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Magical girl boy story unlike any other...
About chapter 2
After spending almost two years writing the script of Colorful past I began to illustrate the story. Early on I vowed that whatever it is I draw I wont go back and fix. My top priority is to finish the whole story but I must admit that there where a few (minor) things in chapter two that I couldn’t help but to correct. Left: Old version. Right: New version.
1. The guidance counsellor’s pen. It had no color and once I colored it I realized how tiny it was, so I made it bigger.
2. This weird line between the panels had to go.
His tie has little bear faces and the letters ”GB.”
He’s a big fan of the school’s baseball team.
I wanted the posters to be purposely hard to ignore.
When Ken gets angry or frustrated, he clenches his fists.
I really like how different his and Trevor's body language is in this scene. Trevor is overly positive, self-assured and wide open. Ken on the other hand looks stiff and ready to punch someone
(read Trevor).
Yes, I really like the logo of the baseball team.
Originally the team was called ”Golden bears” but when I did some research and found out that there is an actual baseball team called ”Golden bears” in California, I changed it.
The logo is more about the bear and less about the baseball. Even thought my hometown is very baseball oriented, I’m not really into the sport.
Note that Finnish baseball = pesäpallo,
differs a bit from (regular?) baseball.
I had no idea how, so I looked it up.
One example being: Unlike traditional baseball, Pesäpallo sees the pitcher and batter on the same team. Source:truescandinavia.com
And if you’d ask me are the characters playing baseball or pesäpallo I wouldn’t have an answer for you, you can use your imagination on this one.
Luckily, I’m not writing a sports comic here.
I liked the GB logo so much that I made some vinyl stickers with a nice golden background based on it. I’ve been tabling at conventions and such and while I’m writing this, my comic is nowhere near well-known but still there have been instances where I’ve sold some GB-stickers. I always feel like asking: ”Why are you buying this? What does it remind you of?” Because for me, it’s so tied to the comic itself. I get curious, but I feel like it would be weird if I asked.
Ken is usually a tense person and Austin is more loose. Here Ken has a more shut stance than Austin, who tends to have more wide and open poses in general. When I draw Austin, I imagine that he’s the kind of person who doesn’t mind taking up space and does it naturally. I really like how his hands are often incorporated when he’s speaking until I have to draw said hands.
Before I started writing the script for Copa I had often visioned the characters to be basic American high schoolers or something like that. From day one Ken was named Ken and Austin was Austin etc.
When more environmental backgrounds began to pop up, people started to get the impression that the story itself is located in Finland.
So, is it?
It kind of is and isn’t. It’s part imaginary and part based on my own experiences, as stories often are. Sometimes the other part is just more present than
the other. I do feel like it’s more important to leave room for interpretation than it is to specify where the characters are precisely from.
Ken often has his ankles visible, this is because when I started coloring the first chapters of Copa I was so overwhelmed that
I just couldn’t decide a possible sock color for him. So his ankles were left bare. But the thought of him wearing shoes with bare feet made me uncomfortable.
And that’s why Ken wears ankle socks.
I myself can’t do that. The ankle socks always roll under my sols and even with normal socks my ankles get cold very easily.
Wearing ankle socks is something I can’t relate to at all. When I’m drawing Ken and his sorry socks, I want to ask him:
”Why would you choose to wear these, just why?”
But in my heart, I know I’m the culprit behind his poor sock selection.
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