Blue Circus

Blue Circus is a slice-of-life webcomic that plays with storytelling and character development in a mix-and-match vignette. It stars three female main characters (Amy, Emily, and Sarah) and their escapades through academic and social adventures at an out-of-state university.

Blue Circus was an early experiment in compelling and entertaining storytelling, occasionally mature themes, color theory, and character design.

History

Blue Circus began as an excuse to practice drawing women in a more dynamic comic style. The initial concept was a girl who drew journal comics and posted about her life online (sound familiar?) but it quickly evolved to follow a troop of college roommates and their relationships.

The comic consistently updated back in 2011, reaching 60 comics before 2012, but updates have been few and far between since.

Art

Blue Circus was drawn on 8.5" x 11" paper, scanned, and edited/tweaked/inked in - initially - Adobe Flash (now, Adobe Animate), and later, Manga Studio.

Linework

Blue Circus was the first allancomic with a consistent, professional, and appealing linework (though there were exceptions

Text Bubbles

Blue Circus attempted to do text bubbles with an organic, professional feel. Because the comic was initially drawn in Adobe Flash, text bubbles were drawn into each page during development and could be adjusted thanks to Flash's vector lines. Every bubble began as an oval and each angle was bent and shaped to instill life in the bubbles.

Color

Blue Circus was shaded, colored (usually blue, although there were certain storylines that were presented in different colors), and digitally inked.