From Concept to Final: My Webcomic's 14-Year Development

[@charlieyipeee]

hearing you talk about your comic's development makes me feel much better about how confused i am and frustrated i am about planning my webcomic. i keep having to axe ideas, but knowing how much you went through to finally make a really good story, im feeling more confident that ill get the story working well one day.

[@SagetheFREAKY]

Same here! I wish you the best of luck :)

[@faithdrawing3858]

Good luck! ALSO IS THAT A MURDER DRONES PFP? I LOVE MD

[@scarsound]

I feel the same way!! It’s super inspiring

[@williek08472]

"In fact, there even were some drafts where they [Rori and Marina] just didn't exist at all." Thank goodness that didn't happen, because otherwise the best character wouldn't be in it! (It's Marina)

[@Lavgh00st]

Very real 💪💪

[@catloafonlaptop435]

*looks at my lore which is literally just everything I like even when it makes absolutely no fucking sense*

[@malaksafa4074]

*SAME*

[@iambadatnamingthings3547]

Honestly, the twist that Vector is the child of the queen herself would positively blow up your fanbase… Do it for the chaos

[@GrainneSheridan]

Really want chaos? Make evil cake and magic pizza canon.

[@hydralily1646]

Could you put a spoiler warning please?

[@iambadatnamingthings3547]

@@hydralily1646 why? It’s not like that’s a plot in the comic

[@paegr]

We live in the Mandela Effect timeline where Wild didn't make it to Castoff. He's Castoff's equivalent of Graggle Simpson

[@bella_daze3092]

25:13 OMG NO WAY😭😭😭😭 bro I’m about to cry. I might’ve joined nine years late- BUT THATS OKAY. This comic changed my life. I’d be honored to buy it in a physical form

[@LUNA_CCHI12001]

I love hearing other artist getting their ideas from dreams they've had :D that's how I got the first ideas for my story :)

[@ceinwenchandler4716]

Toby Fox and Deltarune!

[@exceptionallyriso]

Me fr

[@forestfairy114]

I AM **SO** HYPED ABOUT CASTOFF BECOMING A PRINTED BOOK!! Also, thank goodness you kept Marina and Rori, because the ways I have laughed at Rori for practically annything she does are just.. wow. (Put her in the shame cube!) The way you developed your comic is insane, and the way you managed to get it to people of other countries (such as myself) is also just amazing. I'm really excited to see where Castoff goes next! 🎉🎉

[@antonymziie]

love my ace rep in a comic !! as an ace webcomic author myself, it's very refreshing

[@Amethyst.i]

WOOO SAME

[@kokoro7996]

I’m glad that you realized that you didn’t need to add romance just for the sake of it. I’m a hopeless romantic, but it annoys me when it’s added just for the sake of having romance. That’s why I try to look at stories where the romance is a part of the main plot. Also, congrats to the comic getting a physical copy!

[@TommyJShizuko]

Firstly congratulations on your 9 year anniversary Secondly thank you to whoever gave me this free membership thirdly cutting out jokes is one the most unpleasant things I have to do

[@runemyth0]

Hearing you talk about characters straight up getting deleted makes me feel a lot better about one of my initial trio that kept getting details added until she was just so unwieldy and disconnected from the main cast that I had to cut her out entirely. My current cast are much more solid and defined now, though I'm sure they'll go through more changes as I continue to work with them.

[@dragonairice3375]

Seeing this development is actually insane?? My friends and I have been working on a story for a couple of years now and it's so cool to see someone else let their story fester and develop for so long only to have a final version they're proud of (Also adding more romance to deal with that 'I'm aroace but don't know it yet' feeling is RELATABLE). It's just!! fghdj sorry I'm not making much sense it's just really cool!!! Absolutely love the comic and looking forward to everything that's in store!!!

[@Lady_3128]

OMG! I thought it was just a redraw of the trio behind a purple star thingy, I can't believe you're releasing the paper copy! I've not been a dedicated fan of this comic for as long as others, but it has been a joy hopping into your streams, watching you storytimes and reading Cast-off. I'm so inspired by your creation and you may or may not have gotten me into making a story. Thank you so much for sharing your art with us, I can't wait to buy the first volume!!!! ❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@elliart7432]

Something I difficult I did but don't regret for a second is taking a story world I was very proud of and creating a completely different cast of characters and plot to live in it. I wrote the first version as a ten minute play for my high school senior showcase, and so much of it was restricted by my limited writing skills and life experience as a sheltered teenager. I was sad to abandon the OG characters that started it all, but the new ones feel so much more like real people with endless futures and possibilities I can explore.

[@NatureWasntHere]

I can’t believe castoff is becoming an actual book! This is amazing! While I’m here thank you for the great times and laughs I had reading castoff it was amazing! I enjoyed even though I joined recently

[@thekrirkle]

as someone also working on a big project w original characters and worldbuilding, it makes me feel so much better and more confident in myself to see that other creators go through such massive changes and take their time during development. ive always been worried that im taking too much time or changing things too much haha. so maybe a weird compliment to give but thank you for being like so transparent about the process and how its not just "get instantly perfect idea and make huge project". stuff takes time and the story might change A LOT and theres no shame in that!! creating is a process!!! woot woot!!

[@Kawaiitscurry]

Oh gosh this video is so good! ❤ you're so inspiring, starfishface!!

[@Zaieko]

Love the opening line of the vid, perfect when taken out of context

[@bella_daze3092]

24:02 I just- wow. This was the advice I needed to hear. Uhm… thank you, Star. I mean that

[@sharadreamer6195]

Hearing how long it took you to make this series and how much it's changed makes me feel a lot better about how long me and my boyfriend have been working on our own story and world. We've had to cut a lot of filler out and it's changed a lot and we're still figuring it out, but seeing this gives me hope that we'll get there some day.

[@imawafflelad8453]

21:08 reminds me a lot of Spyro and Cinder in that one Legend of Spyro game in an open world thing. Nostalgia aside, this video's been great, honestly. I'm about ready to start my comic, so this channel in general has been an incredible guide to taking worldbuilding and actually putting it into motion.

[@kerentan9446]

i can listen to you talk about castoff for days! and.... I AM SOOO FREAKING HYPED FOR THE PHYSICAL BOOK!! YES! YES! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

[@Znerpznarpy]

I started reading because of how silly Frankie looked in all the speedpaints I watched here and am genuinely surprised that he wasn’t gonna be the little scrunkly silly boop he is 😭

[@spacey-xanners]

Firstly, Im So excited for the physical version of Castoff, congrats and good luck with the Kickstarter!! I'll be sharing the Kickstarter around to help out! Secondly, this is gonna be a long comment but I just wanna say, I've recently binged your videos and watched your webcomic guide videos and just, thank you for being an inspiration. I'm currently developing my own webcomic and prior to watching your videos, I've been so anxious about what I should do, what if my art style isn't perfect, I need everything perfect bc I wanna be like all the cool artists i follow who make stories i absolutely love (Castoff and TPOH are my top 2). Bear in mind I've never made comics before, my art is primarily like standalone illustrations so this is like my biggest art project and my *first* webcomic project. It wasn't until I watched your art process video of how you make Castoff pages earlier this month that I decided "you know what? I'm gonna just draw fuckin comics". And I'm taking your advice on starting small so I'm currently working on like a 5 page experimental mini comic of my main characters. I'm already learning so much just from these drawing 3/5 of these pages, and hopefully I'll one day develop my story enough where I can officially start my webcomic. God this is so rambly but all this to say, watching your videos and your encouraging energy inspired me to just fuckin try. So thank you, Star :) For anyone interested, my story is about a bat boy with the ability to go into dreams and helps a fragmented star deity to regain pieces of herself or the stars will "melt away", learning about his origins and his connection with this deity along the way

[@ceinwenchandler4716]

Sounds interesting. It doesn't sound like it'll be ready anytime soon, but if you still remember this comment by the time it is, I'd love to hear where I can find it then.

[@spacey-xanners]

@@ceinwenchandler4716 Absolutely! For now I'm just posting concept stuff on my Tumblr and deviantart, but feel free to have a look ^^ I truly appreciate the encouragement :')

[@dawntherin2833]

can't believe you didn't mention vectorpede, smh

[@supernovablade]

I don't even know how that detail didn't even cross my mind when I watched this video, but now that you mention it, you're completely right.

[@SkyCrowave]

The what

[@dbappio]

PLEASE ELABORATE?????? 🤨

[@liljatupsu]

I'm scared, please explain

[@HelloHaveA_NiceDay]

the…WHAT?!?!

[@candlelight7600]

It's funny how different our webcomics development has been of 5 years planning vs Made concept in an afternoon and first page the morning after. Congratulations on your comic becoming Book!!!

[@SagetheFREAKY]

I’m a bit (very) behind on chapters so when I heard “Sage” I got a huge jumpscare (that’s my irl name lmao) and nearly rolled off my bed. Love his design though!

[@SagetheFREAKY]

Also, as someone on the ace spec, I appreciate the rep lmao. We don’t get enough of it!

[@CeyasStuff]

THE WAY MY MOUTH DROPPED WHEN STAR SAID WE JUST WATCHED HER DRAW THE COVER!!

[@superp0t807]

I love how you did the Cast, then who you Off'ed

[@dinnartz]

I love hearing you talk about your comics. It never fails to inspire! Though I've been no good at killing my darlings (they all go into witness protection for later projects lol) it's solid advice. Can't name how many corners I've written myself into and knocking out a wall or character was the answer!

[@ErenOzsoy-mm7lp]

I just found out this and ı can’t believe I found the person made one of my favorite webtoon series

[@Fluffybombb]

Is was amazing to see how much your art style has changed!

[@greenhydra10]

I actually have my own story I want to make one day, and keeping it all stored in my head rather than writing my ideas down in some form has led to it evolving in many ways I'm quite happy with, especially with one character in particular. The bit about romance in Castoff is especially interesting to me because it's the exact opposite of what's happened with mine. At first I was vehemently opposed to any form of romance between the main four. This was due to the fact that I find romantic subplots in popular media smothering in both quantity and quality, among more personal reasons. Over time, I grew less opposed to it as I've seen romantic relationships in media actually executing interestingly or as a non-focus. That one character in particular I mentioned (who's kind of sort of self-insert adjacent) started out as Aroace but ended up becoming demi at some point after I figured out that's what I am.

[@jibberjibbs6813]

Hearing it took you 5 years to even begin your webcomic is so reassuring! I’m on year 4 of development and I’m slowly seeing the light at the end of the tunnel 💖 I thought I’d never get to start it 😂

[@SnowFox-gv2rn]

Congratulations on 9 years of Castoff!! And it was really interesting seeing how much the story has changed since you came up with it I’ve been trying to be more okay with changing my stories to make more sense and be more interesting, and the “not every idea is wasted” advice was really sweet! Here’s to Castoff, and I wanted to wish you an early congratulations on the physical release of volume 1! 🥳

[@Pikamew-alt]

I love Castoff, and I'm very excited for this physical release kickstarter! It's really cool to hear a bit about things that ultimately got cut. Thanks for making awesome stuff! :D

[@chibibble]

I am READY for a physical release! Your journey in writing this sounds so similar to my own, I will absolutely support you in making that dream real.

[@SoftServedBananabread]

I ADORE THE STORY AND CANT WAIT FOR THE KICKSTARTER CONGRATS!!

[@OpalZenna-lune30]

LET'S GO 🎉!!! We finally get the development history of Castoff and I ADORE THIS VIDEO!!! I love Castoff and Star truly inspires me to continue working on my art! Not just me, a lot of people appreciate and love your work, Star ✨! Also thank you for the ace rep! I truly appreciate it 😊.(I think more media should represent it.) HAPPY 9th ANNIVERSARY 🎊!!! Can't wait for what's to come! Keep up the AMAZING WORK!!! CASTOFF FOR LIFE!!!

[@Cosmignon]

Congrats on the 9 years and that's so exciting to hear there's a kickstarter coming soon! I always love hearing ppl talk abt their writing process, makes me think about the changes I've made to my own comic, it's definitely a different beast from what it used to be hehe. Also, cover looks super cool!

[@GrainneSheridan]

I liked Ari immediately. I first saw her and immediately knew she was awesome and hilarious. I like characters that just do a thing and everything else blows up because of that thing.

[@raxxie]

I swear, I learn so much just by watching you draw

[@kaicastle.]

That Unvale thing looks cool! Will keep an eye on them! Thanks for sharing!

[@technotoister]

it's cool seeing how other peoples webcomics came to be, i have one myself that's technically been in my head for a LOONNNGG time and now has 5 chapters out as of writing this comment (it's just cool seeing other people with similar experiences)

[@AnyaC.Rawlins-vz3dl]

I've killed a lot of Darlings, but I just couldn't kill the first one I've drawn. She went through like 10 rewrites over the course of about a decade, but almost all of them had the same trait of being a hero accused as a traitor. While she won't be making an appearance in my current comic, I think I've finally a story and fellow cast members that she works with.

[@willowrae5051]

AAAAHHH IM SO EXCITED FOR THE KICKSTARTER 🥳🥳🥳

[@Musical_SuperStar-s1o]

OMG THERES NO WAS I THOUGHT "I wonder if this web comic has a irl book" AND BAM AT THE END YOU ANNOUNCE THERE'S ONE BEING RELEASED. OMFG I LOVE THIS RHAJFBFJFBF

[@bella_daze3092]

7:32 Ray of sunshine Frankie❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉

[@SoIarRoom]

I love to listen to your videos in the background 😄

[@RainStorm_5155]

Not me actually crying because this women is actually living my DREAM 😭😭

[@CentaurWorks]

Love the art and it was awesome to see your process. Also CASTOFF BOOK COVER LETS GOOO!!!!!

[@Normal_Panda]

This video is helping me a lot istg this came out at such a perfect time for me I just went through the realization that characters I loved and cherished that I wanted to make a webcomic for are actually rather boring, their plot doesn't make much sense and all the characters have the same personality, that was a hard realization to make and made me have to rethink the characters as a whole, thinking that if I want to make something with these characters in the future I'll have to completely rework them and that scares me!! I think this video helped me realize how much changing them isn't a bad thing.

[@dawndoesart]

AHHHHHHHH NEW VIDEO

[@Gorf140]

HOW DID I NOT REALIZE I WAS A MEMBER!? When I saw all of the members only videos I was confused but then I was like hmmm maybe I should check and saw the red star next to my name and was like WHAT!?

[@RandomDuck-Productions]

15:14 FUCKK YESSSSS THIS IS WHAT IVE NEEDED ALL MY LIFE I LOVE CASTOFF YO NO END AND THIS IS PART OF WHYYYY

[@JaceDraccus]

Thank you for this video. I've really enjoyed Cast-Off, so much that it's one of my main influences now for wanting to do my own webcomic... but I've only been developing the ideas for a few months and I have no freaking clue what I'm really doing. So it's nice to know it took so long and so much work to get it to where it is now. (So now I just need to put in my own work. *sigh*) Sometimes it's far too easy to look at a finished product (or a polished one, like Cast-Off, since the comic is ongoing) and assume it was always like that. Or that the artist has always been drawing like that.

[@QueenSnowfallWoF]

I love Rori sm because she shares the name with my cat and they’re both so similar-and I also just love her spunky personality >:3

[@ninjademon1378]

Ohmygosh Castoff in print! I've been waiting for this!

[@words0up]

I have a comic idea I’ve had for almost 4 years and I’ve just never had the confidence to make it into something real, maybe one day I’ll do it

[@lavndvrrart]

lol I just added all these ideas into my Castoff fan fiction plot outline, these are all great!!!

[@JarenJohnson-rb4dt]

@TheStarfishface I like to recycle scraped characters to other stories like for example, my character Nova was a bit too 21st century for my other story that was more based on Lord of the Rings, The Legend of Zelda, things like that so I put them in my other story about time travel and they fit in perfectly!

[@AmethystSky0]

Excited to watch!

[@horrortheater3172]

Wow as someone has a lot of old oc lore this is amazing

[@spsaofficalchannel]

Arianna is my favorite character!

[@Aneyethattried]

AHHH THE MOTIVATION ITS TO MUCH!!

[@hhhicantbreth]

OMG THE PHYSICAL BOOK IS COMINH I CANT WAOT TO BUY IT!!!!!!!! I HOPE TGE KICKSTARTER IS SUCCESFULL YIPPEEE

[@words0up]

What concepts do you need to have down before starting the writing process of a comic?

[@thehungarianwitchhasspoken6039]

I like to reuse my cut ideas as mini comics for practice. Kind of grieving the darling I killed. You know, giving them a glimpse of life.

[@RandomDuck-Productions]

14:39 STOP IM GONNA THROW UP

[@LocalLolbiit]

Cant believe there was actually a sponsor i am interested in

[@CYN_is_just_a_little_silly]

*sigh* time to start drawing the Rori and entrapta fanart 🫠

[@RandomDuck-Productions]

4:14 WTH WHY ARE YOUR DREAMS SO MUCH COOLER THAN MINE??!?!?

[@JarenJohnson-rb4dt]

I'm trying to find you on Unvale but I'm struggling to find your characters

[@spsaofficalchannel]

15:44 please draw yourself LITERALLY sitting them down and telling them one of them needs to change! I think that would be really funny!

[@SaplingofSpunk]

Omg Castoff is coming to real life! What a slay

[@loonykitty]

I think you are amazing and very insightful *applause* 🙂

[@atlas.png_5689]

ohhh dude im so happy for you!! physical stuff whoag

[@zjones2150]

That was nice to hear also love the story so far

[@BugsyBugYT]

i love all the current characters in the comic but its rlly neat seeing all the older ideas too, btw when the kickstarter campaign for the book of castoff is launched how much of the story will it cover in the first volume?

[@Archive_7802]

11:16 I was actually thinking of Medusa from Marvel’s Inhumans

[@muriok2474]

Cool! if I can back this project I will, best of luck!

[@10glowsicksinatrenchcoat]

HOLY SHIT THEYRE ALL A SPEC AAA MY FAVOURITE COMICS CHARACTERS ARE ALL LIKE ME!!!

[@littlewormyguy]

I've been wanting to mske a comic but have no money, means, or programs to do so, and it is about characters and a world from an already existing game, but with my own twist on it. Whith that said, do you think it would be a good idea to use KZbin to post it as a sort of animatic but with more still pages, I'm curious to see what you'd think

[@lilymoon9659]

NO WAY IVE WAITED SO LONG FOR THE ACE REP!!! Tysm this makes me so happy! ❤

[@KarahKat]

OMGECVJHPHNDNV I am soooo exited for a physical release of castoff

[@Mituosong]

Love this video, its one of my favorites

[@mabel1487]

you're ace? cool! i am currently at around chapter 7 or 8, reading it sometimes

[@scorchinglizard]

Such a good lesson to learn tho like actually. My webcomic has gone through so, SO many changes. You see my icon here? This character? She originally was going to be part of a secret group that was working for the government, out to take power over another country. This was changed, specifically because upon analyzing it from another lens, I realized that this hit a little too close to conspiracies that real life people have, *especially* because of the fact that the character is a reptilian-like person. I couldn't bear to have hit on something like that, so I scrapped that entire plot. The story is better for it, as this entire plotline was not needed for the core story

[@KandiHeartCreations]

CASTOFF PHYSICAL PRINT AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[@RareGacha_YT]

I love this video! I'm currently in the very first stage of making a webcomic/story, an Undertale AU.. that may sound a bit unoriginal, but trust me, I'll make it interesting and worth the time to read. Hearing all the early concepts and comparing them to the story now, I can see how much can change, like how much I've changed my own story. Now I can build on these new things I learned and hopefully incorporate them into my writing. And it's just so exiting to start this journey of story making. ok that got sweet corn cheesy XD

[@ceinwenchandler4716]

Undertale AU? What's the premise?

[@RareGacha_YT]

@@ceinwenchandler4716Oh uhm, It was an idea that popped up in my head about 2 years ago while listening to Bohemian Rhapsody, for a little context. First off, the au is called Underpsycho, and it's about Frisco (this aus Frisk. Though they're barely similar), a psycho kid with the soul trait of sadism. And that's about it right now cause I haven't figured out the main plot- But I have thought of a backstory for their life in the surface, some encounters (like them insta killing sans in the first meeting with him, and fighting Papyrus right after), their motives, redemption arc, also a Chara narrator (ghost ig) who hates Frisco because of their violence, but they're also a cause for Frisco's redemption arc, and etc. yeah.. it mostly revolves around Frisco and the fact they keep one hitting everything, which they hate, because it's no fun when enemies die so fast. But the reason they can one hit everything is because of their father's LOVE and EXP, whom they've killed. ok sorry this became longer than I expected- hope it doesn't sound too cringe ^^``

[@dauntiingdiiva]

YOU ATE THAT UP

[@muriok2474]

I'm Ace! So thank you very much! 😁

[@RandomDuck-Productions]

14:54 ignore my previous comment, THIE IS WAY TOO RELATEABKE FOR ME AS AN AROACE 😭😭

[@bella-0064]

I really need to know what brush she’s using for the lineart.

[@Kazekai_AJ]

Mann I find it SO hard to scrap characters. Im way too attached. I can tell I have too many main characters right off the get go (5) and a know a few are kinda- well, useless. I dont even like them but it feels so wrong removing them. Think its best I sit down and take time to choose my favorites to end up as the starting 3 and slowly work the other favorites to come at a later time. Wish me luck 😔

[@QueenSnowfallWoF]

15:00 I have quite a bit of romance in my main story/comic/webcomic, but mainly because I enjoy relationship dynamics and breakups. I’ve also made every single main character a different sexuality, too. Maybe it’s a bit much, but it’s quite fun imo 😁

[@RandomDuck-Productions]

Marina X Ari = Mariana AND IM HERE FOR IT ❤️

[@raxxie]

Frankie is best boy!

[@Interstellarpool176]

so happy for ace rep omg