Hello, and welcome! Some rambling about me and YQ’s history

[ClefdeSoll]

This is a fun board category and I figure it would be good to introduce myself, even if a lot of you already know me! Especially since forums have a better lifespan than social media.

I’m the one person team who works on Yokoka’s Quest! I do everything from concept, writing, drawing the comic, managing and designing the website— if anything wasn’t done by me I’ve probably credited who’s done it.

Both creating stories and website making are stuff I started being passionate about when I was 14-16 years old. I’ve had a pretty rocky life which made the former a lot easier to keep up with than the latter (though I’ve somehow managed to keep the hosting service paid every year, even when I didn’t have a fixed home address which is something I see as an achievement), but I had a bad case of “can’t stick to a single project” disease so I would constantly start things up, burn out, stop. Start a new project. Yokoka’s Quest is the exception, but mostly because it was the first story I wrote and it set a standard. Once I completed it, something that took me exactly one year, I felt pressure to surpass it and fell into the trap of wanting a perfect beginning and never getting too far into the project.

I didn’t have the skills or patience to do the webcomic it was always meant to be at the time, it was a written story that I wrote chapter by chapter. I made most of it up as I went, and took many long breaks, so I would sometimes write many chapters a day or none for months, alternating between writing it and drawing the characters. I would never go back to rewrite an older chapter once it was done and I think for me that was part of the fun and why my other projects failed. It was a simple enough story I could do that, but also open up a lot of possibilities that I could address whenever it felt relevant or save for later. Near the end, it really came together neatly as I closed all the doors I had opened. This is how this version is going as well. I have the original story as a skeleton, know my start and end, floating open threads and questions, and I’m just having fun filling it all a bit more in each chapter.

As you can probably tell by the comic now having over one thousand pages over its 8.5 years run, I’ve managed to fix this flaw of mine and taught myself to fully commit to something until it’s done! I properly figured out the way my brain works, what I like doing, and made an actual solid plan and work ethic this time, learned to structure things more solidly. This seems a good time and place to reminisce about it all, I hope this is interesting in some way.

I do go back to change things because I don’t want the pressure to not be allowed to edit any of it which often paralyzes me into needing to strike perfection at my first attempt, but it’s mostly to add some extra worldbuilding I’ve come up with, or things that slipped my mind. The writing stays the same, and many things I instead address later on if that makes more sense. For example, I had a dyslexia moment when I designed Azha, I wanted him to be left handed but I got mixed up at some point and his character design was right handed. This bothered me but it felt like too much work to go back and edit it all, plus I could see getting confused. In the planned next generation sequel, the protagonist (well, I’m sure it’s not really a spoiler by now) is going to be Yokoka and Azha’s daughter and she’s a dual sword wielder. I thought I could make some interesting foreshadowing related to this, and a bonding moment. I’m very happy with the solution I came up with.

The comic is full of small things like this, because one of the things I enjoy the most is problem solving. It makes me feel really good and happy and satisfied. It’s sometimes hard to see all of this as a job because I’m just having fun playing with my toys, and sharing and rambling at people about them. It’s honestly shocking it took so long for me to realize I was autistic, this seems extremely autistic of me. I really enjoy making people feel things, and this playground is fully in my control. Come on in, enter the rollercoaster, I’ll take you places! I’m glad it’s enjoyed and interesting. I hope you like where we go next.

As for website making, it started with oekakies. Not just drawing but hosting my own board and playing around with that. There was also a time in secondary school where we finished our robotics program a few weeks early so our teacher taught us html and i ate that shit up and built the whole project website at the speed of light. I never put it down. So many of my more ambitious projects involve them, and I’m finally starting to properly work on those and I’m feeling so happy and satisfied about it. These forums are very basic at the moment and mostly the first step— I hope to make them more interesting looking. It’ll be a great place to set down and organize a bunch of lore notes and I am excited to share that. This host migration has been a good learning experience already.

If you have any other open source types of websites you like, feel free to poke me and I’ll look into setting things up! I really want to grow on the website and self hosting community part of things this year and the next. Thank you for joining me. I think we’re all tired of social media and corporates controlling everything, right?

I should stop soon for now but feel free to ask me anything and I’ll answer :3 it was fun to let loose and ramble about me and my comic in a text post. Though I guess I’ve left out some important basic information… better late than never— I’m Chris, you can use they/them or he/him for me both are good. I’m a disabled trans artist, and a lot of the driving force behind my writing is from autism, grief and ptsd, and also wanting to make people laugh and feel some kind of brainworms obsession if possible. The type that chases away depression, there’s no time for that when you think of all the trouble my girl is getting into by being dumb. I first wrote Yokoka’s Quest while I was in a difficult home situation with far too much responsibility to handle for my age, and it broke me. Writing this story saved my life, and it continues to be the way I cope with hardships. Though my life is much better these days, which is a big relief. I care a lot and want to make people smile and feel loved and understood, especially through difficult moments. And I in turn want to be heard and understood through my stories too. I want this story to be a dear friend.

Love you all <3

[Floral]

Love ya too, Chris!!
(No questions to add at this time~)

[DreamyPumpkins]

I can ask questions ~

- What is your favorite aspect of making YQ?

- Who is your favorite character to draw?

- What is your favorite chapter you have written so far?

- Is there any lore that you can share that won't spoil anything ~

[ClefdeSoll]

Love ya too, Chris!!
(No questions to add at this time~)

<333

I can ask questions ~

- What is your favorite aspect of making YQ?

- Who is your favorite character to draw?

- What is your favorite chapter you have written so far?

- Is there any lore that you can share that won't spoil anything ~

- when it all comes together, especially when a piece of subtle early foreshadowing is relevant!! whenever someone finds it and connects the dots is the most exciting HAHA

- this is a tough question... I think I could find it easier to list what parts i like the most and least for the main cast, which is something I've been wanting to do for a while anyway so let's go :3

Yokoka: I love sketching and lining her because she's very quick and easy and also has good expressions/body language, flat colouring the white and pink are the worst tasks but it's not so bad
Yfa: Very fun to sketch and line and gives me a break from harder parts, his current pale belly is a bit of a pain to figure out at times and also weird angles for his head can be annoying. ive also been drawing him smaller than before as I go and that bothers me i have to fix it
Azha: He's generally pretty easy to draw and relaxing to shade. Originally his three toned hair was a pain but I've gotten over it and it can be pretty fun now but his sword sucks!! i should find a better way
Misha: she's mostly another freebie which is nice, the butterfly jewel can be a bit of a pain to not get in the way of her eyes
Grace: I always don't feel like drawing her and yet most of my favourite pages feature her. Mystery.
Mao: Mao is always very fun and easy overall just like Yokoka. His helix earrings were tangent hell problematic for the longest time but I finally figured them out, his whip sucks to draw every time and his current outfit is also a bit hard to get right so I might change his wardrobe next chance i get. put him in a hoodie for modern settings and all his issues are gone.
Kalliv: Kalliv is also pretty easy and pleasant to draw but I forgot to change his outfit in the time skip and I'm getting bored with it. I found a story reason to change it whenever I get the chance and it should be fun!
Copycat: I know everyone knows my bias for copy, he is always fun to draw especially his facial expressions and mannerisms but his catboy outfit can be a bit plain and annoying in the same ways Mao's is.
Cadmium: (crying) oh my god why are you so difficult, why have i done this to myself. im sorry cad fans, he is the worst character for me and I'm considering commissioning a 3d model to print or something at this point
Fahrin: generally a free character but she has a lot of colours and some of them are similar but i cant simplify the palette, it doesn't work. its ok bc she isnt around too often.
Sheena: I'm still getting used to draw her... her hair is both the best and the worst, but it's an important feature!!
Nathan: i love drawing his cringefail moments and his hearing aid. his whole head is a bit of a problem for me to always get right and I hope I can get used to it too.
Sorbet: another freebie, I love drawing all of her. I guess she might be my favourite to draw at the moment, actually, so you get that answer too :3
Valyn: he's kind of free but also a pain? his angry expressions have been all fun to draw but hard to nail at times, and he always ends up taking more space in the panels than i save for him. jerk.

- I believe my current favourite chapter writing is 14, because it's the first chapter I feel really confident with and happy with how everything falls into place! I tried being more ambitious and love the result. I hope to love future chapters even more :3

- and finally any lore I can share here I haven't shared before... I'm very happy with my decision of pine marten to be half of Sorbet's species. Little bastard will kill anything and not give a crap and it's perfect for her. I won't elaborate too much but will say I've looked into their threats of aggression for last pages. I'm also happy with her story in general, I'm unsure if it's ever going to get into the comic or stay in the cast page, it might be a side story eventually but she's an exotic pet no one should own but they are doing the best they can with what they have. It's too late to release her in the wild or anything.

This was fun, hope you enjoy!~

[DreamyPumpkins]

Love ya too, Chris!!
(No questions to add at this time~)

<333

I can ask questions ~

- What is your favorite aspect of making YQ?

- Who is your favorite character to draw?

- What is your favorite chapter you have written so far?

- Is there any lore that you can share that won't spoil anything ~

- when it all comes together, especially when a piece of subtle early foreshadowing is relevant!! whenever someone finds it and connects the dots is the most exciting HAHA

- this is a tough question... I think I could find it easier to list what parts i like the most and least for the main cast, which is something I've been wanting to do for a while anyway so let's go :3

Yokoka: I love sketching and lining her because she's very quick and easy and also has good expressions/body language, flat colouring the white and pink are the worst tasks but it's not so bad
Yfa: Very fun to sketch and line and gives me a break from harder parts, his current pale belly is a bit of a pain to figure out at times and also weird angles for his head can be annoying. ive also been drawing him smaller than before as I go and that bothers me i have to fix it
Azha: He's generally pretty easy to draw and relaxing to shade. Originally his three toned hair was a pain but I've gotten over it and it can be pretty fun now but his sword sucks!! i should find a better way
Misha: she's mostly another freebie which is nice, the butterfly jewel can be a bit of a pain to not get in the way of her eyes
Grace: I always don't feel like drawing her and yet most of my favourite pages feature her. Mystery.
Mao: Mao is always very fun and easy overall just like Yokoka. His helix earrings were tangent hell problematic for the longest time but I finally figured them out, his whip sucks to draw every time and his current outfit is also a bit hard to get right so I might change his wardrobe next chance i get. put him in a hoodie for modern settings and all his issues are gone.
Kalliv: Kalliv is also pretty easy and pleasant to draw but I forgot to change his outfit in the time skip and I'm getting bored with it. I found a story reason to change it whenever I get the chance and it should be fun!
Copycat: I know everyone knows my bias for copy, he is always fun to draw especially his facial expressions and mannerisms but his catboy outfit can be a bit plain and annoying in the same ways Mao's is.
Cadmium: (crying) oh my god why are you so difficult, why have i done this to myself. im sorry cad fans, he is the worst character for me and I'm considering commissioning a 3d model to print or something at this point
Fahrin: generally a free character but she has a lot of colours and some of them are similar but i cant simplify the palette, it doesn't work. its ok bc she isnt around too often.
Sheena: I'm still getting used to draw her... her hair is both the best and the worst, but it's an important feature!!
Nathan: i love drawing his cringefail moments and his hearing aid. his whole head is a bit of a problem for me to always get right and I hope I can get used to it too.
Sorbet: another freebie, I love drawing all of her. I guess she might be my favourite to draw at the moment, actually, so you get that answer too :3
Valyn: he's kind of free but also a pain? his angry expressions have been all fun to draw but hard to nail at times, and he always ends up taking more space in the panels than i save for him. jerk.

- I believe my current favourite chapter writing is 14, because it's the first chapter I feel really confident with and happy with how everything falls into place! I tried being more ambitious and love the result. I hope to love future chapters even more :3

- and finally any lore I can share here I haven't shared before... I'm very happy with my decision of pine marten to be half of Sorbet's species. Little bastard will kill anything and not give a crap and it's perfect for her. I won't elaborate too much but will say I've looked into their threats of aggression for last pages. I'm also happy with her story in general, I'm unsure if it's ever going to get into the comic or stay in the cast page, it might be a side story eventually but she's an exotic pet no one should own but they are doing the best they can with what they have. It's too late to release her in the wild or anything.

This was fun, hope you enjoy!~

Interesting to hear things you like and dislike about each character!

I cannot wait to see the rest of the chapter and what lies ahead.

I feel specifically targeted with the sorbet lore jsdiojaijsdjkapw, I did not know pine martens can kill anything but that's really cool to know, is that why the battle form? Oh she is definitely gonna kill someone... /j.

Thank you the answers, very interesting!!

[ClefdeSoll]

Interesting to hear things you like and dislike about each character!

I cannot wait to see the rest of the chapter and what lies ahead.

I feel specifically targeted with the sorbet lore jsdiojaijsdjkapw, I did not know pine martens can kill anything but that's really cool to know, is that why the battle form? Oh she is definitely gonna kill someone... /j.

Thank you the answers, very interesting!!

She's on my brain but you liking her is a bonus haha! And yes, they kill seemingly for fun? The video I watched one of them had killed a giant panda o-o;;