Painted Star / pages 21-25 (end + extra art)
Oct 08, 2026
And that's the end of the story. Thank you for reading!
Let me know what you think or if something wasn't clear. I left many things implied or left to the imagination, so I'm also curious if it all made sense.
This story was inspired by many ideas and events, but one of them in particular was a piano concert I attended a while back. There were three pianists performing that evening; one of them accompanied some of her pieces with a video playing in the background. Before she began, she mentioned that she had gotten negative feedback about using videos, so she invited those who didn't like them to close their eyes and focus on the music. At first, I thought it was pretty mean to criticize her like that, but soon I realized the critic had some merit :')
Her piano skills were way better than her video skills, and while I'm sure the places in the videos had a deep emotional meaning to her (i.e. a walk through a park, a city from a window), to me as an audience it was still a shaky homemade video. It wasn't the worst artistic dissonance I've seen, but I also felt that it took away from her music. All that got me thinking how cool it would be if we could use technology besides art to express our feelings, and that there already is tech out there that could potentially be used for it, one that in sci-fi is usually portrayed in its worst possible outcomes (the brain-machine interface). Yes, it was also used for bad in my story, but also for expression, reconstruction, and just fun.
Anyway, that's the end of my comment ^^ Thanks again for reading, I really appreciate you being here :D
PS. I haven't fully decided yet where to move my comics after Tapas closes in March. I'm still testing alternatives. I will post the links after I decide :)
Nebula
Top comment
The story was great! Albeit a bit short. Your artstyle is amazing though, and very beautiful! I hope you continue to make such lovely comics!
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In a world where technology now allows a subset of the population to connect directly with it, a young teen is caught between those who use this ability for beauty and self-expression, and those who've chosen a different path.
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