As I wrote the title, I felt some level of irony. I drew this while being sick (hope that means the actual drawing was “sick” too. See what I mean?), so maybe I shouldn’t have drawn as much as I did for this occasion.
Thing is, I’m currently drawing all Volume 3 chapters, but being sick, I didn’t feel as motivated, so I decided to draw whatever I wanted at the time, and I remembered a band I discovered last year!
My road to “Self Care” by Yours Truly
Well, maybe I lied a little at the beginning… I got to listen Yours Truly near the end of 2023!
Their song “High Hopes” reminded me a lot of the songs I used to listen during my High school Years, but somehow, a bit heavier, direct, and somehow liberating?
I kept listening to the song in replay in my way home after New Year’s eve, and later went to listen to a few more songs of the band, but just a few, as song I listened from them, ended up being a song I got obsessed with, and replayed it for months before listening to another one; specially their song “Together”, from the album I just listened fully today!
I listened “Together” near the time I decided to start my comic with “Break Umbrella” instead of “The Memorable Bittersweet Days” storyline. As I prepared the story, I felt as if Natasha was “its heart”, and started to like her character more than I initially had, and I ended up having “Together” as a song that reminded me of her.
I knew that if I listened to the whole album, I would most likely end up with a Natasha drawing.
Listening
Ever since the year started, I’ve felt as if I’m drawing slower, and being sick doesn’t help. I must have played the whole album like five times, not counting the songs I replayed more than others:
- Siamese Souls
- Together
- Undersize
- Ghost
- Glass Houses
“Undersize” surprised me, as its vibe and lyrics feel as if it was calmer than the rest of the songs, and more upbeat.
However, “Ghost” was my favorite song, being the most 2000’s song from the album in my opinion, and I really liked how the “Yeah, I’m a ghost *insert pause with a bit of guitar and drums* to your noise” sounded.
I’m sure it was also that I like when pop-punk songs insert supernatural themes into their songs, if ever so slightly. The protagonist of the song feeling like a “ghost”, first dead then more alive, or how she reminisces the older version of the person that “made her feel like a ghost”, as in him now being the ghost in some way.
That song in particular made me want to change my drawing idea for another one, but I didn’t have the time/energy. Maybe next time.
Drawing
I think I mentioned this before, but getting older than the characters that were significantly older than you when you first imagined them, feels weird.
In a way it also made me realize how caricaturized some of them felt, even changing their personalities and stories a bit, because I also wanted readers to empathize more with a few, like Natasha.
I’m about her age now, so now that I have more or less walked a path expected for people on their twenties, it makes the parts of Natasha’s life that deviate from those expectations more heart-breaking to me.
The drawing was meant to show moments of her life during University, at least the ones I think someone could still relate to that don’t involve the fictional elements of the story as much:
Missing a loved one, having to move from hometown to study, leaving your friends and family, barely staying awake during hordes of classes, getting a part-time job, and even so, get to your room, lay tired on bed, and still feel like you are not making any significant good change for your life…perhaps because you are doing all for other people’s expectations. (or against them, but in a way that you direct more energy to them than to yourself and you actual dreams and goals)
I want to say other details more specific to Natasha, but they are meant to be revealed little by little. Chapter 10, coming on February 5th will show us a bit more of her shared past with the Gumatos.
Would-Replay-Meter!
Just to remind you: this shows how much a character in the drawing would replay their favorite songs, or how much they would avoid their least favorite.
- If a character is in the green side of a song, they would replay it a lot.
- If a character is in the red side of a song, they would avoid it.
- The close a character is to either extreme, the more the song hits them (most of the times)
I didn’t put Chiclen in many as I thought of this Chiclen being his younger self of when Natasha was about to enter University.
I also want to emphasize that I actually liked “Funeral Home” a lot! Is just that it wasn’t the type of song younger Chiclen would want to listen at the time (it also applies for Natasha, but she is more mature than him to not let it get to her nerves during that moment).
As you see, “Ghost” is liked a lot by Natasha. I want to draw her again with that song in mind!
Edit Note: I did it!
Monthly or Monthlyn’t?
Album Gallery is meant to be a monthly section, but it has barely been half a month since the last entry (which was the first one).
Will this count as February’s entry?
No! this one counts as an special out-of-sickness entry!
I also feel like I made a bit of cheating, as I already listened to three songs from the Album, and pop-punk is pretty much my comfort genre. I won’t draw anything from an album I didn’t like, but I want to mix it up a little for me too! I’ll try to choose an album a bit different to the first two.
In the meantime, I’ll try to recover from this cold/flu thing.
Until then, stay tuned and stay safe!
– HappyMonkeyRookie
BREAK UMBRELLA 