20 Years Anniversary

 It’s been 20 years since I drew my most (and only) popular story, named Princess Laila and the Evil Pirates. I drew this in autumn 2006 for the Manga Talente contest from the bookfair in Leipzig. It was my first and only attempt to participate in a contest. It was themed, I don’t even remember exactly how the theme was called, maybe Seaworld or something?

Anyway, back then Gab was already my main OC, and I wrote and drew his first story, too. So I decided to draw the contest story with Gab and the cast of his story, too. Since it was a short story, reduced to 16 pages, I also knew a serious story wouldn’t work well, so I choose a parody/comedy plot. And as you probably know, this isn’t really my main field of stories, even though I’ve drawn a few parodies in the past further back. However, back then, young and naiive, I hoped I could become a professional mangaka… in Germany. XD I was right in the middle of my apprenticeship to MTLA, too, but really hoped I’d never actually have to work in that job because it didn’t interest me at all. I just did it to have a „safe base“ additional to my presumed art career. XD

A few pages of the 2006 contest version (Copic Sketch).

You can read the full story in my archive: Princess Laila and the Evil Pirates (it's in German)

Back then, I was super obsessed with Visual Kei and Gothic Lolita, and so I created this story with VK styled pirates. I won the contest, which was super weird tbh. ^^“ I’ve stepped into the public for the first time (I also started sharing art online in the end of 2006) and was extremely overwhelmed, my art was hyped immediately - even though, of course, some people accused me of copying some other Mangaka’s style etc, and that I didn’t deserve to win. The whole thing was kinda big back then, and in cases like these, it’s only natural that haters appear. And if I’m completely honest, my artistic skills were by far not good enough to win such a contest. I assume it was the story/plot or the overall idea that made me win (also the fact that VK/GL was a trend back then)? But I don’t know. It doesn’t matter anyway. I wasn’t ready to get so much attention, and I wasn’t able to handle it. Up until today, I think this was a super bad start at sharing my work in public. It’d have been better if I had the chance to start in a normal, more decent way. The hype caused lots of high expectations and pressure, from others and from myself, and in the end this really broke me. I wouldn’t ever try to go commercial like this again. A publisher wanted to hire me, which first sounded like a dream come true, but in the end they didn’t want my serious stories, of course, but something „more mainstream“, as they said, and well, it’s not a surprise because my contest story was pretty mainstream and comedy-like. Of course they wanted more of that. In the end I didn’t do it, because I realized that I can’t just draw on demand, especially if it's something I don't feel at all - plus, the payment would've been very low (actually a joke tbh), so I realized that I couldn't live from that anyway. I wasn’t able to even come up with a halfway decent story idea in the same genre, and I had zero motivation to draw something like that. All in all, I’m glad I stayed true to myself, even though it was a difficult path and I also had some phases where I tried to draw more commercial, eye-pleasing, pretty art. I admit that I gave in to the expectations and was also hungry for higher numbers in comments and likes etc, and also tried to stay at the level of attention that I got in the beginning. I learned my lesson, and now I’d even be afraid of fame like this. Lol

Despite all of this – Gab is still with me. Back then, Keith didn’t exist yet, so the cast was mainly made of characters whom I don’t even use anymore (like Nerois, a boyfriend Gab once had), and some who aren’t on his side anymore, like Laila and Fhara. I don’t really „feel“ that story anymore either. But still, sometimes I look back at it and remember at least the excitement and hope I felt when I drew it. Something I don’t really know anymore nowadays. Which doesn’t stop me from drawing A Lament of Fallen Devils, but I don’t know how to put it, it’s more like an unhealthy obsession, and also the desire to do this despite of all the backlash I’ve had with it, so it often feels more like a fight.

I started a little redraw of the pirate story 10 years ago, for the 10-year-anniversary, too, but only drew three pages. I replaced Nerois with Keith already. (The cover of this remake is a bit older, from 2013. I didn't want to draw it again in 2016 ^^")

The redraw from 2016, also with Copics. I didn't get any further than that, though.

And now? Now I thought about how many things would change if I drew it nowadays, with the current focus of ALoFD on the characters, and somehow wanted to do it. We’ll see if I really do it.

This time, Keith will be the main character/pirate. It actually fits him pretty well. Gab will be his quartermaster instead of Nerois in the original and Keith in the 2016 version, which also fits much, much better, and Kaz will be the prince, replacing Laila as princess. There won’t be mermaids, though (the mermaid was also a character who doesn’t exist anymore, another short-time boyfriend of Gab, whom I replaced with Kaz in the 2016 remake). The story will head in a little different direction. It’ll be short and dumb, no question. Maybe even shorter than the original. But ofc I also won’t put too much time into this.

Character sheet/outfits for Keith and Gab in the 2026 version.

For this one, I'll also use 3D models for the background. I also designed the interior for some of the rooms already, so I can do some inside scenes, too:

The "conference room" (with a bar, of course XD):

Keiths room:

Gabs room:

So far, I drew a few panels which you can see here (I don't have a real cover, so the title's on the first panel):

Actually, I drew this in webtoon format, but Blogger doesn't allow me to put it here in full size, so those are the pages I cropped for Instagram. It's not much yet, you can't see anything of the plot, and it probably looks more serious than it is. But I also think I couldn't draw in a slapstick-full comedy-like style like back then anymore. There will be humor, but probably much more decent and also a bit darker. And probably only understandable for those who know the original story.

Tbh, I really love to draw AU stories, and Gab and Keith do have quite a few of them which I never shared. I'd share them if the original story was more liked/seen, but to me it doesn't make any sense to share AUs for something almost nobody reads. AUs would be an addition, a small goodie, but not if the original isn't known anyway.

Also, about the remakes - back in 2016 I did an exact redraw, but this time I willingly decided to make something different, because I honestly think it's a bit boring to redraw the exact same thing without any development of the content, especially since the characters changed and developed a lot since then. An exact redraw would only serve the purpose to show my artistic development, and I'm not really interested in doing this. I'm aware that my style changed, and everything I changed was made for personal reasons, so I don't really care if anyone thinks my new style is better, or the old one. From experience, I already know that most people prefer my old style, which is why I don't like showing comparisons anywhere but here. As said, all changes were made for personal reasons, and I'm very far away from what I did in 2006, and I also don't like that style anymore, even if it could've made me more popular or whatever. I don't draw to please others. I do this remake to see what kind of story it'd become with the characters in the current story, and I enjoy seeing the changes. I think a simple "look how good my art became" take would be superficial and boring, also a bit stupid. I'm not into that.

For the media - the old ones were drawn traditionally, which I don't do anymore either, especially not for a full story. But I made a color palette from the Cool Gray Copics which I used back then, to get a similar color shading (they were super blue in the scans). I'm not sure if I keep it like that, though, it's possible that I'll change it to a warm gray palette with a bit of texture for a more "old" look.

I'm not sure if I continue to draw this. I have ideas, and I have a tendency to go way too deep into such ideas, so in the end it'd be likely that the story wouldn't be short or fun anymore. ^^" I'd also only post it if I see there's interest in it, not only in the outfit designs.