TGON Meets The Bitsy Artist For An Exclusive Interview

I connected with WEBTOON staff during my visit to L.A. Comic-Con in December. I proposed TGON start a series introducing the latest and greatest WEBTOON comic creators through a series of questions. WEBTOON was thrilled by the idea, so now I am connecting with all kinds of creators. For the start of this series, I am introducing comic creator, storyteller, and personal friend and mentor of mine, Megan Redmon, known online as The Bitsy Artist.

But first, I wanted to provide some backstory. I connected with Megan approximately three years ago when I initially uploaded the WEBTOON app. If you need to learn more about the WEBTOON platform, read through my WEBTOON Explained article. It will help you understand the platform these creators use to showcase their comics.

I was strolling one day and came across a comic called Lonely Awake. The art style was something I had never seen before, so I decided to read it. It gave me Sleeping Beauty vibes.

Fun fact about me: I LOVE fairy tale retellings.

I read through the available chapters and was hooked. I loved the art style and where the story was going so much that I became of her patrons on Patreon and I reached out to her. I expressed how much I loved her art style and knack for storytelling, and we clicked almost immediately. She offered me tips and tricks regarding drawing and storytelling and invited me to join her indie editorial team for her next CANVAS comic, Nonesuch. Then Nonesuch was picked up by WEBTOON to be an Original! I was thrilled for her and excited to see how Nonesuch would be reinvented.

Seeing her grow and accomplish so much as a storyteller has always inspired me, driving me to draw more and dedicate more time to developing my story ideas. Introducing her to new audiences will inspire more stories, no doubt. After all, everyone has a story to tell, and this is hers.

What led you to become a comic creator?

It’s just what naturally happened. I’ve been drawing and writing since I was able to hold a crayon. I came up with elaborate stories to play out at recess growing up and just went on to draw them out and never let them go. God is a really big part of my life, and I felt Him telling me to pursue it. It’s always been a part of my life, and it’s part of who I am. Storytelling and art are my deepest passions, and I feel a deep calling to always be creating.

What inevitably led you to use WEBTOON as a platform?

My aunt told me about “Assassin Roommate” on WEBTOON, and I read it all in one day (when I should have been working.) I was already running my graphic design business full-time, but I wanted to get into comics. I was working on the early version of Lonely Awake for print when I saw that I could upload it to the CANVAS platform and generate an audience. There were no risks, it was super easy and allowed me to interact with a very supportive audience, so I just started posting my work there.

What did you learn from your time as a CANVAS creator?

I learned so much in so many ways. Not only did the exciting trial and error teach me how to market and adapt my story to my audience, but I learned how to have faith. There were SO many ups and downs and times I thought things would fall apart. Regardless, I saw the story out to completion and was deeply rewarded by the audience for finding so much blessing and joy in my work. The conversation of what real love is was something that so many people have told me they had never heard before, and they still come back and reread it. My work is important, and that’s something that’s still hard to believe sometimes.

What did you learn from writing your CANVAS creations, such as Lonely Awake, that you have applied to write the Originals version of Nonesuch?

Well, I worked out most of the kinks on CANVAS. Things like pacing, how long a chapter is going to be based on the outline, how to outline correctly, and how to prepare for possible plot holes that go over my head in the beginning… but aside from the lessons I learned, I try most to bring the feelings from my CANVAS works to the Originals version of “Nonesuch.” Maintaining my voice and my personal themes is what sets my work apart, and I want to keep that and elaborate on it more and more with every new work I do.

What inspired Nonesuch?

The concept itself was actually a dream I had the night after I finished the last chapter of “Lonely Awake.” As for the theme and setting, my husband and I used to live further downstate and would drive back home every other weekend to see family, passing through Nonesuch, KY. We were newly married and still learning what it meant to communicate with each other, trust each other, and even what it meant to “love” at all. We drove through those roads at night, and I have so many important memories with him up and down those roads, fighting, laughing, making up, and defining who we were together. All that inspired Connor and Bridget’s relationship, which is really the driving force of the story.

Who is your favorite Nonesuch character?

Depends on what chapter I’m writing, but I think my favorite right now is Bridget because she’s the most fun to sketch and the most rewarding to draw. Her character, as the clones say, is “simple” because she thinks everything is a game that she has to win, and she trusts no one but herself to do it. But that simplicity is such a fun challenge to write- because it seeps into every decision she makes and every word she says. Not only that, but she has shown me so much about myself. Her arc following her lack of trust is inspired by my own flaws. Through this whole journey of writing her, I’ve learned to choose to trust the people around me when I’m struggling.

What would you suggest to any aspiring comic creators?

Write for others. People tell you to write for yourself, but the only place that will get you is stuck in your own head, and you’ll never get to experience the true reward of storytelling, which is seeing how your story changed someone else’s life. Secondly, write your struggles, and write ‘em while you’re in them. The most authentically written lessons are ones written while they’re learned. And finally, write to serve. Don’t write for a reward. Don’t write for a paycheck or a follower count. Creating comics is so grueling, sacrificial, and painstakingly hard sometimes. Writing to serve makes you write from a place of love, and doing something for love always makes it worth it in the end, no matter how hard it is.