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About chapter 1

The title of the first chapter is ”Second.”My initial thought was to name it ”First” or ”First day (of school)” But they felt a bit cliché and also a bit misleading. Sure, in the story it’s Austin’s first day of high school, so the title could work if the story was told from his perspective or if he was the main character. Alas, that is not the case.

Ken, our ”beloved” main character, on the other hand, is beginning his second year in high school.
So did I just name the chapter based on that?
Yes, but not entirely.

This is the second time I’ve begun publishing ”Colorful past.” My first attempt was over ten years ago in 2014. The story and the characters were pretty immature back then, as was I.
I only managed to publish the first two chapters, before (momentarily) giving up. In hindsight, I'm glad that I had the chance to let the story and the characters mature alongside me.

Pivture of the colorful past webcomic logo featuring the name of the first chapter second.
Picture of a webcomic panel, featuring the high school called Golden Hill.

In Finnish, ”PIM POM” is a common way of describing the sound of a doorbell. But that’s just a fun fact about Finland. The reason Golden Hill’s school bell ”sounds” like this is because it's a depiction of the sound of  which commenced recesses and announcements in my own high school. The sound itself was a bit muffled, kind of dull, but this is something I didn't care to incorporate into the story.

”PIM POM” is a great example of the fact that when I don’t know how I should describe a sound in English, I revert to using
a Finnish onomatopoeia. It might be a bit confusing, but at least my Finnish readers get a kick out of it, or so I’ve heard.

Ken’s phone is modeled after the one I had when I was a kid. It was a Nokia (of course) and it had a very aggressive vibration. Nowadays, it’s laying on my desk, so I can use it as a reference when needed.

Panel from a webcomic Colorful past featuring main character Ken Smith's hand grabbing his phone.
Picture from a webcomic Colorful past featuring the characters Ken and Austin, standing in their high school lobby.

You may have guessed this, but in my high school, there actually was a gym beneath the lobby. Although our entrance ceremony wasn't held there, it was in fact held in the other gym, which had its entrance just across the lobby. If you think that I wanted the gym to be beneath them because it was easier to draw, you’ve guessed right.

Again, based on my own high school.
And yes, it was awesome.

Panel from a webcomic Colorful past, main character Ken and his friend Austin are walking towards a separate bulding where their art and music classes are held.
Characters Wings of darkness and Austin are sitting in a high school cafeteria. From the webcomic/webtoon Colorful past.

I think it’s amusing how Wings holds his knife, stabbing his dinner. Sometimes little things like these make drawing
the mundane scenes much more fun.

You know that’s not the name his mama and papa gave him. He has a ”proper” name, which is a surprise for later.

I try to refer to him as ”Wings” when I’m writing or talking about him, but it’s sometimes difficult because I’m so used to using his real name.

Sometimes my ”struggles” in life are so minuscule and hyper specific that I can’t help but to feel a bit amused.


 

Picture of a comic book, webcomic character Wings of darkness in Colorful past.
Picture from a webcomic Colorful past featuring the pink haired main character Ken Smith, holding a soggy potato in his fork.

The wet, rubbery potato and the brown sauce.

If you know, you know 🇫🇮

Characters of Colorful past interacting with each other. Featuring Trevor the well-liked tutor character.

This scene is so bonkers that I’m actually proud of it.

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