Photo: “CH 1, Pg 11”. Legacy of the Elementals created by Anime Alpharie. (March 2025)

Anime Alpharie writes:

“Hi everyone!

My name is Alpharie, and I am sort of new! I had a comic on here years ago and I've since lost access to that account. Blighted, that's ...

There was a recent article in the Guardian about how playing Dungeons and Dragons had helped siblings bond and cope with the death of their father. It got me thinking about the role that role-playing has played (now there's a phrase) in my own life.

For me role-playing began ...

In designing a good villain character there's a wide range of paths one can follow. From the grandiose villains that want to take over the world and live in volcano islands, waiting for the hero to fall into their elaborate death trap to humanized villains with complex backstories that ...

I love a character in an ensemble cast that runs counter to the rest of the people around them.

Really, it's the best way to make a character stand out. The one who has some kind of contrast to everyone else, in terms of their priorities, or beliefs, or ...

So you might have a character that's generally very calm or stoic. They may appear weak, or just not intimidating. They may be the right gender, class, age, or any other parameter for their peers to assume they are easy pickings and thus a great target for harassment. Initially ...

Every year our family are gifted a very nice calendar from one of our relatives. However, it often arrives a couple of months into the year. So, I'm usually tasked with whipping up a temporary couple of months to pin to the door to use until it arrives.

This ...

LISTEN on our player!
Or Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com.au/podcasts/24f85853-5d63-44ac-885f-da23db0a53ad/the-quackcast

The 3rd in our technical art-making series, we're talking hair, feathers, and fur today. How do you draw those highly complicated, textured things? Well the complicated, difficult way is to draw every single strand ...

One of the best ways to absolutely nail the climax of your comic arc is by using foreshadowing. It’s like planting little breadcrumbs for your readers—tiny hints or clues scattered throughout your story that point to future events or a character’s big moment. When done well, foreshadowing ...

I'm having to write a short speech to give at a friend's memorial service next month, and I'm finding it difficult. It's not the words that I'm struggling with, it's more the entire concept of what I'm doing. So, as a distraction from ...

Photo: “More Than A Psychological Test”. Ink on White Paper, found objects, rubber roller, ink blotter. Created by kawaiidaigakusei. Westwood, Los Angeles, California. (February 2025)

Last Saturday afternoon was spent at an Art Lab in a museum in Los Angeles, California, that was open to participants of all ages.

The ...