Crimson Chains is a self-taught artist who has always loved to create comics and stories. Star themes and aesthetics are some of her favorite things to create, and Star Crossed is her first published work.

I had the opportunity to interview Crimson, which you can read below.

First of all, welcome back to Geeks OUT! For those who might not be familiar with you, could you tell us a little about yourself?

Hello! Happy to be back! My name is Crimson Chains and I am the author and artist of my original webcomic Star Crossed! I am a self taught artist and love drawing. I have been making comics since I was 10 years old and I hope to keep drawing stories for many years to come.

How are you feeling with the conclusion to your series, Star Crossed in volume 2?

I am very satisfied overall with the conclusion for Star Crossed! It’s fun to see my boys overcome so much together and grow closer as well. There’s still a lot of small bonus things I want to draw with them, but I am happy with how Volume 2 closed out.

As a creator, what drew your interest towards writing fantasy stories?

I’ve always really enjoyed fantasy as a genre! Back when I was in elementary school I read anything with the word ‘dragon’ in the title. I think it’s something that allows me to really stretch my creativity when I can create my own world and it’s just a lot of fun. I love playing with the celestial themes especially and thinking about the star creatures.

What are some of your favorite elements of writing/illustrating? What do you consider some of the most frustrating and/or challenging? 

With drawing I think my favorite step is the coloring process, it’s the stage where things feel like they’re really coming to life and I have a lot of fun playing around with the color pallet for the scene. The most frustrating part there is definitely the initial sketch, since it’s the backbone of the whole page I always get very nervous about making sure it looks good. It’s also quite frustrating that the process takes a long time, each page takes me about 8 hours and so it can be quite a slow and tedious process. 

In addition to creating your own original comics, you are also a known fan artist. What are some of your favourite fandoms to draw for?

I have so many fandoms I am in, haha! Right now I am really enjoying drawing characters from To Be Hero X! It’s a great show with interesting characters and mixtures of different animation styles. The fandom I am definitely most known for though has to be Yuri On Ice. An amazing anime which really changed my life, and I certainly encourage people who haven’t watched it to give it a shot as well!

Aside from your work, what are some things you would want readers to know about you?

I think I mentioned something similar last time but, I love birds a lot! And I would one day like to get swooped by a magpie.

What’s a question you haven’t been asked yet but that you wish you were asked (as well as the answer to that question)?

I feel like we’ve covered a lot about me, haha! Maybe though, something like “How do you plan out a page?” In which case the answer is that I approach each page in a sort of vague way! I know where the last page ended and then I think about where I want this one to end in a way which might leave a good cliffhanger or complete the scene. Then I fill in the rest as I sketch out each panel.

What advice might you have to give for aspiring writers and artists out there?

My biggest piece of advice is to just start! Especially with comics and stories it feels so daunting and like you have to have everything perfect before you begin the process, but, that’s not true. The best way to learn is by doing, you’ll naturally get better as you go along. It’s not about making something perfect, it’s about expressing yourself and you just gotta get started!

Are there any other projects you are working on and at liberty to speak about?

I am currently working on a selkie au of my Star Crossed characters! It’s been really fun to draw them as seals and put them in a new world. Yildun and Polaris continue to be very cute but also have a fun new dynamic when there’s no class barrier between them.

Finally, what books/authors would you recommend to the readers of Geeks OUT?

I feel like I haven’t had a lot of time to read new things lately, so, I’ll recommend an old series I have been thinking about a lot recently! It’s a fun fantasy manga called Silver Diamond by Shiho Sugiura. It’s a fantasy story with BL vibes and I just think the world building and characters is very cool!

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You can read my previous interview with Crimson here.