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BETWEEN BONUS: When Riley Met Brick Page 1
Posted on 4 October 2023 by rustyhearts

This week's lineartist is: breastie beloved, @arbustorum !!

The thumbnail I gave her: [here]

My favourite thing about this page: Definitely everything in the first panel, ESPECIALLY Brick's expressions.

Mushy Stuff: I've said it before, but I'll say it again, arbustorum is incredibly talented and hardworking, and she fundamentally changed the way I create art. Every time I draw now, I keep her sense of silliness, and her love of fun close to my heart, to remind myself that's what it's actually all about.

Shout Out: Mare's got her own webcomic she's working on - it's completely different to LB, but with just as many female characters. Think, shounen, fantasy, kindom hearts-y action. It's lined up to release in 2024 - and she loves getting asks about it!! >:3
---


Also! Your discussion on the last page was an absolute treat to read, gyns! Thank you for creating such a lively comment section <3

85 thoughts on “BETWEEN BONUS: When Riley Met Brick Page 1”

  1. rustyhearts

    Boosty Update:


    There’s only 4 days left to get your OC/Persona Cameo in for Chapter 12! Click Here for details.

  2. HorseBlaire

    love u mare

    2

    1. Mare Arbustorum

      love you horseblaire!!!!!
      what if you were a horse and my name meant horse and we were in the leasebound comments section and we were both girls?? 😳💖💖💖

      2

      1. HorseBlaire

        duuuuuuuude…… what if

        1

      2. ShyBottomDweller

        😲!!

        What if you two were NEIGHHHboursss—gets shot 12 times by Horseblaire–

  3. That Jaden lover

    Her style is soooo cute and work so well with your color palette!!
    (Poor Riley tho)

  4. Mare Arbustorum

    YOURE TOO SWEET THANK YOU RUSTY ;_;
    i also havent seen the completed pages so im just as excited to see these as you guys…my god it do look so good in ur colors i was staring like “I DREW THIS?” feels unreal.

    1. Jay

      It’s lovely to see some art from you, the expression on Riley in the last panel is the cutest fricken thing 🥰

      1

    2. rustyhearts

      2

  5. Charly

    Omg Riley is so cute in this style omg…
    I love how wacky Brick is here but grrr her asking such an invasive question to Riley pisses me off, the way she asks her if she’s a lesbian and then follows it up by inquiring if she’d date a man?? Like what
    The expressions here are so good, I can really feel Riley’s bewilderment

    1

    1. rustyhearts

      The terms terf and lesbian are often used interchangeably by gendies, Brick had to make sure she wasn’t in danger (of being around a woman who isn’t attracted to dick-havers) 😤😤

      2

  6. Jay

    Not the tumblr nose on Brick! 💀

    1. rustyhearts

      One of my other collab artists insisted on clown-nose for Brick because of how she interpreted my first fully coloured drawing of her.

      My way of colouring the lineart made the nose look very clownish to her. She’s actually never heard of the “tumblr nose” trend – I feel like the people who made fun of it far outweighed the people who actually did it 😅

      1

      1. The page 2 collab drawer

        what do you mean it’s just the line of her nose ? that’s a clown nose and you know it Rusty ! è_é

        1. rustyhearts

          It’s only cuz it’s a pinky-purple pallete >:o IT WAS UNINTENTIONAL!!

  7. fancyfeast-rangerover

    love that Brick resembles a clown, perfection…. *chef’s kiss*
    someone give Riley a lawyer for this interrogation! someone has to call out the incoming onslaught of logical fallacies

    1. rustyhearts

      Full credit there goes to page 2’s collab artists, as she insisted on a clown nose for Brick – which I really think brings the whole look together 🤣🤣
       
      Riley absolutely needs legal representation😔😔

      1. K

        I volunteer to be Riley’s legal representation! Pro bono, she can get me a pack of painkillers for the inevitable headache or something in exchange. XD

         
        Tactics include but are not limited to: “objection, irrelevant”, “now what makes you say that?”, “can you define that in your own words?”, “that’s a circular definition, try again”, “would you say that to a man too?” and “what does that have to do with my client?”

        1. rustyhearts

          Oh my god, ma’am you are HIRED. You could fix this situation so fast 🤣🤣 I loved reading this!

  8. LB

    “So you would interact with a penis right? Because if you wouldn’t you’re a TERF and are worse than scum!!!” Oh brick you look like a clown
    Awesome guest work!

    1

    1. Tsath

      Heh. As a straight guy I have gotten the same speech. No means no. The instant someone says “No, I do not want to fuck you” you back off. No questions. No guilting. No coercion

    2. rustyhearts

      Brick would fit right in here 😔

  9. Blais

    I really like how goofy Brick looks in this page. Arbustorum did a really great job with the lineart.

     
    Also, is it just me or is most of the cast drawn with more restrained color palettes than the gendies?

     

    I like that. In a lot of media, women with bare faces/undyed hair/body hair seem portrayed to look out-of-place and unnatural, even though they are presenting with the faces/hair they naturally have.

     

    The bright-colored, almost shiny looks for Blaire/Brick/company reverses that – they look out of place and immediately different from the rest of the cast.

    1. rustyhearts

      I agree! Mare really brought her to life – Brick’s been quite stationary in my previous pages. This is the first time we’ve gotten a full-body look at her even 😅
       
      I do think the brightly coloured hair makes a difference to stand Blaire and the others apart from the normal women- but I think a bigger chance is the inclusion of make up tbh!
       
      I’ve made a conscious decision not to include shaved women or women who wear make up, unless its a part of their character I want to critique. Really makes it stand out how unnatural it looks imo!
       
      I did some “de-gendered” versions of the QT girls and Blaire, where I wiped off the make up, and then showed their natural hair colours – makes a HUGE difference.

  10. Brazillian Terf

    “shit is that the male one or the female one” MOOD.

    1. rustyhearts

      Almost like the language is deliberately misleading 😔😔😔

  11. Parniya’s biggest fan

    Mare’s art is so beautiful 😍, I feel like she could even make a MAN look good in her art style (and that’s saying a lot LMAO 🙄)

    And I hate how Brick treats lesbians.. I never even noticed how the community treated us until recently 🙁

    1. rustyhearts

      Bahahaha! She is a Hettie Bettie (beloved) and is very good at drawing men proportionally, LMAO. She is responsible for correcting Jacob AND Timothy (mummy milkers) to look like men. Absolute life saver.
       
      I will never get tired of jumps caring her with my attempts to draw men 🤣🤣
       
      Under her guidance I’ve just started using 3D male models, and public domain stock images to trace over in the event the plot calls for one.
       
      I actually shared a future page recently with her, that involved drawing a full-body moid. And she was like “👀👀👀”, but I reassured her he was traced and that I still cannot do it myself 🤣🤣

      1. Jay

        Good! put as much effort into drawing men as men do when drawing women, it’s equality 😉

        Had a laugh when you showed us the designs for that VN you were working on and the female sprites were all super unique and high quality and the male characters were just sketches with animal crossing stumps for hands 😂

  12. Nadja

    I dig how clown-core all the gendies are, much like IRL. Really helps me take their thoughts and opinions more seriously 😂

    1. rustyhearts

      🤣🤣

  13. Sunny

    Mare is a genius when it comes to flowy body language and anatomy. I cannot look at her panels long enough!
    Poor Riley is going to have a hard time for the next few pages but I am so excited for them to drop hehe

    1. rustyhearts

      Agreed 🙏

  14. Crypty

    I’m very much looking forward to Mare’s comic!!! Instantly followed! I’ve loved her previous fanart and contributions so I’m v excited! This page as well I like the flow of Brick’s movement in the first panel and Blaire’s dumb but cute outfit.
    All that aside tho, I hope Brick gets bricked cause Jesus Fuckening Christ

    1. rustyhearts

      🤣🤣🤣
      (Big agree on Mare’s talent for movement and flow!! Thank you for following her!)

  15. A.N. Onymous

    “Is that the male one or the female one?” LOL. Oh Riley, you’re such a normie. You don’t stand a chance against these lunatics.

    1. rustyhearts

      She really doesn’t. Sorry to make you experience her de-normifying. 😪😔😔

  16. May

    So weird of Brick to ask Riley who she would and wouldn’t date in front of her girlfriend lol

    1. rustyhearts

      How could Blaire date a woman who ISNT attracted to dick-havers tho? :(((

      1. Miss Moira

        Also is this the first time Brick and Riley have met? If so, it says a lot that Brick is grilling a stranger about her sexuality 💀

        1. rustyhearts

          It is indeed when they first met. Brick does NOT waste time when imaginary boogiewomen (terfs) are concerned.

  17. Wooloo

    Ahhhh I can’t wait to have 2 awesome webcomics to follow!! So psyched for the breastie’s collaborating!

    1. rustyhearts

      🥰🥰🥰

  18. Norm L. Esbian

    this is so real tho…. reminds me of a normie het friend i used to have who said that “transmen can want to be women and wear dresses, but since they have penises they’ll never be female even if they cut it off”
     

    and i was like “i hate to make you aware of this… but those are the women who want to be men. just look at ‘trans’ as a prefixmeaning ‘not actually’” 😂 similar thing happened with my parents.
     

    they have the benefits of normie straight people having no fucking clue what their deal is

    1. rustyhearts

      Honestly! I remember thinking the same thing in 2013-2014 before I properly understood trans nonsense!
       
      My mum still gets confused by it and assumes TW are female and TM are male, and I’m like “no…”.
       
      MIL took me out last time I visited, she was talking about a coworker and said “so there’s this nonbinary chick at work, and she likes us to use they/them for her.”
       
      She didn’t know she was supposed to continue playing pretend outside of interactions with her – was apparently introduced to her as a they/them but immediately knew she was female 🤣

  19. seething terven

    Dear goodness, I don’t know what it is about Brick, but something really puts me off about her much more than TiFs.
     

    Usually i think pre-T TiFs are attractive (like MJ and Elissa) and I’m bummed out they denounce their womanhood and either are spicy straight or don’t want their partner to consider them female.

     
    Maybe Brick is just a really ugly person on the inside so it makes her seem really repulsive to see.

     

    Maybe it’s the overalls, lipstick, and hair color lol. You did a really good job with her design, I hate her as much as I hate the TiMs.

    1. Jay

      For real! Maybe if she had a better personality I would think of a cute frog when I saw her, but all I can think of when I see her is a yassified version of the Grinch 😅

    2. midge

      maybe you’re just fatphobic?

      1. rustyhearts

        Wouldn’t she also randomly dislike Riley, Ruth. and Nana then?🤔

        1. midge

          isn’t it kind of problematic to drag nana into the discussion of who is and isn’t attractive when she has like dementia or something and can’t consent? really weird in a conversation about fuckability of gendies :/

  20. Dorkinlesbian

    Oh I relate to this moment! It was a trans woman and he never asked if we would date a trans woman but the first thing he asked when he found out someone was a lesbian was “are you a terf”? They started explaining terfs were political lesbians who hate trans women. Of course we agreed they sounded awful

    1. rustyhearts

      So relatable!
      Why there’s such a push for DNI’s, blacklists, shinigami eye extension ect. Can’t have anyone take a peak over at the other side, lest they realize what’s being said about the evil boogiewomen (“terfs”) isn’t true.

      1. ShyBottomDweller

        im a bit afraid to ask but what is a shingami eyelash extension??

        1. rustyhearts

          Shinigami eyelashes 🤣🤣🤣

          “Shinigami eyes” is the name of a browser extension for tumblr, it marks usernames in red that it deems “transphobic”. I believe it’s based on user reports, and has marked trans supportive people as red.
          It was also developed by a paedophile.
           
          The name is a reference to Japanese manga DeathNote (where the guy in the picture above is from). Shinigami means God of Death, and in the story the Gods of Death have the power to see a person’s name and lifespan with their eyes.

  21. Ada

    Am confused. Is this a flashback taking place in the past? Or is this the intervention the QTs were discussing in previous chapter?

    1. rustyhearts

      This is the past. Hence why the start of the last page’s dialogue was ripped straight from CH9P8.
       
      Riley doesn’t even fully grasp which trans is which here – very different to her present day counterpart, no?
       

  22. Normal person

    I feel like if it ever gets found out that Riley IS a Terrible TERF (as in she’s not attracted to men) Blaire will end up scrutinized and punished by the Gendies for not vetting her properly and for not making enough of an effort to make transwomen feel centered and protected.
     

    I remember seeing this tumblr post which essentially said “If you have to say TERFs don’t interact and you’re cis then you’re not doing a good enough job as an ally to make those demons know they’re not welcome, do better”.

    1. rustyhearts

  23. Mary

    I know this is a super serious and awful scenario but dang Rile’s sandals look comfy af.

    1. rustyhearts

      I feel the same!! I was so happy with how Mare did them!
      This was Riley’s outfit reference:

      Really gave the shoes an upgrade!

  24. Hooty Hoo

    Brick immediately makes me think of an oompa loompa LMAO good job!! and that kind of nose makes me think of Whos from Whoville… poor Riley.

    1. rustyhearts

      You’re not the only one to make the oompa-loompa comparison 🤣🤣 the green does her NO favours.

    2. Jay

      Radfem version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas where the who’s are all gendies and The Terf comes down to steal all their pride flags!

  25. Riley is cute

    God, poor Riley but the way she’s drawn in this comic…idk why but she’s like handsome (twirls hair from my shaved head)

    1. rustyhearts

      🥰🥰🥰🥰

  26. DiscountSmirnoff

    Hoo boy, can’t wait to see how Riley gets out of this pickle. 😬
    (Spoiler: she gets backed into a whole different corner entirely.)

    1. rustyhearts

      One of these days there’s not going to be any corners left to meet her back 😔

  27. broccoli

    tfw Brick’s outfit is a little too similar to some of your own and you start to rethink life choices…
    (…j/k overalls are too comfy to let go just because of Brick’s lime green atrocity)

     

    longtime lurker, but wanted to comment at least once to say I love your work Rusty! and this collab page is super well done, the poses are great and full of energy, at least we can enjoy that the through the discomfort of poor Riley’s interrogation oh no honey…

     

    I feel for Riley so much now, i don’t think my upbringing was as strict as hers but i remember SO. EFFIN. MANY “well but maybe you’ll like THIS dress? how about THIS one? what if it’s not pink? what if it’s a skirt suit? would you wear it just to church? for a wedding? ” conversations, god it’s so exhausting… i will not wear one if it’s blue, i will not wear one “just for you,” i do not want your pillow sham, i do not like them sam-i-am!
     

    sometimes i read these updates through my fingers covering my face – but i still can’t wait to see what happens next! 🙂

    1. rustyhearts

      Welcome to the comment section and thank you so much for reading LB – I hope you continue to enjoy my work. 🥰🥰 It’s definitely not the last time I’ll have guest artists!
       
      The dress thing is sooo relateable tho, truly! I wasn’t raised with any religion, yet it was STILL a prevailing back and forth of people baffled how a young girl didn’t want to wear a dress.

  28. Rin

    Mare needs to come back and give us artist gyns her top ten art tips 😩 Your coloring and her style are a match made in heaven

  29. Andy

    i really love the way mare draws riley… she is so handsome and her asian features shine! ♥️

    1. rustyhearts

      Mare has has done many lovely sketches of Riley to help me with posing (like in the steamy scene CH11P25), so it’s great to see one fully realised in her style. I love how soft she makes her look 🥰🥰
       
      Out of curiosity, what do you feel Mare does to make Riley’s Chinese features shine?
       
      I have tried to show a better blend of her Chinese and white heritage by changing Riley’s skintone, darkening her hair (used to match Jaden’s skin, now matches with Violet’s), and flattening her nose. Plus, since I switched from dot eyes, to eyes with whites she’s had a (stylized) monolid.
       
      I’ve used the same colour pallete from chapter 11 to colour these pages as well (it looks slightly different due to the flashback filter over it).
       

      Is it just that Mare’s artstyle is a bit more realistically proportioned (non-giant eyes lmao)?
       
      Visual comparison;

      1. andy

        hi rusty, I apologize for the late reply! I just saw your comment now and I hope you see this reply.
         

        I totally didn’t mean to imply that your depiction of Riley is less adept! I’m Chinese myself so I really appreciate how you’ve strived to depict Riley’s heritage in your art. She’s a great character.
         

        I think it’s as you suspect; in your art style everyone has larger (very cute!) eyes and generally more anime-like proportions. I’m not much of an artist myself but I feel like the shape of Riley’s eyes stand out in the more realistic proportions.

        1. rustyhearts

          Not at all – there’s no time limit to replying I promise. And please don’t apologise, I’m not upset!
           
          I try to be open (within reason) to what readers have to say about my art – especially when it comes to correctly representing racial heritage/features! So if there was something you felt was amiss- particularly as a Chinese person yourself – I’d definitely be open to hearing it.
           
          Thank you so much for the kind words and your reply 🥰

  30. Ms. Clicker

    WHY IS RILEY ME THO??

     
    Like I had this exact same confusion, it just made sense to me. Trans man is a man who is trans, trans woman is a woman who is trans, DUH! 😂😂 I had some funny ass misunderstandings until someone corrected me.

     
    Also, not brick surrounding Riley and inspecting her like she’s on reservoir dogs with her humpty dumpty looking ass. Tumblr OC looking mf. I know you ain’t judging Riley when you looking like the special reindeer that santa chose. “THEY ALL FLOAT DOWN HERE GEORGIE” head ass.

     
    Also, I like this switch in style Rusty, the movements look very fluid and natural and you can really appreciate Riley’s chinese heritage here.

    1. Jay

      Same! Irony is the reality is “I understood perfectly until someone bullied me into saying otherwise” 🙃. It’s why I really appreciate the terms “TIF” and “TIM”, it’s a breath of fresh air to finally be able to call it like it is. I hate how forced gender religion is, just because you believe in gender identities doesn’t mean we all have to. I feel for gay people who espcaped from traditional religious homophobia only to be met with the same shite 😓 swapping the clerical collars and crosses for chokers and ugly stripes 😅

    2. rustyhearts

      Always straight for the throat on gendie appearances 🤣🤣🤣 I love it!
       
      I’ll send the compliments to Miss Mare who provided the linework for this page. Fluid motion and anatomy are her specialty. She provided sketchwork for both the steamy Jaden/Alexis and Blaire/Riley scenes I know you’re fond of too 🤣
       
      Next week a different guest artist will be taking the stage, but Mare has done linework for two other pages in this flashback scene. Hope you enjoy them just as much 🥰🥰

  31. becca

    Mare if you’re reading this you did an amazing job ❤️

    1. Mare Arbustorum

      thank you!!!

  32. ShyBottomDweller

    This collab artist is the one you call wifey as a inner joke or i’m confusing her with someone else?? I think I barely remember a mention of
    this somewhere in past comments.

    Either way Wowww Her drawing style is really good! And the premise of her project sounds fantastic. Like shonen but full of women at the center running the show??!? Delightful 😍 Body slam me with it

     

    I just hope she doesnt get harassed preemptively into quitting for also (i assume?) having dissident opinions on all this gender stuff, or for not having them but still not burning you and drawing enough distance. A guilt by association.

     
    Regarding the page, i feel for Riley :'( She doesn’t want to hurt people (including Brick) but she doesn’t want to be hurt either. She needs Muddles to come through the window hanging by a rope and rescue her. Take her away from all this unnecessary stress 😣 in one ameowzing move.

     
    Although so far I’ve never had someone corner me like that, I used to think similarly too. That “transman or trans man” is man who is transitioning, biological male who takes estrogen and T blockers or gets operations and try to pass as woman to strangers.
     

    And “transwoman or trans woman” was opposite, biological female who takes T or roids, and try to pass as man. Like, i could see myself getting told “trans women are women!” and being like “yes of course 😊”, both of us painfully unaware that we were using the same language with polar opposite framing in our heads.

     
    And Transvestites or crossdressers were those of either sex but who didn’t do past messing around with clothing, makeup, hair, perfumes and gestures, some wanting and trying to pass and some not caring whether they did or not.

     
    But, turns out not only had i been conceiving of the words in wrong (and offensive) order, the supposed boundaries that differentiate these two groups are artificial?? Cuz like, you have people who would fit what to me is a transvestite (no major body mods) but call themselves trans woman or transman or just transgender like Mr Babygirl, but also people like Eli and Kai who don’t even do that noticeable level of gender role nonconformity yet also call themselves such.

     

    So i guess the only difference is what they decide to call themselves. There is no core delimitation, you’re trans if you think you are regardless of how or why you came to think that, and that’s it. I dunno. It’s strange.

     

    Anyway, thanks for this new page you two!!

    1. Mare Arbustorum

      yes thats me LOL. Im glad my project sounds of interest to you 🙂 I dont give a shit what gendies think and they can cry about it.

       

      My project probably wont have any blatant transphobia in that troons dont exist in my world, like i cant imagine how they could possible come up. Even my shapeshifters and female only species will have explicit sexes.

       
      I was originally a fanartist in the homestuck fandom and if you know it you know its full of some of the most deranged gender fans imaginable and they “canceled” me(i wasnt really popular enough to be actually canceled but they tried i guess lol.

       
      anyways all that rambling to say dont worry im making my story without misogyny and homophobia no matter what crybabie gender havers say because its MY world and I do what i want.

      1. rustyhearts

        Miss Mare:

        1. Mare Arbustorum

          exactly BWUAHAHAHAHAHA

      2. ShyBottomDweller

        Oh so it’s you indeed! Hii Mare!!☺

        Wow you’ve already been struck too. No i am not familiar at all with Homestuck or its fandom, but from the description i suppose its big and kinda brutal. I think i’m more like Jaden in the spectrum, I am out of the loop regarding many things and its part of why i’m more lukewarm and undefined in my opinions, instead of neck ddeep in one “camp”. My IRL experiences with transitioners have been rare and kinda brief but not unpleasant, and nothing like what has happened to characters in this comic, so its like a new world bubble. I guess my perspective it’s more like “I don’t need to believe you’re a woman (if u born male) or a man (if u born female) to treat you well nor respect your preferred name and outfits” 🤔 more or less. I don’t see that as hateful but what do i know, maybe in their eyes that’s already evil enough and would earn me lots of harassment and vitriol too 😵

        A Female only species got my attention! Do you have an established month for the first chapter release or its gonna be a random surprise??

        1. Mare Arbustorum

          I’m aiming for January currently but it depends on how much of a backlog i get done. As I just completed the first 5 pages, the next 20 are just sketched, so depending on how many of them I complete. I will have a better idea in the next few months but I announce whatever news I have on oddwitchcomic on tumblr 🙂 and I am also considering making a patreon. For now page releases will also be on that tumblr.

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