Author's Note
AdouqB (depicted above), colloquially known as Polo, uses several mediums of art to create narratives about change, the meaning of life, and morality.
AdouqB is the illustrator and writer of Willoway, an "anthology" series surrounding the world of Synopa. They enjoy the process of creation and the steps leading up to it: from research to planning, concept art to preliminary drafting, and revision to finalized pieces. They make art because it’s insight into what they want to see it become. It’s done to tell stories, send a message, advise and rationalize their fears, etc…
AdouqB’s work primarily hold themes that reference or directly comment on change, life, rebellion and mortality. Their art focuses on the creation of characters and settings to further these themes is a multitude of different mediums, including but not limited to video, comic art, illustrations, novels, and poetry. Willoway as series is a tool to show the major stages of life, loss, and revolution that have occurred throughout the world’s history and its effect on the future.
They make the worlds they create feel lived in even when the characters are taken out of context. Since he didn't want to “waste” what he learnt in school, they actively incorporate history, science, and other studies into their work to give it greater personal connection to real life.
Origins
Earliest depiction of Willow
“Willow, the main protagonist of Willoway, was first designed in the margins of a page back in 2020. I was in 7th grade at the time, and the page in question was a lined sheet paper filled with history warm-up prompts. One morning I was bored of waiting for the lesson to start, so I began drawing patterns and random objects onto the paper. the random shape happened to be two beady eyes and a three-pronged mouth shape.
“It was only ever supposed to be a small doodle, but the silly face captivated me somehow. I was just throwing stuff at the wall and hoped something would stick, and it did. I gave it a head. Again, there were three forms to the fringe, and three to the ponytail. The face looked squishy and vastly different from what I've drawn before.
"I remembered hearing somewhere that the best way to make a character memorable was to make their silhouette unique, and I took that piece of advice very seriously. I ended up giving the face a body, a rough figure that never stayed consistent in any early iteration of Willow. It took ages to realize that the advice was only in relation to the identification between ones own characters, but it was much too late for that. I was thoroughly engrossed in this peculiar design I've made, and I can remember for almost the entirety of that class I continued to draw it.
“And I kept drawing it, sifting through names, treating it like an actual character with potential. It had been a week or two at this point and while I was brainstorming names on my way back home, right as I was leaving my bus, I thought of "Willow," and the subsequent series name Willoway. I sprinted back home to write it down.
“Willoway’s overarching storyline didn’t come about until years later, the first mentions of other storylines being a part of the series appearing around early 2022."
Creation and Curation:
How It's Made
Draft pages and miscellaneous sketches
“I’ve always had a general idea of what I wanted to do for Willoway, but it wasn't until 2023 that I actually started writing it. That's surprisingly recent considering how long I've had the characters. It’s challenging and rewarding, and the more I work on it the more I realize how much of a behemoth writing a novel is. It's given me a reason to improve my style and vocabulary because I now have an “audience” to impress. Anyone can see my work now, and I want to do my best to keep up appearances.
"The original Willoway is considerably different from what it is today. It really started out as a lighthearted tale about family and travel, but as Synopa got constructed I wanted it to be more than a slice of life. I wanted my story to fit the world it was in, so it's more mature compared to its inception. It wasn't until 2021 that I started taking the steps to make Willoway a reality. 2020-2021 was when I made one-shots, preliminary outlines, and character designs for the written series.
"I started off by making a vague outline of the most important events and leaving enough blank space to add more content without breaking the story's structure. This is also the stage where I flesh out any potential plot holes that may arise. I didn't want to make a complete script to follow so more interesting characters could evolve organically, especially because the script is old. The current and most up to date outline that I use was created February 2022 and it stretches all the way to the story's climax.
"The way I draft consists of writing a lot of nonsense, getting tired, and going back to edit what I’ve written. Usually by the time I’m done editing, I get inspired to start writing again. Spelling mistakes aren’t an issue here, the words just need to go on paper/a document. February 2023 is when drafting started, and the first 15 chapters were finished between then and May. The drafts go through several rounds of revision to get the timbre and flow just right before posting. Even then, there are still a few errors, so any criticism or grammatical fixes you may have are greatly appreciated.
"As for the art, I draw scenes I believe would add more substance to the writing. The illustrations are made to show details of the setting that aren't explicitly written in. Not only do I get the gratification of finishing a chapter, I also get to take the time to analyze what I’ve written further by illustrating it. Doing so often results in adding more to the word count.”
