#st.albans

[akakiiromidoriaoi]

Commission In Person!!

Hi everybody!!

I’m going to be doing a Craft Fair in April so if any of my near by British followers/frienders would like to come ask for a commission in person or make a purchase you can find me at The Easter Art and Craft Fair, Redbourn Village Hall, St.Albans, Hertfordshire on Saturday April 11th and Sunday April 12th! It would be great to meet you! :) 

[spec-comic-arts]

Making an Hyperdcomic Experience.

As I had planned earlier, I wanted this project to also function as a hypercomic.

I added small text instructions at the top and bottom of each page. These are to serve as a guide the experience for anyone who wants to engage with it a bit more clearly without getting confused.

Every two pages are tied together, so the instructions help connect them as a unit rather than treating every page separately. The text serves as a guides the reader on the where to find the next parts. This will help the reader to also explore the Museum.

Since the whole concept revolves around objects and their context within the museum, this layer of text also helps reinforce that idea. It adds a bit more intention to how the comic is read without taking away from the visuals.

I placed the "This is a hypercomic" in every odd page so that anyone who finds any page can make sense of it and find the previous or next part of the story. This sounded really fun in my head and I'd like to see it happen.

Overall, it helped bring the project closer to what I initially had in mind, combining a traditional format with a slightly more guided reading experience.

[spec-comic-arts]

The Last Two Pages.

Pages 5 and 6 are where everything starts to come together and settle into a conclusion.

After rebuilding the earlier pages, I had a clearer idea of how I wanted the final sequence to feel. The use of the environment was already established in the previous pages, so here it becomes more focused rather than chaotic. Instead of multiple objects being used, the attention shifts towards one main object.

The walking stick was always part of the plan. It starts off as something very normal, just another display item that doesn’t stand out much compared to everything else being thrown around. That was intentional, because I didn’t want it to feel important too early.During the fight, it becomes more active.

I treated it like an extendable staff, which made it more dynamic to use visually. It also gave a clearer structure to the action, especially compared to the randomness earlier.There’s a specific moment where it’s used to throw someone out of the window, and that acts as the final beat of the fight. It’s not overly dramatic, but it’s enough to signal that things are coming to an end.

The last panel then goes away from the action and presents the actual information about the object. This was important to bring it back to the museum context, connecting everything that happened.

So these pages are more about conclusion. The chaos slows down, the focus narrows, and the story closes by tying the action back to the object itself.

[spec-comic-arts]

The Return of the Museum Comics

Pages 3 and 4 took a bit more effort to get to, mainly because of the whole sync issue that happened earlier. I had already completed a big portion of these pages before everything got overwritten, so this phase was more about rebuilding what I had lost.

It wasn’t starting from zero, but it also wasn’t straightforward. I had to go back, rethink some of the panels, and try to match the flow I had before. In some cases, I ended up changing things slightly, which actually helped improve the pacing in a few areas.

Once I got past that, these pages became more about fully using the environment. The fight is no longer just between characters, it starts involving the space itself. I wanted the museum to feel active, not just something in the background. So instead of adding external weapons, everything used in the fight comes from the surroundings.

Page 3 focuses on the lower level where things get more chaotic. This is where the ancient helmet comes in. It’s one of the first clear moments where an object from the museum is used directly, and it helps establish the idea that anything around them can be used.

Then the action naturally moves into page 4, where the fight goes up the stairs. This shift in location helps stretch the scene a bit and gives it a sense of progression rather than everything happening in one space.

The parasol was another object I wanted to include. It adds a different kind of motion to the fight and keeps the visuals from feeling repetitive.

Overall, these pages are about building that connection between the characters and the environment, setting things up for the final sequence.

[spec-comic-arts]

Careless Mistake...

I was working normally and I had completed 3 full pages and even started roughing out the 4th page. There was a review on the 18th of March, so I was actively working on the comic around that time.

I usually switch between two devices for my work, my PC and my iPad. I use Clip Studio Paint, which has cloud syncing, so I just move between them depending on where I’m working.

And yeah… this is where I messed up.

I hit “sync now” instead of “sync up.” One small, stupid, careless click. Didn’t even think about it. Didn’t even realise what I’d done at first.

But that one click basically overwrote my current file with an older version.

I lost so much progress.

Three proper completed pages and part of the fourth just gone. Not rough work. Not something I could easily redo. These were pages I had already figured out fully. Layouts, pacing, small details, everything. And now I have to sit and redo all of that again like it never happened.

And that’s what’s actually killing me. It’s not just “do it again.” It’s doing something I already did. I already solved those panels. I already made those decisions. Now I have to force myself to go through that whole process again.

All because I didn’t pay attention for one second.

I tried checking backups, hoping there’d be something recent, but nope. The latest one is from way earlier. So yeah, a lot of it is just gone.

This one small mistake cost me so much time and energy, and it completely ruined my mood. I’m still not over it. I don’t even know if I can recreate it the same way again, which is even more annoying.

The review itself actually went fine. My instructor said this happens and told me to just keep going and make it work. They were supportive about it.

But I was just annoyed at myself the whole time.

Like genuinely… I’m so done with myself for this one. Such a small mistake, but it messed up so much. I’ll definitely be way more careful from now on because I do not want to go through this again.

[spec-comic-arts]

Page 2/6

I wanted this page to feel like a normal conversation at first, just slightly uncomfortable. So it opens with Mr. Lou casually pointing out that no one actually knows what the meeting is about. It’s a simple line, but it sets the tone. Something’s off.

Then Yuuka responds with “You weren’t told?” which already feels a bit loaded. Like he knows more than he’s letting on. After that, Ms. Yong adds to it with “We were… just not the same thing.” That line is kind of the turning point. It hints at the twist without fully saying it.

Visually, the panels are still pretty controlled at this point. Clean compositions, medium shots, nothing too chaotic yet. I wanted the reader to sit in that tension for a second.

There’s also a small panel of Mr. Sway just observing. No dialogue, just him thinking. He doesn’t fully react like the others, which makes him feel a bit different already.

And then it just snaps.

The “CRASH!” panel is the moment where everything breaks. I made that panel much more dynamic compared to the others. The table flipping, motion lines, debris flying everywhere. It’s a hard contrast from the calm panels before it.

The final panel on the page goes full chaos. Everyone’s in motion, papers flying, chairs moving, no one is sitting anymore. I tried to make it feel messy but still readable, like you can follow who’s going where even though everything is happening at once.

So yeah, this page is basically the transition. It starts controlled, builds tension through dialogue, and then completely loses that control in one moment. That shift was the main focus while making it.

[spec-comic-arts]

PAGE 1/6

So for the first two pages, I focused a lot on setting things up properly before everything goes off.

I introduced four characters. Mr. Sway, who’s just an old man on the surface, and Yuuka, who’s the assassin. These two are original characters for this. Then I wanted something that would instantly catch attention, especially for people scrolling past, so I added two familiar faces but in a very obviously unobvious way.

One of them is inspired by Ada Wong from Resident Evil, but I named her Ms. Yong, and in brackets I put “Definitely not Ada” just as a dumb little pun. The second one is Mr. Lou, which is basically a reference to Nightcrawler. It’s subtle enough to not be direct, but if you get it, you get it. The whole point was to make it a bit more recognisable and pull in people who are into pop culture.

For the first page layout, I kept it pretty structured. I went with five main panels. The top has two bigger panels acting as establishment shots to set the location. Then it cuts into smaller panels placed next to each other, each one introducing a character. It keeps things clean and lets the reader quickly understand who’s who. Then it ends with a wide panel showing the interior of the museum, just to ground everything before things start moving.

The second page is where the shift starts happening. It still feels like a normal conversation at first, but the dialogue has that slight tension where something feels off. No one really knows why they’re there, or at least they’re pretending not to. Then it just snaps into action, and that’s where the whole tone of the comic flips from calm to chaos.

First page is simple and serves as a setup, second page starts brings chaos.

[spec-comic-arts]

Developing the Script/Concept

So moving on to the actual story and scripting. The idea I landed on is pretty simple but fun to play with. A group of “distinguished” people gather at the Courtroom Café for a private research meeting. Everything starts off super formal, quiet, and structured. The first page reflects that. Clean panels, neat character introductions, everyone sitting like this is a normal, civil discussion.

But obviously, that doesn’t last.

Very quickly, it turns out not everyone is there for research. Some of them are assassins, and they’ve all been sent there with the same goal. Take each other out. That’s when the tone just flips completely.

From page 2 onwards, it becomes full chaos. The entire museum turns into the battleground, and this is where all the references I picked up come into play. Instead of traditional weapons, the characters use whatever they can find around them. Display items, artefacts, random objects—everything becomes part of the fight. There’s an ancient helmet being thrown across the room, the fight spilling upstairs, and even something like a parasol getting used mid-combat.

In the middle of all this is Mr. Sway, the old man. He’s clearly not built for this and realistically should’ve been taken out early. But he just… keeps going. Mostly by adapting and using whatever he can grab.

That leads into the final bit where he picks up what looks like a normal walking stick from a display. Mid-fight, he realises it’s actually a horse measuring stick with an extendable mechanism. That’s the moment things shift a bit in his favour.

That leads into the final bit where he picks up what looks like a normal walking stick from a display. Mid-fight, he realises it’s actually a horse measuring stick with an extendable mechanism. That’s the moment things shift a bit in his favour.

the whole structure is basically: calm setup → sudden break → controlled chaos using the environment → small character payoff at the end.

Simple idea, but a lot of room to play with action and pacing.