Bonus Features: Rebel Without a Cause

Q: I love how much you can communicate in a single image! How do you tell story through art?

BEVIN: Oooh boy, that is a question I ask myself a lot, too, and something I'm still learning how to do more effectively.

So, for this, what I've done is start with reading the chapter you've given me and then sitting with the memory of it and the feelings and the ideas from it, and the moments that stand out as being the most impactful, or the strongest visual, or just something that catches ahold of me as being important.

Usually I end up with a whole list of ideas that I then have to whittle down to a manageable number, so I have to distill them into the ones that I would regret not having in there the most. Sometimes this is pretty fast and easy and other times I have to wrestle with them for a while; it's not easy to kill your darlings, but there's just too many moments that I love in each chapter for me to do them all.

And from there I just thumbnail my ideas, trying to compose something that looks good but also conveys enough information about the moment and why it's important: the feeling, if there's a way to visualize something in the writing that adds another layer or a perspective that might be interesting, or that gives some context to the reader. The body swap conversations are a good example of that: the writing is so interior and (correctly) refers to who each character is on the inside instead of who they look like, and it can be hard to convey that dissonance without constantly referring to it. But visually, I can just draw the familiar bodies with body language and facial expressions they don't normally have, and it's an instant reminder for people reading about what it might look like if it were made as an episode of the show. Plus it's really fun for me, I love those kinds of acting exercises.

So yeah, I mostly go by my gut and what resonated with me, or generated the strongest image in my mind, or made the most interesting picture. And then I tried to do it justice.

MARVEL: GOD! I love how your brain works!! Every time you show me an in-progress sketch or a finished piece, I geek out, like full on Christmas morning style! The choices you make, what you choose to highlight and why, it's all so wonderfully intentional and expressive. Not just facial expressions, I mean there's always a tone or a story beat or impressively set of story beats that you manage to elevate in such cool ways! You bring out the potential in those moments -- sometimes potential I didn't even fully realize was there!

Take Rainbooms talking in the band room, for instance. When I was writing that chapter, I of course had to keep some track of who was in who's body (I had a spreadsheet!), but sometimes as the writer who doesn't have to visualize things, even I forget. So seeing the character acting choices you brought to that illustration -- the contrast to how each character normally would act -- it brought out things that made me go oh yeah! That IS how that would look, that's amazing!

This story literally wouldn't exist without both of our ideas, and that goes for big narrative ideas, or the small choices that added up to make this one big collaboration!

BEVIN: Heeheee! Awww thanks! I love how your brain works! I wish I had the time and ability to illustrate every moment I wanted to in this! There are some that I regret not being able to make work, that do absolutely deserve that highlight, but there's just too many for me to do! I think making everyone wait another two years just for that is a bit excessive. Plus, the story really does work perfectly on its own without the illustrations; but since I'm doing them, I wanted to try and add a little extra something, a bit of information or a viewpoint we didn't maybe get. My little contribution.

Q: Who is Solstice Shiver, really?

MARVEL: Oh ho, I've been waiting for this! I guess I can't say everything everything yet still, but the Rainbooms found out a lot about who this guy is this chapter and I can finally talk about that!

So, I've seen people not sure if they can trust Solstice in Part I and, really, that makes total sense. Sunset doesn't trust him and she's our perspective character. So I saw some people reserving judgement but, also, a few bits of speculation here and there as to what's actually up with him. I knew I wanted to deal with that King Sombra that caused the events of The Exes Club. Who was he? Where was he from?

I was at one point super into the idea that he was somehow the Good King Sombra from the comics somehow. But then there was the other option. The human counterpart to one of Equestria's greatest villains.

Except, maybe I could take inspiration from the comics. Maybe this was a regular human guy who didn't want to end up evil. Maybe he's struggled with magic since he was a Wondercolt. Maybe he also falls for this world's Celestia, in a really dorky office romance.

And when I realized that he could parallel Sunset thematically with the whole fate thing, plus a story for him started to form in my head, and well. I really wanted to let him show me who he really was

BEVIN: Yessss, I wasn't familiar with the comics version of him at the time you wrote this character, and I didn't know what to make of him until this chapter. The choices that he makes here as much as the memories that Sunset sees of his past really drove home what this guy was about, and the idea that someone with that much darkness in his past would willingly let a total stranger into his head to see it was unexpected. I was moved by that, and I really latched onto him here. He's the one character who really snuck up on me as one I became smitten with and it's all down to how you wrote him.

MARVEL: Equestria Girls kind of has Scooby Doo thing going for it after a while. If a new character with a unique design is introduced in Act I, it's pretty obvious that they'll have a mask ripped off their face in Act III. It was nice to let one of them turn out to be a bit more complicated than that. He is what they suspect, but he's also a hugely dorky high school guidance counsellor.

Now it's Sunset's turn to reveal who she really is... and that terrifies her.

The soundtrack to Sunset's existential crisis:

• All Star by Smash Mouth – “Hey now, you're an all star, get your game on, go play. Hey now, you're a rock star, get the show on, get paid”
• Inside Out and Upside Out by OK GO – “So when you met the new you/Were you scared?/Were you cold?/Were you kind?/Yeah when you met the new you/Did someone die inside?”
• My Eyes by Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia Day – “I cannot believe my eyes/How the world's filled with filth and lies (How the world's finally growing wise)/But it's plain to see (And it's plain to see)/Evil inside of me (Rapture inside of me)/Is on the rise”
• When I Grow Up by Garbage – “When I grow up/I'll be stable/When I grow up/I'll turn the tables”
• Infinitesimal by Mother Mother – “There's a million, billion, trillion stars/But I'm down here low/Fussin' over scars on my soul/On my soul, on my soul/On my soul, on my soul, I am so/Infinitesimal, oh”
• By Myself by Fidlar – “And everybody thinks that I need professional help/But I don't wanna think about that anymore/And just because I woke up on someone's floor/And asked, "Who the fuck am I?"/I didn't know it felt good to cry”
• Karma by AJR – “I've been so good, I've been helpful and friendly/I've been so good, why am I feeling empty?/I've been so good, I've been so good this year/I've been so good, but it's still getting harder/I've been so good, where the hell is the karma?/I've been so good, I've been so good this year”
• False Confidence by Noah Kohan – “And I wonder why I tear myself down/To be built back up again/Oh I hope somehow, I'll wake up young again/All that's left of myself/Holes in my false confidence”
• Face my Fears by Caleb Hyles - "Lose, soon have nothing to/Space, this is what I choose/A mile, could you walk in my shoes?/All your, all your life/Let me face, let me face, let me face my fears"

Yeah, Sunset's going through it alright. Hang in there, girl!

Stay empathetic,
Marvel
P.S. I love hearing about the different ways some people are experiencing this story! Some are going back to reread the early stuff first, some are following along, and some will wait until the curtain call to begin! Any way you wanna do it is the right way!

Comments

[The Voice in the Water]

I enjoy hearing about the artistic process, since I get to compare with my own.