(untitled)

I want to write a comic about a hacker girl, but I do not want it to be too cliché in the sense of what people think hackers do for a living. You know: wearing the black hoodie + Guy Fawkes mask combo and unironically trying to hack the NASA by doing ssh www.nasa.gov I would like to ask this in an actual hacker forum such as 0x00sec, but I don't know if it will be way too off-topic. I did read some profiles in that site and kind of worked as inspiration, but I want an opinion from people who enjoy comics and manga. Also, I genuinely don't trust LLMs since that incident in which an script generated by one of them almost deleted my whole picture directory (good thing I do know how to write Bash scripts). And anyways, they'll probably just spit out the synopsis of Mr. Robot or whatever. I already made a research about how to structure a comic, this would be my first one. The artists who inspire me are: * https://analognowhere.com/ (Tomáš) * MikeCarf (https://mikecarf.newgrounds.com/) * Illustrator Magnus Carlsson, mostly known by his series of shorts called Robin. In this music video you can see his style: /watch?v=fHiGbolFFGw Thank you very much in advance!

>>13160 >I want to write a comic about a hacker girl, but I do not want it to be too cliché in the sense of what people think hackers do for a living. The question you should be asking is not "Is it cliche" but rather "is it entertaining." Books like Snow Crash or movies like Hackers are definitely cliche (in retrospect; at the time they were groundbreaking) in terms of what computer professionals do to pay the bills, but just remember that American Psycho would not have been anywhere near as entertaining or memorable as it was if it focused on a realistic, not-cliche look at what accountants actually do. Patrick Bateman is a stereotypical yuppie. You could call it cliche, but the book/movie uses that 'familiar' picture of a young urban professional to tell a transgressive story of horror and mental illness. Focus on execution, not concept. Another question you should be asking moreso than "is my lead a cliche" is "what makes my lead tick?" what are her motivations? what are her virtues? What are her flaws? How does she solve problems? How does she create problems? What is her character arc? What are her relationships with the rest of the cast? Characters that are well-defined and well-rounded don't need to worry about being "cliche" because that term implies one-dimensionality. I think, rather than a hacker forum, you should be asking for advice on characterization from a literary forum.

>>13160 like any character, they usually need a reason for doing what they do. why does she practice hacking? to what end? what conflicts arise and what's the viewer's relationship with this lead character? do we want to support her? laugh at her? gawk at her deplorable lifestyle? do we want to be her? if you're looking for more in-the-weeds hacking lifestyle knowledge, try looking for documentaries, interviews with hackers..books..anything about the culture, and of course the practice itself to an extent. some knowledge of how attacks are prepared and executed really help to write believable scenes of the action. visiting that forum would likely help you flesh out your ideas but you are right not expecting them to take you seriously. > i would like to ask this in an actual hacker forum such as 0x00sec i dont know that forum's culture, but.. try asking the forum about people's hacking experiences, without bringing up your writing project. why do they do it? do they enjoy it? try to sound more interested in them and their experiences rather than the real reason you're asking. think through your post and ask yourself if you'd respond to it. as >>13161 said, you want believable. realism is nice but throw it in the trash if it gets in the way of anything fun or exciting. if i'm understanding right, you want a story about a girl who hacks, so try not to write a how-to-hack masquerading as a manga.

>>13161 >>13162 Thank you very, very much for the awesome tips! I genuinely appreciate them a lot and helped me to change my perspective on how to approach this problem. >what are her motivations? >why does she practice hacking? to what end? I'm molding her around real life people such as Justin Liverman (also known as D3F4ULT) and Aaron Swartz, and I'm also using as inspiration fictional characters like Tsugumi from Guilty Crown and Lucy from Cyberpunk Edgerunners. Basically, I have plans for her being a hacktivist. Someone who wants to change the world by doing what she does best: messing with computers. Although I still have to polish too many details, I think I'm going to start making character profile sheets. I have a lot of homework ahead of me... Anyways, I post a (bad) drawing of Lain to share my "style." If I had to grade myself, I would say my level is 'below mediocre'. I also share the tool I use to draw... yeah, believe it or not my pulse has gotten better. Again, thank you very much!

>>13164 hey, so I noticed you are drawing with a mouse and I want to recommend that you draw with a vector graphics program instead of a raster graphics program- let me explain when you draw with vector graphics you start by drawing a line and then changing the arc of the line into a specific curve; this allows you to slowly piece together a drawing that is way cleaner and you can draw each line with great accuracy- I recommend you download inkscape and just practice by drawing a simple anime girl face.

>>13166 i'm seconding this. a mouse gets lot more done in vector based drawing than raster. if you're insistent on raster graphics as i would be, a drawing tablet can be as low as $20 used.

>>13166 >>13169 Thank you both so much for the tip! I actually prefer to draw by hand, but right now my phone is dead and I cannot take photos, so I took the first drawing program I found to make that improvised drawing. My style gets no better if I draw using a computer or my hand, though... Thanks again!