Sunday, September 13, 2009

   What Is Arashi Touketsu Raisu?
What is ATR? What is the point of it? Is it just another Ginga fanfic? Worse, another comic about dogs killing an enemy animal or eachother?

If you read this big ole hunk of text, you will learn more about ATR and it’s purpose.

THE BEGINNING:
The idea to do a comic about my “Ginga fan character”, Raisu, started early 2007. The idea came from looking at characters made by other people’s characters. I looked at Brittany G.’s character Sushi, and saw something in it, it, SHE had a soul somehow. With Samantha’s character Eriko and Claire’s character Astor, they were coming to life in my head, interacting, and a plot erupted from it. First thoughts included Sushi being older, and a master of fighting to Raisu, and Raisu being a horrible weakling. A nerd even xD

I did not want to start ATR just because I wanted to make a comic. It just so happened to be the story needed to come out, and comic format was the best way to execute it. I want to be an animator, comics are more illustration, so I figure it could be a project I did purely for fun. Never for profit. At the time I was learning how to color, and markers seemed to be the best way to go.
The planned date to start it was after high school graduation, even though pages were being started before then. I saved money to buy some Copic markers, derwent watecolors, ink pens, and paper.
The style was going to be similar to old animated films, character flat coloring, painted backgrounds. Some Japanese art, manga styles involved. To be honest, I have not much interest in Japan, yet I placed it in Japan. Because of what the comic was- a for-fun project meant to be a new story, not fan service, I did not do too much research on Japanese culture and such. I do every now and then, along with geography.

The beginning of the story with Kyoushiro and his platoon hunting was an idea the flowed quickly. Most of the beginning flowed up until the backyard where Eriko and Astor come in. After that, it took many demo pages, acting out scenes, thinking. A lot of wasted paper.
Producing comic pages efficiently was my goal. Wasting time on fancy character sheets and promos was a waste of time. I needed to get a lot of pages out before I even thought about that crap. The move of posting on DeviantArt was a reluctant one. It was far easier to post them and organize them, but I knew of the site’s snobby and pathetic reputation. To this day, I try not to sell into too much other than communicate with my friends. To be totally honest, if I was not so lazy with the comic it would be on it’s own website. But DA is free, organizes well and proven to be an efficient place to post the pages. There is simply not enough time, money, and… desire… for me to do anything more for the comic at this time.

THE CHARACTERS:
The way I create characters I’ve found to be a little different from other artists. The story flows along, and when I see a character is needed, it is added in. That is how Kaijin the Rhodesian Ridgeback was born. His design was slapped onto paper in a matter of minutes then he went into the comic. Sounds bad? His personality developed as he got into the story. The characters are first conceived into the story world and that is where they grow. I learn more about them and who they are rather than giving their traits right on the spot. Many of the characters are dynamic. They go through changes in their life that change their attitudes and how they think.

The boars are not evil demons that came out of a random abyss. They are normal boars that were taken for meat. Given steroids and other chemicals to make better meat, some including rushing adrenaline through their body constantly. So yes, they were going insane. Toge was the boar that was tortured the most. He was the main stud to produce more pigs, and he was already a big pig. The chemicals made him a mutant. He was a leader of a herd with several females and children. Everything was taken from him. His real goal is to fight back and hurt people the way he was hurt, but he finds that in Ohu, the dogs will not allow it. That is how the fight starts.
Further in the story, you’ll find Weed does not plan a battle, but to gather help to keep the boars from destroying towns. Toge grows more and more insane throughout the story from anger, not letting go, possibly even something eating at his brain. Most of the other boars are intelligent creatures, that are fighting for revenge as well. Toge is like Hitler in a way. He persuaded some normal beings into becoming demons.

I know Raisu’s personality the best. Because he is a representation my personality. When I was like, 12. He goes through the changes and pains that I go through in life. The story is somewhat dependant on what happens in my life. When he goes to Ohu, he is going to be very lonely and find no one likes him. Just how I felt when I first moved to college. All for a dream.
Pixie actually has a 6th sense. You will see more of that in the next coming pages, but yes, she is more than average. Her personality came from me getting sick of tomboy girls. Seriously, there are too many now. Let's have a little lady for a change

THE PURPOSE:
The comic’s story purpose had changed from when it was first made. The main purpose is: An artist or dreamer must realize there is much hurt, disappointment and criticism on the road to becoming what you want to be. But in the end it all works out for the best if you keep on trying.

There are many themes about faith in it as well. Not at all offensive, nor pushed into the reader’s face. Just some parts are allegorical, the way the Chronicles of Narnia are.

For the most part, the comic will have to speak for itself. I can say “oh but it is original!” and whatnot. Really, there’s too much to say about it. It is an incredibly complex project, so it is best to let the product do it’s work. The rest is up to the reader’s analysis and enjoyment.

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