Samwell University Campus Map

intellectual-carrot replied to your post: Comic 13: The Closet Story (Part 1)

I just want to tell you how much I love your backgrounds - they are so interesting and full, the time you take on them is really evident (and appreciated)

- - -

Thank you!! I’ve said it before, but I like the idea of places as characters, so environments are a big part of storytelling for me.

When it comes to places that characters inhabit often, defining a place helps us believe that characters have attachment to that place. Like imagine Ransom and Holster looking up at Faber’s windows at their final home game. Or Shitty graduating, walking out the Haus for the last time, and giving up his Haus key to some loser sophomore. Or in a less horribly nostalgic vein, if there were ever another scene where Jack and Bitty are having a Heart-to-Heart at the loading docks behind Faber, we as the audience–as well as Jack and Bitty–go into it with a ton of associations because of what we’ve seen happen there before. If we create places and define them, they can become abstract concepts that have equal impact on both the reader and the characters! Isn’t that neat? (I can go on about this for a while. I mean, Finn and Jake’s tree house is a great example of this, as well as Central Perk from Friends. (The Great Hall of Hogwarts–the list goes on.))

But an environment also includes the time of day, year, weather, and mood–all aspects which I’m working hard to better convey. And that’s already on top of working on perspective, level of detail, line quality, creating scale, *takes breath* LIGHT, COLOR SCHEMES, COMPOSITION, VALUE and ART IN GENERAL. That’s why I’m in school. OTL

So though I love drawing characters, floating heads, and writing witty Shitticisms, I could draw backgrounds all day. But if CP! turned into just pictures of the Haus in different decades I think people might get a little angry. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (Wouldn’t you want to see it back when it was the Theta Alpha Theta sorority house?)

TL;DR - I think about backgrounds just as much as I think about…IDK, Jack’s Rich White Boy Angst or whatever the hell this story’s about.

HERE’S A MAP OF CAMPUS!!!!!!

ETA: This is just central campus. There’s more north that’s not shown. (Mostly because I don’t know what’s up there. Dragons? idgaf.)

Yooooooo y'all didn even kno i was a LEGIT crazy person thooo lol

Comic 13: The Closet Story (Part 1)

NOTES ON COMIC 13

- If you have questions, comments, squees or concerns, this is where we can connect through the Information Super Highway. (Ask!!!) Also there are Disqus comment apps under every post. I’d love to start a thread. ._.???

- The US News & World Report doesn’t actually have a list of LGBTQ-friendly campuses, but the Princeton Review does. So there you go!

- ETA: Oh yeah, The Closet Story is a direct reference to a webcomic I had in college (I believe it started the summer of 2011) that…uh. Stopped suddenly. You can read the couple-or-so pages I made at this sad, sad, tumblr.

- ETA2: Blegh, I fixed Panel 3–Ransom’s supposed to be saying the first line there. 

- ETA3: BLEGH fixed typo in Panel 1. Message me if you ever see typos!!!

CAMPUS

Me and backgrounds have a love hate relationship. I hate that I love to draw them because they take a stupid long time–maybe 60% of all comic making time. And while I know nothing about architecture, drawing Samwell’s Lake Quad was 1-part punch me-in-the-face, 2-parts a complete blasty-blast. Here’s some of those panels without speech bubbles:

WARDROBE FOR SIRS 

The Boys have style! Or something approaching it!

- Bitty’s Bitty, so he wears whatever, as long as it’s coordinated, fits, and is obvi totes mcgotes ‘swawesome 'dorbs. TOTES MCGOTES.

- Shitty tends to look like he’s about to play hacky sack. Or like he’s late to band rehearsal in his friend’s dad’s garage. That is, when Shitty is actually wearing clothes. 

- Ransom dresses like the horrible preppy frat bro he is. The guy owns salmon shorts. Holster has thrown them out the attic window many times. Almost as many times as Ransom has tried to get Holster to wear Sperrys. 

- Holster’s attire is based on that of one my suitemates from senior year of college. This guy was from Portland, Oregon, played baseball and basketball in high school, and owned maybe three pairs of shoes. (Becuase, practical!) Actually, a lot of Holster is based on my old roomie. Huh. Holster’s general approach to fashion is “What?” or “Huh?” or “Ransom, I will throw those fucking pants out the fucking window, I swear to God.”

- Jack consistently dresses like he’s about to rob a Burger King.

TIMELINE

And for those diehard people who care about timelines and stuff, Comic 13 (and the next one actually) take place a week before finals. GAH, so behinddd.

A super-rushed illustration I did for school, but I had to post it.

Because what speaks of holiday cheer more than five friends on a 23-person hockey team sitting outside on a disgusting couch in a snowstorm, simultaneously bonding through and becoming mortal enemies over a frigid, traitorous game of Mario Kart?

(Happy Holidays!)

Haus Group Text
Shits: lol jack when are u gettin instagram bro
Jack: whats instagram
Rans: woooow hahahahaa unreal
Shitty: …bro.
Jack: ???
Holster: What the actual fuck, Jack.

10 minutes later
Holster: You realize Betty White has instagram.
Jack: how is it different from twitter
Jack: does she go to Samwell
Holster: Stop.

Ages & Timelines

tarastarr1 replied to your post “What grades are the guys in? I would hope none of them are graduating soon..”

Can I ask why the age distribution? Did some of the guys not go right to college after high school?

Great question!! A lot of guys who want to play hockey professionally usually join junior leagues after graduating from high school or while they’re in their final years of high school. Holster was in the USHL for a bit before enrolling in Samwell, while Jack played in the QMJHL before taking some time off and then enrolling. The rest of boys just enrolled in Samwell right after high school. (So yeah, Holster’s older than Shitty!) 

BUT if anyone’s interested in Jack’s life and why he’s literally a grumpy old man playing with youngins, here’s a timeline:

5-12: Hockey wunderkind
12-15: Minor hockey league wunderkind
16-18: QMJHL, beginnings of alcohol and substance abuse.
18: Yay, let’s get drafted to the NHL! Lol jk, you’re a fucking mess!!!
18: Yeah how about you take a year or two off and go to rehab.
18: Go coach a mites team or something.
18: And try to deal with your daddy issues.
21: Enrolls in Samwell.

In Comic 6, I never explained all of this as precisely, but that’s the gist of it. Jack was on a fast track to being the next poster boy for the NHL but his life got derailed and now he’s at Samwell trying to redeem himself.

Will he??? *shrug*!!

A message from Anonymous

What grades are the guys in? I would hope none of them are graduating soon..

And Lardo’s also a sophomore with Ransom and Holster. Who? Wait what?

“What’s Johnson talking about?” asked Bitty.

Shitty shrugged. “No one’s ever really sure.”

A message from penroseparticle

BITTLES. BEYONCE ALBUM DROP.

Jack lifted up his backpack just in time to shield himself from Bittle’s sudden onslaught of kicks, most of which were aimed in the general direction of his face. Bittle probably would have tried to punch him, but Ransom and Holster each had one of his arms, and Shitty his left leg. Well, it could have been worse. Only half of the Samwell library was looking at them.

“Come on, he weighs like 100 pounds,” Jack hissed. “Why is it taking all three of you to hold him down?”

“I have no fucking clue,” said Holster, trying to be quiet. “He’s summoned some kind of super-human strength. It’s like wrestling a really tiny bear.”

“FUCK, Bitty, that’s my FACE.”

Bittle simply ignored Shitty’s pain and kept kicking with his free leg.

“Fuck, bro, just say sorry!” said Ransom. “What’d you even say to piss him off?”

Jack was backed up against a wall. “He was going on and on about some new album, and how it’s a huge surprise and…” Jack looked at them. “All I did was ask ‘why is Beyoncé so important?’”

“GODDAMMIT, JACK.” shouted Holster.

And now the entire library was looking at them.

“Hi, Uh. I’m Jack, the captain of the hockey team. And…*sigh* And I’m sorry we threw a small pie at you.”

A message from meduseld

What are Shitty's parents like? We know his mom made him read Toni Morrison....