{"id":368,"date":"2020-04-17T14:04:05","date_gmt":"2020-04-17T14:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/galesaur.com\/tfww\/?p=368"},"modified":"2022-05-25T13:19:51","modified_gmt":"2022-05-25T13:19:51","slug":"the-courting-gesture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/galesaur.com\/tfww\/the-courting-gesture\/","title":{"rendered":"The Courting Gesture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Let’s really soak this one up while I take a second to reboot.


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I hope this flung you back in time, just all the way back, because it sure hit me. This delightful illustration was the work of none other than one Victor Martins<\/strong><\/a> – a deeply thoughtful, playful, cool cartoonist whose art and comics you should absolutely be eating up. They’re only getting more powerful, and frankly, it’s rude. Our enlightening conversation on fandom, community, and hyping up your pals, below:

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Good afternoon, Victor! Today, I am imagining us sitting outside a cozy seaside cafe. There\u2019s a warm breeze and cool drinks. Please ignore the birds, they are relentless if given any sort of attention. How are you today?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m well!! I\u2019m actually a lot more on edge than I was thirty seconds ago, before I noticed how many of these ding dang birds there are, and how intently they\u2019re staring at the ice cream cone I\u2019m holding in my hands. Their sharp beaks, their beady eyes!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Violin screech!)<\/strong>

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For the readers at home who might not be well-versed: would you mind explaining what we\u2019re looking at?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, it\u2019s uh, a drawing of a character from the very famous, very popular comic Homestuck<\/a><\/em>. Her name is Vriska. She\u2019s a member of an alien species called \u201ctrolls\u201d. There\u2019s twelve of them, one for each zodiac sign, and she was my favourite. Vriska was also my friend\u2019s very cool older sister\u2019s favourite, so, of course, I drew this picture of Vriska for her as an inept teen Courting Gesture. Unfortunately, giving a buff 19-year-old Japanese Literature major\/professional dog trainer\/wannabe cop a picture of Vriska from Homestuck did not result in her wanting to date me. 

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Bonus Homestuck <\/em>fanart, circa 2012.

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Alas! If you had told Teen Me that fanart was not <\/em>in fact a universal love language, I would have been just devastated.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you made this piece, you were sixteen years old and deep into <\/strong>Homestuck<\/em><\/strong> fandom, which is just completely delightful to me. I am somewhat older than you and would <\/strong>love <\/em><\/strong>to hear about what your online experience was like growing up. What did fandom mean to you? Were you very active in fan communities? How did this influence your creative process?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I grew up really used to not knowing anyone who liked the things I liked. Then I started reading Homestuck<\/em> and suddenly there were a lot of people who liked this thing I liked, and they all lived in my computer, where I could access them 24\/7. The possibilities were endless! Unfortunately, as it turns out, I really didn\u2019t care about talking to strangers on the internet. I knew it was supposed to be this wonderful, wonderful thing, though, so I kept drawing fanart and talking to people on forums and waiting to have a good time. It was sort of a bummer???<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At some point I was like \u201cfuck this, actually\u201d, founded the Homestuck Fan Club of Central Brazil, and invited everyone I knew IRL who liked Homestuck<\/em> to hang out at my house and do Homestuck<\/em>-related activities. \u201cEveryone I knew IRL who liked Homestuck<\/em>\u201d consisted of my sister, the aforementioned 19-year-old wannabe cop Japanese major dog trainer, a boy called Bacon, and me.  We made up a recipe for slime pie and watched Con Air<\/em>. It was fun! Bacon was the club treasurer. 

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I love this – you found a way of connecting with people that worked best for you! Which kind of leads into my next question. You\u2019re a member of a comics collective called Hello Boyfriend<\/a>, which is absolutely delightful. Hello Boyfriend has put out a number of collaborative comics now – some fiction, some autobio, all highly recommended – and I\u2019d love to hear more about the process and mindset there. What does being part of a collective mean to you? How do you go about creating a comic as a team of friends? Would you recommend it??<\/strong>

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Cover of Hello Boyfriend: Doki <3<\/a>, <\/em>2018.


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I love being part of a collective!!! It\u2019s so nice! Everyone should try it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think, for us, it started with this sense that we\u2019d be better together? We were all sort of comics babies who had no idea what we were doing, and we were very good at psyching ourselves out by worrying about all the ways in which we could mess up without even realizing it, and very *very* good at finding excuses for not actually making comics. Doing collaborative work made us accountable to each other, which means it was a lot harder to bail on making things. It also meant we were learning from each other, and helping each other grow. It was really invaluable when we were comics babies, and remains invaluable now that we\u2019re comics toddlers!! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How we go about making comics together changes a lot depending on what we\u2019re making. I think the two most important things are that we want to have fun, and we want to try new things out (to see if they\u2019re fun). I think making space for that kind of thing as an artist is super important. Especially for me!!  I\u2019m such a bummer, and it\u2019s really easy for me to get really annoyed at comics, or really frustrated at myself, or bogged down in negativity. Having this thing I do with friends that has \u201cplease have a good time\u201d so deeply embedded into its DNA really helps combat that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gotta say that it\u2019s also a lot easier to hype comics to possible customers at a convention if they were made by your friends instead of you. And then your friends can hype your comics right back! It\u2019s gr8. 

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Excerpt from Hello Boyfriend: Doki <3<\/a>, <\/em>2018.


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I feel this so much!! My favorite thing is sitting in for friends when they\u2019re taking a table break – I get to yell about their comics and maybe give them money afterwards, it\u2019s super low pressure and fun.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as long as we\u2019re hyping up people\u2019s art – your current comics and illustrations have this really appealing, loose, soft look that I love a lot; they feel very emotive and spontaneous. By contrast, it seems like your teen work involved more textures and rendering – they\u2019re two very valid and different approaches. Do you remember when your focus started shifting in this regard? What was on your mind? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, I didn\u2019t have access to any sort of \u201cbeing taught how to draw\u201d until I was in college, so whenever I was drawing, I\u2019d just mostly be scared out of my mind and super intimidated by how much I didn\u2019t know. I wanted to be good so badly, but I wasn\u2019t sure how, so I was just doing what I thought I was supposed to. Then I went to art school, learned the great secret of \u201cthis whole \u2018being good drawing\u2019 thing is bullshit and made-up, actually\u201d, and now I don\u2019t care at all! I like it when the lines go \u201cwoosh!\u201d!! Whee!!!!!!!

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