Pixels & Panels: A Show About Digital Storytelling

This week we chat with Meki, the creator of Teddy & Bear on Tapas! She's an amazing guest and an even better storyteller (both on the pod and at telling comics, heh) and we know you'll love listening to her! Follow Meki's work: https://tapas.io/series/Teddy--Bear/info

Today's chat is with the lovely Nick Seluk, the creator of The Awkward Yeti. We chat everything from his foray into comics, the earliest days of the comic before it become the mega title it is today, and how he continues to adapt around the always-changing industry. Follow Nick on IG Follow Us on IG

Hi everybody, we have a special episode today, where we’re joined by the executive team at Tapas Media, one of the largest webcomic publishing platforms globally. Michael Son is the VP of Content and works closely on the studio side and turning webcomics into tv and film adaptations, and Isabell Castro is a creator-turned-community-director who focuses on making Tapas a great home for its creators. You don’t want to miss this episode because we’ll be covering topics such as learning about Tapas’ origin story leading into becoming such a powerful platform it is today, discuss how it’s different from Webtoon and what you can expect as a creator when you work with Tapas, get Michael and Isabell’s opinions on the recent issues of creator burnout, learn about the behind-the-scenes working behind a webcomic becoming an original and getting cross-adapted into other formats, and finally what to expect from Tapas moving forward as it continues to invest in content and creators.

Hi everybody, we’re joined today by Aki, the trilingual creator behind the webtoon canvas series Villainess for Hire. She has lived in China, Canada, and Japan, and is no stranger to making comics that elicit deep thought and emotion, like her viral short comic Nine Lives you might have come across on Tumbler in the past. It was a blast to unpack Aki’s story, learning about how her knowledge of Eastern and Western cultures informs her approach to shaping stories, her involvement in the Tonari no Young Jump competition judged by Assassination Classroom’s Yusei Matsui and how it kicked off her creative portfolio in comics, and her pragmatic approach to making comics that you can potentially use to have fun and enjoy the work. Check out Aki's work: https://akimiya.carrd.co/

We’re joined today by Mae, the creator behind the webtoon canvas series First Ones Out. The story follows a cast of six soon-to-separate friends in their last few months of high school in Bangkok, a time we can all recall as hectic and a bit scary to internalize. It was a blast talking through Mae’s story, learning about how she carved out a path forward in art by getting a scholarship to animation school, how what she learned in uni has helped improve First Ones Out in both story and art, and how to maintain a good headspace through the challenging journey that is storytelling. Check out Mae's work: https://www.instagram.com/m4eph/?hl=en

Hi everybody, we’re joined today by Uche, the creator behind the wildly hilarious Webtoon Original, Vibe Check. And as personal updates, Akhil has been traveling across the world and I’ve been relocating cross country so we appreciate everyone’s patience as we’ve been away the past few weeks. But we have so many amazing episodes in the queue so we’re excited to be back. We had a lot of fun unpacking Uche’s story, including what it’s like to portray himself as a squishy, imperfect lead character in his series and the resulting vulnerability, discuss the loving support he’s gotten from his fans who aren’t afraid to also be hilarious, and talk through the underrepresentation of black creators on Webtoon and what can be done about it, and so much more. Check out Uche's work: https://www.instagram.com/ucheomaaa/

Hello everybody, we’re joined today by Izy, the creator behind the BL webcomic REEDS. We had a really insightful discussion with Izy, and to preview the episode, Izy talks about his love for visual storytelling and how it has led him down the path of creating comics, discusses the ongoing research he’s done to create an accurate representation of Hmong people and what it’s like to see so many people interesting in learning about it through his comic, and shares his data-centric approach to growing his IP and his simple but effective philosophy of failing forward that we were inspired by. Check out Izy's work: https://linktr.ee/zzsleeps

We’re joined today by Mina, who creates the webcomic GEN Z on Webtoon Canvas. In the story, we get to watch four members of the band ‘Gen Z’ Akira, Moon, Zuke, and Avian chaotically living together as they come of age. We’re excited to share the conversation with had with Mina, where we discussed topics such as design and fashion inspirations for the distinct and well-dressed characters she’s created, how she sources many of the episode plots from things that have happened around her, her positive experience creating plushies for GEN Z fans, and when we can expect the comic to return from its hiatus. Check out her work: https://linktr.ee/animrac

Hey listener, today’s guest is Sarah, an outstanding animation student who also produces a warm princess story called The Princess Plot on Webtoon Canvas. This enthralling series is about a princess who wants to experience freedom for just a bit longer ahead of her upcoming marriage to a prince she’s never met before, and the princess’ maid who finds that pretending to be someone you’ve known all your life is still not very easy. We have a packed agenda for you today, but previewing the episode, Sarah shares her philosophy on making something you love without thinking too much about numbers, the notable evolution of her art style within the series, why comics don’t necessarily need dialogue to tell a good story, and future of the series as she enters her final year as an animation major in uni. Check out Sarah's linktree here: https://linktr.ee/skyhuas

Today’s guest is Robin, a supremely talented 21 year old art college student. We’re excited to share with you the story behind their QL webcomic Chainlinked, where we follow the sometimes awkward but always heartwarming encounters between the lead characters Danny and Hunter . We’ll chat about the genesis of Chainlinked and why it was important for Robin to portray happy representation of queer characters, how they learned to stockpile buffer episodes and adjusted to the vertical webtoon format, and discuss how to stay ahead of trends and leverage animatics as a way to build an audience on TikTok. Check out Robin's work: https://linktr.ee/rainycacti/

Today’s guests are Laundromat & Lawnmower, two talented sisters behind one of my personal favorite webcomics, Poor People Go to Hell. In this gripping fantasy webcomic, we follow our protagonist Agnes’ pursuit of the truth as she investigates the sudden disappearance of her parents and the mysterious cult that may be behind it all. We’ll learn about how their mad scientist-turned writer keeps the audience on their toes with her layered approach to storytelling, how their illustrator has found incredible success developing such a unique art style, how they negotiate and sometimes fight through an ultimately robust creative process, and how they’ve magically unlocked TikTok as a channel to market their work. Please check out there work here: https://msha.ke/laundromatlawnmower/

Today’s guest is Soy, a rising creator from Hong Kong. She’s the genius behind the comic Stare Down, where a seemingly innocuous stare down turns into a fun romance between two high school students. We discuss her foray into comics, and her interesting methods for character design, such as reverse engineering from myers briggs personality types. Having grown her comic on Canvas to nearly 200,000 subscribers and Patreon to nearly 400 users in the year and half since launch, she also shares some tips and tricks for growing your comic. Check out her wonderful work: https://linktr.ee/soycisoy