StarClan is everywhere for those with the mind to dream.
ReefClan's demiurge is an-ever present whalefall. Just when it seems to have decomposed, another takes its place--or the flesh reconstitutes. No cat has ever been around to see the truth.
HI SELKIE <3 I've been seeing people do your style for the style challenges going around recently (I wanna steal your style too >:3) and I was just thinking that I love how you draw fur. Especially Goldenpaw, her little tufties work so well with your style because you make her look simultaneously fluffy and silky!
-Direclan
HI REL!!! im so sorry for leaving this for so long THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! i'm so glad goldenpaw's design is coming off exactly as i intend, i love a fluffy silky beaft and thats what i want for her always <3
i've been really touched by everyone trying out my style, it makes me really happy ;w; and it's been such a blast seeing the style challenge going around because it's SOOOO cool to see what everyone picks up the most about different styles!
Okay first of all I think it’s cute your askbox is called “approach boughclan camp” also
🌷Quirks or other mannerisms? And 🐾 What do they think of nearby clans/groups? For Goldenpaw!
And 🎭 Does your clan have any specific traditions, rituals, or holidays? For you!
🌷Quirks or other mannerisms?
🐾 What do they think of nearby clans/groups?
BoughClan's territory borders FrostClan to the northwest and SpireClan to the southeast. ReefClan and BoughClan aren't close enough to share borders, so BoughClan cats don't get to see them very often now that they've split into four clans again!
🎭 Does your clan have any specific traditions, rituals, or holidays?
i'll get to show it off quite a bit later, but there is a ritual involved with granting outside cats the traits of the respective Clan they've joined. i won't say much more, but i'm VERY excited to show it off when BoughClan gets some outsiders in later moons. (for some reason clangen did not want to give me outsiders for like. 20 moons hahaha)
thank you so much for the ask !!! <3 and thank you for creating such a wonderful ask game! it's so great to have as a springboard when i want to interact with other blogs, hoohoo
idk how much lore of the appearances you give to the other clans, but are SpireClans horns all different? All different shapes of sheep or ram horns or even antlers?
great question, my friend, and thank you for the ask! so the short answer is that they're quite diverse hahaha. the concept of the demiurge will be expounded on in the comic but there's a bit more explanation under the cut if you're interested!
each clan prays to starclan as well as its own unique sort of "demigod" called a demiurge, represented by a particular skull or set of bones that they keep. the demiurge is what grants a clan its traits. SpireClan is unique in that it has two, so they end up looking a little more varied than the other clans!
hi idk if this is your first ask but your comic is SO PRETTY!!!
also. Goldenpaw. What was up with your eyes on the second page 0-0
thank you so much, that means a lot to hear!! i’ll spare you the ramble i was typing out in response and just say it’s really nice to hear that you and so many other folks are enjoying what i’m making!
i'm gonna put some of this under a readmore because it got SO long hahaha
🌍 What are some of your irl inspirations for the lore/worldbuilding of your comic?
hmm! this is tough, i'm not sure if this includes media (but if it does i'm going to include it later because i'm in a rambly sort of mood, haha).
so as far as the kitty cats go, i definitely take a lot of inspiration from my own dreams. i am very bad at taking my medications at the correct time and i currently take one where the first withdrawal symptom that makes me definitely aware i forgot to take it is that i have really vivid, sometimes very scary dreams. i kind of seek to depict these vivid dreams, so i will likely be doing a lot of experimentation during future dream sequences to capture that feeling of dreamlike unreality.
i also have a small document that includes a list of common foliage in the alaska wilderness. i so far have not taken a whole lot of time to depict it in my art but the chugach mountain range has been a particular focus of mine when i do research about shrubbery and tree diversity. i was a dual ecology & math major in college, so if there's anythign i'm kind of determined to get at least sort of correct it's the environment. (that said, there are tidepools on the coast of this setting where reefclan hunts, so take it with a massive grain of salt. it's fantasy)
my partner's d&d campaign has also had a massive (and i really do mean massive) impact on just like. how i create and how i conceptualize characters, symbolism, colors, and the rest of the works. we've been playing a 1-20 campaign since 2017 and we're in the end-game right now--it's a world-spanning, time-spanning adventure and i am NOT the same person i was coming out as i was going in. half of that is other life stuff but the other half is just that it's made a very profound impact on me as a person, and i consistently seek to emulate the sheer depth of the world he has built, the decades of thought he put into it, the strength of even the most convoluted mechanics and stories. it's rock solid. i'm normal. i'm so normal I PROMISE.
and, as far as media goes, i've definitely taken a lot of inspiration from the lore and worldbuilding of the destiny duology. it's kind of hard to get a handle on the story, but once you do, it really opens up into this incredible saga and some of the worldbuilding is just, SO sick. the idea that you could use conway's game of life as the origin myth for a whole universe really gets me so good. i said this earlier but i have a degree in applied math and i NEVER looked at any numbers or proofs and thought "i could make an origin myth out of that" and it's just SOOOOO cool to me that someone did do that. also it's like sword and sorcery with guns. which rules.
there might be some visible star trek (tng/ds9 specifically), bloodborne, nier automata, pokemon, ffxiv, and hollow knight, but it might be a bit of a challenge to point to anything directly. i think it corresponds to what i've made playlists for, really, hahaha.
✍️ What inspired you to make your clangen comic/ other media?
i've been wanting to publish a comic for a really long time! i've always been hesitant to because i have a really hard time sticking with anything long-term--i tend to cycle between several activities, where i do one or two very intensely for a few weeks to a few months and then switch. not something i do consciously, it's just naturally how my interests tend to manifest. you can actually see my first attempt @/starclan-clangen, which............................. i plan to return to eventually but lost the file for hahaha.
but i never wanted to do a comic sort of half-interested that way--i always wanted to make something that was good, that i could be proud of. it wasn't until i saw other folks making clangen comics that it clicked for me that a comic doesn't have to be my magnum opus and that i can just have fun with it if i want to. folks like @/ranchclan, @/direclan (hehe, thats you), @/nimbusclan, @/cutieclan, @/fallenclan, @/splinterclan, @/sporeclan, @/juniperclan, and @/vaporclan helped me realize i could just... do it, that i didn't have to wait until my art or my writing were more honed in order to like. make something i liked and have fun with it. there are SO many more that i haven't listed here that i love very dearly. the clangen community in general has been such a wonderful galvanizing force for me.
other inspirations that aren't clangen-related include my friend earthtonequeen on comicfury, who does more short story comic work. they've been making comics for a long time and their work is such a huge inspiration to me--i love the stories they tell.
@/jumalanpelko, WOW. the style is so gorgeous, their color work is absolutely phenomenal, and i love love love the worldbuilding.
@/whatlurksbean, what lurks beneath was HUGE for me in the past year or so. i found them after there were already like 500 pages and binged the entire comic. they write characters with such skill, it's incredible to see a story where there's such nuance to each player.
@/thewhalesheart is such a beautiful comic. i love the way they draw lambpaw, it's influenced how i differentiate characters!
@/milosfromhome is a HUGE inspiration to me. this is one of the comics that helped me really decide that comics were what i really actually wanted from my art, and helped me realize that seeing someone's improvement throughout a comic is actually really sick, so i just gotta hit the ground running. huge, huge inspiration for sure hahaha.
the comic "i didn't know" on comicfury has also been a recent but huge inspiration, it addresses real-life issues in a very nuanced way with kitty cats and i'm a huge fan.
@/caemidraws has been an inspiration to me as an artist in general and recently she's started her own comic so i recommend checking her out too! her compositions and general symbology are SO cool.
if i think of further inspirations i may come back and add them but off the top of my head, those are the ones i've been checking back with regularly recently! thank you so much for the ask, i love your work! <3
your artstyle is mesmerizing!! it is really inspiring seeing your comic
I love love love the avian and feline mix! it is absolutely stunning! the way you draw feathers and fur is BEAAUTIFUL!!
please take your time with these pages, don’t overwork yourself. I know it’s hard to maintain that steady balance, but you got this!
good luck!!! I’ll be sticking around :)
i've been sitting on this ask awhile because it makes me so happy to come back and read it again. this is so kind, and thank you so much, and i'm so glad you're enjoying my work <3 makes me kick my feet and feel all warm! hahaha
i've definitely had a bit of a break as i've tried to figure out a new workflow for these longer pages, and i appreciate you saying that! i know sometimes i put a lot of pressure on myself to meet imaginary deadlines and it's nice to be told to take care every once in a while :)
glad to have you onboard, and thank you so much again for the kind words!!!
