3 A.M.

Snager: I fun little comic! It feels like a saturday morning cartoon that I would've watched growing up :] The concept of a kaiju school sounds very fun, lol.

Snowy: I know that it can be difficult to make something more personal like this. It came out fantastic and like a proper glimpse into a life. The usage of textured brushes here is interesting - it brings to mind stained glass for me.

Pizza: Great work! You managed to get that old comic PSA look down pat. The switch to a more modern setting was an interesting choice, and it all feels like a setup to an episode of a show.

Dr. Salt: Such an interesting and gut wrenching comic, especially for one this short. I was honestly expecting a horror comic at first, so having it be something so bittersweet instead caught me off guard. The heavy texture added so much to the atmosphere as well.

Fowlie: I absolutely ADORE your work here! The way that you manage to combine such a simple and cute character design so smoothly with such detailed backgrounds absolutely blows me away. It makes this an absolute visual treat to flip through!

Fowlie: thankyou for coming back, it's so nice to see your work again! I will boast that I was never confused about the word balloons. The first time they're introduced, it's clear the protagonist is following the sound of them, maybe to tell a neighbor to keep it down. The second time we see them, it looks like they're coming out of a tree. Crickets? No, she follows them to the street, so is it a party she hears and she wants to join in? no. It's a mystery all the way until the reveal that the voice she hears is the call of the ocean. hard to imagine what the ocean feels like, but I know what trying to use an area fan feels like, so the ocean must feel very cold, judging by this comic. page 3 is so richly textured with information, but I personally had no problem finding the action because the speech bubbles and figure are negative space. I am impressed with the technique used on page 2. it's got a real analogue feel to it, so I'm imagining you did it all in black ink on white paper, then lasso'd the spots you wanted to flip to black in your art program and inverted them. or maybe it's all digital! it's like a puzzle trying to figure out how you did it and it must have taken a lot of planning or just tons of experience! The switch from white being positive to white being negative feels so heavy. this is another entry that feels autobiographical. somewhere between pure vibes and having an obvious plot. like just under the aesthetic of walking into the ocean is also the symbiology of walking into the ocean.

dr salt: wow, this was amazing. thankyou for sharing how you got the speckle effect, I couldn't figure it out! The art is doing numbers and compliments the story so so well. I'm inclined to think this really happened to you, but that would mean ghosts are real. so did the protagonists' feelings about gaining a new family member melt into his feelings about having lost a friend? It's hard for me to imagine how something like that would feel. This comic is probably going to haunt me for years to come.

Pizza: you've once again got me hooked on a new idea for a webcomic. I definitely am catching the scent of a world that needs some social justice or reparations and characters too depressed to want to change it. You told me you were trying to capture a specific 1960's PSA comic look, but if I may be so real, I'm not familiar enough with those comics to know if you captured the aesthetic. this looks like the usual pizzaman security-camera's-eye view on most of the blocking and the usual detailed conceptualization of forms, too. the psa comics have detailed illustrations, but the line quality is different and there's hand made spot blacks. psa comics have that 'professional architect taking up side gig' cleanness to their backgrounds. they're cartoony and stylish, but not as far off from reality, much more referenced. as for the story, it is so nice to see you gaining confidence to do something a little more serious. alluding to the 'alone in the woods with a bear or a man' argument makes the world seem just as dark as real life. but also lets the reader know that the monsters in the woods are not as bad as most evil humans. it's very smart and topical.

Snowy: Very brave doing a diary comic here. good art, as always.

So, thanks again for setting this all up for us, Dr. Salt. Sorry I missed the mark on the theme, esp. since everyone else's vibes match so well. My original idea was also going to deal with suicide, but I realized I wasn't skilled enough to pull it off. I'm still learning how to cut out ideas that aren't working so the original script had ballooned into 8 pages (the alternate reality where I forgot the 5 page limit). so, instead of fixing what I had, I tossed the whole thing. Then I just developed a doodle comic I had come up with between penciling the original idea. I like it a lot better. And even though I dead-ass forgot the theme of the tournament, I think if my goals are to work on developing these characters more, then I'm just gonna have to live with it. then I had some health problems come up and by the time I was feeling better, this also became the reality where I forgot the page limit. I had it at 5 pages, then realized it would hit better if I added one to the front (JK dr. salt was confused by that page anyway). on the positive side, This is the first time I think most people are ignoring my art and just engaging with the story and characters more, which is the dream. I'll take this as a learning experience and recognize that I don't know how to do anything heavy or serious and need to work on that. or I choked because I was scared of my opponents. or maybe I just need to go to the doctor.

to all y'all: Hey, OP. are you ok?

Thanks for the nice comments, everyone! I'm glad it resonated with people so much.

For those curious on how I made the tones, I first coloured the page in greyscale, then randomly distributed dots using geometry nodes in Blender, with more dots distributed on darker areas of the image. The dots themselves have some variations in shape to make them look a tiny bit more organic.

Thanks for the battle!

I liked this a lot! I got that the voices were calling her to the sea, but tbh I only got it on the last page. Until then I had thought they were hushed voices from the city.

You had me interested, but then I was a bit confused at the end. I wasn't sure if these characters were a reference to something I'm not familiar with. I assume this is something you intend to continue? I'd be interested to see where it goes!

I liked the colours and patterns on this. Reminds me of a stained glass window or a mosaic.

I really enjoyed some of the cartooning on this one (great expressions!) but I had trouble following what was happening, particularly on page one.

Thank you so much to everyone who commented and voted! I really appreciate you all! And congrats to Dr. Salt for winning, you certainly deserved it! •ᴗ•

I enjoyed reading this one a lot. The way you draw expressions is so fun and expressive they are always great to see! Great job!

The way you illustrated the intrusive thoughts was very creative and the texturing was a nice touch. Nice work!

this new art style is interesting to see, i like to see such experiments!

Good job!

The texture throughout sells the serious tone of this one. It was an interesting story too.

Good job!

My favorite page was page 3 it was nice scenery. I really enjoyed the details in the environment.

This comic has a neat vibe to it, nice work!

Fowlie - This is so cool! I love how you stylize your pages! Your knowledge of panel composition is something I aspire to have someday. The only crit I can think of is that page three is a little overwhelming. I think it has to do with the speech bubble tails not leading the eye down the page but it’s still a fantastic page to look at once I got my bearings. My favorite page is the fourth one. It’s so sudden and bizarre I wonder if it was inspired by an art piece in real life.

Dr. Salt - That's a really awesome effect! I have some guesses but I'd love to know how you did it. It does feel like there's something missing about it but I can't for the life of me figure it out. I do wonder what this comic would look like with color, muted, mono or otherwise. There's a good chance it wouldn't make any positive difference but it could be worth experimenting. The story was gripping and somber, a perfect representation of a good fever dream which are incredibly rare.

Snowy: I like the personification of 3 AM being a set of hands that slowly suffocates the page that was a neat touch! I definitely get a similar feeling at 3AM when I'm drawing for a morning deadline or a 24 hour battle. The only thing that’s worked for me is going to bed before 3AM or telling myself that I don’t think this way 90% of the day and I should see how I feel about it in the morning. It IS weird that the feeling usually goes away after 4AM hits at least for me.

snager: Glad to finally see this comic pilot from you! I'm sorry I didn't see the Ed Edd n Eddy inspiration right away. It took me a little bit to understand this word was created with both humans and kaiju in mind. Really crack down on the world building of your story in the backgrounds it'll give your story a big boost! As it is I still love the concept and it was fun seeing the monster designs and expressive characters.

I know you’re not 100% set on the main character you have currently (who really reminds me of Ada now that I’m seeing it) I’d recommend trying changing around the gender, race, height and hair color first and seeing if it makes you feel any different. Maybe give them an outfit that makes them stand out more since they’re a normal guy in a monster school. You could make them a real monster nerd and have them gush over each monster they see regardless of if the monster wants to beat them up or not. Or you could go the opposite and make them originally afraid of monsters and have them slowly learn that most kaiju don’t intend to destroy property, they just emerged in a world that was too small for them. Either way, establishing your character's opinions on kaiju will also really give your story’s world a huge boost!

Wow, I needed that. I’m working on a pilot myself with a missing protagonist and I think I just answered some questions about it for myself lmao

The eerie and harrowing tone escaped me on my first read. Subsequently I am mesmerized by the white lineart on pure black backgrounds.

The horror mystery is cool!

Thank you so much for the comments on this! To answer most of the questions - it's not really about going back to those times, they were when I was younger and didn't have the same problems and anxieties as I do now. I'm okay, but I appreciate any concern. ❤️

Linclair, I'm really happy you noticed the shift in the arm styles! I wanted there to be a visual shift somewhere, and that was the best way I could think of it.

This comic has haunted me in the best way all week. I wouldn’t be surprised if this comic stays with me for longer than that, given how hard it hit me. Every visual choice you make only helps convey the hazy feeling of being up so late at night with a fever. Amazing job!

Really fun playing with the vintage comic look! The ending has me wanting to know how Vera is gonna fare with that bug monster!

I love how clean your lines are and the overall shapes you used for the comic! The hatching pattern was super tasty, and my favorite detail has to be that the arms are softer when the night is kinder, compared to how much more intense they become when it’s dread. Thank you for sharing something so personal. You did a great job!

The idea of a Kaiju High is pretty cute NGL

And I like the expressions you pulled off with your main character!

Y'all did amazing work here! these were such a joy to read and I really like all the different stories that were told here

This one was the most far removed from the theme for me, so it threw me off quite a bit

Cute and soft style shift! I loved the use of texture too. I hope you can find some peaceful times in the witching hour sometime soon

Diggin the style you got going on for this one Pizza man!

I teared up some, and the fact you could do that in such a short comic speaks wonders. This was really well made and I enjoyed your inks

Really enjoyed your inking style! I really felt that waking up at 3am energy

Cooper Gator must have been really hungry to hear random words replaced with food XD. Great story. Reminded me of some Saturday morning cartoons.

I like the look and feel of this. I'm guessing the empty speech bubbles are the cat mumbling to themself or they're so groggy at 3am that they can't make out what anyone is saying

This one gave me feels. I like the grainy look to it as well.

I used to feel like this all the time. I hope you find a way to get back to those peaceful 3am times.

I like the classic newsprint feel of this one. Great job!

The artwork on this goes crazy. It looks like a hazy dream or like the pins and needles sensation. I think the length of this was perfect and it hits really hard.

i hope you do more artist comics!

Dang, what a treat from all of you. This was really difficult to vote on because each of you had some great work.

I liked how loose the inking was, and the monster design was pretty cool too

Very chaotic, the inking is very fun too

It's almost like a fever dream in a rly good way

This is the one that hits the hardest. The darkness being 'noisy' regardless of it being dead in the night is such a good touch. Not to mention the whole event that transpires. One would think it would be terrifying but instead it's melancholic

This is gorgeous, Dr. Salt. Very hard-hitting and lovely

I enjoyed the vintage look quite a bit

The art is incredibly good here regardless of how somber the theme is. Those intrusive thoughts are very relatable to a lot of us I'm sure. I hope that peaceful 3AM time returns to you Snowy

I liked the design of the monsters! Very cool.

What a beautiful story Dr. Salt, got me remembering about friends and loved ones.

This was an interesting story Pizza! Got me hooked.

Awesome art and interesting theme! What would you need to do to return to those peaceful 3am nights?

Liked the style a lot! But was a confused about the empty speech bubbles, what are they supposed to mean?

This one seems a little out of theme compared to the other.

Some very ededd and eddy esc expressions on page 5

Reading this one while drunk was a mistake because it destroyed me emotionally.

Wonderful style! all the detail packed into each page!

I like the vintage feel you got for the majority of the comic. it was a nice touch!

This round of comics has been so somber. I really enjoyed this one.

Snowy! This was so good, so somber. I really love the coloring! This is why you sleep at 2 instead of staying up till 3

This one was so somber and bittersweet. Though the answer given may have been a comfort, something so heartbreaking has lasting effects on those involved. Thank you for the wonderful comic!

I love your style! The cat is very much a mood; and willfully walking into the water was 💔

Though I do appreciate any feedback I get on comics, due to how personal this one is I would prefer if people didn't critique it harshly. Thank you in advance ♡

HOLY SHIT???