Likovnjaci (Croatian slang; basically it means 'The Artists') is an unpublished comic series written and drawn by me, and based on my experiences in art school.
It's a Teen Drama that revolves around a generation of ten teens in the Industrial Design department in Metropolis Art School (yes, the same Metropolis from DLD). Plots include Teen Pregnancy, Coming Of Age Queer Romance, Teacher/Student Romance and so on. A lot of the story is dialogue-driven; the whole school is a World of Snark, with some Volleying Insults thrown in. This is also where a lot of the series' humor comes from, too.
The characters are caricatures of the people from my high school days, (including myself), and since some of my others comics have characters based on real life people, some names and perosnalities are repeated.
- Andrea "Andy" De Marco - The Friend Nobody Likes, mainly because he's a homophobic, racist, sexist greasy-haired jerk who always insults people. Fell in love with Linda only after learning she's part Italian and is basically her Abhorrent Admirer. When he got her address, on the condition that he doesn't stalk her, he did just that; he went to Linda's house, watched her undress and started masturbating. Too bad it was actually Polly's house; Linda gave Polly's address to Andy, 'cause she knew Andy would pull something like that. One thing about Andy is that whatever horrible thing he does he gets his comeuppance:
- After making fat jokes about Daniel's mom and a rape joke about Daniel's little sister, Andy got punched by Daniel.
- After revealing Sylvia's mom's Only Fans page, which forces Sylvia mom to quit it and Sylvia to work at a Burger Fool, Andy goes there to gloat to Sylvia; she responds by covering him in ketchup and mustard.
- After calling Polly a whore, she simply says "Well, at least unlike you, I won't die a virgin", which got Andy to shut up.
- After a public performance of Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke and publicly asking Linda out on a date, she shuts him down by telling him "Aw, Andy... I would rather suck my grandfather's cock than go out with you" in front of the whole school which hurts Andy tremendously.
In the Distant Finale, we find Andy married to a woman who, unbeknownst to him, is cheating on him with their gardener and regularly takes birth control pills so she wouldn't have to carry Andy's children (Linda remarks "Y'know, if this were any other person, I'd be like Yikes. But, since this is Andy we're talking about, all I can say is You go girl!").
- Linda Stefani - Half Mexican, half Italian, all heart. Linda is cool and fun to be around, unless you're a horny teen boy. She says she got into puberty early, which made her unpopular with the girls, and the target of horny pubescent boys. However, she fought back by reporting every single boy that was inappropriate with her to her teachers. Then Andy came along and she constantly has to shut him down, even when she comes out as asexual. When she shuts Andy down after his public performance mentioned above, she is forced by her mother to apologize to Andy, which turns into a Backhanded Apology:"Look, Andy, I'm sorry. I'm sorry you can't take for No for an answer. I'm sorry you apparently don't know what shampoo is. I'm sorry for all the people who have had the misfortune of meeting you. But most of all, I'm sorry I only made you cry with my words, and not with my fists, you pathetic bigoted human equivalent of a turd.''
This horrifies Linda's mom who punishes her taking away her phone, computer and grounds her for two weeks. Linda's response? "Worth It."When Daniel finds images of Linda's head poorly photoshopped on the bodies of bikini supermodels on Andy's computer, Linda hires her childhood friend Jerry to permanently delete the pictures, which he does; Andy of course, is not too happy abotu it.
- Polly Matthews - She starts out as a Dumb Blonde, but is revealed to have Hidden Depths. In the beginning, we find her dating a 31 year old married man named Ben. When she finds out she's pregnant with his baby, he cuts all ties to her and leaves her. Polly wants to have an abortion, but her parents won't let her; after Ben is sent to jail for statuatory rape, she is still forced to carry his child, which often leads her to attempt a delibarate miscarriage. One such instance has her attempt throwing herself down a flight of stairs, but is talked out of it by Mary. Finally, she gives birth and has the baby adopted by a nice Mormon couple.
After this, Polly goes through an existential crisis regarding her sexuality. She's attracted to boys, but is also fond of girls. Maybe she's bi? Who knows? Not Polly. During detention, she meets a girl from the Sculpting Department named Alex; the two hit it off, until Andy crashes Alex's exhibition and pushes Polly into Alex's sculptures, which causes them to fall down like dominoes and break. Alex doesn't blame Polly, but breaks off their friendship. Polly is pissed and starts beating the crap out of Andy, until a cop shows up; Polly flees the scene, while screaming "ALL COPS ARE BASTARDS!!".
In the Distant Finale, we find Polly in a realtionship with Yameisy, a girl she first met on a Class Trip to Barcelona, and is now in a happy relationship with.
- Dean Lee - A Deadpan Snarker who refuses to get involved in any drama. Too bad he was the one who found out Andy and Ms. Sinjin are having sex, and told the rest of his colleagues.
He also starts a relationship with...
- Sylvia Hahn - Daughter of a single teen mom who works as a waitress. We later find out, her mom makes money off Only Fans, but is forced to quit out of shame after Andy finds her page. Sylvia decides to resolve this by getting a job at a Burger Fool.
She also likes Dean, and the two start dating.
- George Phillips - A jock who in his spare time likes to play basketball with his jock pals. However, once George starts dating trans boy Skyler, his pals tease and torment him endlessly, so he leaves them.
- Skyler - Born Milly Adrian, Skyler asks girlfriends Mary and Tabitha to help him have a total makeover; it si revealed his mother forces him to wear girly dresses but Skyler has Tabitha shave his hair, he starts wearing baggy clothes and changes his name to Skyler (Polly says "You should've picked a better name, like Harrison or Jefferson, or any other Son"). He is accepted by his friends and classmates, except Andy. And Ms. Sinjin. And his mother is not too happy either.
He and George are dating.
- Mary Pill - a goth chick who eventually becomes the Team Mom. She's bisexual and is dating Tabitha (who goes to a different school). The two met at a heavy metal concert when they were headbanging and once their heads banged into each other, it was love at first sight. She may appear cold and distant, but is actually kind and warm. Polly even agve her a T-shirt that said Best Mom Ever.
Mary is also The Nicknamer. She never calls anyone by their name, it's either "honey" or the following nicknames she gave to the people she knows:
- Tabitha - Tabs
- Linda - Starshine
- Sylvia - Sunshine
- Daniel - Silent D
- Derek - Bozo
- Polly - Blondie
And so on...
When Andy asks her how come he doesn't get a nickname, she responds with "I only give nicknames to people I like."
- Derek Prescott - He's a wisecracking Spoiled Sweet guy, who in his spare time likes to watch YouTube tutorial videos, particularly ones involving language. When he learned he'll be in the same class as Daniel, who's mute, he learned sign language jjust for him (as he says "I am fluent not onyl in sign language, but also Klingon, Na'vi, Elvish and Bulgarian"). He and Daniel immediately hit it off, though for the longest time he was unaware Daniel was in love with him.
When he found out that Daniel and his family are poor, he gave them his dad's old computer which was far better and superior than the one they were using (not that Derek's dad was too happy about it when he found out). He and Daniel start dating, and in the Distant Finale, they are happily married.
- Daniel Strossmayer - He's gay, mute and poor. Still, Daniel doesn't let any of that get to him. He falls in love with Derek after the latter protected him from some bullies. They eventually start dating. Even when he transfers to the Graphic Design department, he is still a good friend to his former classmates.
- When Derek protects him from some bullies, Daniel hears the chorus of "I Will Always Love You".
- When they're in Daniel's room, and Derek asks him what should they do, Daniel hears the chorus of "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You" by Heart.
- When waking down the school hallway he hears "In Da Club" by 50 Cent, but immediately switches to "At Last" by Etta James when he sees Derek.
