santapau
The Secret Knots
I'm Juan. I make THE SECRET KNOTS | Patreon | Discord | Ig
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Can you please explain your inspiration for the photo bombing comic? I don't think it was you, but something like this happened to me years ago and I still don't understand it. It was both IRL and online, and deliberately targeted me. It felt like a big prank, but was traumatizing for reasons I don't want to get into. Your comic wasn't triggering or upsetting though! Just very, VERY familiar to me. Is this a game online or something? An esoteric old meme? If this idea just came to you randomly then I'm sorry for my little trauma dump, and I love your work.
It was inspired by photos I took, among a concert crowd. Taking half rushed snapshots in the dark, it was only later that I found out people looking (probably at their own faces) at the screen. I thought a story could be made about finding out the same people, in different pictures.
I'm sorry you have been through a darker version of this imaginary tale. As usual with my comics, the frequent answer is: it's all made-up.
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Hi I just wanted to directly share some love over the latest secret knots! It's weird as hell and so surreal and is giving me a case of the Emotions! Not sure which ones but I'm enjoying feeling them. Thanks for putting some high quality strange art into the world
Thank you!
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"How to step out of the picture" a new Secret Knots comic! I hope you like it.
As usual, this webcomic is made possible by the support of kind Patreon followers. Check out the different tiers (there's even a free one!) for extra content, sketches and more.
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A follow-up to this, with how it went down!
I like to give lots of visual aids to players in demos, so I drew a bunch of little faces for them to choose their character token:
My girlfriend and her mother helped me cutting out the lot of small circles. (I made paper tokens for this Cthulhu adventure, and for the Vampire the Masquerade game the next day, so I cut two sets of the same, "modern era, aggressive adventurer people" faces.)
The reality show in the adventure turned into a deadly game a few minutes into the session. They found out they were locked in with a flying, half immaterial monster, (a flying polyp, for those out there familiar with the book) while, also, the rival team celebrities were infected by alien spores. It was set in a sort of enclosed complex with two camps, and a house where the TV producers (the final evil to defeat) were. Here’s the map I made.
The game ran fast and frantic. We played it in a little less than two hours, real quick for a TTRPG! It was in the context of a board games event, a rather family oriented thing, so games were supposed to be kept friendly for new players, who can find playing for 3+ hours a bit exhausting.
Here’s me with my players, after they successfully escaped the complex, locked the director of the show with the creature he invoked, and ultimately ran away back to the city, where they find out the outer world was collapsing under an alien invasion. Fun times!
This is the promo illustration for a Call of Cthulhu adventure I'm planning to run soon. It's called The Complex, and the pitch is:
The characters are competitors in an extreme survival reality show. They've overcome difficult physical trials, and managed to remain the favorites amidst alliances and betrayals. But things are about to get a lot stranger, in the closed environment of the Complex.
I plan to give special skills to players characters, based on reality TV tropes. I'm seriously considering succeeding by being really annoying as an ability. It should be fun.
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hot artists don't gatekeep
I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard
Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.
Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.
Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.
Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.
SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.
SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.
Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.
Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.
Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.
Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.
Height Weight Chart. You ever see an OC listed as having a certain weight but then they look Wildly different than the number suggests? Well here's a site to avoid that! It shows real people at different weights and heights to give you a better idea of what these abstract numbers all look like. Free to use.
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The Secret Knots master post, April 2024
I'm Juan Santapau (he/him), and I make these short stories in comic form called The Secret Knots. I live in Chile. Hi.
The full web archive of past and present stories is here: The Secret Knots.
If you want to read The Secret Knots via app, I post comics from the archives on:
Webtoon // Tapas // Globalcomix
On Patreon, you get extra stuff about every comic, like world building concepts, sketches and more, and may also ask for thematic portraits. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Newsletter. I send reminders about new stories, and some sketches over here. It’s sporadic, so it won't clutter your email.
There’s an Instagram account. And a Bsky.
Lastly, feel welcome to say hi at the Secret Knots Discord, a community server that always brings nice recommendations, and regular sightings of the weird in the world.
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Sometimes I'm watching TV and my cat looks at me like this
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Sometimes I'm watching TV and my cat looks at me like this
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A wedding picture, with characters in the nocturnal setting of the game Fallen London.
This is one of the monthly drawings prompted by patrons in my Patreon.
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Little bump, because there's still time to submit nominations. Thanks!
Help me get my comic nominated
I'm campaigning to get my 2023 comic "The River" nominated for an award.
The Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards (Ringo Awards for short) are now accepting submissions, and they have an online open nomination form. There are slots for nominees based on popular vote, so It's important to get as many people nominating my comic as possible. I'm aiming for the "Best Webcomic" category, but they have also a "Best Single Issue or Story" that may fit? So I sent my nomination in both of them.
The format I used was this, for both categories:
"The Secret Knots: The River" - https://thesecretknots.com/comic/the-river/
There are also many fun categories if you read other comics or webtoons, such as favorite hero, or villain. The process is very simple, it only requires filling a brief form, and an email confirmation.
This is the link with the nomination form
https://ringoawards.com/
Everyone can nominate, so if you decide to help me out with this, many thanks in advance!
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This is the promo illustration for a Call of Cthulhu adventure I'm planning to run soon. It's called The Complex, and the pitch is:
The characters are competitors in an extreme survival reality show. They've overcome difficult physical trials, and managed to remain the favorites amidst alliances and betrayals. But things are about to get a lot stranger, in the closed environment of the Complex.
I plan to give special skills to players characters, based on reality TV tropes. I'm seriously considering succeeding by being really annoying as an ability. It should be fun.
184 notes
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Text
Help me get my comic nominated
I'm campaigning to get my 2023 comic "The River" nominated for an award.
The Mike Wieringo Comic Book Industry Awards (Ringo Awards for short) are now accepting submissions, and they have an online open nomination form. There are slots for nominees based on popular vote, so It's important to get as many people nominating my comic as possible. I'm aiming for the "Best Webcomic" category, but they have also a "Best Single Issue or Story" that may fit? So I sent my nomination in both of them.
The format I used was this, for both categories:
"The Secret Knots: The River" - https://thesecretknots.com/comic/the-river/
There are also many fun categories if you read other comics or webtoons, such as favorite hero, or villain. The process is very simple, it only requires filling a brief form, and an email confirmation.
This is the link with the nomination form
https://ringoawards.com/
Everyone can nominate, so if you decide to help me out with this, many thanks in advance!
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have you run into the video game South Scrimshaw? the multimedia format & documentary-style, subtitled voiceover reminds me very much of The Secret Knots (But Make It Video)! also, the gameplay/narrative keeps opening up absurd little worldbuilding detours in ways that ring very fmiliar to me as a long-time fan of your work. I went into this game basically blind -- it's a treat to find out it's in the same "key" as this other cool body of work I admire! (check it out if you think you'd like it!)
That sounds very intriguing, I'll check it out. I'm sure this recommendation might be of interest for others around here too. Thanks!
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First panels of a new Secret Knots comic in progress. This one is called How to Step Out of the Picture, I think? This may change later.
You can follow the process of this comic, as I'm making it, on Patreon.
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“Oh the people are gonna love this” I say making the most niche piece of media art work that is really only for me,3 people ,and a plastic bag that blows in every so often
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