Unmasking Creativity: A Quick Chat with BL Webcomic Mastermind, Nori

Today we had a chat with artist and webcomic creator Nori! Be sure to check out their hit BL comic Asking You.

1. Norin, Tell us a little about yourself and work?

Hello, I'm noriyuu, more commonly called as nori! I'm a former designer and illustrator for school books and I currently work as a comic artist. I'm developing a series called "Asking You" which is a BL with the intent of breaking a bit of the bad tropes we see in the genre or that me and other gay men may identify within the genre.

2.Tell us about being an artist?

Being an artist is not easy, mainly in a country where art or any creative avenue of work is extremely undervalued. Being a comic artist is even harder since we have to move fast due to tight deadlines which makes the whole process quite a bit lonely given we barely have time to socialize or do anything else besides work. Still, it's something I love to do and that has the potential of being used to share your voice and ideas and elevate other people's voices in moments when they need to be heard. I think being an artist can be an extremely powerful social and political job despite it being hard to make it come with a paycheck.

3.What inspires your work?

At first, before becoming a comic artist, what inspired me were more romantic looking pictures that could tell a whole story visually and give life to a whole world and universe within the space of one canvas. After becoming a comic artist, my focus started to lean less on the visual aspect of storytelling and more on the narrative side. Nowadays, I'm more inspired by learning and being aware of issues that affect marginalized people and people in vulnerable situations. I think art as a whole can be used to help us develop empathy for people who live realities far different from ours or have experiences society as a whole try to turn a blind eye to.

4.What does pride month mean to you?

To me pride month is a great conquest in general simply for the fact that so many LGBTQIAP+ people can celebrate who they are, find comfort within their community and some can have their voices amplified in a sense (I don't know about having their voices heard, but at least they are amplified). I think it's great that we have a month where our community's existence is validated, but I also think that we're still lacking unity to be able to use Pride Month as a platform to invoke more changes. Regardless, I think it's amazing that people can individually feel more seen and embraced during this month!

5.Where can people support your work?

People can support me either through reading my comics on Webtoon, Tapas, Webcomics and INKR; or on my Patreon which is http://patreon.com/noriyuuart where I share episodes earlier and develop more mini episodes and spin offs with the assistance of my patrons!

6.Tell us about anything you want! Can be something you are working on, something positive, or something totally random!

First of all, I want to thank BLU for the opportunity given through this interview! I'll be working on my comic "Asking You" for the foreseeable future, but I have other comics I want to produce one day! I wish everyone a wonderful Pride Month and hope that we may all show respect to every person and every life story in this colorful community!

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Are you itching to join the fun? If you're a BL fanfiction enthusiast or an aspiring writer bursting with ideas, we'd love to hear from you! Contact us HERE to share your experiences, showcase your work, or simply geek out about all things fanfic. Let's keep the fanfiction magic alive and thriving!