Toby Bennet, a middle-schooler who avoids socializing in favour of maintaining his online blog, tries to hide his ability to see invisible, misery-eating monsters from his fellow students. But when he’s discovered by two other kids with the same ability, he will realise he doesn't have to suffer alone.
Monster Boy is about three kids with mental illness. It's about bullying, loss, and the importance of friendship and self-care. It's about a kid who will fail to endure.
i think eventually we’re all just gonna have to come to terms with the fact that it’s impossible to tell a story with any degree of subtlety or nuance without risking a portion of the audience taking the “wrong message”, and that’s ok. art isn’t meant to be strictly a teaching tool, and if you’re goal is just to convince people or critique an idea, just write an essay or a polemic
people taking the “wrong message” from a story isn’t a failure of that story, it’s a function of art itself
“Appeal to a wider audience” is corporate lingo for “strip more themes from a piece of media so it’s safer and more sanitized for investors”
I struck a nerve in the billionaire fandom with this one
Okay but this is actually one of the most useful things you learn in creative writing workshops! Namely: Not all of the feedback you get is going to be useful! In fact, most of it isn’t! What you’re looking for are the people who vibe with your work and understand what you’re going for. Those are the people who can help you make your work better! But if you try to please everyone? Then you’re stripping out what makes your story uniquely yours. You’re stripping out what’s going to challenge and resonate with your audience. So don’t ever try to appeal to a wider audience! If you want those diehard fans who are going to follow your catalogue, let your work be weird. Lean into what you love about it. That’s what’s going to stick with your audience at the end of the day.
Freaks, YOU DID IT! You funded the Far-Fetched pilot in UNDER 9 HOURS! From the bottom of our cold, decrepit hearts: Thank you all for supporting our project! Stay tuned for our upcoming stretch goals and updates!
Happy April, folks! This month is Castoff’s 10th anniversary, and I did a mail club theme to celebrate! Stickers w/ Vector and Arianna’s original designs, and a new print featuring the ENTIRE main cast!! Wowza~
Yet more Xmas Gift Art, this time for one of the most hardworking artists I know, @paranoart ; its Toby Bennett, the protagonist of her webcomic Monster Boy, whom they rEALLY NEED TO CUT A BREAK (I say as if I didn’t just draw him encountering an offscreen monster that presumably has a bone to pick with him).
i actually kinda like it when a character getting better includes them becoming weirder and less polite and more confusing and strange. no more “domestication” i wanna see the weird guy be weird!!!
