Ramune Station

Hi there, I'm Melodie and this is my personal blog. I post my art, WIPs, and often signal boost awesome art projects. Here in the West (Webcomic) TBA TBA Email: [email protected]

[melodielapot]

if voice actors are the souls of the characters they portray, would they have any memory of their previous lives?

A Super Crossover with Motorcity/Steven Universe/7D

Jess Harnell (Texas/Grim Gloom)

Kate Miucci (Julie/Sadie)

[ramunestation]

Hello all, It's been ages since I last visited. I was feeling a little nostalgic so I visited my old Motocity Doujinshi circle "Engines & Parfaits" and stumbled on the last comic I posted.

Little backstory: Shortly after Motorcity "concluded" their only season, the voice actors of show moved onto their next projects. The off chance I was watching Disney XD's show "7D" and surprised to hear Texas as one of the villains. The character Grim Gloom had that "Himbo" energy which brought out some of Texas's characteristics.

I was also watching Steven Universe at the time and pleasantly surprised to hear Julie's VA on the show. Then the wild idea of: "WHAT IF, the souls (via Voice Actors) retained memories from their "past lives" and met up again?

And this silly little comic still gets to me. Tears, man. TEARS!

[ramunestation]

Woot woot! The girls are back after nearly 3 years!

Yep, sorry for the wait oTL

[hereinthewestcomic]

[ramunestation]

Surprise, "Here in the West" returns! A lot has happened during the hiatus. [animation] industry work has dried up for a lot of us and I found myself some NPC job to bide my time during the lull. It's paying bills and gaming addiction, so it'll do for now. It took me several months to get used to my new hospitality job and now I've found a way to carve out some time to work on the webcomic again. I'm not sticking to a weekly/monthly schedule; I don't need another stressor to add to the mix. So I'll be update as they are finished and schedule their release in advance. Enjoy! I miss my girls and my readers reading about them.

[cryptidwlw69]

WATCH MOTORCITY

It gets you the baddest bitches!!!

@zombiezonk

[ruemxu]

love an Unhinged Hot Girl Shonen Protagonist

>> status royale

[hinoart]

Jibblet (c) @hinoart

[ramunestation]

the gun one, got me.

[ruemxu]

HAPPY LAUNCH DAY, STATUS ROYALE! YOU'RE A REAL MANGA NOW! <333

Log in and go for the throne! After a fallout with her best friend, former casual gamer Vell vows to climb the ranks of Status Royale, the most competitive VR esport in the world!

Yes! This is my ~super-duper~ action-filled, sci-fi gaming manga! Absolutely not my reverse-harem series with an Unhinged Hot Girl Protagonist and Equally Unhinged Pretty Boy Antagonist!

viz.com/vizmanga/chapters/status-royale

[ramunestation]

The first two chapters are up for free. Just enough to entice your appetite for the whole release. Go read it!

[ramunestation]

Life Update! My withdrawal from the Animation Industry

What a startling title. But there's no need to be alarmed.

Let me recap. In the last year and half, I've been trying to find a new gig and kept coming up dry. Several factors contributed to why I wasn't getting any work:

Outdated portfolio work: I've been getting by with 3-5 year old work I've done from grad school. Although it has landed me a few gigs with studios. It's finally hit a point where it no longer showcased my new skills from work experience.

Mismanagement of lining up work: I failed to grasp that I needed to start job searching for new work when my contract was nearing its end. Instead, I've waited until AFTER the contract was done then job hunting all over again for months.

Burnout: Just good ol' burnout. The combination of the previous two reasons put a damper in my motivation and I was tired of getting so little pay for so much work, especially with the Youtube Channel fiasco. I just started feeling like I wasn't good enough and that affected everything else. So to fix this slump, I joined the Storyboard Mentorship to help get my mojo going again. Having someone to look at my portfolio and tell me what to fix and getting feedback, plus networking with these seasoned mentors was a huge help. I did get to update my portfolio work and I'm slowly but surely getting out of the slump.

But recently, the industry itself has come a low-low point due to Animation Departments being dismantled, plus the "push" of AI-generated (theft) seeking to replace the entertainment field altogether. Which has led to the SAG-AFTRA strike. In short, it's a hot mess for everyone. Fast forward, I've been applying to city jobs and getting snubbed left and right for Clerical positions. But I do enjoy my volunteer work at the Library and with enough time I could apply again for Library Assistant. Or maybe I'll go back to school (again) for a degree in Library Sciences. (unlikely but it's an option). In the last month, I applied for several positions with the Navy Exchange, the retail chain for the military, and one of those positions was for a Receptionist job at the Navy Lodge, a military-based lodging, and it's a full time position. The interview went well! I was sweating bullets hoping that I'd get this job and last Thursday I get a call saying that I was accepted~! I'm really happy that I finally got something after a year and half, even though it's unrelated to animation. With the current state of the industry, I consider this my "strategic withdrawal" from my career. I'll bide my time until the Animation Industry improves for the better then I can return then. This could be the time away I need to recover my creative juices. So that's something to look forward to. That's the life update. New job! New start!

[ramunestation]

"You're fondling me with your eyes again."

A belated birthday tribute for my sweet babbu, Kanetsugu, from the game Ikemen Sengoku.

It's been ages since I've done fanart! Getting his gaze just right was so hard but I managed to pull it off. XD Drown me in your gaze, Kanetsugu~ =3=

[hopepunk-humanity]

ANTI-CAPITALIST AFFIRMATIONS

i am allowed to spend my time creating things, even if they are not beautiful.

there is no such thing as a "real job." all forms of work are real and valid.

there is nothing that i need to accomplish to be worthy. i am already worthy.

doing nothing is good for my soul.

i am not defined by what i produce.

my worth cannot be measured by my paycheck, my job title, or a list of professional or academic achievements.

i do not need to monetize my hobbies, it is enough to spend time doing something i love.

i will not let society decide what success looks like. i can define what successful life looks like for me.

[ruemxu]

It's time to release my semi-annual sketchbook! :D The Summer 2023 book is now available on my Patreon and Ko-fi for the Outlaw King tier!

Support me and check out what I'm up to + weekly WIP:

>> PATREON + KO-FI

[ramunestation]

All these pages are 8.5x11, 300 dpi. Feel free to print it out in full size if you like physical copies

[smiirp]

Since this has been circulating I want to throw in my two cents as someone who studied comics:

The artwork is not the basis of comics storytelling. Text and panelling are not “supporting” elements. The storytelling in comics is done through the combination/ interaction of these elements.

The focus on cinematic artwork and compositions seen here is more of a mainstream (marvel/dc/image) approach, but if you look at indie/small press/etc. comics you’ll see a wildly diverse range of styles of comic making which are not cinematic at all. This is because, like any other art form, there are many many different comic traditions with their own unique styles and approaches.

This is all to remind anyone who reads this that you don’t need to be a skilled artist to make comics, and any rules of comics making have been and can be broken. If you are intimidated by these cinematic comics with polished art, I recommend looking at books by D + Q, Fantagraphics and other small publishers, or comic strips, or going to any local comics/zine festivals for inspiration/guidance.

This is a good intro but if you’re looking at it and thinking, “I can’t make comics like THAT” good news…. You don’t have to! There are millions of ways to do it.

[ramunestation]

It's totally okay. I appreciate that you took the time to add your knowledge onto what's already here.

You're absolutely right, no one should feel obligated to follow this structure or style of comic making. There's more than just the cinematic type and they come in all sorts of styles. Storytelling in comics is definitely an intermingling dance between visuals and scripts.

It's crazy to see this post is 10 years old post still circulating around and I've learned a whole lot more about comics since then. Kinda cringey, if I'm honest! lol I wish there was a function to update these old posts but eh. If this things has been going around for so long, I guess people found it useful for their purposes.

Point is, my lovelies, keep learning about comics in all its forms. You'll be surprised by what you discover out there.

[ramunestation]

Yesterday was my birthday and every year I share this birthday with a special someone (and their kid). I wanted to relax after spending the whole month planning a bake sale (doesn’t sound like much but it is when you’re the only one doing it); so it was an art day.

I don’t usually get a chance to draw something for us on our birthdays so this was my chance.

[melodielapot]

Ramune's Escape PDF

Voice acting all done by me with slight voice mod.

Plot: Ramune finds herself imprisoned in a strange facility and encounters many obstacles as she tries to find a way out.

Commentary: At long last, I've finally finished this storyboard that's been sitting on the back burner since 2019(?) thanks to the pressures of my dear mentor, Steve Lee, from the Storyboard Mentorship. I've come a long way since my debut into the animation industry in 2018 and I wanted to showcase all that hard earned experiences and battles with burnout into these new boards.

I borrowed some cast members from Motorcity as my setting for Ramune's Escape.

[ramunestation]

Having some fun with some OCs

[ramunestation]

Ramune is waifu

lol thank you. She's a fun time Charlie.

[andywarnercomics]

In honor of Day of the Dead, here’s a repost of my comic about the San Francisco Columbarium and the man who spent 26 years restoring it.

This comic originally appeared on Medium at The Nib. Go check out my other work there.

[true-me-snafu]

Emmitt and the Columbarium.

[s-kinnaly]

Tears of Kingdom is nearly here~!!

[ramunestation]

Spicy! SPICY!!