MPL - Ep 3 Artwork + Chat (Patreon)

Here's the artwork for ep 3 and a bunch of faces (probably my favourite thing to draw and paint!). It's more of a narration-driven episode and everything else is a spoiler. The events are still pretty much the same, but some details have been changed, to either deepen the story, or smooth out any plot holes - at least that's what I hope to achieve.

So some behind-the-scenes stuff.

I was doing some research on eye contact, and apparently (and this is something that I've known intuitively but have never put it into words), too little eye contact is creepy, and so is too much eye contact. But also, a strong, steady gaze from a person can be an indication of his/her confidence and strength of spirit. This is Tora (and Ulaan) to me, with his bold, unflinching, and often intense gaze. (Personally I'm terrible at making eye contact - but i try 😂)

Another thing I read about - apparently, studies have shown that along with ghosts, monsters, serial killers, etc., MEN are one of the things found to be 'creepy' to a woman, on a subconscious/instinctive level, mostly due to evolution/biology. On the contrary, men don't experience these feelings (at least not as strongly) towards women. I've observed from the comments, how female romance readers' 'creep radar' goes way up, and very quickly, when the male protag does certain things. And this makes so much sense to me, now.

Although I'm not a very science-y/intellectual person, these are things I like to read about and try to keep in mind. Working on my comics/stories requires me to use these little psychological tactics and mind tricks to nudge the reader into thinking/feeling a certain way. Which is also one of the biggest challenge I face when working on romances, and is what I'm always thinking about as I work. Sometimes I get it right, sometimes it just falls flat, because obviously not everyone is going to perceive something the way I hope they will (and that's okay) 😂

Anyway, I'm going to work on the next episode of Sugar & Spice now. Sorry to keep you guys waiting for the smut, and thank you all for being so patient with me! I took a short break a couple weeks back that I've talked about, and in order to catch up, I've been working intensively on MPL production work. Good news is I'm back on track again with the completion of this episode.