Webtoon is a webcomic platform with thousands of creator-owned content from all over the world. One of the creators using the platform is Ashley-Nine, the creator of the webcomic Sunflowers for Dragons.
Sunflowers for Dragons is about a man named Lee who is hunting the demon who killed his parents when he was a child. While trying to summon that demon, he accidentally summons a demi-god named Angela who does not want to be sent back to where she came from.
As a reader, something I enjoy about the comic is the diversity of the characters. Ashley-Nine says she modeled the character Angela after people she sees in her life and in her own family. Lee’s physical character design is based on his planned personal background of being a demon hunter. All she knew when designing him was that he needed to have scars reflecting his job and the physical figure of a fighter. Outside of that, she isn’t sure how he came to look the way he did.
With only 11 chapters uploaded to Webtoon, the audience is still getting a sense of the characters’ personalities. In a Q&A uploaded to Webtoon, Ashley-Nine tells readers which Disney characters she thinks are most like hers. According to the author, Angela would be a combination of Belle from Beauty and the Beast and Moana from Moana. She loves to read and is a brave, free spirit. Lee, on the other hand, would be Vinny from Atlantis which I think speaks for itself.
Ashley-Nine says the inspiration for this comic comes from other entertainment media, like Mike Mignola’s Hell Boy series and video games like Devil May Cry. She is a big consumer of entertainment media and was inspired to create her own content.
Creating a webcomic can be a time-consuming process, especially since Ashley-Nine is a one-woman show. When asked about the most difficult part of creating her webcomic, however, it wasn’t any of the technical aspects. Instead, Ashley-Nine says the most challenging part is being confident about the story, which is something I think all creators can relate to on some level.
Since the interview, she has put the comic on hiatus while she works to revamp it. She wants to thank her fans for taking time out of their day to read her comic. She reads every comment posted and appreciates the support.
You can listen to the complete interview on the Chaotic Pop Podcast, available on most platforms.
