Redmari
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10 Fun Patchwork Facts
🕑 Added 2024-06-03 06:00:01 +0000 UTCY’all remember when I made these lists for S&S waaaaay back in the day? Well since I’ve been away visiting fam last week (and drove two 16 hour road trips to Colorado lol kill me), let’s have a PW behind-the-scenes special!
1. BOOK INSPIRATION
Cirque du Freak/Saga of Darren Shan has always been my favorite book series. Other people might’ve grown up with Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, etc, I had the lil vampire circus boy. It was what started my fascination with circuses and I would bet even subconsciously inspired the “what if the freaks were real” idea for PW
Other fav books that have a bit of an influence are Pilo Family Circus (by Will Elliott), the Lockdown series (Alexander Gordon Smith) and Tomorrow Belongs to Me (Mark Roberts), all I highly recommend!
2. THEME MUSIC
Y’all know I love to recommend kooky and spooky circus tunes but weirdly what I was listening to the most when script writing was the indie folk band Elephant Revival (not circus related at all lol). The song ‘Ring Around The Moon’ shaped Noah and a very big scene way later in the comic that I’m sure I’ll talk about when we eventually get there and you’ve all long forgotten this lol
3. MOVIE ROOTS
I often relate this comic to that good ol’ innocent and lighthearted little family film: The Human Centipede. I’ve practically stole its tagline when describing PW to people: ‘100% Medically Inaccurate’. It’s like a ridiculous premise that takes itself seriously but also doesn’t. Just picture the Ringleaders as versions of Dr. Heiter if Heiter liked theatrics and mustaches more than mouth-butt stuff. (Also tagging in a movie of the same vein: Tusk, it’s also a lot of fun! Double feature movie night idea!!)
4. GENRE?
PW’s actually toned down a lot since conception in terms of blood/gore so I’m hesitating to even call it horror anymore (BL thriller with body horror elements maybe?). Not because I’m chickening out on the graphic shit, it do get bloody at times, I just ended up wanting to write about the characters/situations more than a wacky Texas Chainsaw Circus I guess lol
TL;DR we’re talking Saw 1 vs all the Saw sequels in terms of intensity difference
5. DEMONS
So Red’s original circus story, let’s talk about it! A looong time ago, like pre-S&S, I had an idea for a YA circus series (not even BL!) only in this one instead of wackadoo surgeon ringleaders we had the kidnapped people slowly and painfully turn into demons based on what type of cursed item they bought at a secret gift shop (ie. If you chose a lighter you’d turn into a firebreather). VERY Cabin in the Woods and I’m happy I didn’t stick with it, I think I’m too much a ground-that-shit-in-reality kind of creator to correctly handle magical artifacts and demonology lore 😅
6. JAY DEATH
Super early draft of the comic (that followed from the “YA demon series” idea) had Crick’s coworker friend Jay originally follow Crick backstage and get killed by Cricket on accident. Basically Jay would’ve been experimented on first (to be a firebreather), tried to get help from C who didn’t recognize him and C would kill him in self-defense thinking he was some kind of monster/threat. Kind of a fun twisty twist… but also gave Crick way too much grief/guilt to deal with on top of all his other problems so no coworker murder subplot lol Story ain’t about Jay it’s about 2 gay boys! Go die somewhere else Jay GAWD
7. HOTEL QUICKIE
Another early script change was the boys having a full one night stand in the hotel when they first met, but I eventually decided to start them off slower, they were in the moment but not THAT in the moment yaknowwhatimsayin. So the result was not as unaffecting as a kiss but not as slutty as a buttfucking (oh if my creative writing teachers could see me now)
8. STRUCTURE
PW is written in 3 acts (istg guys I’m counting down until we get to the second and third, they’re why I wanted to make the comic). It’s hard to tell based on script alone how long each act will be but I know Act 1 ends right after the big rehearsal night and the last act will probably be smallest? But who knows.
I’ve unofficially officially titled the three acts “Welcome to the Circus”, “The Escape Plan” and “Survival”
9. COLOR SCHEME
I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this before but all the cool tones I wanted to go with for PW are from a few things:
1. Cirque du Soleil: Alegria’s green/blue/purple tattered baroque style costumes. Like the Pablo clowns were a big inspiration for Crick’s green patterned performance outfit
2. I wanted it to be opposite a lot of S&S’s reds/oranges/browns
3. Bonus: some of my fav horror movies use cool tones to convey grime/dread (Saw, The Collector, Se7en) and while they didn’t start as inspiration I do go to them now for lighting and color ideas lol
10. SEXUALITIES
This story doesn’t focus on labels at all and this definitely won’t affect any crackships I may want to draw but for shits and giggles here we go!
Cricket: bicurious turned newly bisexual
Noah: gay/Cricketsexual
Jules: bisexual but it’s weird
Jasper: I dunno, asexual? he’s just a dick that doesn’t use his dick
Comments
Cara Thereon
Yo, the demon idea seems kinda cool though I can see why it would be tough to execute if that genre isn’t your thing.
BennetBitch
I actually like the theme you have gone with. I find stuff that could be a reality far scarier than demons. Real life shit like crazy fake doctors sewing up people and hostage situations are definitely something more tempting to read about. I like this story a lot the creativity and passion are there. The lighting definitely gives it a gloomy/dramatic effect. I also like how you are not focusing the labels but the descriptions of Jules and Jasper make me laugh 😂
Becca P.
The more I learn about this comic the more hyped I am to see where it goes. It’s really interesting hearing how the concept has changed over time! I feel like we’re on the lift hill of a roller coaster at night and you can kind of see hints of the rest of the track but it also just disappears into some dark creepy woods and it’s about to be the greatest ride of your life. 👀
Redmari
Aaw thank you!! I’m definitely trying with all the color/lighting in this story, we gotta bring the DRAMA 😂
Mccull
Interesting to hear how Patchwork has become a little more toned down than you originally intended! I can’t say I’m disappointed? Not that I wasn’t interested in the horror-y stuff or anything, but I like the focus on the relationships and situations too… and I know that this is typical of comics lol. They always start out one way in your head and then end up different on paper. Super excited to see where this story goes 💕 and I love the color palettes you’ve chosen both for this story and for S&S. You are one of my favorite artists when it comes to ambiance/full coloring! 🥰 thanks for sharing these fun facts
