visually, and learning what does and doesn't work just by trying stuff out. I've grown so much more as an artist just by constantly working on a project like this.

The main thing I don't like is the silent (or sometimes less silent) pressure to keep updating, even when life hits. Most of my readers are very sweet and understanding when I have to take a hiatus, but I still feel guilty stepping away for too long. I don't take as many breaks as I actually need to. Even if I never ever got a rude comment (which I have), website algorithms demand constant updates. If I don't post semi-regularly, I lose readership, and lose what small amount of extra income the comic provides. It's a tough balance to strike.

As for Clip Studio Paint, I actually don't know that much about it. I keep wanting to test it out some and try to transition at least part of my process over to it, but I haven't had the time or energy to learn my way around the program. I do hear a lot of great things, though. My understanding of the subscription system they've introduced is that they are still doing a pay-once model, but you can subscribe to gain access to new features as they roll them out. I might be wrong, though.

Anyway, I wish you the best of luck with your own comic! I'm so excited to see what you do with it! I always adored your very early concepts from your thesis, and I simply love seeing projects grow over time. Just watching your main character design and overall artistic skill and style evolve over the years has been so awesome!

(To the rest of my followers, please go check out @delespi's work! Looking at her art always brightens my day 💜)

[susiron]

I love Webtoons and its ability to help my ADHD ass keep up with comics. The artists that post their comics there deserve a lot of love and support, and I wanna share my favorites (in no particular order)! Some of them are more popular than others, while some are newer or I had to dig for them.

1. Castle Swimmer

This Webtoon got me to download the app in the first place. It’s a very cute comic about gay merpeople and prophecies and I love it dearly. It has lovely representation (trans, gay, bi, and even ace characters!), an adorable art style, and I love the unfolding story of it. Seeing a merpeople comic that’s entirely underwater and without humans is really cool too. It has some pretty rad fish and monster designs also, including the cutest little axolotl-puppy.

2. Lumine

Another super cute one. It involves werewolf (and weredog) people and witches. I love the art and the dynamic between the two main characters. The character designs are all so simple but so lovely. I’m obsessed with how they draw paws.

3. Suitor Armor

I love literally everything about this comic. The characters, the art, the story. It’s on hiatus right now and I’ll be racing to read it once it returns. It’s about fairies, magic, and the most precious suit of armor since Alphonse Elric. It also has some great representation and the loveliest drawn hair.

4. The Croaking

Very gay, very good. Awesome art, really interesting world building, intriguing characters and story. The romance in it is a very slow burn with lots of twists and turns and it has had me hooked for a long while now. When I first started reading it I like got no sleep to catch up with the story. It’s about a world full of avian people (people with bird wings) with a lot of racial tension between the various types of bird species.

5. Heir’s Game

It’s about a man of noble birth falling in love with one of the men fighting to become his bodyguard in a series of duels. The world building for the country the story is based in is really cool, and it’s just as gay as you might expect.

6. Everything is Fine

I just started reading this one and damn if it aint unsettling. FAIR WARNING it’s got some graphic depictions of violence, and also an early depiction of a dead dog (there are warnings in the comic for when these occur). It involves an idealistic neighborhood of people wearing these goofy cat masks, with every page slowly revealing something more fucked up going on under the tense surface.

7. Nomads

This one is very new but I’m already loving it. It’s about a dude deciding to become a “nomad” to explore a world that restricts travel otherwise. The art for it is already lovely and I’m interested to see more of the world and story!

8. AstralSounds

This one is about funky little alien dudes exploring the universe and collecting specimens to research-- as well as the intricacies of interacting with intelligent extraterrestrial life. Space is typically not my jam, but the story is interesting and I love the creature designs.

9. Equus Siderae

Anyone that consistently draws horses as well as this artist manages to deserves a medal. Seeing the artist’s work improve over the course of the comic is particularly awesome. If you want a story with animal protags, and some crazy magic shenanigans, it’s a really interesting one. 

10. Forgotten

This is another one I just started (and am not caught up with). It’s about cats solving cat murders and the art is REALLY fucking cute. I definitely need to read more of it.

11. The Little Trashmaid

Of all the comics I’ve listed here this one is the least story-driven one. You’ve possibly seen the original Little Trashmaid drawing when it made its rounds on Tumblr years ago. This comic is very cute and wholesome and it is going somewhere with its characters between all the shenanigans. Also the artist uses the comic to support cleaning up the oceans, helping bees, and other eco-friendly pursuits!

12. Fox Fires

I only started this comic a few weeks ago and I couldn’t stop reading it until I was caught up. The characters are all animals (with the main character being a raccoon dog), and the story is heavily inspired by Finnish mythology. It has some wicked elf designs and the art style is adorable. 

[catcomixzstudios]

Today's Friday Fan-Art stars Yunni from @caughtbubbles‘ webcomic, AstralSounds! The comic is pretty early on into the story as of making this, but it promises to be about Yunni's discovery of the universe beyond his home planet. I love me some alien sci-fi stuff, so it's no wonder this appealed to me.

[astralsoundscomic]

I bet everyone was hoping for more bureaucratic rambling in today's AstralSounds update!

[astralsoundscomic]

Fun times with Aeneun continue in today's AstralSounds update!

[astralsoundscomic]

It's AstralSounds update day!

[astralsoundscomic]

I had a busy weekend promoting the Favor Kickstarter at a local convention, but when things slowed down a bit on the third day I ended up doodling a little Yunni and Rez!

I've really missed drawing these guys. Most of my artistic energy has gone into Favor lately. While I've enjoyed the challenge, it feels almost cozy to step back into drawing characters that I know so well

[astralsoundscomic]

Aeneun and Oalau duke it out (verbally) in today's AstralSounds update

[astralsoundscomic]

New page, new planet in today's AstralSounds update!

[astralsoundscomic]

AstralSounds is back from hiatus!

[astralsoundscomic]

Happy Valentine's/AstralSounds Update Day!

[astralsoundscomic]

Rez demonstrates proper manners in today's AstralSounds update

[astralsoundscomic]

A new AstralSounds page is up!

[astralsoundscomic]

Girge tries to answer some questions in today's AstralSounds update (And Rerk makes a pest of himself as usual)