I was approached by a few folks recently about some concerns with the actions and situations my two character Alan and BLK have gotten into recently. I want to first note that I am extremely flattered by the fact that people have taken a look at these characters and have cared enough to raise these thoughts and concerns. I never thought that people would connect with the character enough to really care about them, or feel bad for them or anything like that. This feedback is wonderful and it has been inspirational.

But to that end, some good points are brought up about Alan being a jerk and abusing, and BLK's conflict between being overweight and get getting overweight a lot. When I first created the characters they were just something fun to draw and do silly things with. Alan was just written as a Demon that did magic because it was a way to create situations I liked to draw. BLK and weight was somewhat a way to come to terms with my own struggle, but more so a fun way to draw big round things; however, as time has passed, their stories have grown and their characters have fleshed out more. Likewise, people have a vested interest in them in ways I didn't expect.

I'm at a point now where I really need to think about how I represent these characters and provide better context and reactions to their actions. I can't have the mentality of doing something crazy and not weight consequences of their actions. It's a bit daunting to think that way, but also really exciting to have my hand forced such that I need to really sit down and built their story properly. I've been pushing it off, but I think now I need to take this seriously and write them properly.

There's going to be a bit of a retcon to the characters as a result. Nothing major, like they will still be close, but there will be much more explanation and understanding of their relationship, and things like why BLK would put up with Alan, and lasting consequences for what happens rather than a magical reset button to all this. I'm also slightly altering their designs (or at least BLK's) a little to help note this. Again, nothing major, but I've gotten better at art, and I might as well better represent these characters in images to what I see in my head. I'll be putting together some references soon.

So now this doesn't mean I won't be doing bigness or the other fun stuff I've done before. I still intend on doing that; but I want to bring story and context to that. I've seen a trend lately that stuff like macro art is trending more to just mindless big stompy stuff. And while I don't begrudge those that like it, I kinda want to see something more thoughtful; so I'm going to try and put the effort to do that.

I dunno, it's a big experiment I want to start now and see if I can tell a proper story with these characters. I'll likely make folks angry in other ways, but it's a good way to learn and grow as an artist and writer. Please continue the constructive criticism. It's always welcome.