It Started with a Scribble

Now it’s now time to tell a story of how The Bard from Racha Den even came about. Normally the phrase goes something like, “it starts with an idea.” I guess that ain’t too far off the mark, but truth be told, for Racha Den, it all started with a scribble.

Ky Blackwell, here. During the COVID lockdowns back in 2020, I was bored out of my mind. So just to have some fun, I scribbled a comic where I decided on the fly what would happen in the next panel. This was something I’ve been doing for years, which have led to interesting stories that I plan on publishing in the future. I recommend this exercise to anyone, for, as I’ve found, it forces you to throw in twists to keep the story interesting.

In this case, I first scribbled an establishing shot with these huge stone doors among some underground ruins, along with a cursive phrase that read, “In this world, Storytellers are magic users.” The rest of the comic went a little something like this…

In the second panel, the scene suddenly changed to a pub in this fantasy world inhabited by both humans and animals in medieval clothing. I figured a bard would naturally have power and prestige as a magical Storyteller, so I drew a human English duke (with hair in the shape of poo) who was searching for a bard to present to his queen. He entered the pub, where a bard will apparently make their first debut. Sitting at the bar with the duke were a few random animals drinking their troubles away… along with a red-haired young woman who was getting loopy on beer.

Well, the bard in question, who was a derpy-looking chameleon, starts playing… and was absolutely terrible. Apparently he played up the idea that he was a bona-fide Storyteller so to get a big crowd. Anywho, the duke wound up in a tussle with a rooster at the bar. As everyone else hightailed out of there, the red-haired lady went up on stage and began to sing with her lute, revealing that she was a magical Storyteller the whole time.

At this point, I was having a blast. I myself didn’t know the true identity of this woman. I knew there had to be some sort of big reveal about her, so I figured “What if she isn’t actually human? What animal is she really?”

As the comic continued, we arrive at the scene where the duke and his entourage have the red-haired lady cornered in a dark alleyway. Creepy, right? The duke tried his best to stay cordial and told the woman that she would be perfect for the queen’s court. He even looked a little flustered, seeming like he may be developing a crush on her!

But as the lady stepped into the light, to everyone’s shock, she was this little ol’ plump cockroach.

The duke quickly apologized, thinking he followed the wrong lady. Even in this world of talking animals, cockroaches were apparently still reviled! He and his entourage left her alone in the alley. At this point, she sighed sadly while looking at her reflection in a dark window. She then transformed into a raven and flew away, saying something along the lines of, “No one wants to be friends with a cockroach.”

Needless to say, I knew I stumbled upon something great. At this point in my life, I’ve only self-published young adult stories, but I always wanted to try writing a children’s story. All of my ideas fell short, yet this one fascinated me. Who was this cockroach? What did she have to do with those ancient doors at the very beginning? What’s her magic like? I began doodling some notes, exploring new characters, kingdoms, magic systems, and most challengingly, how to draw a cute cockroach character that everyone could root for. I named her “Diana,” named after my mom who absolutely hated cockroaches. My dad’s idea, mainly as a joke. But I loved the idea; if I could have even my mom liking this cockroach, then that means I did her design and character right. (Don’t worry, my mom was in this same conversation and begrudgingly gave me permission to do so.)

I eventually settled on a design and went on to “episode two” of the comic. This time, Diana was a little cockroach girl on a quest to open these ancient doors with a magically-powerful story. I didn’t want her to be a fighter, so I drew a lion knight to accompany her. And since I liked the duke (and the rooster fighting him) so much, I decided to elaborate on their characters as well and eventually had all four roped together into Diana’s quest. I even drew up a little opossum antagonist that wanted to eat her!

I think I stopped sketching the comic halfway into episode three. I was ready to dive straight into story development. Around the same time, I began my mentorship under director John Jacobsen, and I told him how I wanted this children’s story to my first step towards script-writing in the animation industry. That will lead us into next week’s blog where we talk about story-crafting and how to build an idea into a fully-planned book series.

Thanks for hearing me prattle! And may peace be with you!