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ch. 08 WIP: still changing

It'll probably be changing forever.

08-08 A silly one

This week on WisteriA: When Cats Go Ominous (And What To Do About It)

08-07 A fine mess

I know this cat has been a bit full of itself since its appearance, but you'd still expect it to try to be a better guest.

That background in the middle panel has appeared in a previous WIP snapshot on Patreon. I talked about how it took a while because I scavenged around for reference in other manga to make it, on top of actually drawing it. Learning bit by bit!

08-06 What about Momo?

This page was a bit of a turning point in the art—specifically, the way the cat is drawn in that bottom-left panel prompted me to go back and edit all the previous cat drawings to match it. Naturally, it also directly what the cat would look like in all the pages that would follow. The cat up until this point had been more or less realistic in its rendering (to the best of my ability, anyway), but I'm actually glad I was able to start stylizing it a little.

Speaking of the art: my favorite part is probably Momo's left hand in that same bottom-left panel! Soft.

08-05 A walk around

Momo's strange adventure continues...

As she ventures into a familiar scene, the presence of her new feline companion is enough to make it seem like a different world entirely.

ch. 08 WIP: One more for the month

A last snapshot of chapter 8 before heading into September. It's getting colder out...

08-04 No pets allowed

Thou shalt not even speak the word.

ch. 08 WIP: Better grounds

This page was mostly finished, except the backgrounds were pretty ugly. In contrast, I'd been reading some manga that had good backgrounds that caught my eye just recently, so I went back to it and referenced it to find out how to make things a bit nicer. Next is working on drawing buildings by hand, too...

08-01 Momo and the nameless cat

[Chapter cover including pages 02 and 03!]

Usual morning.

It's chapter 8! As with I think all the previous chapters, I tried yet more new things in this one, this time mostly related to inking and screen tone usage. You'll find that there are less tones now, which I think help alleviate some of the graininess that they might have been causing... I actually liked that texture at first, but I kind of want to try for a cleaner look now. We'll see how it goes.

I'm actually still in the middle of inking this chapter as I'm scheduling this post, but all the updates should still take place as planned. I hope you're enjoying WisteriA! Remember that it has a capital A at the end, officially speaking.

07-32 Just beginning

It's the end of chapter 7! That's seven whole chapters of WisteriA, or 84 pages, or 10 months of updates. It's time to start organizing the first printed volume. (<= may or may not be a real plan)

The main cast is assembled now. By main cast, I mean the four main characters that I had planned from the beginning. Aside from them, there are characters like Yaya and Azalea's friends (of whom we caught a short glimpse), as well as Momo's classmate who returned her dropped sketchbook to her in the first chapter... Not to mention the store clerk lady from chapter 5, and many others to come. I have so many plans and not enough time to draw it all.

Chapter 8 begins right away. I hope you like WisteriA so far!

(And to those viewing this on Patreon, thanks for your support!)

ch.08 WIP: This chapter is a festival of hands

It's also a cat festival.

I knew I was setting myself for a bunch of hard-to-draw things by writing this story, but it's good practice in the end. Great!

I think chapter 8 will be a bit shorter than chapter 7. Say ~16 pages, or two months of posting to reach completion. Initially I had a lot more planned for this chapter, but after writing down the outline, it looked like it'd be better off being two chapters. Now you know chapter 9 will pick up where 8 leaves off!

07-31 That's her

Yes it is!

(Sorry for late post...!)

07-30 Budding

Did you know? Wisteria bloom in mid to late spring, just as summer is about to take over. It takes a fair bit of work to get them to blossom, and even then, it takes several years before new roots can produce flowers at all.

When they do, it's a sight to behold, fully worth the time it takes to get there.

07-29 Thanks!

A simple gesture all too important...

07-28 See you tomorrow

~GOOD END~

Those birds were a good drawing experience. There will be more animals in the future, as well...

ch.07 WIP: No longer a work in progress

It's a work in completion!

It's already started publishing, as you might know, though I only really finished off the very last of it today. I'll be writing/drawing chapter 8 from now on, starting with storyboards, as usual. Great!

07-27 The imperfect opportunity

Embrace the imperfection! You're not messing anything up since nothing's perfect to begin with anyway.

07-26 A chance

Moments of clarity for all!

It's August now! Chapter 7 will be ending in the coming eight pages. Thanks for another month of supporting WisteriA!

-momo

07-25: Courage and love

Do you all remember the comic that Mari is working on entitled To The World With Courage And Love? I really should include it more in the story so that readers don't forget it's there...

Hopefully now you've been reminded of it! And from now on we can all remember the part it played today in helping our characters along.

ch.07 WIP: birds

berbs

I put off drawing these birds so much.

There's a new format for Patreon image posts now! Is it nice?

07-24 Love the challenge

This ties back with chapters 3 and 4, a two-part story arc that dealt with Momo's thoughts regarding the direction she wanted to take her own art. The learning experience never really ended... and now she gets to share it with someone, too.

At page 24, there's only 8 more pages until chapter 7 finishes. By then it'll have taken four months to draw, which is kind of a lot. As always, reducing the amount of time it takes to make pages would be pretty great.

ch.07 WIP: (◡‿◡✿)

(◡‿◡✿)

07-23 Nothing out of place

What's most important to you?

Yes, that is a photo of the sky that I happened to take and decided to use for this page. It looks better than any clouds I could do by hand with tones, in any case.

Fun fact: today on 7/23 publishes chapter 7, page 23! Only for the Patreon's early access tier, though.

ch. 07 WIP: Azaleaface

The bad news is that I didn't quite manage to finish this page today. The good news is that I drew this! Please speculate on the context until the page is published.

07-22 What suits you

Momo wisdom...

07-21 Cool to me

You'll always be cool to Momo...

ch.7 WIP: almost there

I'm not really sure how this panel will turn out style-wise... but I'll find out when I ink it later. It should be fun. Also, thanks for another month of supporting WisteriA!

07-20 Suitable

I think it's a common factor for a lot of people deciding on taking up things... Maybe not directly, but if there's concern regarding appearances while undertaking something new or worries about how it'll look to others, to an extent it's a matter of people's expectations and our conforming to what will appear normal—what suits us, in other words. The issue has many forms as well, from the tangible undertaking of things to personality traits and life styles.

Life is hard, man

And though things are progressing a little, things like intolerance, prejudice and ignorance are still pretty common and make a real ordeal of it all. I hope perhaps ambitiously that maybe writing WisteriA will help alleviate some of the burden.

07-19 Someone I just met

A perhaps unexpectedly anxious Azalea appears...

I was reading some manga lately and realized that there's so much you can do with panel layouts, so I was like... yeah, let's just try whatever. Awesome!

Are those birds a little big? Oh well.

07-18 There's a reason for this, honest

Sometimes an Azalea can't help but be a little sweaty.

Especially when she has business with a Momo...?