#ask knightjj

[theartofknightjj]

these little guys means so much to me and i'm very glad to see both them and you back :)

YELLS WHY DID I NOT SEE THIS ASK LMFAO

[to-a-merrier-world]

Webcomic recs!

These are some of my absolute favorite webcomics that I’m reading right now (all are in-progress). They aren’t ranked in any order, since I don’t think I could choose a favorite. Also, all of these have queer themes of some variety, since that’s just how I like my entertainment. Anyways, here we go!

1) Check, Please! by Ngozi Ukazu   (read here)

Description: Eric Bittle—former Georgia junior figure skating champion, vlogger extraordinaire, and amateur pâtissier—is starting his freshman year playing hockey at the prestigious Samwell University in Samwell, Massachusetts. And it’s basically nothing like co-ed club hockey back in the South. For one? There’s checking. It’s a story about hockey and friendship and bros and trying to find yourself during the best 4 years of your life. 

My notes: This is one of the more popular webcomics around right now, at least from what I’ve seen, and that popularity is well-deserved. The characters are well-written, unique, and very fun; the story has a good pacing and keeps you engaged; and the art is really nice. I’m personally very fond of this comic because I, too, am a queer Southern guy person, so I can really relate to Bitty and all his struggles and idiosyncrasies. Plus, it’s cute, sweet, has relatable angst, and is already promised to have a happy ending, so what more could I ask for? Also, pie. And hockey butts. And no need for any knowledge on actual hockey. Need I say more?

2) No End by  Erli & Kromi (read here)

Description: No End is a romantic soap opera webcomic about a group of people trying to survive and make lives for themselves in a cold, post-apocalyptic world ravaged by hordes of undead. Heavy on LGBTQ+ themes, content warning for occasional blood, gore, violence and strong language. 

My notes: This comic guys. THIS. COMIC. It’s so good, okay; so good. I’m not even all that into zombies (I’ve only liked In the Flesh and Warm Bodies, as far as zombie stuff goes, if that tells you anything), and I love this comic. I literally read all of it (that was out at the time) last year in one sitting. That good, y’all. The characters are great and surprise you at different turns, the relationships are engaging and realistic, and the art is drop-dead (ha) gorgeous. 

3) Sunshine-Boy (Leftovers) by Moosopp (read here)

Description: Sunshine Boy is about a boy named Kelly, moving to a new environment and struggling to fit in. Growing up in a loving house hold and having supporting parents. He has to learn that the world isn't as nice as he thought it would be. 

My notes: Y’aaaall, this artist is quite possibly my favorite artist, ever. I don’t even know, their style just makes me feel things, ok. Also, this is probably the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s still going, and there are future content warnings for violence/bullying/drug use/sexual content, so it may not stay so lighthearted and cute, but I love it, so. I also just recommend this artist/writer in general, cause all their works are wonderful and gorgeous. Besides my obvious hard on for their art, though, the story has a nice flow and the characters are all really unique and interesting--you can really tell that there’s more to them than what we’ve seen, and I’m personally very excited to see where all these characters go.

4) Les Normaux by KnightJJ (read here)

Description: Les Normaux follows the lives of a bunch of supernatural beings living in Paris after a human wizard named Sebastien moved to the city. 

My notes: Honestly, what’s better than queer characters, Paris, and modern mythical/supernatural creatures in a slice-of-life style comic? Not much. This is a really cool comic that changes which character they highlight in each episode. The character designs are unique; everyone has different problems, solutions, and happy moments, but they’re all connected in one way or another, which is super cool; and I really dig the art style (ok, I know I say this about everything, but I just really love art, ok? All of these people are wonderfully talented and hardworking).

5) George and Johnny by Savi (read here)

Description: Comics about two unlikely friends, George and Johnny. Stayed tuned for bad jokes, high school, sleepovers, bands, romance, burgers, and tiramisu. ((not necessarily in that order)) 

My notes: A comic that has a sweet, chubby, nerdy guy as one of the main characters? Sign me the fuck up. This is an extremely sweet and wholesome comic about two boys becoming close friends (and possibly something else? yet to see...). It’s very much a slice-of-life kind of comic, concentrating on characters and their relationships, and I honestly love it so much. The art style is also really pretty, especially the coloring, which is typically bright and kinda pastel, which I really dig. 

6) Sharp Zero by robotsharks (read here)

Description: Delivering takeout normally doesn't end with lethal exposure to superscience, but Elliot's habit of being at the wrong place at the wrong time lands him in a shitshow that ends up with being brought back from the dead with the help of Danny, the cute intern who he died hitting on. His new form of undead life gives him new powers and recognition from a high ranking superhero organization. While running with the heroes he used to worship, Elliot learns what it really means to be alive. 

My notes: Y’all. Do words even exist to describe my love for this comic? I don’t think they do. The art? Gorgeous. The writing? Interesting, well-paced, and hilarious. The characters? Unique, beautiful, and deliciously diverse. There’s superheroes. There’s the supernatural. There’s aliens. This comic has got it all and it’s amazing. I’ve never seen something so specifically my kind of thing, but this is hitting everything I love, plus its got gorgeous art. Need I really say more?

7) Long Exposure by mars (read here)

Description: Long Exposure is an ongoing webcomic about a nerd and a bully who are forced to work on a class project together. The story revolves around them developing super powers after an incident at a strange research center, and finding themselves followed by a mysterious car, overcoming personal challenges, and (most importantly) discovering how gay they are for each other. 

My notes: I was actually kinda unsure about this comic before I read it, since the whole enemies to lovers trope isn’t often my thing (only if it’s done really well). But after reading what’s been posted? I love it. These characters are imperfect people who the author treats as imperfect people, and they do it really well. Also, their art style is sooo cool and unique, I dig it a lot. Also, I’m really digging where the story is going and how they’re handling it, thus far, so I’m super excited to keep reading it.

8) Heavy Horns by Joane Kwan (read more)

Description: Guy meets guy, but it isn't love at first sight. Just how will Andreas ever get along with the enthusiastic Beau remains to be seen. An unromantic romance. Warning: Can be nsfw, also, these two swear a lot. 

My notes: Okay, so admittedly the first thing that caught my eye with this comic was that one of the main characters literally has horns. Like. Legit horns. Growing out of his head. It works for him, though. Anyways, this is a cool fic and I really like where it’s going, cause it’s really highlighting some of the struggles that queer people face, especially relationship wise. The art is also really gorgeous, with unique character designs that I dig a lot (no, it’s not just because of the guy with the bull horns... I actually like Beau’s characters design the most...).

9) Griefer Belt by Kales (read here)

Description: Griefer Belt is a slice of life series about queer criminals in the black market! Light-hearted dark humor ensues! Contains violence, gore, foul language and sexual references.

My notes: This is a fun one. All the characters have very... grey morality, considering they’re all in the business of black market organs selling (and no, I don’t mean the instrument). But! The characters are fun, the writing is funny, and the art is great. And, honestly, who doesn’t love a little dark humor every once in a while?

Special Mentions:

Memory Born by theroyalglasses (read here) -- there hasn’t been much written for this one yet, but the art is rad and I dig the concept.

Improvise by robotsharks (read here) -- very new, and very fun; same author as Sharp Zero, only this one is about lady assassins. Nice.

A Turn for Change by Kace (read here) -- not a lot has happened yet in this comic, but I dig the characters, and the art style is pretty rad.

Same Shit Different Day by Moosopp (read here) -- by the same author as Sunshine Boy, this is kinda just a mini comic about the artist’s life. I’m still in love with the art, and we also, apparently, have similar senses of humor, so I genuinely find this comic hilarious

And that’s it! I hope you can find something you love, too, out of this list. And if you end up getting into any of these, come chat with me! I’m always up for chatting about these comics! 

[150days-comic]

I have to say, telling a story with absolutely no dialogue is not an easy feat. But you have an incredible way with emotions and expression that just feels so remarkably natural and real. The use of paint and a more free-flowing form of line work and color really brings the whole thing together in a really beautiful way. Moral of my nerdy art rambling, A+ would totally buy a physical copy of this if you ever made one

aaaaaaaaaaaaa thanks so much!!!!!! :’’’3

[atlasask]

The next update has a date?

No not at the moment. Things are kinda weird with Atlas at the moment so I don’t know when I will update yet. sorry :c

[atlaswebcomic]

Is it a bad thing that I ship James and Manu?

[theartofknightjj]

Just read Les Normaux and I'm absolutely obsessed with them!! I love your art style 💞

Omg!!! Thank you soso much I love themm aaAAAAAaa!! 😭😭😭😭✨✨✨

[theartofknightjj]

dear author!!

i just finished reading the season 1 finale and oh it was so so wonderful

im so happy with how it turned out for them and im so intrigued to know what will happen with that person on the end (trying not to theorize or accidentally spoil lol)

thank you for sharing your wonderful story and gorgeous work with us, i cant wait to see more of everyone in season 2!

I'm soooo happy to hear you enjoyed this season!!!

the person at the end would be Seb's little sister 👀 I'm very excited to start telling the season 2 story for you soon aaa!! 💚💜

[theartofknightjj]

LOVES THE SEASON FINALE! In my opinion it fully showed why this comic so good; the art, the emotional developments, the character dynamics, just everything honestly. Anyways, thank you for creating this BEAUTIFUL story!!

Thank you so muchhhh aa a a a a a aaaaa

[theartofknightjj]

hello! i hope this is okay question, but does AI still work on the comic? i noticed some time ago you started writing „i” instead of „we” in the episode descriptions etc.

No that's a fair question!

We originally worked together more tightly and lined out the season etc but over time for numerous reasons I ended up doing most of the story work. And from episode 29 on it's been just me writing. And it's just me for all of season 2 also.

Al however still does all the graphic design/bubbles for the comic and will continue to do so! He also helps me with colour flats sometimes. :)

[theartofknightjj]

If you dont mind my asking- what colour pallet do you use for colouring/shading? Your art is so pretty omg aaaaaaaa

Thank you! And I don't really know how to answer this because I'm always using different colours in different pieces.

But for shading I can say I never shade with black/grey unless the base colour itself is already grey. But even then I tend to go for warmer grey tones. Most of the time I shade with a warmer tone. I think it makes especially characters skin look more alive!

Also when you have recurring characters like in a comic never just copy paste the colours as is! I always slightly adjust it to the background. (not just in case of day/night scenes but also just using red instead of blue as a background you'll see colours change it's all relative!)

Here's an example of Sébastien's skin colours slightly changing across episodes depending on the setting!

If you find it hard to pick a shading colour try using a new layer and setting it to overlay but use a warm colour instead, like a very light beige. Light layers I use colour dodge layers for! Those are a bit more tricky as sometimes it looks nicer if you use more "dull" tones as it otherwise over saturates the base colour.

And in general if you find it hard to colour and shade try playing with the hue and saturation adjustment layers after you coloured everything to get to a finished result you like more. Over time you'll get a better sense for what you like and you can even colour pick your own art! Also there's nothing wrong with colour picking photos and other people's art to practice/get the colour that you want imo! (It goes without saying to not copy someones whole piece but it's just colours!)

I'm sorry I couldn't be more specific but I hope this helped!

[theartofknightjj]

Hi, I was wondering what you use to create screen tones/ halftones with?

All my lineart, screentone, texture, effect etc brushes that I use for my comic are from True grit texture supply! Basically everything but the flat colours (Which i do with just a standard photoshop brush)

I really love their brushes because they all have a very retro/distressed feel. rather than a super clean digital look! I recommend checking out their free sample pack :)

[theartofknightjj]

idk how you do it but whenever i am having a bad day les normaux updates and suddenly everything is ok again

like without fail the past two updates ive been done and look what it is! an update to make my day better

also its literally my favorite webcomic just in general rn i love it so so so much

i want to speed read through it because i love the characters so much but i have to go so slowly because i love the art and you better believe i am taking the proper time to pour over it and fully enjoy it

Thank you so so much!! This means so much to hear!

I want nothing more then for LN to bring joy to people and make them feel good. And I hope you'll have less bad days soon! ❤️

And don't worry it will always be up online to re-read haha! But my perfectionist artist side is very happy to hear that you enjoy every panel 🥺❤️❤️❤️

[theartofknightjj]

Why are vampires blue?

I don't really have a answer for that apart from I just liked it haha!

I remember the first time I drew Elia i tried out some different skin tones including very pale/white but nothing felt right until I made him grey/blue. And over time he got more blue because I like the more saturated look. Also I think it really suits him as someone who lives at night!

[theartofknightjj]

Can I still read the original les normaux somewhere, or is it gone? Thanks!

It's still available to read at it's original place on tapas!

[theartofknightjj]

Hey have you seen the latest article of 9ekunst.nl?

I did not!

Thank you for showing me that's so cool! (Even though I wish they didn't use my old thumbnail art hahahsjhdf)

For my fellow dutch speaking peeps!

[theartofknightjj]

Hi! I am currently doing my 10th (or more idk I lost count) reread of Les Normaux and I just wanted to say how much I love your comic. The characters are so interesting and so well-written. The art style is also an absolute favourite of mine, the use of colour, the amazing backgrounds and just the overall vibe make the comic so visually interesting to look at. Anyways, just wanted to thank you for creating such a masterpiece!

Thank you so much that's so nice to hear!! I love putting a lot of attention and care into every detail so I'm really glad that you pick up on things and appreciate them 🥺

also wahhh 10th!? I feel honored 😭💚 I hope you'll continue to love it as the story moves further aaa