Genre: Domestic Comedy?
Status: Finished (2002)
Pages: 50 pages
Type: Short story

This was drawn in Yr 2002-2003; I believe I took too long with it. But then I was drawing on A3 paper, so that must have been part of the reason. I have since then downgraded back to A4 paper - the irony is that there actually isn’t that much difference in quality. Because I print my work out on A5 size, the work is bound to be of a reduced size anyway, even though the paper size may vary. Hence, I look at this and wonder why the heck I drew it on A3, when A4 would’ve done just fine. “That said, the good news is that I somewhat like this story. It’s drawn to my satisfaction, it makes sense, there isn’t too much dialogue, the faces are expressive, and it has a reasonably good resolution. The only problem with it is that it’s too long. 40 pages is pushing it for a short story - 50 pages goes over the limit. In fact, the length of the story affected my interest and the speed at which I worked. So, from now on, 40 pages will be the absolute maximum length for my short stories.”

I wrote the above paragraph in September 2003, and when I look back at “Air+Space” now, I can see that it was riddled with problems. Part of the reason could be that the 2002-2003 version was actually the re-telling of an earlier story I drew back in 2001. It was the third manga story I ever attempted, and it wasn’t bad for a first-timer, but it’s not all that good either. That I chose to redraw it 1 year later says something about re-drawing your older, previously drawn stories: don’t do it. Some Good Advice: An older story of yours won’t necessarily be better just because you gave it a facelift with nicer art and more even pacing. The bottom line is: “Air+Space” was a flawed story from the very beginning, and having re-drawn it, it’s STILL uneven. Better to push into the future and invent new things rather than dwell on your older ideas.

This story reads from left to right. Yep, no more Eastern reading-style (and the sound effects are in English).

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